Category Archives: War On Drugs

While U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions escalates the war on drugs, drug policy reform surges ahead in California, joining states such as Washington and New York, where similar innovative approaches to some of our greatest challenges, like drug overdose deaths and mass incarceration, are being pioneered.

The Drug Policy Alliance had another successful day in the California state legislature, with two more bills passing through the first house committee, AB 1578 and SB 180. These bills join the agenda with two others bills that passed through their first house committees in preceding weeks.

AB 1578 successfully passed in a 5-2 committee vote, and will now move to the full Assembly. AB 1578, authored by Los Angeles Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer, will protect Californians who are operating lawfully under California state laws, by providing that absent a court order, local and state agencies, including regulators and law enforcement, shall not assist in any federal enforcement against state authorized medical cannabis or commercial or noncommercial marijuana activity. DPAs California State Director Lynne Lyman testified at Tuesdays Assembly Public Safety Hearing, saying:

AB 1578 is intended to prevent federal government over-reach in the era of Trump. We do not want the federal government harassing, intimidating or prosecuting people who are operating lawfully under state law.

Also having its first hearing Tuesday was SB 180 by Senator Holly Mitchell of Los Angeles, passing 5-2 out of Senate Public Safety. Dubbed the RISE Act, (Repeal of Ineffective Sentencing Enhancements Act), Mitchells bill would repeal the three-year sentencing enhancements that are tacked onto new convictions for petty drug possession for sale or sale cases. These enhancements are the leading cause of long sentences that create crisis-level overcrowding in county jails.

Enhancement and mandatory minimums are central to the failed drug war that has done nothing to reduce the availability of drugs or to deter illegal drug sales. This enhancement disproportionately impacts the poorest and most marginalized people in our communities those with substance use, mental health needs, and people of color. By removing this enhancement, SB 180 will remove one of the mechanisms that increase racial disparities within the criminal justice system, and free funds that can be reinvested in community programs that improve the quality of life and reduce crime. SB 180 will next be considered by the full Senate.

For the first time ever in the United States, a state bill to authorize safe consumption services passed a legislative vote. AB 186, authored by Assemblywoman Susan Talamantes Eggman of Stockton, co-sponsored by DPA and leading health policy and drug treatment associations, would allow local jurisdictions to permit supervised consumption services and provide legal protections for the programs and participants. Participants use pre-obtained drugs under supervision of medical professionals.

Supervised consumption services prevent overdose deaths, improve public order, and link people to treatment and other services. Around 100 exist around the world, but none yet in the United States. AB 186 goes to the Assembly Public Safety Committee next. San Francisco has recently established a task force to develop a policy recommendation on placement of services in the city. This bill protects local jurisdictions that want to pilot these life-saving programs.

Also on DPAs winning ticket is AB 208 by Eggman, a bill to provide equal protection to immigrants who seek drug treatment diversion for drug misdemeanors. Under current law, persons accused of possession of a small amount of drugs for personal use must plead guilty in order to access court ordered drug treatment. When they complete the program, their records are cleaned. However, the federal government response to the guilty plea is to deport the defendant or deny re-entry, even for legal residents, combat veterans, and family members of legal residents. Even for those who successfully complete the programs, the guilty plea hangs over their head forever.

This bill would allow the court to refer a person to treatment before a plea is entered, and if the person succeeds they move on with their life, and should they fail the charges are reinstated. It passed the Assembly Public Safety Committee on March 14, and is currently under consideration in the Appropriations Committee.

Lynne Lyman is the California state director of the Drug Policy Alliance.

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California Fights Back As Jeff Sessions Escalates War On Drugs - The Fresh Toast

The Adam Granduciel-led band have released their first new song since their acclaimed 2014 album 'Lost In A Dream'

The War On Drugs have shared their new single, Thinking Of A Place listen to the track below.

The Adam Granduciel-led band earned widespread acclaim for their breakout third album, Lost In The Dream, in 2014 which was also their last release.

The band have now returned with their first new song in three years. Marking Record Store Day 2017 which takes place today (April 22) The War On Drugs have shared Thinking Of A Place. The 11-minute track has been released on a limited 12 for the annual vinyl celebration, and the psychedelic-tinged song is now available to listen to online.

Listen to The War On Drugs new song, Thinking Of A Place, below.

The band are thought to be working on their long-awaited follow-up to Lost In The Dream with the record set to be the first full-length release on their new recording contract with Atlantic.

Last year, The War On Drugs contributed a cover of Touch of Grey to a Grateful Dead covers album.

The extensive tribute collection entitled Day Of The Dead took over four years to record and compile, and featured over 60 artists including Mumford and Sons, The Flaming Lips, Courtney Barnett, Wilco, Fucked Up and The Walkmen.

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Listen to The War On Drugs' new song 'Thinking Of A Place' - NME.com

We are in the midst of a national addiction to lethal legal drugs, and the White House is attacking marijuana.

A year later, it still hurts to think of Prince, alone in an elevator, dying.

He did so much for so many and meant so much to so many, but at the end, he needed helpyet he was alone. Those closest to him knew he was so out of control that he needed professional help. The day before his death an aide called a famous drug counselor and told him to come nowa day later would be too long. They were right. Prince died before the drug counselor arrived.

Weve seen rockstar drug abuse. It seems like a natural extension of rockstar excess. But Princes situation had nothing to do with that. He died after overdosing on fentanyl, a powerful prescription opioid. Its a drug meant to block pain.

Prince was using a powerful, legal, prescription drug to address chronic hip pain, something your grandmother might be doing right now. Prince filled his life with activities unique to the superrich and megafamous, but his death was tragically commonhe was just one of the thousands who die each year because of prescription pain killers.

We have a massive national problemaccording to the American Society of Addictive Medicine, between 1999 and 2008, prescription opioid overdoses were responsible for more American deaths than heroin and cocaine combined. In 2015 the leading cause of accidental death in America was a drug overdose and almost half of those deathsabout 20,000 deathswere caused by pain relievers you can get with a prescription.

We are in the midst of a national addiction to lethal legal drugs. And what is the White House doing? Theyre attacking marijuana. Which cannot kill anyone.

The Obama administration had begun cranking down the War on Drugs by allowing states to decriminalize marijuana, commuting federal drug sentences, and visiting a prison to humanize drug inmates. But of course, President Donald Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions are cranking the War on Drugs back up.

This White House wants the police to be more aggressive and use stop-and-frisk, they want prosecutors to stringently enforce marijuana laws, they want judges to expand the use of mandatory minimum sentences, and they want to build more private prisons.

The Obama administrations drug czar, Michael Botticelli, once said, We cant incarcerate addiction out of people. But one of Sessionss top lieutenants, Steven Cook, has said, The federal criminal justice system simply is not broken. In fact, its working exactly as designed.

Sessions himself says Our nation needs to say clearly once again that using drugs is bad. It will derail your life.

Sessionss antiquated notion of drugs as purely bad and the sure path to life derailment is post-truth fearmongering straight out of Reefer Madness. It doesnt take into account the core of the modern problemopioids.

How is it morally wrong for us to take legal, prescription opioids for pain? Sessions also doesnt take into account that millions of productive Americans use illegal drugs recreationally and carefully, enjoying a joint at the end of day instead of a glass of wine.

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The majority of illegal drug users are not drug abusers and the substances are not derailing their livestheyre enriching them. Sessions also doesnt take into account that the War on Drugs has failedAmerica incarcerates more people than any nation on the planet by far while illegal drugs remain widely available, inexpensive and potent.

The War on Drugs has succeeded only in making the Mexican cartels richer than they would have been.

But maybe the War on Drugs has worked as its supposed to. Perhaps the War on Drugs is an opiate itself, meant make white people feel like theyre getting negroes under control. It declares a frightening enemythe drug-addled darkie whos liable to do anythingand a savior/hero whos here to helpthe tough white president whos sending in the troops.

The War on Drugs has given presidents, judges, and police the chance to look tough and rack up high numbers while doing nothing to actually address the drug problem.

Late in Obamas term, he earmarked more than $1 billion to combat prescription opioid abuse, but it seems like Trump and Sessions are unaware that the problem exists at all.

While theyre attacking marijuana, theyre doing nothing to address the opiate problem. This is part of the inherent madness of Trumpian thinking: instead of grappling with real problems, deal with misinformed perception.

The opioid epidemic is a huge problem in many of the counties that went for Trump. This is a life-threatening issue for many of his voters and their families. But instead of addressing the prescription drug problem, hes focused conveying the perception that hes a tough Boss Hogg type whos getting unruly weed-smoking negroes in line.

The perception may make his voters feel strong, it may make Trump look tough, it may contribute to making white people feel alpha, but it doesnt actually help anyone.

But thats the way Trump does things. The dearth of jobs is about the rise of robotization. Talking about the fiction that he can bring back coal or attacking NAFTA may make some people feel better but it doesnt address the real reasons why millions are slowly being put out of work by self-driving cars, box-carting robots, and delivery drones.

Talking about a wall and a deportation force makes Trump seem like hes tough, but immigration is at a net negative and real solutions will require business owners like Trump to on shore operations no matter what it does to the bottom line.

Trump is all about dealing with false perceptions while ignoring real problems. Hes good at making his supporters feel better without actually delivering anything. If Trump himself were a drug hed be a pill that does nothing to deal with the actual problem but is effective in blocking pain. (That pill would only work in white people who watch Fox News, but thats another story.)

If you took that Trump pill, youd feel better for a little while. Youd see America returning to the 1950s right in front of your eyes, but in reality, nothing is happening. Sounds like he wouldnt be an opioid at allhed be an hallucinogen.

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How the War on Drugs Failed Prince - Daily Beast

Its not clear that legalize it will help much of anyone other than rich white entrepreneurs and affluent tokers.

The news last May was unambiguous: in Colorado, which legalized recreational marijuana in 2012, pot-related arrests were down 8 percent for white adolescents aged 10 to 17 between that year and 2014, and up 58 percent for black and Latino youth the same age, according to the Colorado Department of Public Safety. The growing theme of legalization is and was clear: leniency and riches for Steve, continued prison for LaQuan.

The report set of a mini wave of stories and posts, but little else.

Legalization remains a popular idea61 percent of Americans support it according to a recent CBS News poll, and 88 percent support legalizing medical marijuana use. Seven states plus the District of Columbia allow the possession of marijuana for recreational use. A total of 29 allow medical dispensation. And the industry is on track to rake in $20 billion in sales by 2021.

But with the ongoing criminalization of people of color, including children and teenagers, for whom possession remains illegal in states like Colorado, plus the general black-brown lockout from dispensary business, its not clear that legalize it will help much of anyone other than rich white entrepreneurs and affluent tokers. Colorados racial disparity in arrests is echoed in Washington State and elsewhere, where the pre- and post-legalization rates of arrests of white and black defendants havent changed much at all.

Most states bar anyone with the felony drug conviction from getting the licenses needed to sell cannabis legally, meaning the brothers on the corner who perfected pot entrepreneurship get to stay on the corner and watch slick players flush with Silicon Valley cash sweep into their state and take over the dispensary business, while trying not to get arrested. And as the industry grows, it develops its own imperatives to crack down on the illegal dealers, to keep them from undercutting their prices. And thus, the high-end dispensaries become allied with the police in cracking down on the very people legalization was supposed to save.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has an attorney general, Jefferson Sessions, whose obsession with punishing people for marijuana sale and use is second only to his fixation on rinsing the country clean of dusky immigrants. Massachusetts attorney general Maura Healey recently said of Sessions: I think if you go back and you look at any number of the statements that hes made, the positions that hes taken, he spends a tremendous amount of time focused on marijuana, where as a matter of law enforcement, where I see the issues right now, where I see the problems, are with fentanyl and heroin. And thats not likely to change. Sessions, after all, thinks theres little difference between weed and heroin.

In Colorado, like most states, drug arrests are driven by people calling 911, which is still more common when the person suspected is black or Hispanic, and neighborhood patrols remain more frequent in heavily minority neighborhoods. Convenient at a time with the attorney general is also aggressively rolling back police reform.

Our present Fox News age, where the depiction of black and brown people as a mass of gangsters and would-be felons is par for the course, and grotesque racism and physical threats against the first black president gets you a visit to the Oval Office, it is, I suppose, an awkward time to bring up rolling back the war on drugs. The collective sympathy the country has learned toward the rural cast of Hillbilly Elegy has yet to be learned regarding the kid from Compton or Detroit who sells weed to be able to afford a decent pair of sneakers to go to school in.

Democrats, meanwhile, have been the picture of caution when it comes to marijuana legalization, which isnt helpful, given that study after study shows that their bases children are far more likely to be targeted by the criminal justice system for marijuana possession than white Americans children, despite the two having equal rates of drug use.

Drug related arrests account for a quarter of those imprisoned in the U.S. each year, and marijuana possession charges make up roughly half of drug arrests. And that has far reaching implications for everything from the ability to get employment after release to, in some states, the right to vote.

I grew up in Denver, Colorado, and have watched from a distance as it has transformed from a cool, quiet Western city to a boomtown on the back of legal weed. And the faces of those who are profiting, and driving up rents and real estate prices in the process, dont look like those in the mostly black suburb I grew up in, or like those in Five Points, the onetime downtown ghetto thats now a chichi destination for fancy hipster living.

We have a drug problem in the United States, and it isnt people who smoke weed. Its the fact that weed is about to become just another source of obscene corporate profits and racial disparity in a country that already has too much of both.

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The War on Drugs Is Far From Over for Minorities - Daily Beast

The origins of the drug war and its effects on American culture will be explored in the upcoming docuseries Americas War on Drugs, slated to air on A+E Networks-owned channel History.

The (860) docuseries from producers Talos Films is a trip through the last five decades looking at how the CIAs obsession with keeping America safe in the fight against communism, partnered itself with the mafia and foreign drug traffickers. In exchange for support against foreign enemies, the groups were allowed to grow their drug trade in the U.S.

With firsthand accounts of former CIA and DEA officers, major drug traffickers, gang members, noted experts and insiders, the series explores the consequences of gangsters, war lords, spies, outlaw entrepreneurs, street gangsters and politicians who tried to control the worldwide black market for narcotics.

The four-night series premieres June 18 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on History.

Americas War on Drugsis produced for History by Talos Films.Julian P. Hobbs, Elli Hakamiand Anthony Lapp are executive producers for Talos.Michael Stilleris executive producer forHistory.

A+E Networks holds worldwide distribution rights for Americas War on Drugs.

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Realscreen Archive America's War on Drugs slated for History - Realscreen

New York Times

The Playlist: The War on Drugs and Lana Del Rey Deliver Two Kinds of Reveries New York Times The War on Drugs' first release since 2014 is an 11-minute reverie, split into two parts for a Record Store Day vinyl single. Adam Granduciel sings about dreams, journeys and love over a steady, leisurely strum through two and later three chords. What ... and more »

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The Playlist: The War on Drugs and Lana Del Rey Deliver Two Kinds of Reveries - New York Times

People attend Drug Addiction 101 Thursday at Global Arts Manitowoc.(Photo: Alisa M. Schafer/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)Buy Photo

MANITOWOC -While many believe the "War on Drugs"is ongoing, Lt. Dave Remiker said the war has already been lost and it is time to start thinking of different solutions for drug addiction.

Remiker heads the Manitowoc County Metro Drug Unit and spent Thursday night talking about drug addiction in Manitowoc to an enthusiastic crowd as part of the Drug Addiction 101 event at Global Arts Manitowoc. He said in his 24 years in law enforcement almost half of it spent in narcotics the drug problem has never been worse than it is now.

Me and my investigators,who I have the utmost gratitude for, we cant do it alone, Remiker said. We are not going to arrest our way out of this problem. We need your help, we need the employers help, we need the community, we need the mayor, we need the police chief, we need the public defenders office, we need the district attorney, we need the jail and the jail administrator. We need all of you to fix this problem, trust me. That is how big this problem is.

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While he acknowledged he and the Metro Drug Unit playan important role in enforcing drug laws, the drug problem itself likely wont get any better until people start to accept drug addicts into the community.

There is a stigma attached to drug addiction and until that changes and we start accepting these individuals as members of our community, who can provide a service, who can provide friendships, who can provide a sense of belonging and a sense of being recognized and that sense of being cared about, Remiker said.

He said he used to struggle with his own way of thinking about drug addicts. He used to believe drug addicts made the choice to use and abuse drugs and they could make the choice to stop if they wanted. However, after working with narcotics in local law enforcement, he said hebelieves addiction is a disease and needs to be treated as such.

Remiker said the difference in support, such as health insurance and social connections, for drug addicts is not nearly as strong as it is for people with cancer. He said he believes addicts need to be supported in a similar way by the community if they are going to have a chance at turning their lives around.

Are we fighting the drugs, or are we fighting the way people think? he asked the crowd. Are we fighting the drugs, or are we fighting the mental health issues that people have that get them into drug addiction?

According to Remiker, Manitowoc is unique because the people who live in the communities care and they want to do things differently. He said increasingthe mental health network would have the biggest impact in treating Manitowocs drug problem.

We have such a shortage of mental health counseling and such a shortage of mental health funding in our community and in every single community that we live in, Remiker said. When we start fixing that problem, the drugs are no longer going to be the problem.

Two other events are scheduled in the Drug Addiction 101 series, one on April 27 and the other on May 4. Manitowoc County Coroner Curt Green will speak about his experience April 27 and the third event will feature the Manitowoc County EMT First Responder Units.

For both events, the doors open at 6 p.m. and the program begins at 7 p.m.

Global Arts Manitowoc is at 702 York St., Manitowoc.

Alisa M. Schafer: 920-686-2105 or aschafer@gannett.com

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Remiker: Manitowoc's 'War on Drugs' already lost - Herald Times Reporter

HOW satisfied do you feel when you see a big drug bust on the nightly news? Wow, we've finally defeated those drug barons. It's the end of illicit drug use as we know it, hooray!

Of course that's rubbish. At best it probably generates a few of seconds "good job boys" before you go back to your dinner. A blaise response like that makes sense because going on history, it's just another boatload of junk in a sea of illegal substances out there.

For all its good intentions, the legislation in place to tackle illegal drugs, only seem to be making things worse.

That's because there is no end to it and believing "the law" will eventually catch up with all the bad guys one day belongs in some Charles Bronson movie.

It's time to face the fact that people are always going to want drugs, including the illegal ones, which means there will always be a market for it, and no amount of taxpayer-funded policing will even put a dent in it, let alone stop it completely.

What may help alleviate the illegal drug problem is changing its culture completely. But first we have to admit the current laws and the way we respond to drug use in society isn't working or helpful as a long term solution.

Imagine if these illegal drugs, starting with the garden varieties like cannabis and working through to the more sinister like ice, were decriminalised for users and issued in a controlled environment rather than by dealers.

These drugs would be made to pharmaceutical standards rather than by shonky backyard operators creating a white market to water down the big black one already in existence. Taxes are paid, the revenue perhaps invested back into drug counselling to get to the root of why people use drugs in the first place.

A recent Thinktank report proposes this line of thinking rather than our current plan of attack which punishes users (who are not one size fits all), confiscate drugs using limited police resources (which just increases demand and price) and try to catch and prosecute those sneaky dealers (whose place is swiftly taken by another enterprising one if busted).

The prospect of decriminalising hard drugs scares people because the first thought is that now EVERYONE will start taking them. Who your grandma? Your eight-year-old nephew? It's not like they are going to be sold in vending machines on every street corner, that kinda happens now but you just don't see it.

It also won't lead to more people dropping out of society. Chronic drug users are not the same people as recreational drug users. It's a nuanced world out there so the one-size-fits-all user's approach isn't going to help those people at the bottom of the drug pile.

The heavy hand of the law isn't what they need, it's a helping one.

Chronic drug users are usually products of abusive environments, victims of heinous situations looking for dependency on something that makes them feel good. Legalising drugs won't increase this demographic, they are always going to be there, but changing the way we deal with this will help save their lives through monitoring and support, not through dodgy deals with people who don't give an iota about them.

Recreational drug users are a different breed. Working people who might like to party to a different beat than that bottle of bourbon you are allowed to have.

So where's a good starting point for a trial decriminalisation? How about the music festival?

Can you believe in Germany there are 17 drug consumption centres around the country supported by police? Yep, that means they are consumed with trained staff around and if all goes well they can be on their merry way. Pills are also tested for quality beforehand so the 'customer' can be sure the stuff they are taking is "legit" and not laced with some cheap or lethal chemical filler.

Apparently this program is so effective some customers who discover their gear is not top notch or at least what they paid for, are returning it to their dealer to criticise its quality after testing. Almost laughable really.

This is what is happening according to former Federal Police Commissioner Mick Palmer who talked about the Thinktank report in a recent radio interview and how these kinds of trials were having an enormous effect on the drug scene by "changing the environment and minimising the harm".

He said doing something like this would not encourage more people to take drugs or drop out of of society. "Most (chronic drug users) were already unemployed, suffer from mental illness and come from dysfunctional backgrounds. Drugs are symptoms of people looking for relief from that dysfunction."

Mr Palmer said he started his policing with traditional views but later realised what they were doing was futile.

"They can't arrest their way out of this problem."

So head-sand dwelling politicans and members of society, what's it going to take to consider the advice from people like former police commissioners and the Thinktank report and start seriously looking at what we want our drug scene to look like in 10, 20, 50 years.

You can see it's not just the looney lefties who want to see change. Even blind drunk Freddy can see it's not working. So too can former premiers from both camps, Jeff Kennett and Bob Carr.

"What we've been doing for 30 years hasn't worked... the conversations are getting tired, something needs to change. We need a champion to articulate a case for legalisation and turn the report into constructive positive outcomes," Mr Kennett said.

Throw in the support of a former supreme court judge and you have to wonder why politicians and society continue to keep going down the same dysfunctional path.

Is it because our idea of solving it is to just carry on arresting the odd drug dealer and festival-goer and let nature take its course on the 'useless junkie'? And the politicians just tow that line.

What a rethinking of the laws will do is ensure young people, your children, their friends, and people who like to party at the weekends don't pay the ultimate price because we want to pretend it's only chronic users who overdose on illegal drugs and stopping drugs is down the police and only the police.

Good luck with that.

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The war on drugs is a losing battle - Clarence Valley Daily Examiner

Rachael Leigh Cook, who starred in the 1997 version of the "This Is Your Brain on Drugs" PSA, appears in a new video for 4/20 that spoofs the ad's frying pan and egg motif to highlight the devastating effects of the war on drugs, especially on minority communities.

In her original spot, Cook used a frying pan to bash an egg and destroy a kitchen to show what happens to a person's brain and life if they use heroin. The new clip from Green Point Creative opens with Cook holding a white egg and explaining that it represents one of the millions of Americans who uses drugs but never gets arrested. She then picks up a brown egg and says, "This American is several times more likely to be charged with a drug crime."

Cook goes on to narrate an animated sequence in which the brown egg is arrested and filtered through the criminal justice system, only to be continually whacked by a skillet on the outside. The narrative touches on the way felony drug convictions often hinder peoples' job prospects and preclude them from receiving financial aid to return to school.

"The war on drugs is ruining peoples' lives," Cook says, holding up a pan smeared with yolk. "It fuels mass incarceration, it targets people of color in greater numbers than their white counter parts. It cripples communities, it costs billions, and it doesn't work. Any questions?"

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Watch Rachael Leigh Cook Remake 'Brain on Drugs' Ad for 4/20 ... - RollingStone.com

Stars and Stripes

Were peasant farmers poisoned by the US war on drugs? Stars and Stripes During a two-week trial in Washington that ended Tuesday, a lawsuit against McLean, Virginia-based DynCorp probed one of the bitter legacies of America's long war against Latin American cartels and its own insatiable drug appetite. The mostly peasant ...

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Were peasant farmers poisoned by the US war on drugs? - Stars and Stripes