Category Archives: War On Drugs

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

Photo courtesy of WeedPornDaily.

See the article here:

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

The Philippines justice ministry will review thousands of killings in President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs, its chief says, after releasing details of a first batch of cases that it says points to abuses by police. The Department of Justice (DOJ) released details on Wednesday of 52 killings by police in the five-year-old campaign that challenges the official narrative of the national police, that all of the thousands of victims were drug dealers who had resisted arrest. The Philippines has come under pressure from the United Nations to investigate allegations of systematic murders of drug suspects, and the International Criminal Court recently announced it would investigate Duterte's bloody campaign. Asked by Reuters if the Philippines would expand its investigation into the war on drugs, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said: "Time and resources permitting, the DOJ will review these thousands of other cases, too." The release of details mark a rare admission by the state that abuses may have taken place in the anti-drugs campaign. UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet had urged the Philippines this month to publicise its findings on the 52 cases so its work can be evaluated. In several cases that the DOJ probed, those killed had no traces of gunpowder on their hands, or did not have a gun at all, the department said on Wednesday. It also said police had used excessive force, shot suspects at close range, and relevant medical and police records were missing. The cases would undergo further investigation and case buildup for possible filing of criminal charges against the officers, it said. Officially, police have killed more than 6000 people in the crackdown, but activists say many thousands more users were killed, execution style, by mysterious gunmen. Police have denied involvement in those deaths. Australian Associated Press

/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-feed-data/78bdf5f1-40ab-4c7b-82ea-4ab6d77573af.jpg/r0_74_800_526_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg

The Philippines justice ministry will review thousands of killings in President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs, its chief says, after releasing details of a first batch of cases that it says points to abuses by police.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) released details on Wednesday of 52 killings by police in the five-year-old campaign that challenges the official narrative of the national police, that all of the thousands of victims were drug dealers who had resisted arrest.

The Philippines has come under pressure from the United Nations to investigate allegations of systematic murders of drug suspects, and the International Criminal Court recently announced it would investigate Duterte's bloody campaign.

Asked by Reuters if the Philippines would expand its investigation into the war on drugs, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said: "Time and resources permitting, the DOJ will review these thousands of other cases, too."

The release of details mark a rare admission by the state that abuses may have taken place in the anti-drugs campaign.

UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet had urged the Philippines this month to publicise its findings on the 52 cases so its work can be evaluated.

In several cases that the DOJ probed, those killed had no traces of gunpowder on their hands, or did not have a gun at all, the department said on Wednesday.

It also said police had used excessive force, shot suspects at close range, and relevant medical and police records were missing. The cases would undergo further investigation and case buildup for possible filing of criminal charges against the officers, it said.

Officially, police have killed more than 6000 people in the crackdown, but activists say many thousands more users were killed, execution style, by mysterious gunmen. Police have denied involvement in those deaths.

Australian Associated Press

Read this article:

Philippines to review drug war killings - The Inverell Times

Baby Bruce (named for Springsteen) had a profound impact on I Dont Live Here Anymore, logistically as well as thematically. While working on previous records, Granduciel sometimes languished in the studio into the small hours of the morning. During sessions after his son was born, he made a point of being home for 5 p.m. bath time, and tried to wrap up work by 9 or 10 to be fresh for the morning parenting shift. He grinned while describing his daily routine with Bruce: They sit together on the stoop, he drinks coffee and Bruce has his breakfast.

If that sounds like the antithesis of a rock-star lifestyle, Granduciel doesnt mind. He feels zero connection to fame, and emphasized the normalcy and anonymity of his day-to-day life. Still, Granduciels proximity to celebrity was apparent when, in the week in between our conversations, he briefly became a tabloid item amid reports that he and Bruces mother, the actress Krysten Ritter, had split. (He denied these and declined to elaborate.)

Cutting back on studio time made Granduciel fear that he wasnt going deep enough on the record. It helped that he could compare notes with Everett, also a new father, and a fellow workhorse whom he initially sought out after reading about the extreme recording techniques (Everetts description) that he used while making Sound & Color, Alabama Shakes album from 2015.

Throughout our conversations, Granduciel seemingly aware of his reputation as a sovereign bandleader, and perhaps eager to decenter himself pointedly called out the contributions of his various collaborators. Robbie Bennett, who has played piano with the band since 2010, wrote the hook for I Dont Live Here Anymore; Anthony LaMarca, who plays guitar in the touring lineup, was responsible for iconic drum fills that gave the records earliest demos body. Remote recording, necessitated by the pandemic, allowed Granduciels bandmates to work and brainstorm on their own schedules, producing what he called spirited results.

Though increasingly comfortable with his leadership skills, Granduciel seems uninterested in climbing past middle management. He has a record label of his own Super High Quality Records, on which he released a live album last year but no plans to use it for anything other than one-off side projects. I Dont Live Here Anymore fulfills his two-record contract with Atlantic, and while he hasnt re-signed with the label yet, he would if asked. Ive always been a good employee, he said. I dont really have an interest in being the record-maker and the business all in one.

And despite Granduciels musings on setting his guitar down and walking away, he said he feels called to the music: I think I need this life to actually be content.

Follow this link:

The War on Drugs Cant Stop Searching for Answers in the Music - The New York Times

The War On Drugs rise to the top has felt like a victory lap around the bases after the band hit two glorious home runs with 2014s Lost In The Dream and 2017s A Deeper Understanding. Those albums brimmed with perfectly executed sky-scraping Americana that was always destined to fill the biggest arenas; in fulfilling that duty, they sealed their status as one of the biggest rocknroll forces of the 21st century.

The Philadelphia six-piece havent made any concessions to get here. Instead, their deeply spiritual sound has been born out of the hard work and obsessive artistry of their leader Adam Granduciel, a man who has never courted celebrity or been dragged into a world of ego that can easily overcome someone in his position. Its simply his deep affection for the craft thats spurred them to dizzying heights over the last 15 years.

Video calling NME from his home studio in LA, Granduciel lets out a modest smile when asked how it feels to have arrived at such a position on his own terms: I feel like it takes a second to process everything that gets bigger. Well be on tour in Europe playing rock boxes, clubs or theatres and well be like, This is amazing. Then well have one or two of these massive arena shows. We have our comfortable areas but were growing into those big places Were trying to find ways to play the music in huge spaces but still be as loose as possible and do the records justice.

Does it surprise him that hes got to this stage without becoming a celebrity? The rooms dont surprise me Im surprised that so many things have lined up in the way they have, he admits. None of this would have happened if the band we put together for Lost In The Dream wasnt the right band. I was fortunate we were able to craft a band of friends.

The love and unity in The War On Drugs machine has been a core component to their success: Everyone is just so courteous that we just function as this big organism. When you have that bond ,youre able to go into these big rooms and feel like youre meant to be there. Even from the first record, people always said, I feel like I can hear these songs in stadiums. I was like, Theyre just home-recorded songs! But somewhere along the line it became our reality.

granduciel and indie stalwart Kurt Vile formed the group in 2008 (the latter left shortly after that years debut Wagonwheel Blues to pursue his solo career). Almost a decade later, the band hit their arena-filling pinnacle as they rounded off their triumphant 2017 world tour, a lengthy run that made stops in Europe, Singapore and Australia. The following year, A Deeper Understanding picked up a Grammy for Best Rock Album and, after they took a break, its no wonder the gang found themselves seeking space away from the noise to write once again.

I was living in Brooklyn, says Granduciel. Dave (Hartley, bass) was in Philly and Anthony (LaMarca, guitar) was in Ohio. It was like, Lets get out of town. Lets go to this studio I keep hearing about and work on some songs, just the three of us. It was a way to get away from the machine of the band.

They retreated to Upstate New York to lay the foundations of the fifth studio album I Dont Live Here Anymore. Once you were up there you were in the middle of nowhere, Granduciel explains, relaying an experience that sounds like the plot of The Shining: You couldnt walk anywhere; there was a snowstorm; we werent near a grocery store so we had some provisions. We just slept in the house, woke up, worked for 12 hours and went home, made some spaghetti or soup and did it all over again.

Rather than inducing the maddening writers block that Jack Torrence faced at the Overlook Hotel, the solitude proved deeply rewarding for the band: We came out of those five days with a bunch of different songs and great ideas. It was the most productive time weve ever had.

The experience was so pivotal that a candid snapshot of Granduciel stomping through the soft snow on route to the studio, coffee in hand, became the albums cover though his heads out of frame. He explains the artwork came about by necessity as the pandemic hit soon after: It wouldnt have been real if I hired a photographer to come and shoot me in LA; it didnt feel like that was the record. Then we stumbled upon this out of necessity; the only problem was I was smiling so we had to crop that out. I can look at that cover and get all of the information that is in the record, somehow.

The War On Drugs have always had a gift of capturing all of lifes beauty and struggle in one soaring guitar solo or agonising vocal line. You only have to hear the motoring 2014 breakthrough anthem Red Eyes or the hushed, sweeping tones of Pain to see that Granduciel has done some soul searching during his 42 years and the pandemic saw him turn inwards further: When we reconvened mid-pandemic, we got very deep on it. I think part of it was trying to understand yourself in the context of humanity. At this point, I had a baby at home and we were working on the record. Those were the only things I had to focus on.

His becoming a father since the last album also had a profound impact in shaping this record, but also proved a distraction from Granduciels unrelenting creative drive: When my son was born, it was definitely a break. Im so used to writing that I felt like I needed to find those moments. When he was really young, Id go down to my studio at night for like 30 minutes and put something down just to do something. As he got older, working on the record while watching him explore music was a joy.

He stops to give us a guided tour of his home studio: a vast collection of analogue synths and guitars. 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 says. 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.

Such personal milestones have ultimately made the album one of the bands most optimistic releases to date, but theres always that element of finding your way in life and realising its OK to slip up along the way. Says Granduciel: 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.

Its a source of inspiration his own enduring hero Bruce Springsteen mastered so well; that burning hunger, longing and finding your place in the world and its no coincidence that Granduciel called his own son Bruce. Through the five-album journey so far, his heroes have always been held close. When he speaks about the impact of The Boss, the inner-fandom that led him to adopt methods of the formula so well snap into focus: I feel like theres a moment in your life where you tap into something; you might be deeply inspired by a very small part of their life.

There was a period where that late 70s Springsteen work ethic just chimed with me: [he was] fronting a band and trying to get to the heart of his songs and not really understanding his music yet, but he knew he was searching for a sound. You can use these moments that lined up with your life and you can get traction off them for years. Its the same with Dylan or Young: [there are] moments of their career that probably feel like a blip to them, but you just happen to intersect with that in a certain time in your own life, and you keep going back to the well.

People always said, I can hear these songs in stadiums. I was like, Theyre just home-recorded songs! Adam Granduciel

Now, though, Granduciel is at the point where he can influence chart-topping icons in his own right. In an interview for his first NME cover, Geordie soft-rocker Sam Fender cited the band as a huge influence when making his second chart-topping second album Seventeen Going Under. Both share a deep love of The Boss, but has he heard of the North Shields sensation?

I know him for sure! says Granduciel. Our saxophone player knows them really well. I remember he said, Im playing on this kid Sams record hes a big fan of our band; hes coming to the show. So I knew his name and then I would see him on the cover of some crazy British magazine. Im like, Oh my god this guy is like a phenomenon. Weve never communicated but its so cool any time you see a guy writing songs from his heart and ripping a guitar.

Were inspired by a million artists that we see. We grew up going to shows, seeing all these killer bands, then you end up playing a show with them or you end up meeting them and its all part of it. Its about being inspired by the other things that are happening. To see hes at Number One, thats great, man.

Adam Granduciel of The War on Drugs live in London in 2018. Credit: Getty

The road to the top has been a long one, but Granduciel wouldnt change the War On Drugs journey for anything, even though hes been public about battling crippling anxiety around their breakthrough in 2014. Looking back, was that moment bittersweet?

He pauses for thought, and eventually replies: I think thats maybe one of the best gifts I could have been given, in some weird way. I wasnt a young boy I was in my 30s but I was experiencing something for the first time that I hadnt really had to before. Not for one second would I ever think that moment was tainted, because it was defined by what I was experiencing. As you learn more about it, you have ways of managing it and understanding it more.

The band will take to the biggest stages of their career on their 2022 tour, including a headline show at New Yorks infamous Madison Square Garden in January. Its poetic theyll be gracing the hallowed turf that has hosted rocknroll institutions such as Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones and Springsteen himself. Perhaps more notably, the Midtown Manhattan venue is a stones throw from the bars and rooms that Granduciel and the band slogged back in 2007, playing he puts it really awful shows.

Sam Fender? Its so cool any time you see a guy writing songs from his heart and ripping a guitar Adam Granduciel

Granduciel goes starry-eyed before acknowledging the seismic achievement that lies in wait: I couldnt have imagined playing Madison Square Garden. I remember playing so many shows in New York trying to figure out how to play live. The whole thing is crazy.

As it has done throughout our chat, modesty and practicality soon win over: Its just one of those things its just the next step; its about finding that way in. I would be happy to play any other place, too, but thats obviously a really special moment. Its part of the process.

Originally posted here:

The War On Drugs on an unlikely rise to the top: Music should be filled with wonder - NME

Gov. Brad Little took a stand against the rise of meth and fentanyl trafficking in Idaho on Friday, which he said directly resulted from a "loose" U.S.-Mexican border.

Last week, Little and nine other Republican governors visited the U.S.-Mexico border after receiving a letter from the Texas and Arizona governors requesting extra staffing.

Reflecting on the trip, Little said the most "eye-opening" realization was witnessing the "control of the cartels." Referencing a U.S. Department of Justice public safety alert, Little said the American law enforcement agencies had reported a 430% increase in the tracking of fentanyl opioid pills in the last two years.

"This is not Joe, the drug dealer, and these are very powerful cartels who control the border," he said. "They control that border, and they're using migration of whether it be Latin Americans, South Americans or Haitians as a distraction to get these drugs across."

Little's trip led to a five-person team of Idaho law enforcement participating in a 21-day mission to assist the Arizona State Police in drug interdiction.

"I learned quite a bit down there about the direct relationship between the loose board and the current narcotic problem we've got today," Little said.

On Friday, three Idaho State Police troopers joined the governor who participated in the 21-day mission, including ISP Sgt. Curt Sproat. The official described fentanyl as "more addictive and dangerous than any drug (he had) seen in nearly a decade." Fentanyl, Sproat explained, is an opiate that started as a substitute for heroin but is "100 times more powerful."

Between 2020 to 2021, ISP reported a 562% increase in fentanyl seizures, from 19,000 pills to over 125,000 in one year. Kootenai County is one of four counties deemed a High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA), Sproat said. The other three counties are Bannock, Ada and Canyon.

"Meth and fentanyl are the most serious growing drug threats in Idaho," Little said. "Of the drug trafficking organizations investigated last year, 96% identified Mexico as a source for drugs trafficked into the region."

Through their experience at the border, Sproat said ISP troopers are learning new techniques and undergoing training to equip themselves against the war on these drugs.

"We are more motivated than ever to do all we can to keep the flood of fentanyl and meth out of our Idaho communities," Sproat said. "Traffickers know Idaho is tough on illegal drugs."

ISP Commander John Kempf said the agency has a robust multiagency drug task force in North Idaho committed to cracking down on fentanyl cases. Moving forward, Kempf said ISP plans to expand its drug enforcement and education programs.

"Just this morning, I received statistics from Panhandle Health (District). In September, we had 14 fatal drug overdoses," Kempf said. "That's 14 families that are now missing a child, a parent, an aunt or uncle that are no longer here because of a drug overdose."

Kempf said that part of the education program includes presenting "drug" and "safety talks" in schools throughout North Idaho. He advised families to educate themselves on the signs of drug abuse and how social media can be a vehicle for drug dealers to reach teens.

ISP is also partnering with Panhandle Health District to address overdose frequency in the region.

"We are tracking these drug dealers down, and we are charging them with the overdose deaths that they cause," Kempf said. "They know the pills they sell kill people and they sell them anyway."

A local North Idaho ISP trooper, Cpl. Seth Green, said their team is doing "the best we can" every day. He added that dealers try to avoid Kootenai County, nicknamed "the iron curtain" or the "fatal funnel," due to officers' hard-on-crime enforcement.

The 10 "concrete solutions" Little and fellow governors believe would "immediately alleviate the problem" and do not "require an act of Congress" were:

Continue Title 42 public health restrictions

Fully reinstate the Migrant Protection Protocols

Finish securing the border

End catch and release

Clear the judicial backlog

Resume the deportation of all criminals

Dedicate federal resources to eradicate human trafficking and drug trafficking

Reenter all agreements with our Northern Triangle partners and Mexico

Send a clear message to potential migrants

Deploy more federal law enforcement officers

"All of these factors helped reinforce my decision to send a team of five Idaho State Troopers to the U.S. Mexico border to assist the state of Arizona and their drug interdiction efforts," Little said.

View post:

The war on drugs in Idaho - Shoshone News Press

In recent times, there has been an increasing number of scientific research analysing psychedelic drugs. As the stigma that previously surrounded recreational drug usage from the infamous and misguided war on drugs subsided, new and exciting benefits of these drugs were discovered.

Magic mushrooms, one of the naturally occurring psychedelic drugs have been previously found to have a positive impact on the people who them. While LSD and MDMA have been used to reduce the perception of pain and to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) respectively.

Now, researchers from the University of Oxford have found a link between psychedelic use and improved physical health. In a paper published in the journal Scientific Reports, researchers have revealed that psychedelic usage has the potential to lower the risk of diabetes and heart disease.

The researchers used the same data set from the United States National Survey on Drug Use and Health used by another research from early this year, which had shown that people who had consumed psychedelics at least once in their lifetimes had lower chances of being overweight and self-reported has had better overall health.

Despite the correlation, other confounding factors havent been considered, according to the researchers. They plan to conduct future trials with randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled designs to conclusively establish the positive link between psychedelic usage with better overall health.

"The regression models controlled for several potential confounders, but the associations could have been affected by latent variables that were not included in the dataset and could not be controlled for," the authors wrote in the paper.

Psychedelic usage has been shown to improve mental health, while depression is closely related to cardiovascular health. According to Otto Simonsson, lead author of the paper and a researcher from Oxford University, psychedelics might be indirectly having an impact on cardiovascular health or might be having a simultaneous effect along with mental health.

Cover Image: Shutterstock

Here is the original post:

Psychedelic Use Linked With Lower Risk Of Diabetes And Heart Disease - Mashable India

After President Richard Nixon declared a war on drugs in 1971, the number of people incarcerated in American jails and prisons escalated from 300,000 to 2.3 million. Half of those in federal prison are incarcerated for a drug offense, and two-thirds of those in prison for drug offenses are people of color. Disproportionate arrest, conviction, and sentencing rates for drug offenses have devastated communities of color in America.

Between 1980 and 2011, arrests of African Americans for violent and property crimes fell, but rose dramatically for drug offenses. As the Washington Post reported, African Americans are far more likely to be arrested for selling or possessing drugs than whites, even though whites use drugs at the same rate and are more likely to sell drugs.

In a new article for Harpers magazine, journalist Dan Baum reports that President Richard Nixons domestic policy chief, John Ehrlichman, admitted that the war on drugs was designed to have precisely this impact on the Black community.

In a 1994 interview, Mr. Ehrlichman said, You want to know what this was really all about? He went on:

The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and Black people. You understand what Im saying? We knew we couldnt make it illegal to be either against the war or Black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and Blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.

President Nixons creation of a war on drugs to criminalize Black people amplified the presumption of guilt assigned to Black people since slavery and entrenched the racialization of criminality that began in earnest with lynching.

The Nixon Administrations strategy of using drugs to vilify [African Americans] night after night on the evening news fostered a politics of fear and anger that reached frenzied heights in the 1990s. Sensationalist media accounts of soaring crime rates in the 1980s and early 1990s combined with extraordinary resentment about rehabilitation programs within prisons to create a political environment in which every elected official sought to be tough on crime. Decrying that [g]angs and drugs have taken over our streets and undermined our schools, President Bill Clinton in 1994 signed the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, allotting $12.5 billion to states to increase incarceration.

Congress has recently taken steps to reduce disparities in drug sentencing laws, and is considering important reforms that would begin to address the campaign of racialized mass incarceration launched by the Nixon Administration more than four decades ago.

Original post:

Nixon Adviser Admits War on Drugs Was Designed to ...

Adam Granduciels parents didnt understand why he did what he did. Theyd never cared about rock music. They watched their son pass up a perfectly good job in carpentry to move to Philadelphia, and reach his mid-30s without any sign hed made the right choice. But its amazing what a hit record can do.

In 2014, the War on Drugs released Lost in the Dream. The early reviews were good, the shows were full, and then the album started to fly. Granduciels band would return to cities theyd already played, but now at bigger venues for multiple nights. They moved up festival bills. And the record just kept on selling, eventually going gold in the UK.

Granduciel Sr noticed and finally understood what his son was doing. Thats been a shift in dynamics, Granduciel Jr observes. Now, with the fourth War on Drugs album out, he says: Theyre excited. My dads 85, just had quadruple bypass heart surgery and hes coming on tour. Hes been reborn by it, hes learning about rock music. Its been a blessing, because for so long we didnt really have a thing.

He went out, maybe a year ago, and bought all these records that people compare us to: Dire Straits, Bruce Springsteens The River, Tom Petty. He likes Dire Straits, he sees why we sound like them; he thinks were better than Tom Petty; he doesnt like Bruce, doesnt like The River. But he has no frame of reference to him, The River might be the only record Bruce had made. Thats been a beautiful thing to have: a career that makes its way into your personal life.

Its hard not to give a little cheer. I interviewed Granduciel just before the release of Lost in the Dream, and he wasnt a happy man. He had been dealing with anxiety and having panic attacks. A Deeper Understanding, the new album, doesnt deal with any of this directly, though. I dont think that, in the moment, Im ever trying to write about anything specific, he says. I was just thinking about getting older and accepting the past, accepting the decisions you make. But its hard not to read the title as referring, at least in part, to Granduciel confronting the problem that has haunted him for most of his life.

The people who bought Lost in the Dream need not fear. A Deeper Understanding is recognisably from the same pen as its predecessor, but refined and clarified, with the same sweet spots where psychedelia and heartland rock intersect. Even now, Granduciel doesnt really know what people responded to in Lost in the Dream, making a direct recreation of its appeal pointless.

Theres a level of dust on that record, he says. Certain things arent defined. There are moments Im not even sure what the lyrics are. Ive seen people who like a certain song write on their Instagram what they think the lyrics are which they arent. Im like, Oh, thats interesting you can create your own adventure with some of these songs. Which is really cool.

If it sounds as if Lost in the Dream was healing for Granduciel, it wasnt. After the album came out, the War on Drugs played Koko in London. Then, less than a year later, they returned for two nights at the cavernous Brixton Academy. Granduciel had played to big crowds at festivals, but he was just one attraction among many.

Once it was our show, I started having a whole new set of anxieties. I was overcome with fear that I was going to say something very fucked up without being able to control myself. I never had that ever happen, ever. And the first night at Brixton is the first time it started happening. Halfway through, I couldnt get it out of my mind. I was in a trance, then it pretty much continued. Id come off the stage like, Whoof, that was a crazy ride. And the band would say, What do you mean? I was like, You have no idea!

Touring was, on the whole, good for him. It took his mind off his anxiety, as did recording A Deeper Understanding. He calls music a huge distraction for myself. His anxiety used to take the form of panic attacks. Now its manifesting itself in anger, he says. So you have to be on top of that. You think, Oh, Im fine. Im not having panic attacks. But then youre lashing out at everybody.

For years, Granduciel was the model of the east coast rocknroller. On the cover of Lost in the Dream, he was pictured in the ramshackle house in Philadelphia that was his home, his studio, and a place for fellow musicians to crash. A year after Lost in the Dream came out, having barely been home because of his touring schedule, he packed up and moved in with his girlfriend in Los Angeles for a year, eventually going to New York to work on A Deeper Understanding. I needed to put some east coast into it, he says, but it has left him feeling like a chunk of his past has been cut adrift.

Recently, the band reconvened in Philadelphia for rehearsals. But Granduciel doesnt have a home there any more, and couldnt remember the old songs, either. So I was living in a hotel in my old home town, walking around listening to my record to remember the fucking lyrics. I was like, What is this weird existence where Im a tourist in Philly, listening to my own music?

At the heart of much of what Granduciel talks about is an underlying desire for normality. But when youre a full-time musician, and have been for most of your adult life, theres barely such a thing. So he finds it in the routines of touring, or by ensconcing himself in the studio for 12 hours at a time. Though hes not a natural seeker of the spotlight he wishes he could Bono it up a little bit on stage hes come to be at home fronting a band, despite having had a moment of defiance when decided he wanted to stand stage left, out of the focus. The rest of them were like, No, youre going to be in the middle.

Even when he goes back to his family, in Massachusetts, he wishes things could be a little different. Its great that his dad is enthusiastic now, but sometimes he would like to be just Adam, rather than Adam the Rock Musician. You want there to be a little separation at the dinner table or at family gatherings. I still want to bullshit about what my siblings are doing, what the grandkids are up to, you know?

Still, at least he knows his dad isnt going to be telling him about vacancies at the local carpet-fitters ever again.

Read more:

The War on Drugs' Adam Granduciel: 'I was overcome by fear'

Listen to this article now.

Gov. Brad Little took a stand against the rise of meth and fentanyl trafficking in Idaho on Friday, which he said directly resulted from a "loose" U.S.-Mexican border.

Last week, Little and nine other Republican governors visited the U.S.-Mexico border after receiving a letter from the Texas and Arizona governors requesting extra staffing.

Reflecting on the trip, Little said the most "eye-opening" realization was witnessing the "control of the cartels." Referencing a U.S. Department of Justice public safety alert, Little said the American law enforcement agencies had reported a 430% increase in the tracking of fentanyl opioid pills in the last two years.

"This is not Joe, the drug dealer, and these are very powerful cartels who control the border," he said. "They control that border, and they're using migration of whether it be Latin Americans, South Americans or Haitians as a distraction to get these drugs across."

Little's trip led to a five-person team of Idaho law enforcement participating in a 21-day mission to assist the Arizona State Police in drug interdiction.

"I learned quite a bit down there about the direct relationship between the loose board and the current narcotic problem we've got today," Little said.

On Friday, three Idaho State Police troopers joined the governor who participated in the 21-day mission, including ISP Sgt. Curt Sproat. The official described fentanyl as "more addictive and dangerous than any drug (he had) seen in nearly a decade." Fentanyl, Sproat explained, is an opiate that started as a substitute for heroin but is "100 times more powerful."

Between 2020 to 2021, ISP reported a 562% increase in fentanyl seizures, from 19,000 pills to over 125,000 in one year. Kootenai County is one of four counties deemed a High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA), Sproat said. The other three counties are Bannock, Ada and Canyon.

"Meth and fentanyl are the most serious growing drug threats in Idaho," Little said. "Of the drug trafficking organizations investigated last year, 96% identified Mexico as a source for drugs trafficked into the region."

Through their experience at the border, Sproat said ISP troopers are learning new techniques and undergoing training to equip themselves against the war on these drugs.

"We are more motivated than ever to do all we can to keep the flood of fentanyl and meth out of our Idaho communities," Sproat said. "Traffickers know Idaho is tough on illegal drugs."

ISP Commander John Kempf said the agency has a robust multiagency drug task force in North Idaho committed to cracking down on fentanyl cases. Moving forward, Kempf said ISP plans to expand its drug enforcement and education programs.

"Just this morning, I received statistics from Panhandle Health (District). In September, we had 14 fatal drug overdoses," Kempf said. "That's 14 families that are now missing a child, a parent, an aunt or uncle that are no longer here because of a drug overdose."

Kempf said that part of the education program includes presenting "drug" and "safety talks" in schools throughout North Idaho. He advised families to educate themselves on the signs of drug abuse and how social media can be a vehicle for drug dealers to reach teens.

ISP is also partnering with Panhandle Health District to address overdose frequency in the region.

"We are tracking these drug dealers down, and we are charging them with the overdose deaths that they cause," Kempf said. "They know the pills they sell kill people and they sell them anyway."

A local North Idaho ISP trooper, Cpl. Seth Green, said their team is doing "the best we can" every day. He added that dealers try to avoid Kootenai County, nicknamed "the iron curtain" or the "fatal funnel," due to officers' hard-on-crime enforcement.

The 10 "concrete solutions" Little and fellow governors believe would "immediately alleviate the problem" and do not "require an act of Congress" were:

"All of these factors helped reinforce my decision to send a team of five Idaho State Troopers to the U.S. Mexico border to assist the state of Arizona and their drug interdiction efforts," Little said.

Go here to see the original:

The war on drugs in Idaho - Bonner County Daily Bee

(Photo: Parliament)

The so-called war on drugs is outdated and doesnt work, a former Conservative health minister has said.

Dan Poulter, the MP for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich, said the government had to rethink how it dealt with drug addiction.

The backbencher still serves as a NHS mental health doctor and was a health minister under David Cameron between 2012 and 2015.

In an interview with GB News Gloria De Piero, Poulter said: The aggressive law and order approach where we criminalise, have very strong criminal sanctions for people who are caught in possession of drugs is frankly, you know, outdated and it doesnt work.

What we see is that the number of people dying from overdoses of heroin is going up.

The number of people who are dying, who have they been poorly affected by other drug related harms is increasing. So we need a different approach.

I also dont believe just in incarcerating people or giving them a criminal sanction for possession of drugs when they may be dependent on drugs or addicted to drugs isnt necessarily a very helpful way forward. And I think weve got to rethink it.

Asked if the phrase war on drugs was sensible, helpful, achievable, Poulter added: To be frank, no.

Poulter said the government should look to the example of Portugal, where possession of drugs, not large-scale dealing, was dealt with by supporting people and treating it rather than as a criminal problem.

In the UK, a number of people dying from heroin overdoses is rising. Portugal its falling, he said.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost UK and has been updated.

See the article here:

War On Drugs 'Outdated And Doesn't Work', Says Former Health Minister - Yahoo Lifestyle UK