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Coca Prohibition Is More Harmful Than The Plant Itself, World Health Organization Review Concludes

The consumption of the coca leaf in its raw form by millions daily across the Andes carries no significant risks, but official coca control strategies are associated with “substantial public health harms,” according to a review commissioned by the World Health Organization.

Filter viewed an advance copy of the report that was distributed to members of the WHO’s Expert Committee on Drug Dependence (ECDD).

Coca, the mildly stimulating and medicinal leaf that is the base ingredient of cocaine, was banned globally by the UN in 1964 after its investigators claimed coca leaf chewing is “definitely harmful” and “the cause of racial degeneration of many population groups.” A WHO paper also described the use of the calcium-rich plant as “a social evil.”

But despite U.S.-backed militarized efforts to eradicate coca leaf production in Colombia, Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador throughout the decades-long drug war, the consumption of the plant—which for many Indigenous communities holds profound spiritual value—has remained stubbornly prevalent, with production in Colombia at all-time highs.

“Research reviewed for this report did not reveal evidence of clinically meaningful public health harms associated with coca leaf use,” states the comprehensive scientific review commissioned by the ECDD. “The research record does, however, robustly document the substantial public health harms associated with coca control strategies at all scales.”

The review is currently in draft form and subject to copyediting. It was commissioned amid growing international calls to end the blanket prohibition of coca, as Filter previously reported.

In October, the ECDD will discuss the report, which was prepared by an international group of independent contracted experts, and consider whether to recommend a change to coca’s current Schedule I status—the most restricted category, meaning researchers often find it impossible to source the understudied leaves.

Any recommendations would be presented in December to the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, which has a rotating membership of 53 United Nations member states. In March 2026, the CND would vote on any recommendations. It could reschedule or even deschedule the coca leaf—which would have huge ramifications, ending the criminalization of its use and potentially providing a major economic boon for Latin American producer countries.

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Former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund Reveals He Was NEVER Told About FBI’s 274 Plainclothes Agents in Jan. 6 Crowd – Despite Meeting with Agencies the Night Before

The cover-up just got exposed.

Former Chief of the U.S. Capitol Police, Steven Sund, revealed in an interview with John Fawcett on The Great America Show Friday night that he was never told by the FBI that hundreds of their agents were deployed inside the Jan. 6 crowds.

How is it possible that the top cop in charge of protecting the U.S. Capitol, the man responsible for securing Congress, was left in the dark about something this massive?

On Thursday night, the FBI finally admitted that it had 274 plainclothes agents inside the massive Trump crowds on January 6, 2021 — hundreds more than previously reported.

The Blaze reported that congressional sources claimed this was “not necessarily a surprise,” since the FBI often embeds counter-surveillance personnel at large events. But what is shocking is the FBI’s steadfast refusal for years to disclose their true level of presence at the Capitol.

Even worse, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Inspector General declared in an 88-page report released in December 2024 that the FBI had “no undercover employees” inside the Jan. 6 crowds. That claim now looks like another brazen lie.

Former FBI Director Chris Wray lied and lectured House Republicans for accusing the FBI of planting informants/operatives/agents inside the massive crowd of Trump supporters on January 6, 2021.

FBI Director Christopher Wray testified before Congress in July 2023 that he “does not believe” undercover FBI agents were present at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Wray’s statement came during a tense exchange with Representative Andy Biggs (R-AZ), who specifically asked about the number of undercover agents in the Capitol vicinity on the infamous day.

“I’m not sure there were undercover agents on scene,” Wray responded to Biggs. “As I sit here right now, I do not believe there were undercover agents on.”

Biggs wrote on Twitter that “Wray will be held accountable for this lie.”

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Massie Secures House Vote to Release Epstein Files, Defying GOP Leadership and Unleashing Grassroots Fury

Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie is turning up the heat on Washington’s most sensitive secrets, claiming he’s just shy of forcing a public vote to release the federal investigation files on Jeffrey Epstein—the notorious sex offender and financier whose web of blackmail left the country’s ruling class sweating bullets.

Massie’s campaign, derided by party bosses but cheered by Epstein’s victims, now rides the momentum of the Arizona special election which sent Democratic candidate Adelita Grijalva to Congress—Grijalva promised to sign Massie’s petition, giving him the magic number: 218.

Washington Panic Over Epstein Files

At a community forum in northeastern Kentucky, Massie didn’t mince words. Both Arizona candidates pledged their support, and with Grijalva’s victory, the discharge petition is locked and loaded. Now, as Massie put it, not even Republican leadership can duck responsibility: “We’re going to force a vote on releasing those files.”

But the Republican congressional brass, led by Speaker Mike Johnson and Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, want no part of this grassroots insurrection. Massie says party leadership is “in full panic,” with pressure and threats raining down on co-signers.

According to Massie, any attempt to use obscure parliamentary gimmicks to block the vote would itself require 218 representatives—throwing everyone into the headlights: “If you participate in that vote to sideline the discharge petition, now you’re part of the coverup.”

Hall passes? “This is an 80-20 issue,” Massie said, suggesting Speaker Johnson might let some members side with transparency—if only to save face with angry constituents.

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Kremlin Responds To Zelensky Comment Hinting At Assassination Of Top Leadership

Russia on Friday blasted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for his “irresponsible” threats after the day prior he said that leaders in Moscow should check for bomb shelters near the Kremlin if the country does not stop its war in Ukraine.

Zelensky had told Axios that Russian officials “have to know where their bomb shelters are,” adding: “If they will not stop the war, they will need it in any case.”

He did caveat the threat by saying he won’t target civilians as “we are not terrorists” but then underscored, “They have to know that we in Ukraine, each day, we will answer. If they attack us, we will answer them.”

Zelensky also stressed that if Ukraine receives long-range weaponry from the United States, then “we will use it.” This is an especially dangerous scenario as it is flirting with WW3, given Moscow has long issued a red line related to such long-range weapons attacking Russian territory.

The Ukrainian leader could be upping these threats not only out of desperation, but after earlier this month Russia struck Ukrainian government buildings in the capital for the first time of the war, and it was not far from Zelensky’s own office.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded to the threats as follows: “Zelensky is clearly continuing his desperate efforts. That’s why he’s issuing threats left and right, which is quite irresponsible,” according to the AFP.

Former Russian president and current top national security official Dmitry Medvedev also responded, by saying:

“The freak should understand something else: Russia can use weapons that no bomb shelter will save you from. And the Americans should remember this too.”

This appeared to be another veiled nuclear threat, and hint at runaway escalation if American long-range weapons are used to attack government buildings in Moscow.

There was at least one notable time earlier in the conflict that Ukraine sent small drones against the Kremlin complex in Moscow, damaging a dome and putting the capital on high alert.

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Congress calls Trump’s TikTok plan a good first step, but concerns remain about algorithm control

ongressional leaders see positive first steps in President Donald Trump’s TikTok deal, but are withholding full support until questions about control of the important content algorithm owned by China-based ByteDance are resolved. The Chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party says that the promise of divestiture is a good first step on the way to a final deal, but noted once again that an important requirement of the law passed by Congress is severing China’s connections to the app’s algorithm.  

“Transitioning to a majority American-owned entity would mark an important step in that process that could mitigate some of the ByteDance threat depending on the details, but divestment was not the law’s only requirement,” Chairman John Moolenaar, R-Mich., said in a statement on Friday. 

Staying within the guardrails

“The law also set firm guardrails that prohibit cooperation between ByteDance and any prospective TikTok successor on the all-important recommendation algorithm, as well as preclude operational ties between the new entity and ByteDance,” said the chairman. 

The chairman promised that he would use his committee to conduct full oversight over this agreement, starting with an urgent briefing” that he requested from the Trump administration. Moolenaar also said he plans to hold a hearing next year with the leadership of the new American Tiktok entity, according to the press release.

TikTok’s operations in the United States have drawn significant scrutiny from Congress for years. Last year, Congress passed and President Joe Biden signed into law the bill requiring TikTok’s parent company, the China-based ByteDance, to either divest itself of the popular video sharing app or face a ban on operations in the United States. 

The bill aimed to address concerns that the Chinese company exercised the ability to weaponize the app against the American people on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party’s goals by gathering and exploiting citizens’ personal data.  

Of particular concern is ByteDance’s proprietary content suggesting algorithm, which experts say could be exploited to influence users and U.S. public opinion and politics at large. There is some evidence of this claim. Earlier this year, a study found that TikTok suppresses anti-China content and influences user opinion on the communist country’s human rights record and society. The researchers from Rutgers University and the Network Contagion Research Institute assessed this was done by likely manipulation of the content algorithm, though no definitive determination could be made without access to the code.

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Antifa Terrorists Dressed in War Gear Seen Unloading Supplies Outside Chicago Ice Facility – Marxist-Terrorists Scream “Shoot the F*cker!” at ICE Agents

Chicago patriot and activist Terry Newsome brought his cameras with him on Friday to film the Antifa terrorists outside the Chicago Broadview ICE facility.

Newsome captured the violence outside the facility on Friday.

At one point, a protester was arrested and you can hear the officials say, “He was carrying a gun.”

While covering the mayhem, Terry filmed the “peaceful” Marxists screaming, “Shoot ICE,” and “Kill ICE.”

One protester is screaming, “Shoot the f*cker! Shoot the f*cker!”

Local Antifa leaders, the Hammond twins, were arrested when they arrived at the ICE facility.

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Hillary Clinton Suggests ‘Formal Deprogramming’ For ‘MAGA Extremists’ Who Still Support Trump

In an interview with CNN, Hillary Clinton compared supporters of former President Donald Trump to a “cult” and said that “maybe there needs to be a formal deprogramming of the cult members.”

“Sadly, so many of those extremists, those MAGA extremists, take their marching orders from Donald Trump, who has no credibility left by any measure,” Clinton told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in an interview that aired Thursday night. “He’s only in it for himself.”

Seizing on Clinton’s comments, the Trump campaign issued a statement Thursday night, saying “President Trump has said countless times that they are only coming after him, because he stands in their way from coming after you — and Hillary Clinton just confirmed that to be true. Tens of millions of Americans will reject the Democrat Party’s re-education camp agenda in November 2024 when we make Donald Trump the 47th President of the United States.”

Clinton, who ran against Trump and lost in 2016, painted the 2024 election as a choice between two vastly different visions for America. “One will wreck our democracy. One violates the law on a regular basis. One appeals to the worst in our collective psyche. The other gets things done,” she said. “Why is that a hard choice?”

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Trump asks Supreme Court to determine whether he can end birthright citizenship

resident Donald Trump on Friday asked the Supreme Court to take up his executive order on ending birthright citizenship, after a lower court deemed the order unconstitutional.

The Supreme Court previously narrowed the scope of injunctions against the executive order, finding that lower courts likely lacked the authority to issue sweeping injunctions, but did not rule on the constitutionality of the order.  

“The lower court’s decisions invalidated a policy of prime importance to the president and his administration in a manner that undermines our border security,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer told the Supreme Court in an appeal obtained by CNN. “Those decisions confer, without lawful justification, the privilege of American citizenship on hundreds of thousands of unqualified people.”

The Supreme Court has not weighed in on whether it will take up the overarching issue of ending the practice so far.

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US Plan Would Tap Tony Blair As Postwar Gaza Leader

In one of the most absurd and comical headlines of the year, The Wall Street Journal on Friday says it knows who will be tapped to oversee Gaza once the Israel-Hamas war is over: former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

That’s according to a controversial White House plan now being proposed to Arab and Israeli leaders. The 72-year old is being presented as a peace-maker, despite his record of being George W. Bush’s biggest allied supporter in the disastrous, blood-soaked invasion of Iraq and overthrow of Saddam Hussein. 

“As Britain’s prime minister, Tony Blair helped negotiate a landmark peace agreement to end three decades of conflict in Northern Ireland,” WSJ writes, apparently without intending irony. “Now, President Trump might want him for an even more difficult job: Helping Gaza get back on its feet once the conflict ends.”

The plan calls for a Gaza International Transition Authority (GITA) – which sounds a bit like the Bush-era’s Coalition Provisional Coalition (CPA) which oversaw nation-building in Iraq. And so it seems Blair will be the Paul Bremer for the Gaza Strip, according to the plan.

The idea is that this would be a UN-overseen initiative. “The United Nations-backed body would control the enclave for at least several years, staffed in part by Palestinian technocrats and supported by an Arab-led international peacekeeping force, until it could hand over full control to the Palestinians, officials say,” WSJ continues.

However, US admin officials have said Blair is but one of several officials under consideration for heading up the GITA mission. The plan would have to gain the cooperation and backing of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and presumably whatever Palestinian officials remain in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip.

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Zelensky is ‘losing his mind’ – EU state’s foreign minister

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has issued a sharp rebuke of Vladimir Zelensky, claiming that Kiev has become obsessed with Budapest and is imagining threats that do not exist.

Zelensky alleged on Friday that Hungarian drones had violated western Ukrainian airspace, suggesting they “may have been conducting reconnaissance on the industrial potential of Ukraine’s border areas.”

“President Zelensky is losing his mind to his anti-Hungarian obsession,” Szijjarto wrote on X in response, adding that “he is now starting to see things that aren’t there.”

Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Sibiga fired back, stating that “no amount of your attacks on our President will change what we – and everyone – see.”

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