Tag: alcohol

Cause of Death Revealed for Doctor Found Dead and Naked in Miami Dollar Tree Freezer

The cause of death for the woman who was found dead and naked inside a walk-in freezer in a Miami Dollar Tree store last year was revealed this week.

As previously reported, a female doctor was found dead in a Dollar Tree freezer in Miami in December.

32-year-old Helen Massiell Garay Sanchez was found deceased and naked inside the store’s walk-in freezer in Little Havana.

Sanchez reportedly entered the Dollar Tree the night before she was found. She made no purchases and was found in an area designated for employees only.

At the time, authorities said no foul play was suspected.

It was revealed on Wednesday that Sanchez died of environmental hypothermia, with ethanol use (alcohol) being a contributory cause.

“According to the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner’s Office, the cause of death for 32-year-old Helen Massiell Garay Sanchez was environmental hypothermia, with ethanol use being a contributory cause,” NBC Miami reported.

“Her toxicology report showed that her ethanol levels were 0.112%. Ethanol is the active ingredient in alcoholic beverages,” the outlet reported.

A medical expert said Sanchez may have taken her clothes off after she became confused and disoriented as the hypothermia set in.

Keep reading

Ilhan Omar’s hubby’s elusive winery under scrutiny from feds — and it violates Islamic law

Besides scrutiny from the feds, Rep. Ilhan Omar’s husband’s winery could land the embattled power couple in hot water with imams too.

Political consultant Tim Mynett converted to Islam to marry Omar, a practicing Muslim — but selling booze is strictly banned in Islamic law, which considers anything to do with alcohol sinful — or “haram.”

“I assure you that they got married in accordance with Islam and the law, and Ilhan’s husband converted to Islam,” a spokesperson for Omar’s office told BBC Somalia at the time of the 2020 wedding.

It was Mynett’s California-based wine company eStCru, together with his other allegedly shady business ventures, that helped propel the couple’s worth to up to $30 million and attracted a probe by the House Oversight Committee and the Department of Justice.

Omar claimed the wine biz was worth between $1 million and $5 million in her May 2025 financial disclosure, which covered the 2024 calendar year.

But by that point, the venture had gone belly-up for more than a year, adding to the mystery of why she would have placed such a high value on it in the first place.

“We’re not experts in Islamic law — but we’re pretty sure scamming the American people for a living violates every religion,” slammed Republican National Committee Press Secretary Kiersten Pels.

Keep reading

San Francisco Ends $5M-A-Year Program That Supplied Alcohol To Homeless Addicts

Sigh. It’s not parody. It’s San Francisco. The city is shutting down a controversial program that used millions in taxpayer funds to provide alcohol to homeless residents struggling with addiction, according to the NY Post.

Mayor Daniel Lurie said the city will end the Managed Alcohol Program, which cost about $5 million each year and began during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“For years, San Francisco was spending $5 million a year to provide alcohol to people who were struggling with homelessness and addiction — it doesn’t make sense, and we’re ending it,” Lurie told The California Post.

The program was launched in April 2020, when the city placed unhoused residents in hotels during lockdowns. Medical staff supplied controlled amounts of beer and liquor to prevent dangerous withdrawal symptoms while stores and bars were closed. Although intended as a temporary measure, it continued for nearly six years.

During its operation, the program served only 55 people, translating to an average cost of roughly $454,000 per client.

Now, Lurie says the city has fully pulled its support.

“We have ended every city contract for that program,” he said.

Community Forward, the nonprofit that managed the initiative in recent years, confirmed that the city has terminated its funding. Financial records show the group received millions in public money, much of it spent on staff salaries.

San Francisco’s program was the first of its kind in the United States, modeled loosely on similar efforts in Canada. Unlike other harm-reduction policies, such as needle exchanges, MAP directly supplied alcohol to people already dependent on it.

Since taking office last year, Lurie has moved away from long-standing harm-reduction policies. He has also ended the distribution of drug-use equipment and pushed for stricter enforcement of street drug activity.

“Under my administration, we made San Francisco a recovery-first city and ended the practice of handing out fentanyl smoking supplies so people couldn’t kill themselves on our streets,” Lurie said.

“We have work to do, but we have transformed the city’s response, and we are breaking the cycles of addiction, homelessness and government failure that have let down San Franciscans for too long.”

Last year, he warned open-air drug markets that enforcement would increase.

“If you do drugs on our streets, you will be arrested,” Lurie said. “And instead of sending you back out in crisis, we will give you a chance to stabilize and enter recovery.”

The Post writes that recovery advocates welcomed the decision to end MAP. Tom Wolf, a former homeless addict who now works in outreach, said the program wasted public funds.

Keep reading

Where Are America’s Dry Counties?

While the U.S. ended federal Prohibition in 1933, local restrictions on alcohol still persist across the country to this day.

As Visual Capitalist shows in the map below, based on work by Wikipedia user Mr. Matté, many counties remain “dry,” banning the sale of alcohol entirely, or “moist,” allowing only limited sales.

Where Alcohol is Still Restricted

The data, crowdsourced from local government sites and media reports, reveals that alcohol restrictions are concentrated in the South, particularly in states like Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee.

Arkansas stands out the most in the map above, with a patchwork of red and orange counties indicating either total bans or partial restrictions on alcohol sales. In fact, the state has long struggled with outdated liquor laws, where even grocery stores in “moist” counties may be prohibited from selling wine or spirits.

Alcohol Status: It’s Complicated

Here’s what the terminology means:

  • Dry county: No alcohol sales allowed by law
  • Moist county: Alcohol sales are partially restricted (e.g. allowed in restaurants but not in stores)
  • Wet county: Alcohol can be sold without county-level restriction

Even within “wet” counties, individual towns may choose to remain dry, and in “dry” counties, specific towns or establishments can apply for exemptions, creating a legal maze for consumers and businesses alike.

Keep reading

‘Green Wednesday’ surges as Americans swap alcohol for cannabis ahead of Thanksgiving

The biggest shopping day of the year may be Black Friday, but the cannabis equivalent happens the day before Thanksgiving.

Despite potential health risks, “Green Wednesday” has been named the second-highest day of the year for pot sales, according to various reports, second only to April 20 (4/20) as the leading day for sales.

This is in part due to dispensaries offering large discounts on products like pre-rolls, edibles, gummies, vapes and flowers.

According to Dutchie, an Oregon-based e-commerce platform used by thousands of dispensaries across the U.S., average sales increased 91% on Nov. 27, 2024 — the day before Thanksgiving last year — compared to a typical Wednesday. The average basket per shopper increased by 9% to more than $70.

New York dispensaries reported even higher numbers, according to the analysis, with medical baskets reaching more than $106.

Keep reading

Rand Paul Slams Alcohol And Marijuana Interests Over Federal Hemp Ban, Announcing He’ll File A Bill To Reverse It Next Week

A GOP senator says he’ll be filing a bill next week to protect the hemp industry from an impending federal ban on most cannabinoid products. He’s also calling out alcohol and marijuana interests for allegedly “join[ing] forces” to lobby in favor of the prohibitionist policy change, which will restrict access to a plant and its derivatives that are often used therapeutically—including by members of his Senate colleagues’ families.

In an interview on “The Chris Cuomo Project” podcast that was posted on Thursday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) previewed his plan to push back against the hemp ban that was included in major spending legislation President Donald Trump signed into law last week.

Paul has been sounding the alarm for weeks about the potential consequences of the hemp recriminalization provisions, which he says would cause mass job losses and a $25 billion industry to be “wiped out.”

As he previewed during a separate webinar organized by the Kentucky Hemp Association on Wednesday, the senator told Cuomo that he intends to introduce legislation next week that would make it so state policy regulating hemp cannabinoid products—with basic safeguards in place to prevent youth access, for example—”supersedes the federal law.”

Keep reading

Alcohol Industry Groups Push Congress To Ban Intoxicating Hemp Products—At Least Until Federal Regulations Are Enacted

A coalition of major alcohol industry associations is throwing its weight behind a push to get Congress to ban intoxicating hemp products—at least on a temporary basis before the federal government creates a “robust regulatory framework” for the marketplace.

As lawmakers work to finalize appropriations legislation, they’ve felt pressure on both sides of the hemp debate, with some interests endorsing controversial proposals to outright prohibit intoxicating cannabinoids and others that have called for a comprehensive regulatory approach that could prevent significant economic fallout for the hemp industry.

A new letter from the American Distilled Spirits Alliance (ADSA), Beer Institute (BI), Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S. (DISCUS), Wine America and Wine Institute seems to promote a middle-ground solution—but one the begins with a ban on hemp THC products as championed by Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD).

The letter, sent to congressional leaders on Tuesday, states that the alcohol associations are aligned with a group of 39 state and territory attorneys general who recently urged federal legislators to enact a ban on the hemp items.

“Our respective organizations produce virtually all the beer, distilled spirits, and wine available in every state and congressional district across the country, representing some of the world’s most valuable consumer brands,” the letter says.

“Unfortunately, the ambiguous language contained in the 2018 Farm Bill has been manipulated and exploited by certain actors, fueling the rapid growth of a largely unregulated market that is knowingly and willfully ignoring the [Food and Drug Administration, or FDA] position that the addition of intoxicating cannabinoids (like delta-8 THC and delta-9 THC) to food is illegal,” it says.

“The rhetoric surrounding this issue is unfortunate,” the coalition said, adding that “certain entities, including some within the beverage alcohol space, claim that any effort to rein in the sale of highly intoxicating hemp THC products is tantamount to ‘prohibition’ or a ‘ban’ that will adversely impact industrial hemp farmers or even products that contain non-intoxicating cannabidiol (CBD).”

Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America (WSWA), a key player in the space, is among those alcohol interests that have pushed back against the proposed prohibition. WSWA also added a company that makes THC-infused drinks to its membership roster for the first time in September.

Keep reading

Psychedelic beer may have helped pre-Inca empire in Peru schmooze elite outsiders and consolidate power

The growth of a pre-Inca civilization known as the Wari may have been aided by psychedelic-laced beer, researchers propose in a new study.

The Wari flourished from roughly A.D. 600 to 1000 and are known for their mummified burials, human sacrifices, and elaborate objects created out of gold, silver and bronze. They also built cities such as Huari and Pikillaqta, which contained temples and dwellings for elite inhabitants, and controlled much of Peru as well as parts of Argentina and Chile.

In the new study, published Monday (Oct. 6) in the journal La Revista de Arqueología Americana (The Journal of American Archaeology), the researchers suggest that Wari rulers used psychedelics mixed in beer to help grow their empire. They explain that the “afterglow” — the long-term effect of drinking the mix — would have lasted weeks and that communal feasts where it was drunk would have brought people together. While the body may excrete psychedelics quickly, the aftereffects can last for days or weeks.

The study authors noted that the remains of seeds from a plant named Anadenanthera colubrina (also known as vilca) have been found at Wari sites, including near the remains of beer made from a plant called Schinus molle. Mixing the vilca, which is known to produce a psychedelic effect, with the beer would have “lessened but extended the high,” Justin Jennings, a curator of South American Archaeology at the Royal Ontario Museum and co-author of the paper, told Live Science in an email.

In the paper, the authors noted that scientific studies of similarly acting psychedelics found that people who took them tended to display “greater openness and empathy.”

These traits “would have been highly desirable for a Wari political system that depended on friendly, routine face-to-face interactions between people who had once been strangers or even enemies,” the researchers wrote in their paper.

Keep reading

Tennessee Alcohol Wholesalers Are Grabbing Control of the State’s Hemp Market

Few things are more difficult to eradicate in our system of modern governance than a government-sanctioned monopoly or oligopoly. A recently passed bill in Tennessee, which will allow the state’s alcohol wholesalers to take over hemp distribution in the state, shows that these monopolies are not only difficult to eliminate but also often attempt to expand their reach.    

The new law sets up a distribution system for hemp—which was legalized at the federal level in the 2018 Farm Bill—that mirrors the notorious three-tier system for alcohol distribution, which requires producers, wholesalers, and retailers to be legally separate entities. The three-tier system restricts producers and suppliers from selling directly to their customers and mandates that they work through a wholesaler to reach the market. This allows wholesalers to operate as functional monopolies or oligopolies in certain parts of states where only one or two wholesalers operate.

The law, which takes effect on January 1, 2026, also requires all wholesalers and retailers of hemp products to maintain a physical presence within the state. Out-of-state hemp suppliers will be prohibited from engaging in direct-to-consumer shipping to customers in Tennessee, and instead will be forced to work through the state’s wholesaler and retailer tiers. While in-state Tennessee hemp suppliers cannot ship their products to Tennesseans either, they are able to sell on-site directly to their customers, providing a workaround to avoid the three-tier system.

Cornbread Hemp, a Kentucky hemp supplier that recorded $1 million in Tennessee-based sales last year, is challenging the new law in federal court. Cornbread Hemp argues that Tennessee’s law unconstitutionally discriminates against out-of-state competitors in favor of in-state businesses, which is a violation of the Constitution’s Dormant Commerce Clause.

Supreme Court observers will recognize how closely the case mirrors Tennessee Wine and Spirits Retailers Association v. Thomas (2019). In the case, the majority struck down Tennessee’s requirement that applicants for alcohol wholesaling or retailing licenses must have resided in the state for over two years, finding it to be unconstitutional discrimination against out-of-state economic interests.

Keep reading

GOP Senator Who Opposes Marijuana Legalization Complains About Federal Alcohol Guidelines Recommending Americans Drink Less

A GOP senator is complaining about pending revisions to federal guidelines that could recommend Americans drink less alcohol, even as he maintains his strong opposition to legalizing marijuana.

As the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) works to finalize updated dietary guidance for Americans, which will be partly informed by a study that some expect will recommend further reducing alcohol intake, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) is standing strong in defense of alcohol’s legal status.

“Wasting taxpayer dollars on studies to ban alcohol is exactly why [former President Joe Biden] and his cronies were voted out of the White House,” he told The Washington Reporter.

To be clear, the study that’s being carried out by SAMHSA’s Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Prevention of Underage Drinking (ICCPUD) isn’t intended to impose a “ban” on alcohol. Rather, it’s meant to provide updated data on the potential risks of alcohol use, with findings that could be incorporated into the 2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which is not legally binding for consumers.

But Cotton’s comment reflects a policy disconnect that has long frustrated cannabis reform advocates who’ve long argued that, if alcohol is legal and regulated, it’s nonsensical to continue prohibiting marijuana, which many studies show is comparably safer and therapeutically beneficial for many patients.

If pursuing a ban on alcohol is a waste of taxpayer dollar, as the senator suggested, it’s notable he doesn’t feel similarly about the millions of dollars that continue to be spent arresting, prosecuting and incarcerating people over cannabis. But instead, Cotton has long maintained opposition to legalizing marijuana, including through an initiative to end cannabis prohibition that appeared on Arkansas’s 2022 ballot.

While he said in 2018 that he respected the will of voters in his state to legalize medical cannabis, he didn’t think the federal government should as much as decriminalize it. And in 2023, he sharply criticized then-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) for proposing criminal justice provisions he wanted to add to a bipartisan marijuana banking bill, claiming Schumer was supporting “letting drug traffickers out of prison.”

In any case, Cotton isn’t the first senator to take a conflicting position on alcohol and marijuana as it concerns the SAMHSA study. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), another staunch cannabis prohibition, made headlines in 2023 said that federal officials “can kiss my ass” if they decide to reduce the recommended maximum consumption of alcohol to two drinks per week.

“What is it with liberals and wanting to control every damn aspect of your life?” he said during an interview with Newsmax.

Keep reading