Category Archives: War On Drugs

The War On Drugs have shared a final preview of their imminent new album I Dont Live Here Anymore listen to Change below.

The bands new record comes out on Friday (October 29) via Atlantic, and has previously been teased by its title track, whichfollowed on fromthe LPs first single Living Proof, while the band have also been sharing snippets of other tracks.

Listen to the new song, which sees vocalist and bandleader Adam Granduciel navigating the difficulties of changing as a person, below:

In a new interview with NME ahead of the release of the new album, Granduciel discussed the idea of growth and acceptance.

He said: I think theres an affirmation almost in understanding youre not perfect. Nobody is. you understand that you may be flawed, but you also understand what is true and important and at the end of the day only certain things really matter.

Granduciel also talked about how having his first child affected working on new music. Watching my son twist knobs, plug stuff in, play synths or harmonica it made me realise that this was something I was passing down, he said.

It reminded me that at any level the music should be filled with wonder. I was filled with that myself trying to get to the heart of a song on this record. When you find it, it excites you and you cant stop thinking about it.

The War On Drugs will tour I Dont Live Here Anymore in the UK and Ireland in April 2022 you can check out their forthcoming live dates below and find tickets here.

April 202211 O2 Academy, Birmingham12 The O2, London14 3Arena, Dublin16 First Direct Arena, Leeds18 Corn Exchange, Edinburgh

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The War On Drugs share Change, the final preview of their new album - NME

Richard Lewis is right to reiterate forcefully the call to treat our nationwide drug epidemic as a public health crisis, rather than a criminal justice problem (As a chief constable, Ive seen enough: its time to end the war on drugs, 22 October).

Heroin-assisted treatment, proving successful in countering the excesses of heroin dependency in Middlesbrough, could, if widely adopted, tear the rug from under the feet of criminal suppliers, with all the dangers of crime, violence, adulteration of drugs and uncertainty of dosage that criminal supply entails. That criminal supply results in thousands of deaths every year among users whose lives have already been blighted by childhood abuse, family breakdowns, poverty and mental health issues.

My son Kevin died of a heroin overdose in 2017. He was funny, intelligent, a skilled worker and artist, with a lot to offer to society. But he was also the victim of a flawed care system in early childhood and of inadequate mental health assistance in dealing with childhood trauma. Heroin was his self-medication. Unable to avoid the stigma of criminality, to access the right sort of help, and to be sure of a safe supply, heroin came to dominate and to endanger his life.

I disagree with Richard Lewis about the benefits of highly publicised drugs seizures and the expensive policing that merely interrupts criminal supply for a few days. A much more effective, safer and cheaper alternative would be the legal regulation of supply, as we already have with more dangerous drugs such as alcohol and tobacco.Pat HudsonEmeritus professor, Cardiff University

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The war on drugs kills thousands of people like my son every year - The Guardian

If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, call 211 or visit 211maine.org.

Penobscot County is home to the highest percentage of Maines drug trafficking cases this year, a figure that has nearly doubled over the past two years, according to data from the states court system.

Its another sign of how the states deadly drug problem continues to take a disproportionate toll on Penobscot County, which has also seen overdose deaths rise more quickly during the COVID-19 pandemic than elsewhere in Maine.

The countys share of drug trafficking cases this year is nearly double its share of Maines population.

While Penobscot Countys disproportionate share of overdose deaths and problems with addiction arent new, theres no apparent explanation for why the county has seen such a pronounced rise in illegal drug activity, according to prosecutors and law enforcement officials.

But one thing they are sure about is the amount of drugs and money being seized is higher than it ever has been, with out-of-state dealers coming into the state as major players in drug distribution networks.

So far this year, 22 percent of the drug trafficking and aggravated drug trafficking cases in Maine have been filed at the Penobscot Judicial Center in Bangor, according to the judiciary. In 2019, that figure was 13 percent, a percentage closer to Penobscot Countys share of 11 percent of Maines population.

Penobscot County had seen 16 percent of the states overdose deaths this year through the end of August, according to data compiled by the Maine Attorney Generals office and the states Office of Behavioral Health. That compared with 19 percent of the states overdose deaths last year, and 14 percent in 2019.

2020 was the deadliest year yetin the opioid epidemic in Maine, and 2021 is on track to be even deadlier.

Public health specialists have linked the increase in overdose deaths in part to fentanyl a synthetic opioid thats 100 times more potent than morphine being cut into a greater variety of drugs. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the workings of addiction recovery programs that rely on in-person meetings and in-person accountability measures such as medication counts and urine testing.

Fentanyl was barely visible on Maines drug scene in 2018, when Peter Arno left his job as commander of the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency in the counties north of Augusta to work in the family business. He returned to his old position early this year to find just about everything about drug trafficking in Maine had changed.

Heroin doesnt exist any more. Its been replaced by fentanyl, he said recently. Addiction hasnt gone away but the sources have changed. In 2018, we dismantled 100 meth labs. They are virtually non-existent now.

The amount of drugs and cash being seized also is much higher than it was three years ago, he said. Dealers who used to sell one drug now sell three or four different illegal drugs at a time.

Theres 10 times the profit margin today and with an opportunity for that much money, the rewards outweigh the risks for the out-of-state suppliers, Arno said.

The rise in the volume of drugs seized since the first of the year in Penobscot County is higher than in other counties, according to the Maine attorney generals office, which oversees the prosecution of drug trafficking cases.

There has been both an increase in the number of seizures and the quantity of drugs involved, according to the attorney generals office. Investigations that led to the seizure of more than 200 grams, nearly half a pound, used to be rare, occurring maybe a few times a year. They are now occurring on a monthly basis.

There are also regular, almost weekly, seizures of 50 grams, nearly two ounces, which also are significant.

One recent example of a large seizure took place July 28during a raid on a Hermon garage the MDEA had been investigating for drug activity over the previous three months. Two of the six people arrested are part of a drug trafficking ring based in Detroit, Michigan, according to court documents. The other four allegedly were obtaining drugs for distribution in Hancock County.

Investigators seized from the garage and apartment on Cedarbrook Road 4 pounds of fentanyl, three-quarters of a pound of methamphetamine and more than 3 ounces of crack cocaine. Agents also found $19,000 in cash, a loaded AK-47 rifle and two loaded semi-automatic handguns.

Theres a susceptible population in Penobscot County for drug dealers to reach out to, because there are drug treatment and mental health services available in Greater Bangor that arent as widely available in northern and Down East Maine, theorized defense lawyer David Bate of Bangor, who has represented people charged with drug trafficking.

When people leave those programs, they often have the same problems that caused them to come to Bangor in the first place, he said.

The lawyer also said that there needs to be more emphasis on treatment in the criminal justice system, especially for those convicted of Class A aggravated trafficking, which carries a mandatory four-year minimum sentence.

I dont know if prosecutors in Penobscot County are charging aggravated trafficking where other counties would not, he said, but if the present system where the emphasis is on four years minimum incarceration without adequate treatment resources before and after arrest was working, then we would not be having this conversation.

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Penobscot County is ground zero in Maine's war on drugs - Bangor Daily News

Album:I Don't Live Here Anymore

Artist:The War on Drugs

Label:Atlantic Records

Genre:Rock

Theres something so charming about the phrase dad rock, not least for its un-cooling of sacred cows like Steely Dan, Eric Clapton and Bruce Springsteen as air guitar fodder for white dads who reminisce about the days when bands were bands, man.

Its that nostalgic lilt that tars Pennsylvanian band The War On Drugs with the same brush, albeit a more modern take on the classic dad figure. This is a band that loves the heartland slant of Springsteen (singer Adam Granduciels son is named Bruce), channels Dylans vocal inflection to the point of imitation, and yet manages to do the impossible and transcend the impersonation to achieve something genuinely special. Since being formed in 2005 by Granduciel and Kurt Vile (who left the band shortly after the release of their first album in 2008), theyve barely put a foot wrong. Their sequence of albums shows a band improving with every release, earning them a Best Rock Album Grammy in 2017 for their fourth record, A Deeper Understanding.

I Dont Live Here Anymore, the bands fifth studio record, continues to mine greatness from this well; lustrous synths envelop soaring guitars, drums keep time like their lives depend on it, and Granduciel is as elegiac as ever a master of penning the saddest lyrics youll ever hear belted out in a stadium. But theres a hint of change in the air; songs build towards tight pop choruses, cutting back on the luscious ambling that made tracks like 2014s Under The Pressure (upwards of eight minutes passing by in a flash) so alluring. There are more vocal harmonies, the lyrics are direct, and theres a newfound sense of restraint that, for the most part, is illuminating.

A simply strummed acoustic guitar on Living Proof conjures the coffee house folk of Granduciels heroes as he laments the changing face of his city I went down to my corner, theyve been building up my block the lure of a mournful, glittering guitar solo eventually winning out, the band never too far out of reach.

The title track recruits Brooklyn four-piece Lucius in its anthemic chorus that will make good value of even the cheapest seats. Harmonias Dream blends their signature propulsive synths and audacious guitars, while I Dont Wanna Wait, funnily enough, asks for patience through its slow-burning, vocoded, 80s-fever-dream opening. But when those drums arrive, hard and heavy, they signal something great to come.

I Dont Live Here Anymore is a turning point for The War On Drugs towards a more structured sound. While youd miss the indulgence of the odd 10-minute track, these tighter tunes will have even the weariest of legs upstanding.

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The War On Drugs: I Don't Live Here Anymore A turning point - The Irish Times

When I first met Andy, I got the sense that he hadnt been born at all but rather quarried out of a mountainside: a big man with a warm smile who, as we spoke, was injecting medical-grade heroin into a line in his lower leg. As a serving chief constable, this was one of the more unusual introductions Ive made with a member of the community.

Andy must have sensed my confusion at his apparent health and physical stature for a person on the heroin-assisted treatment programme in Middlesbrough, the first of its kind in England and Wales. Heroin doesnt make you skinny, he said. Its just that heroin comes first and last and theres never any money left for food. Thats why addicts are thin.

If the war on drugs, first declared a full 50 years ago, has an established fighting front, its Andys home town of Middlesbrough. The latest statistics from 2020 show that 123 people died from drug-related deaths on Teesside the highest number since figures have been collated, and one of the highest rates in the country. Across England and Wales, there were more than 4,500 drug-related deaths in the same 12 months.

The vast majority of those deaths would have been entirely preventable. In 21 years of police service I have slowly, perhaps too slowly, come to the conclusion that framing this crisis as a criminal justice problem has not simply been unhelpful, but counterproductive. This nationwide epidemic is a public health crisis.

Having said that, if its to be labelled as a problem, perhaps its best characterised as a political one. It must be recognised how hard it is for mainstream parties to initiate a conversation on drugs policy reform when votes are often won by being tough on crime. I agree with the sentiment, but there are different ways of achieving this. Some early advocates for reform do exist across the political divide, including MPs Crispin Blunt (Conservative) and Jeff Smith (Labour), but there is a growing appetite beyond Westminster to fundamentally reconsider our response.

In my time as Clevelands chief constable, we have increased the number of stop and searches and seen a large increase in the amount of illicit drugs seized Im proud of this. Stop and search can have an impact and ensure that vulnerable people are safeguarded. Likewise, closing cannabis farms can work: not only are drugs seized and gang members jailed, we safeguard those left to farm the cannabis who are often trafficked into the UK.

However, working alone as a single agency has had little impact on the problem as a whole. The production of heroin in Afghanistan, and cocaine in South America, has increased; organised crime activity and violence is at an historic high; and deaths continue to rise.

If we are to be serious about tackling this crisis, a fundamental change of approach is required. The governments response to Carol Blacks independent drugs review proposes a cross-departmental drugs unit and reinvestment in treatment services that were cut during the years of austerity. The reinvestment is a particularly welcome recommendation and is a prerequisite to reducing deaths.

Most of us have allowed the message on drugs being bad (which they clearly are) to be conflated with addicts themselves being bad simply for using drugs. Let me be clear: some of the most odious and evil acts Ive encountered in my police service have been perpetrated by drug addicts; but this is not universally true. Many, like Andy in Middlesbrough, have made bad choices in their lives but by helping people like him, we help ourselves.

Andy is now on the path to stabilisation, supported by Danny Ahmed, a visionary who runs the treatment programme in the town. Danny explains that it required a brave set of people two years ago to sign off on his plan to give heroin to addicts. But viewing drug dependency as a chronic health condition, as Danny does, allows us to view the problem through a different prism: we would not hesitate to help patients manage other conditions that require ongoing medication.

As Danny explains, the patients are given diamorphine, the same drug that pregnant women often receive during labour to manage pain. Most people feel differently about his programme when this is explained. While watching Andys syringe being prepared (during which time hes not allowed to be in the room) I asked the nurse what would happen to me if I took the diamorphine. So high is the dosage, Im told it would probably kill me.

Andy chats happily as he prepares to self-administer the diamorphine in what amounts to a doctors surgery. He doesnt fall back in a stupor on to a dirty mattress, as depicted in Hollywood movies, nor does he lose consciousness. At all points hes lucid and talkative. Andy and the others on the programme do this twice a day, every day of the year: a phenomenal commitment for people who are used to living chaotic lives.

Andy invites me to stay for a cup of tea. He talks about a difficult upbringing in one of the poorest towns in England but acknowledges that not all those who have a difficult start in life end up abusing heroin. The ruinous path to addiction started as a means to fit in and fill a void in his life.

The programme has meant his life has stabilised, hes rebuilding relationships with family members, and can look with confidence to the future. I understand that youve got a job to do, he almost pitifully suggests, before tailing off from the sentence with the futility of the polices work to stamp out drug abuse all too evident.

The heroin-assisted treatment programme offers hope, if scaled up on a national level, that demand for heroin can be cut. When the state offers a meaningful alternative to the street drugs that can be bought from organised crime groups, the demand for them decreases. What remains to be seen is how organised crime groups will adapt to plug a huge drop in profits.

Middlesbrough, a town so often discussed as a problematic area with problematic people, could possibly represent the beginning of the end for the war on drugs that has already taken too many lives.

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As a chief constable, Ive seen enough: its time to end the war on drugs - The Guardian

As anyone who is involved in drug policy can tell you, Afghanistan wasn't really America's longest war. That shady honor belongs to the war on drugs, which has been waged at the state, local, and federal levels for well over a century, even before President Richard Nixon officially declared in 1971 that he was starting "an all-out offensive" on the "drug abuse" he called "America's public enemy number one."

Yet it's obvious that the drug war is in fact winding down. In the 1990s, medical marijuana was legalized in various states. Now 16 states have legalized recreational marijuana, with more to come. Last fall, nine out of nine drug legalization or decriminalization measures passed at the ballot box, the use of MDMA to treat PTSD is in final clinical trials with the Food and Drug Administration, and there is an increasingly visible cultural shift that is welcoming to psychedelics and other mind-expanding substances. This November, LSD even comes to that safest of all cultural playgrounds, Broadway, with the musical Flying Over Sunset, a fictional account of a meeting between novelist Aldous Huxley, playwright/ambassador Clare Boothe Luce, and movie star Cary Grant, all of whom experimented with psychedelics in the late 1950s and early '60s.

Nick Gillespie's guest is the one person in the best position to explain and interpret the country's shifting attitudes toward drug prohibition and drug use. He's Ethan Nadelmann, the 64-year-old founder and former head of the Drug Policy Alliance, one of the oldest and most effective outfits fighting for pharmacological freedom. A former college professor who taught political science, Nadelmann brings together an academic's rigor and depth of knowledge with an activist's sense of urgency and energy (read a 1994 Reason interview with him conducted by Jacob Sullum).

Over the years, Nadelmann has allied and sparred with everyone across the political spectrum to make drug policy more humane and less punitive while also talking up the positives of responsible drug use. You can listen to him on his new weekly podcast Psychoactive, where recent guests have included psychedelic enthusiast and best-selling author Tim Ferriss, leading psychotherapist and psychopharmacologist Julie Holland, integrative medicine guru Andrew Weil, and advice columnist Dan Savage on "sex, drugs, and freedom."

This is a great and rollicking conversation about the past 50 years of drug laws and drug cultureand what comes next as America oh-so-slowly starts pulling out of its longest war.

Photo: Gage Skidmore.

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Ethan Nadelmann: How To End the Drug War (and What Comes Next) - Reason

The War on Drugs perform a concert at Verti Music Hall Berlin in 2018. Photo: Andrea Friedrich / Redferns

The Chronicles guide to notable new music.

The follow-up to A Deeper Understanding, the 2017 Grammy winner for best rock album, I Dont Live Here Anymore was written over the course of three years. The typically expansive lineup of players was mostly pared down to frontman Adam Granduciel, bassist Dave Hartley and multi-instrumentalist Anthony LaMarca in a series of New York and Los Angeles sessions at iconic rock n roll studios like Electric Lady and Electro-Vox. The Philadelphia band continues to follow the groundwork set forth by influential mainstays like Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty: Harmonia channels the Boss, with Granduciels jean-jacket-rugged vocals, while the arena rock riffs of I Dont Live Here Anymore invoke a spirit of adventurousness, a feeling of sticking with your compatriots through less than stellar days.

I keep coming back to it as a record of movement, Granduciel said of the album in a statement. Of pushing forward, of trying to realize that version of our most fulfilled life, in spite of forces at every turn pushing down and trying to break you.

On their latest release for David Byrnes Luaka Bop label, the Danish experimental jazz duo of pianist Morten McCoy and bassist Jonathan Bremer make immersive music thats a splendid fit for a humble evening indoors. In fact, the albums title means night in Danish, and the celestial quality of these songs is a mighty salve. The album was recorded direct to tape to preserve the spirit of inspiration and improvisation, and songs like the gently embracing Gratitude offer the listener a chance to reflect and ruminate at the end of the day.

Cross, as exhilarating of a tuba player as youll find in the business, is an integral part of the resurgent London jazz movement. He breathed new life into the instrument and its applications on his 2019 debut Fyah, and embarked on new frontiers as a member of Sons of Kemet on one of this years best albums, the incredible Black to the Future.

On his sophomore release, he presents interpolations of the tuba with electronic beats for a nuanced take on Afro-futurist jazz. Forward Progression II is an ode to both Caribbean dancehall riddims and his late father. The Spiral (featuring Rudimental vocalist Afronaut Zu and saxophonist-pianist Ahnans) paces along masterfully as Cross shows how deeply the tuba can affect modern jazz composition.

Cross is an essential sideman for many of London jazzs current luminaries, and he shows on INTRA-I that hes a force to be reckoned with as a bandleader himself.

From 2002 to 2005, Verve Records released three albums in the Verve Remixed series, a highly successful effort in presenting music from the labels iconic catalog reimagined by electronic-leaning contemporary artists: Think Nina Simone remixed by the Postal Service and Astrud Gilberto by Thievery Corporation.

In the same spirit, Verve releases Feeling Good: Her Greatest Hits & Remixes on Oct. 29, an album featuring Simones greatest hits plus seven additional remixes by notable DJs. The New York City duo Sofi Tukkers version of Sinnerman, which has been given the dance music treatment countless times, is an apt introduction to the new project and a testament to the timelessness and influence of Simones music.

One of The Chronicles Best Bay Area albums of 2020, Temple saw songwriter Thao Nguyen prying deeper into the roots of her identity as a Queer woman of Vietnamese descent, an ongoing process for Nguyen. (Shes spent time peeling back the layers of familial construction on her two most recent albums, including 2016s A Man Alive.) This deluxe edition of Temple features acoustic and string arrangement versions of the tracks How Could I, Marauders, Marrow and Temple. On Marrow Strings Version, the music takes on a symphonic quality with lush classical strings. Its hard not to place yourself on the streets of Vietnam, where Nguyens mother is from, when hearing this operatic soundtrack, which serves to deepen the imagery of her mothers journey, already present on every moment of the album.

When Geographers Michael Deni left San Francisco in 2018, he did it respectfully, with a memorable goodbye show at the Fillmore, filled with love for his home for the past 14 years. He was an integral figure in the citys indie-pop movement in the 2010s and an even more important artist in the local live music circuit.

When I first moved here, it was so open and loving, he told The Chronicle before the move. I wouldnt have achieved what I achieved here somewhere else.

Deni has been in Los Angeles ever since, and he has an album scheduled to drop Nov. 12 called Down and Out in the Garden of Earthly Delights. The final track is called Peripheral Vision, and it brims with the liveliness that San Francisco came to adore. Its a heavy indie-pop number, with flourishing synths and Denis magical voice pointing the way on his voyage.

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Listen: Sofi Tukker remixes Nina Simone, and the War on Drugs channels the Boss - SF Chronicle Datebook

It reminds me of my friend Dara Mody, whose family was destroyed when his colony (Gulbarg Society) was attacked by a violent mob in Gujarat, 2002. The society were targeted because its residents were predominantly Muslims, people of another community. This was apparently an outrage, reaction to an incident that happened miles away, and in no way connected to these people. Azhar (Daras son) went missing that day and has still not been found. Dara is not the same man anymore.

I went on to make Parzania, based on this unfortunate reality.

Some 20 years later, I ask myself, how different was that, than what is happening today. People are still being targeted, punished. Is it because they are of a different community, religion? Or is it because they dont toe the line?

There are many things I admire about SRK. The one quality that stands out most is his kindness. He is very genuine, polite, well-mannered and extremely respectful towards others and maybe thats the reason why he is who he is and where he is. Not just grounded but loved worldwide, an ambassador of culture, an icon and inspiration to many.

That is why it makes me wonder why only a handful of people from our industry are speaking out in his support. Maybe they believe in what they are seeing, or maybe it is their fear. Fear of crossing paths with the people in power. Fear, because they are vulnerable. Fear of being socially attacked.

That brings me to Raees, the one film in which I worked with SRK. The hate attacks on SRK started around 2013-2014. Thats also the time I met him for Raees. By the time we released the film, it was 2017. A lot had changed by then. The mood of the country was very different. An unfortunate dastardly attack on our brave-hearts happened in J&K, followed by our counter across the border. The sentiments were soaring high and elections were around the corner

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Declare a war on drugs but why are places known for drug culture left out? - National Herald

Colombias most wanted drug lord is behind bars awaiting extradition to the US, after what the countrys president hailed as the biggest blow against the drug trade in 20 years.

Until his capture at the weekend, Dairo Antonio suga better known as Otoniel headed Colombias feared Clan del Golfo cartel, a criminal empire that oversees the production and smuggling of unknown tons of cocaine, as well as extortion rackets, illegal mining operations and arms smuggling.

But his arrest will have little impact on those living on the frontlines of the drug war.

Nothing is going to change; when one leader gets captured, another rises to power, said Carlos Pez, a human rights defender in the Urab region the main stronghold of the 2,000-person armed cartel.

Pez, like many others in the region, has received many death threats from the Clan del Golfo, also known as the Urabeos or the Gaitanist Self-Defense Forces of Colombia.

Weve always been subjected to these groups, and forced to collaborate or keep quiet, said Pez. Absolutely nothing will change.

Colombia remains the worlds top producer of cocaine, churning out about 1,228 metric tons of the drug last year, according to the United Nations office on drugs and crime. That figure comes amid an overall decrease in the cultivation of coca, the key plant ingredient used to make cocaine suggesting that cartels have become more efficient manufacturers.

suga is just the latest in a long line of kingpins to be killed or captured across the Americas.

When Colombias most notorious cocaine kingpin, Pablo Escobar, was gunned down in 1993, cocaine output briefly dipped, before reaching new highs.

After Mexico extradited the drug lord Joaqun El Chapo Guzmn following his capture in 2016, the country set new records for murder, while the flow of drugs to the US and Europe was hardly affected.

In no way does this arrest represent a victory in the war on drugs, said Pedro Piedrahita Bustamante, a professor of political science at the University of Medelln. suga is a visible face, just one node of a network that operates in different parts of the world.

Any victory claimed by the government was in the field of public relations, rather than on the battlefield, Piedrahita said.

International criminal networks are flexible, and they are not always pyramid-structured, he said. But this could cause internal wars in the network that would lead to more violence in parts of the country.

Candidates to replace suga will hardly be in short supply. Like many other Colombian drug bosses, he cut his teeth in the countrys 50-year civil war, where myriad armed groups have simultaneously pursued ideological goals and drug wealth.

Originally a foot soldier in the Maoist Popular Liberation Army (EPL) guerrilla group, he switched sides to join a far-right paramilitary faction, Crdoba and Urab Peasant Defense Forces (ACCU).

When that group officially disbanded, his faction grew into a sprawling conglomerate of illegal activities, which will now fall into a new, lesser-known leaders hands.

All of the infrastructure all the trafficking routes, the extraction, the coca crops, the processing, the buying thats all in place, said Elizabeth Dickinson, a senior analyst for International Crisis Group in Colombia. The question really is whether the new leadership is capable of maintaining such a disparate organisation of such a wide geography.

The risk now is of a violent power struggle to control this very lucrative illicit market and were not just talking about drug trafficking, but also extortion, territorial control, and land, Dickinson said. All of those things are now up for grabs and the risk is that it will open fissures that will have an effect on the civilian population.

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Nothing will change: void left by Colombia cartel boss will quickly be filled, say experts - The Guardian

A deal on a bill to legalize marijuana in Rhode Island is finally coming together, legislative leaders said this week.

While there are still certain outstanding issues to resolve such as which agency should be tasked with regulating the market, lawmakers have made significant progress and have reached compromises on a number of topics, Sen. Josh Miller (D), sponsor of one legalization proposal, said during a panel hosted by Johnson & Wales University.

Miller warned that he couldnt be especially specific on details given that negotiations are ongoing, but he expressed optimism that legislators are nearing an agreement.

One issue thats nearing consensus concerns the number of marijuana business licenses that could be authorized. Millers bill, which was approved by the Senate earlier this year, proposed as many as 150 cannabis shops, whereas Gov. Dan McKees (D) plan called for 25 and Rep. Scott Slater (D) wanted just 15 in his separate House bill.

The senator said that were probably down to more in the 30, 40 range.

Expungements is another issue thats being sorted out. Theres agreement that the social justice component should be included in whatever legislation ultimately passes, but Miller explained that there are some challenges when it comes to processing.

For example, conviction records for possession dont always specify the amounts, which could complicate any automated expungement procedure to clear the records of people with convictions for offenses made legal under the reform.

What were trying to do is create a mechanism to give the attorney general or the court system a time componentmaybe 90 daysto find a quantity component that would disqualify them, the senator said.

Negotiators have also reached an agreement to place a temporary moratorium on approving additional cannabis cultivator licenses. Some have protested adding cultivators beyond the existing medical marijuana licensees because they say theres already a sufficient supply to meet demand in the adult-use market.

These are all positive developments that signal a forthcoming deal, but the sponsor said that negotiators still need to figure out which body should be charged with regulating the adult-use market.

Some like Miller want to set up an independent cannabis commission, whereas others feel the recreational market should be overseen by the state Department of Business Regulation (DBR), which currently regulates Rhode Islands medical marijuana program.

According to WPRI-TV, whose reporter Steph Machado also participated inTuesdays panel, negotiators are leaning toward a hybrid model, with responsibilities being divided by DBR and a separate commission.

House Speaker Joe Shekarchi (D) would be open to a compromise, a spokesperson for the leader told the TV station. Lawmakers have been reviewing regulatory models in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York.

A spokesperson for McKee said that the governor supports recreational cannabis and his team has been actively working with our partners in the General Assembly on a bill that is equitable and benefits Rhode Island. The conversations are ongoing and we are hopeful that an agreement can be reached.

Senate President Dominick Ruggerio (D), for his part, said last month that lawmakers are very close to reaching a deal on a marijuana legalization bill that could be taken up during a special session this fall.

We sent legislationwhich we think is a very good piece of legislationover to the House before we left in June, the senator said, referring toa legalization bill that his chamber approvedin June. They are working on that legislation with some of the House people at this point in time.

The prospects of holding a special session could be bolstered if the legislature decides to take up separate legislation dealing federal with coronavirus relief, Miller said during Wednesdays panel.

What remains to be seen is whether the negotiated legalization bill thats ultimately produced will satisfy advocates and progressive lawmakers, some of whom haverallied behind an agenda for reformthat emphasizes the need for bold social equity provisions.

While each of the competing bills contain components meant to address the harms of marijuana criminalization, the coalition led by Reclaim Rhode Island says theyre insufficient. Advocates and supportive lawmakers have laid out specific items that they want to see incorporated such as setting aside half of cannabis business licenses for communities most impacted by prohibition.

We cant reverse the harm of the war on drugs, but we can start to repair it by passing automatic expungement and waiving all related fines, fees and court debt, Rep. Karen Alzate (D), chair of the Rhode Island Legislative Black and Latino Caucus, said last month. This bold legalization plan offers us the chance to turn a new leaf for the Ocean State, and its time we take it.

Ruggerio, for his part, said he does feel that the legalization bill that was approved in the Senatecontained very strong social justice provisions and the expungements provision is as close to automatic as practical.

Reclaim Rhode Island isnt the only group pushing lawmakers to expeditiously work to pass legalization. Its part of a coalition of 10 civil rights and drug policy reform advocacy groupsincluding the Rhode Island chapters of the ACLU and NAACPthat recently demanded thatlawmakers move ahead with enacting marijuana reformin the state before the end of 2021.

Shekarchi said in July that while theres not yet a consensus among legislators and the governor on a deal to legalize marijuana, its still a workable issue and would be prioritizedif negotiations succeed this summer and a special session is convened this fall.

Slater recently told Marijuana Moment that things are still where they were prior to the end of sessionbut lawmakers are trying to figure out a reconciliation between my bill, the Senates and the governors.

Meetings over the summer had been mostly informal, the representative said. I think we can get there before next year. It will not be perfect, and I am sure a work in progress.

Ruggerio said in July that hesnot disappointed the House hasnt advanced legalization legislationyet and that what we really wanted to do was send it over and have them take a look at itwhen his chamber passed its cannabis reform measure.

Shekarchi, for his part, previously said thathe feels reform is inevitable.

Senate Majority Leader Mike McCaffrey (D) was also recently asked about provisions related to allowing local municipalities to opt out of allowing marijuana businesses to operate in their area. He said once the legislation is passed and whatever form is passed in, the communities have an opportunity to opt out.

They have an opportunity to opt out if the community doesnt want to participate in it, he said. Thats their decisionhowever, they dont get the funds that would come from the sales in that community.

The majority leader also noted that neighboring states likeConnecticut and Massachusetts have enacted legalization, and that adds impetus for the legislature to pursue reform in the state.

Shekarchi, meanwhile, said in July that he doesnt intend to let regional pressure dictate the timeline for when Rhode Island enacts a policy change. Social equity, licensing fees, labor agreements and home grow provisions are among the outstanding matters that need to be addressed, the speaker said.

The House Finance Committeeheld a hearing on Slaters legalization measurein June.

The governor previously told reporters that while he backs legalization it is not like one of my highest priorities, adding that were not in a race with Connecticut or Massachusetts on this issue.

I think we need to get it right, he said, pointing to ongoing discussions with the House and Senate.

The House Finance Committee discussed the governors proposal to end prohibitionat an earlier hearing in April.

Both the governor and the leaders legalization plans are notably different than the proposal that former Gov. Gina Raimondo (D) had included in her budget last year. Prior toleaving office to join the Biden administrationas commerce secretary, shecalled for legalization through a state-run model.

McKee gave initial insights into his perspective on the reform in January, saying that its time that [legalization] happens and that hes moreleaning towards an entrepreneurial strategythere to let that roll that way.

Shekarchi, meanwhile, has said hesabsolutely open to the idea of cannabis legalizationand also leans toward privatization.

Late last year, the Senate Finance Committeebegan preliminary consideration of legalizationin preparation for the 2021 session, with lawmakers generally accepting the reform as an inevitability. I certainly do think well act on the issue, whether its more private or more state, Sen. Ryan Pearson (D), who now serves as the panels chairman, said at the time.

Meanwhile, the governor in Julysigned a historic bill to allow safe consumption siteswhere people could use illicit drugs under medical supervision and receive resources to enter treatment. Harm reduction advocates say this would prevent overdose deaths and help de-stigmatize substance misuse. Rhode Island is the first state to allow the facilities.

The Senate Judiciary Committee also held a hearing in March on legislation that wouldend criminal penalties for possessing small amounts of drugsand replace them with a $100 fine.

New York Regulators Move To Let Medical Cannabis Patients Grow Their Own And Give Marijuana Expungements Update

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Top Rhode Island Lawmakers Signal That Marijuana Legalization Deal Is Close, With Key Issues Being Agreed Upon - Marijuana Moment