Category Archives: War On Drugs

Joins bipartisan coalition of 25 attorneys general calling on Congress to extend existing resentencing relief to all individuals convicted of low-level crack cocaine offenses

OAKLAND California Attorney General Rob Bonta today joined a bipartisan coalition of 25 attorneys general in urging Congress to amend the First Step Act of 2018 to ensure its resentencing relief extends to all individuals previously convicted of low-level crack cocaine offenses. The First Step Act enacted a number of commonsense criminal justice reforms, including retroactive relief for individuals convicted under the now-discredited sentencing regime that treated crack cocaine and powder cocaine radically differently under the law. However, following a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, some individuals convicted of low-level crack cocaine offenses remain categorically ineligible for resentencing. The coalition urges Congress to amend the First Step Act to clarify that its retroactive relief applies to all individuals sentenced under the prior regime.

We cant undo the damage caused by the failed war on drugs, but we can demand change, said Attorney General Bonta. Today, a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general is doing just that. People unjustly sentenced to decades in prison for low-level crack cocaine offenses deserve relief under the law. They deserve a chance to rebuild their lives. Were urging Congress to help make that happen by ensuring the First Step Act applies to everyone. All of our communities are entitled to equal justice under the law.

Congress enacted the historic First Step Act to modernize the criminal justice system, implementing comprehensive reform in areas such as corrections, criminal charging, community re-entry, and beyond. The product of a unique bipartisan consensus, the act passed with overwhelming support from organizations across the ideological spectrum, as well as over three dozen attorneys general who supported the act as a critical tool for strengthening our criminal justice system and better serving the people of our states. One of the First Step Acts key pillars was sentencing reform. This reform included Section 404, which provides retroactive relief for individuals sentenced under the discarded 100-to-1 crack-cocaine-to-powder-cocaine ratio that Congress repudiated through the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010. That earlier legislation abolished the 100-to-1 ratio, reflecting the overwhelming consensus that treating crack cocaine and powder cocaine differently exacerbated racial inequality in the criminal justice system and resulted in unjustly severe sentences for low-level users of crack cocaine. The First Step Act built on the Fair Sentencing Act to specifically allow for retroactive resentencing relief.

In Terry v. United States, the Supreme Court concluded that, while Section 404 clearly authorized certain individuals convicted of mid- or high-level crack cocaine offenses to seek resentencing, it did not extend relief to certain individuals convicted of low-level offenses. As a result, these individuals are now the only ones sentenced under the earlier crack cocaine quantities that remain categorically ineligible for the First Step Acts historic relief. In todays letter, the bipartisan coalition urges Congress to close this gap. There is no reason why these individuals and these individuals alone should continue to serve sentences informed by the now-discredited crack-to-powder ratio.

In sending the letter, Attorney General Bonta joins the attorneys general of the District of Columbia, Utah, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Guam, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.

A copy of the letter is available here.

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Attorney General Bonta Urges Congress to Further Address Historical Drug Sentencing Inequities by Amending the First Step Act - California Department...

The Assam police has tasted a major success in its crusade against drugs mafia in the state.

Heroin, carrying a market value of around Rs 4 crore, has been recovered and seized by the Assam police.

The recovery was made at Lahorijan under Bokajan sub-division in Assams Karbi Anglong district.

The Assam police team was led by SDPO of Bokajan sub-division John Das.

The recovered heroin weighed around 650 grams.

Also read:Mizoram: Foreign cigarettes worth Rs 3.38 crores recovered by Assam Rifles troopers

The heroin were concealed in 50 soap cases.

In recent times, the Assam police has been acting tough on the drug cartels operating in the state, making huge seizures.

Most of the drugs consignment seized in Assam had being smuggled from either Manipur or Mizoram.

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War on Drugs: Heroin worth around Rs 4 crore recovered in Assams Karbi Anglong district - Northeast Now

The Assam police has tasted a major success in its crusade against drugs mafia in the state.

Heroin consignment, carrying a market value of around Rs 17.5 crores, has been recovered and seized by the Assam police.

The recovery was made at Jorabat near Guwahati in Assam from a truck.

Police recovered 2.5 kilograms of heroin concealed in 205 soap cases.

The consignment was hidden inside the oil tank of the truck.

Police intercepted the truck after receiving specific input about smuggling of the drugs.

Also read:Assam police nabs woman drug paddler from Shillong

Two persons have been arrested in connection with the seizure.

The arrested persons have been identified as Dipak Sarma from Dimapur in Nagaland and Jamminlal from Manipur.

Further investigation is underway to completely take down this drug network.

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Assam: 'War on drugs' continues, heroin worth over Rs 17.5 crore seized at Jorabat near Guwahati - Northeast Now

Samuel Moyn is right to emphasise how humanising war has distracted attention from questioning whether there should be a war in the first place (How the US created a world of endless war, 31 August). We could go further and argue that the permissive interpretation of the rules that he highlights has actually led to a dehumanisation in war.

The last 20 years have seen torture, multiple targeted killings by drones controlled from a safe distance, apparently self-explanatory categories such as law-of-war detainees, law-of-war targets, and the destruction of objects contributing to what has been called the war-sustaining economy. It is as if once one accepts one is at war, we accept that sticking a law-of-war label on all the killing and destruction makes it inevitable and acceptable.

Deep in the concept of war lies a need to adopt a state of mind that dehumanises the enemy. We should be careful not only about claims that war has been humanised, but also be aware that the very idea of war creates a state of mind where the enemy is dehumanised. Andrew Clapham Professor of international law, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies

The article on Americas endless wars raised many interesting issues. The idea that the US could strike over long distance by drone without incurring casualties is now an entrenched military maxim. This may not always be valid.

Some years ago I listened to a specialist in military ethics consider the balance of action and reaction to drone strikes from a legal standpoint. He suggested that if the target was a legitimate objective, its remote pilot or any of its supporting personnel, perhaps in Nevada, were themselves potentially legitimate targets from an adversarys perspective .

Civilian casualties associated with these targets would not be legitimate, but, as with so many innocent victims of drone warfare, might possibly be described as unfortunate examples of collateral damage. The general conclusion from this discussion was that drone warfare, even at a distance, posed major challenges for any advocate of a just war on terrorism and for anyone supposing it might be free of deadly consequences for its operators. Prof Keith HaywardLondon

To add some context to your long read, its worth remembering that there have been global wars initiated and inspired by the US since the end of the second world war. The first was the war on communism, AKA the cold war, which some would say was a major factor in the current situation in Afghanistan because the US funded, armed and supported the forces fighting the Soviet Unions occupation forces, seen by Washington as representing communism.

Then there is the continuing war on terror and the continuing war on drugs; the latter is now in its 50th year and the cause of tens, perhaps hundreds, of thousands of mainly civilian deaths across the world.

What all have in common is that they were and are unwinnable, and just go on and on with no pause for reflection or consideration of what the wars are actually achieving. George Orwells 1984 foresaw endless war. However, his intention was prophecy and warning, not the provision of an instruction manual. Blaine Stothard London

Surely Britain deserves the headline on this article more than the United States, since it has been involved in so many wars for many centuries.Margaret VandecasteeleWick, Caithness

Have an opinion on anything youve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication.

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Rules of engagement and the myth of humane war - The Guardian

As President Joe Biden oversaw the transfer of the remains of the U.S. soldiers killed in a suicide bomb attack at Afghanistans Kabul airport on Aug. 26, 2021, former Education Secretary Arne Duncan took to Twitter. Appearing to weigh in on the controversy over mask mandates in public schools, Duncan compared anti-mask and anti-vax people with the suicide bombers at Kabuls airport.

Have you noticed how strikingly similar both the mindsets and actions are between the suicide bombers at Kabuls airport, and the anti-mask and anti-vax people here? Duncan wrote in a since-deleted tweet. They both blow themselves up, inflict harm on those around them, and are convinced they are fighting for freedom.

Duncans tweet drew a deluge of negative reactions. Some insulted the former secretary, some criticized his timing and judgment, and others offered sarcastic advice. They criticized him for politicizing a tragic event. But Duncans use of a war metaphor to make a point is, in this instance, notable for reasons that go beyond the fact that it drew a sharp rebuke.

As a scholar who studies the rhetoric of education policy, I know that war analogies are a long-standing and common feature of public discourse about U.S. education.

For instance, in 1955, author Rudolf Flesch began his bestseller, Why Johnny Cant Read, by declaring that just as war is too serious a matter to be left to the generals, so, I think, the teaching of reading is too important to be left to the educators.

Similarly, a influential 1983 federal report, A Nation at Risk, stated that if an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war.

In both cases, the authors used war analogies to emphasize the urgency of education reform.

Beyond these prominent examples, the everyday language of education is rife with war metaphors. Classroom teachers work on the front lines of various aspects of education. School officials frequently find themselves embattled. Teachers unions go to war with school district superintendents. Even public education itself is said to be under siege.

In his remarks on the reopening of the nations schools this fall, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona stressed the importance of winning the fight against the pandemic. In these cases, comparing some aspect of education to an aspect of war aids with clarity and meaning.

The modern federal role in education is itself an extension of a different kind of war. When the Soviet Union launched Sputnik the first artificial satellite into space in 1957, it triggered the so-called Sputnik Crisis, or a panic that Americas education system was failing to produce enough scientists and engineers.

The crisis focused the country on its schools and resulted in the passage of the National Defense Education Act of 1958, which invested large sums of federal dollars into education for the first time.

So, if war metaphors are common in the rhetoric of education policy, what is different about Duncans tweet?

For starters, it does not liken education to war in the abstract. Rather, it picks out specific individuals and events for comparison. Using war as an analogy for public policy such as in the war on drugs or the war on terror can help pass legislation. However, as communication scholar David Zarefsky demonstrated in his study of the rhetoric of the War on Poverty, such metaphors can distort the implementation of those same laws as the people they aim to help get recast as enemies when their problems prove difficult to solve.

Also, while abstract comparisons to war are open to interpretation, Duncans comment brings to mind specific actors who killed or were slain in war, a clearly unpleasant subject.

Additionally, while some war metaphors use hyperbole, they do not usually have the punchline format of Duncans tweet. Although it does not seem that Duncan was trying to be humorous, beginning the tweet with have you noticed the classic setup for observational humor is an awkward way to frame a tweet about a recent suicide bombing.

Finally, war metaphors in education, especially when they are made by former or current public officials, usually make a unifying appeal. In Baltimore in August 2021, Secretary Cardona called the nation together to reopen its schools. A Nation at Risk, even though its rhetoric was bombastic, asked Americans to see the struggles of the nations education system as a collective responsibility that should inspire a collective response.

By contrast, Duncans tweet was divisive. It characterized people who opposed masks and vaccines as enemies on par with ISIS, rather than fellow Americans who might be persuaded to change their minds.

As I have written elsewhere, secretaries of education have a responsibility to help lead the public discourse on education in the United States. Improving the national discussion on schools was one reason President Jimmy Carter gave for founding the Department of Education and elevating its secretary to a cabinet role.

Although Duncan is a former secretary, he continues to seek to influence education policy as a prominent educator and an education nonprofit board member. For those reasons, his responsibility as a rhetorical leader in the field of education continues as well.

[Insight, in your inbox each day. You can get it with The Conversations email newsletter.]

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Education debates are rife with references to war but have they gone too far? - The Conversation US

Bangkok, Thailand The police officers lead a new detainee into the brightly lit room.

The suspects head is covered by a black bag.

He is made to sit on a chair in a corner as the officer in charge wraps more bags around his head.

The suspect moans and sobs, then falls to the ground.

A brief struggle ensues and several policemen hold him down as the officer in charge keeps wrapping more plastic around his head.

Within minutes, the suspect stops breathing.

This killing was caught on a security camera in the Thai central province of Nakhon Sawan on August 5. The footage was leaked online last week, sending shockwaves through Thailand, stirring a fierce public outcry and a heated debate over long-standing allegations of police brutality in the Southeast Asian country.

The police officer in charge has since been identified as Thitisan Jo Ferrari Uttanapol and his victim as 24-year-old Jeerapong Thanapat.

According to local media reports, a total of six policemen were involved in Jeerapongs death. The Bangkok Post newspaper said the young man, arrested for selling methamphetamine pills, suffocated to death as the officers tried to extort a bribe of two million Thai baht ($60,000) for his release. Following Jeerapongs death, the Post said the policemen even tried to cover up their tracks by ordering doctors at Sawan Pracharak Hospital to state the cause of the detained mans death as a drug overdose.

Amid the public outrage, Thai police began a manhunt looking for Uttanapol. On Wednesday, a police spokesman promised criminal charges, as well as disciplinary action, as other officers raided Uttanapols home in the capital, Bangkok. There, they found at least 30 cars, including Bentleys, Porches, Lamborghinis and Ferraris, illustrating how the disgraced policeman had earned his nickname.

A day after the raid, Uttanapol turned himself in to police.

In a bizarre twist, authorities allowed him to stage a news conference to explain his version of events.

At first, Uttanapol tried to justify his actions.

I didnt intend to kill him, he said.

I only put the bag on his head because I did not want him to see my face. He tried to tear off the bag, so I decided to handcuff him.

Uttanapol then blamed his actions on a desire to keep drugs off the street.

I made a mistake and I admit this, he said.

Researchers in Thailand who have devoted years to studying this kind of torture say Jeerapongs abuse and death is not an isolated incident. Rather, they say, this is just one case in hundreds reflecting a systemic problem.

We have never seen a video like this, said Pornpen Khongkachonkiet from the Cross Cultural Foundation (CrCF), a Thai rights group that documents torture and abuse in police custody. But according to the survivors weve interviewed, this is something that happens. We have heard from detainees many times talking about plastic bags.

CrCF has documented at least 20 custodial deaths across Thailand since 2007 and nearly 300 complaints of torture since 2014 in southern Thailand, where a conflict between separatists and Thai security forces has been raging for decades. The torture complaints involve violence against civilians by the military but Pornpen said the cases of abuse was probably much higher when factoring in the Thai polices anti-drug campaign.

Thai police launched their so-called war on drugs in 2003, when former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra rolled out a widely criticised anti-drug campaign where thousands of suspects were killed in the first three months alone.

While the arbitrary killings are not as widespread as before, human rights groups say torture of drug suspects remain rife.

Testimony given to CrCF by former detained drug offenders paints a dark picture of what can happen in the early moments of custody. Some of the interviews show that police officers sometimes deny access to legal representation, issue verbal threats and use physical violence.

They should treat prisoners like human beings, one former drug offender told CrCf in a recent report. But once youre inside, you have no rights, no voice.

CrCF says it has also documented at least 101 cases of enforced disappearance since 1992, while the UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearances says it has received reports of at least 91 cases of enforced disappearances since 1980.

The victims include lawyers, human rights defenders, environmentalists and political figures.

Pornpen told Al Jazeera that a failure to criminalise torture and enforced disappearances has led to a culture of impunity in Thailand.

Its systemic, theres a system in place to protect the perpetrators within the judicial system. Not only are police protected, but lawyers and judges are also implicit, she said. They feel they are protecting an even bigger institution than themselves.

Al Jazeera made multiple calls to the police to request a comment. But all of the calls went unanswered.

Sunai Phasuk, a Thai researcher with Human Rights Watch, says state-sanctioned torture and killings are nothing new in Thailand.

The torture and killing of a drug suspect in Nakhon Sawan province is not an isolated incident by rogue police officers, he said. Harsh measures remain politically popular, and police brutality has been tolerated or even encouraged in Thailands anti-drug campaign.

Sunai said that virtually none of the officers responsible for the so-called war on drugs killings and related abuses have been prosecuted.

There is an old motto that says: There is nothing under the sun the Thai police cannot do. Sadly, in reality, many police officers in Thailand think this means they can operate outside the bounds of the law, without fears of accountability, Sunai said.

Many believe if Uttanapols actions were not caught on camera, he would have simply got away with murder.

Nareeluc Pairchaiyapoom, the director of the Rights and Liberties Protection Department at the Thai governments Ministry of Justice, told Al Jazeera that the government is attempting to acknowledge a torture problem in law enforcement and the military.

The situation is getting better. The cases are decreasing, she said, without citing numbers. Also the top-level command in the south and the minister of defence are much more aware of this problem. They are monitoring their staff closely and thats why the numbers are decreasing.

Since 2018, The Thai Ministry of Justice and the Association to Prevent Torture (APT), an organisation focused on the prevention of torture, have collaborated in a programme aimed at reducing mistreatment at the hands of Thai law enforcement.

Shazeera Ahmad Zawawi, a senior adviser at APT, told Al Jazeera that the aim of the programme was to build confidence in the government and help promote the importance of strengthening detention safeguards during the first hours of police custody.

We worked closely with them [law enforcement] to understand what is torture, what is torture prevention, and what safeguards can be used, she said. The NGOs can only expose and show them where theyve gone wrong and that they can do better. But the government needs to install the policies for change to happen.

The group has developed an anti-torture handbook, a reference for government officials, law enforcement officers on how to understand different aspects of torture prevention. APT hopes to continue working with the Thai government to adopt a more human rights-focused approach to criminal justice. The programme is also looking into developing a training module on how to conduct effective and rights-based investigations for police.

Many hope the anger ignited by the video of Jeerapongs death will help speed up the pace of reforms but for the victims of police violence, it only brings back painful memories, said Pornpen, the CrCF director.

We have victims who have seen this clip now and are feeling a surge of trauma, bodies shaking, she said. Not only the victims, but the families who may have doubted their family members accounts are now feeling a sense of regret.

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Drug suspects killing in Thailand sparks calls for police reform - Al Jazeera English

Last Updated: 01 September 2021

Written by Marjorie Howard

Noah Hurowitz aims to go beyond El Chapo story.

When Noah Hurowitz entered Joan Black's third-grade class at Dallin, she found him to be "filled with intellectual curiosity. What was really amazing was that no matter what topic came up, he had a lot of information and a lot to offer. He had a highly developed vocabulary and extensive language."

Years later, when Hurowitz's mother, Nancy Strong, told Black that her son had become a writer, the retired teacher wasn't surprised. "I knew it," she recalled recently. "I just plain knew it."

Hurowitz, now 31, is the author of a book published in July, El Chapo: The Untold Story of the World's Most Infamous Drug Lord, (Atria Books, a division of Simon & Schuster). The work tells how the drug dealer, whose real name is Joaquin Guzman, amassed a powerful drug-trafficking operation and also addresses Hurowitz's views about the war on drugs.

"The goal from the beginning," said Hurowitz in a recent interview, "was to tell El Chapo's story but to go beyond that and use his life and career to show how the drug trade developed and how it is almost a pillar of support for the Mexican government." Others, he said, also benefit, including the U.S. military and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), which saw its budgets balloon, thanks to the war on drugs.

Grew up in Arlington

Hurowitz grew up in Arlington with his twin brother, Mike, his brother Dan and sister Kate. His father, Donald Hurowitz, lives in Melrose, while his mother remains in Arlington. Hurowitz wrote much of his book at his mother's home.

The book is based not only on courtroom testimony but on Hurowitz's interviews in Mexico with cartel gunmen, Chapo's family members and the DEA agents who brought him down. "I wanted to provide a sense of place," he said. "I wanted to show the remote dirt roads, the opium fields on the mountain sides, the guys on ATVs whizzing around with guns in their waist bands."

Hurowitz came to journalism in his usual off-the-beaten-path way. Unhappy at the private elementary school he was attending, he asked to leave and ended up in Black's classroom. Later, restless while at Arlington High School, he dropped out during his junior year to travel cross country with a friend. He later enrolled at Greenfield Community College, where he was able to finish his high school diploma while getting a head start at college. He credits Arlington High School Principal Charles Skidmore for finding a way to make this happen. On a whim, while at the University of Southern Maine, he signed up for a work-study job at the school newspaper. "It immediately stuck, and I've been doing it ever since."

From college, he paid his dues on a weekly paper in Maine and then moved to New York where several internships led to a job at the Brooklyn Paper, covering local news and then the news site DNAInfo. Let go for his efforts to unionize, he "ran off," as he put it , to Peru to learn more about the country where he had already spent some time and to improve the Spanish he had begun learning at Ottoson Middle School.

He did some freelancing and applied to Rolling Stone magazine. He was not hired on staff but his language skills plus his experience covering trials in New York City paid off when the magazine asked him to cover the trial of El Chapo. After that, out of the blue, he says, Atria sent him an email asking him if he'd like to write a book. He packed up his Brooklyn apartment and moved to Mexico City, where he began his research and his travels to remote parts of the country.

Going there, he acknowledged, "wasn't the safest thing to do, and my parents did not love it," But he took precautions, working with a "fixer," someone who knew the area, the customs and the people. Each day, he checked in with the Mexico representative from the Committee to Protect Journalists. And yes, there were several encounters with armed men, including one with a man called Beto, who he later learned was murdered, and another at a roadblock where the fixer's ties to the area paid off.

His view: Legalize drugs

For Hurowitz, working on the book persuaded him that drugs should be legalized. "Ending the drug trade and the trafficking of illegal drugs is never going to happen. Criminalizing drugs leads to violence and death and overdoses.

"The war on drugs has always focused as a useful smoke screen to pursue other interests. The Nixon administration used it as a way of criminalizing people in black neighborhoods and criminalizing the Left. In terms of foreign policy, it continues to be used as a way of controlling governments in Latin America and elsewhere that they want to keep in line."

He said it's important to understand who doesn't benefit, noting the communities in Latin America where there has been corruption and loss of life, as in Mexico, Colombia and Honduras.

The New York Times cited his book in its "New and Notable" section, and it has been described as "fast paced" and "hard to put down." He recently learned that El Chapo's son bought the painting that is used on the cover. "People being mythologized," he said, "are interested in their own myth."

YourArlington.com has provided news and opinion about Arlington, Mass., since 2006. Publisher Bob Sprague is a former editor at The Boston Globe, Boston Herald and Arlington Advocate. Read more at https://www.yourarlington.com/about.

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Investigative Ink In His Veins: From Arlington To El Chapo - Patch.com

Researchers find that one dose of psilocybin results in roughly a 10 percent increase in neuron size and density in mouse brains.

Veronica Lee 10:39 pm, Sep 01, 2021

Staff Reporter

Unsplash

Yale researchers found that a single dose of the naturally occurring psychedelic compound psilocybin can cause structural changes in the brain that counteract symptoms of depression.

In a paper published in the journal Neuron on Aug. 18, researchers at the Yale School of Medicine presented evidence that administering this drug to mice resulted in an approximately 10 percent increase in neuron size and density in the frontal cortex of the brain. Led by postdoctoral associate Lingxiao Shao and associate professor of psychiatry and neuroscience Alex Kwan, the team found that this structural remodeling occurred within 24 hours of the drug administration and persisted for one month, indicating that psilocybin made long-lasting changes in the brain.

Psilocybin is fascinating because it has an incredibly short half-life, which means that it gets out of the body quickly and yet has long-lasting behavioral effects, Kwan said. Weve seen that psilocybin can be effective in treating depression and other neuropsychiatric disorders. In this study, we wanted to investigate this mystery by observing individual connections in the mouse brain.

Psilocybin is a naturally occurring substance that is produced by a species of fungi thus the nickname magic mushrooms. Part of a larger category of psychedelics called classic psychedelics, which includes LSD and mescaline, psilocybin works by stimulating serotonin 2A receptors in the brain, according to the paper.

Effects of the drug include visual hallucinations, distortions of reality, euphoria and what some call spiritual experiences. However, Kwan and his team are more interested in how the human brain functions after the effects of the drug have already worn off. Psilocybin and other classic psychedelic drugs have long been recognized for their potential as therapeutic drugs to treat disorders like depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder.

I was inspired by Dr. Ronald Duman, who studied ketamines effect on [neuron] spine density, Kwan said. However, we chose to use psilocybin because it is so well-studied clinically. There is currently a large phase two clinical trial investigating the effects of psilocybin on major depressive disorder.

However, psychedelic research was not always so popular. Although research into psilocybin and other related drugs began in the 1950s and 60s, the federal governments war on drugs during the 1970s stigmatized psychedelic drugs and made them illegal. The federal government declared them Schedule I drugs, meaning that they have a high potential for abuse and no accepted medical use.

However, Kwan and other researchers interested in psychedelics have worked to revive the psychedelic research field, even in the face of tight regulations.

There are certain risks with a high dosage psychedelic experience, for example increases in heart rate and the possibility of precipitating psychotic episodes, particularly in those predisposed to them, Albert Garcia-Romeu, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, said. However, we take the proper screenings and precautions so that the dosage sessions are safe for participants.

In this study, Kwan and his team sought to use a mouse model to better understand the changes the human brain undergoes during psychedelic experiences.

Manoj Doss, postdoctoral research fellow at the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research, commended the large sample size of 82 mice and the roughly equal distribution between male and female mice in the study something that Doss said is often overlooked in psychedelic research.

In this study, the male mouse brains experienced a smaller effect from the dose of psilocybin, Doss said. This may point to some heterogeneity or variability in terms of how psilocybin and other psychedelics affect the brain and create long-lasting changes.

In the future, Kwan and his team hope to investigate the exact mechanisms by which psilocybin increases neuron size and density. Kwan also hopes that this research will help identify new compounds that may have even better properties than psilocybin in treating neuropsychiatric disorders.

Director of Policy and Advocacy at the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies Natalie Ginsberg 11 expressed her excitement about where the field of psychedelic research is headed.

This is totally changing the approach to therapy for PTSD and other mental illnesses, Ginsberg said. Psychedelics can also greatly impact peoples connections to nature and to each other. We also hope to see psychedelics decriminalized, making them more safe and accessible to those who can be healed by them.

Psilocybin was classified as a Schedule I drug by the United States in 1970.

Veronica Lee covers breakthrough research for SciTech. She is a sophomore in Branford College majoring in molecular, cellular, and developmental biology.

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Yale researchers discover healing effects of psychedelic drug - Yale Daily News

The motion to decriminalize simple possession of drugs like fentanyl is on the agenda at Regina's Board of Police Commissioners meeting Tuesday.

"We just have to look at the harm of the war on drugs. We just have to look at the staggering number and growth of overdose and addictionsin the city," said councillor Andrew Stevens, who put the motion forward.

From January to July this year, there have been 933 occurrences of overdoses in Regina, with police attending to 174 cases.

The federal government has agreed to discuss drug decriminalization with municipalities. Vancouver already sent in itssubmission seeking a federal exemption to decriminalizing simple possession of drugs.

Stevens's motion in Reginawas inspired by Vancouver. He said he wants towork toward a more inclusive and representative policy.

It would involvethe Board of Police Commissioners and Regina policeworking with the city, harm reduction experts, community organizationsand the Saskatchewan Health Authority to research and examine the feasibility of decriminalizing simple illicit drug possession.

While Regina has its first overdose prevention site, the Nwo Ytina Friendship Centre, Stevens said there's still stigma,. He said decriminalization plays a role in the larger harm reduction model that needs to be advanced.

"There could be a fear of people using that site who are worried about actually being prosecuted for possession," he said.

The Saskatoon Board of Police Commissioners already passed a motion earlier this month to research decriminalizing simple drug possession.

Jason Mercredi,the executive director of Prairie Harm Reductionin Saskatoon, said too many people have been lost in the war on drugs.

"The verdict is in that we lost the war, and drugs won, so we need to find proactive ways to deal with the opioid crisis and crystal meth crisis," he said.

"Decriminalization is definitely one of the tools in the tool belt."

He said often, when people see police coming ,they'll throw out the drug, but then will go out and commit crimes to get the money needed to get the drugs again.

The issue of overdose hits close to home for many people.

Marie Agioritis, a harm reduction advocate in Saskatoon, lost her son to a fentanyl overdose in 2015.

Since then, she has worked to make sure the same thing doesn't happen to other children.

Agioritis said is happy that there are going to be conversations around decriminalizing drugs in Regina.

"Decriminalization is such a scary word for people to hear.... It seems to imply some kind of a rampant loosey-goosey idea on taking the criminalization out of drug use and drug sales," she said.

"That's not it all, if we are looking at personal amounts of drug."

Agioriti said decriminalization can make people less fearful of the police when they come across them in the case of an overdose.

Of the 993 overdoses in the city, the majority 66 per cent happened in the central area. There were also 72 apparent deaths, and of those deaths a majority of them were men (61 per cent).

In the month of July, there was 182 overdose events. Police attended to 25 of them, leaving 156 overdose events unattended.

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Motion to decriminalize the possession of drugs on the agenda at Regina police board meeting - CBC.ca

BORIS Johnson wanted to "embarrass"top Tories over their alleged drug use, Dominic Cummings has claimed.

The Prime Minister's former top aide claimed meetings he attended relating to drugs policy in Number 10 were like Brass Eye, Channel 4'ssatirical current affairs show which aired in1997.

Cummings went on to say that the Home Office was more concerned with "crackdowns"and "marketing campaigns"in relation to drugs policy.

The former Vote Leave chief made the comments above an article he shared regarding economics, the war on drugs and Afghanistan.

READ MORE:Nicola Sturgeon: SNP-Greens deal gives 'undeniable mandate' for indyref2

The article claims that the war on opium production failed and instead increased the strength of the Taliban.

It was based on an opinion piece by Jeffrey Clemens, an economist at the University of California in San Diego.

Cummings wrote: "Econ 101, opium, Taliban.

"(Few mtngs I ever had in No10 were more Brass Eye than listening to Home Office plans for 'crackdowns' and 'marketing campaigns' + BJ's desire to embarrass his Cabinet over their own drug use)"

It comes almost a month after Boris Johnson rejected pleasto allow safe drug consumption rooms in Scotland.

The Scottish Government, health experts and campaigners said that it would be a lifesaving facility, but Johnson instead vowed to take a hardline approach to criminal gangs.

Meanwhile, the article referenced by Cummings said that opium production did not decline in Afghanistan but underwent an "important shift"moving from areas underneath the Afghan government's control to provinces where they struggled to exert control.

Therefore, instead of poppy production being widespread across Afghanistan it became concentrated in areas where the government struggled to assert its authority.

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The article reads: "By the late 2000s, however, it had consolidated in areas dominated by the Taliban in the countrys southwest provinces, in particular in Helmand province, which regularly accounts for half of the land cultivated with opium poppies."

Former Tory party leader William Hague recently called on the UK to follow Portugal's lead and decriminalise drugs, tackling it as a health issue instead of a criminal one.

In 2020, drugs deaths in Scotland rose by 5% to a record 1339, the seventh year in a row the number of deaths has increased.

We previously told how Dominic Cummings spent three hours debating Brexit and Scottish independence with staff at an Ullapool hotel during a visit to the area in August.

Number 10 has been contacted for comment.

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Johnson wanted to 'embarrass' Tory Cabinet members over drug use, Cummings claims - The National