Cannabis is the most used illicit drug in the United States. Though cannabis possession and consumption are prohibited federally, states are increasingly implementing laws that legalize this substance, initially for medical and, more recently, for recreational use. We study the impact of recreational cannabis laws on child maltreatment reports. To do so, we employ difference-in-differences and event-study methods to analyze administrative data on child maltreatment reports as well as child injury-related deaths 2010-2022. We find that recent efforts to legalize cannabis for recreational consumption have not led to an increase in child maltreatment reports and may reduce particularly severe maltreatment.
Tag: child abuse
Yehuda Meshi-Zahav, former ZAKA head, dies year after attempted suicide
Yehuda Meshi-Zahav, creator of ZAKA and alleged rapist, has died at the age of 62, a year after he attempted suicide and less than a month prior to his 63rd birthday.
One of the most well-known and colorful characters of Jerusalem’s ultra-Orthodox, anti-Zionist communities, Meshi-Zahav founded the famed medical search and rescue group, but his life was tainted by revelations of numerous allegations against him of rape, sexual assault and pedophilia.
Meshi-Zahav was an 11th generation Jerusalemite who, in his youth, headed the anti-Zionist demonstrations in the capital, and demonstrations against Sabbath violators, including throwing rocks at passing cars.
A grandson of Rabbi Yosef Scheinberger, the secretary of the Eida Hareidit Rabbinical Court, and with blood ties to the Rivlin family on his mother’s side, Meshi-Zahav was considered nobility in ultra-Orthodox circles.
He developed a special relationship with the police, despite being arrested several times after organizing anti-Zionist rallies.
The Atlantic Says the ‘Tide’ of ‘Youth Gender Medicine’ Has Gone Out
At the beginning of the month, both the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) and the American Medical Association (AMA) came out against “gender-affirming care” for minors. That move was not borne of a sudden awakening of moral consciousness and medical ethics, of course. The AMA, up until two weeks ago, was a proponent of “gender-affirming care” for minors, after all. But on February 1, detransitioner Fox Varian won a $2 million malpractice suit against her psychologist and the doctor who performed a double mastectomy on her when she was just 16 years old. Last week, The Economist said dozens of detransitioners have filed similar lawsuits, warning that the costs could “run into hundreds of millions of dollars.
This writer’s opinion is that those lawsuits don’t go far enough. The politicians and organizations who pushed and codified “gender-affirming care” should also be held accountable. Why? Because now, suddenly, they’re going to wash their hands of the damage they did, much in the way they asked for amnesty after COVID.
The Atlantic, hardly a bastion of right-wing thought, published a trans-critical article over the weekend, too.
The United Nations Gets Community Noted for Misleading Post on Child Marriage
The United Nations (U.N.) is one of the most corrupt and useless governing bodies on the planet, and that’s quite the accomplishment. They’re also fundamentally dishonest when it comes to the issues they supposedly intend to address. In this case, the issue is child marriage. When you hear that phrase, you probably have a mental image of where such practice is common, and who participates in that practice.
But check out the image the U.N. uses to talk about child marriage.
Really? A blonde girl?
The post got the Community Note treatment, pointing out that the countries that practice child marriage are not white nations. “The image in this post is deliberately misleading,” the Community Note reads. “Even their own site shows that the vast majority of child marriages happen in countries that are predominantly dark skinned. The use of a white woman with blond hair is a dishonest representation of the problem.”
It then links to the U.N. Population Fund, which does list the countries where child marriage is prevalent. Here are some of them.
Grand Jury INDICTS Democrat Former New Jersey Mayor and Police Sergeant for Drugging and Sexually Assaulting a Child He Met Online
A Democrat politician who once held executive office in Bergen County, while simultaneously serving in law enforcement, is now facing some of the most serious criminal charges imaginable after a grand jury handed down a sweeping indictment last week.
Andrew LaBruno, 44, of Dumont, a former Democrat mayor and current Jersey City police sergeant, has been indicted on multiple felony counts, including official misconduct, first-degree aggravated sexual assault, second-degree sexual assault, and third-degree endangering the welfare of a child, according to the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office.
LaBruno, who previously served as mayor of Dumont, New Jersey from 2020 to 2023 after holding a borough council seat, allegedly initiated contact with a juvenile online before arranging an in-person meeting at the child’s residence in Englewood while the victim’s parents were not home.
According to the affidavit of probable cause filed in the case, LaBruno reportedly sprayed an unknown substance into his hand and placed it over the victim’s mouth and nose, causing the minor to become dizzy and cognitively impaired prior to the alleged sexual assault.
Authorities were alerted to the situation after a 911 call from a concerned member of the public. Responding investigators found the juvenile in what court documents described as a state of “cognitive impairment.”
The indictment includes an additional charge of official misconduct, which prosecutors say stems from LaBruno allegedly identifying himself as a police officer during the encounter in an attempt to hinder his own apprehension, according to NJ.com.
Meet the Convicted Murderers and Child Rapists Set Free by Making NC Democratic Senate Hopeful Roy Cooper’s ‘Early Release’ List
Former North Carolina governor Roy Cooper agreed to fast-track the release of 3,500 inmates as part of a racial equity settlement with the NAACP—and the list included 51 convicts serving life sentences for murder or rape, the Free Beacon’s Andrew Kerr reports. The “early release” list, obtained by Cox’s WSOC-TV as Cooper campaigns for the state’s open Senate seat, came as part of a 2021 settlement with the NAACP, which sued the state over crowded prisons during the pandemic. The NAACP claimed COVID-era prison conditions were unconstitutional and disproportionately endangered black inmates.
Cooper’s administration assured state lawmakers that nobody who “committed a crime against a person” would be released early. That didn’t happen. Among the convicts on the list was Tony D. Hartsell, who “strangled and beat the 84-year-old North Carolina woman who lived across the street from him before stabbing her 44 times, mutilating her body beyond recognition,” writes Kerr. Also included was Lorenza D. Norwood, who burned a man alive; Jervon K. Wilks, convicted of sexually abusing a 7-year-old child; and Louis E. Boyd, who raped his 12-year-old stepdaughter. All walked free after decades behind bars.
Cooper’s campaign now insists the governor had nothing to do with the releases, arguing the inmates were already parole-eligible when the settlement was reached. More than 90 percent of the 51 lifers on the list, however, were released after the settlement took effect, raising fresh questions about Cooper’s record on crime as governor of the Tar Heel State. Cooper has already faced criticism over the issue thanks to his “racial equity” task force that pushed to eliminate cash bail for certain crimes. That policy led to the release of career criminal Decarlos Brown not long before he senselessly murdered Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on a Charlotte subway train, the Free Beacon reported.
San Jose assistant principal among 11 arrested for allegedly communicating with minors for sex, police say
An assistant principal at a San Jose middle school was among a group of people arrested during a police operation targeting adults seeking minors online to engage in sexual activity, authorities announced on Wednesday.
The San Jose Police Department said in press releases that the operation was part of a broader effort to target child exploitation and human trafficking ahead of Super Bowl LX at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara. Police said the department’s Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force arrested 11 people between Feb. 3 and Feb. 6 in an undercover chat operation.
During the operation, undercover police and FBI agents identified 31-year-old Ruben Guzman, assistant principal at Sunrise Middle School, as a potential suspect and began an investigation. On Feb. 3, Guzman began communicating with someone he believed was a 13-year-old boy, telling him that he wanted to engage in sexual acts, and offering money in exchange, according to police.
Transgender Pro-Pedophile ‘MAP’ Activists Publicly Campaigning in Seattle
Reduxx has learned that a trans-identified male and “radical queer activist” residing in Seattle, Washington, have been publicly advocating for pedophilic relationships with children while also organizing “in-person events for anyone under the queer rainbow.”
Ally Kotetsu, who describes himself as “a non-binary transgender woman who is transrace Japanese,” is campaigning both online and in public through an effort he calls Beyond the Plus, which advocates for the rights of “beings who are romantically or sexually attracted to beings who are below the age of 18.”
Kotetsu’s website describes “minor attraction” as an orientation and refers to individuals with a sexual interest in children as “MAPs” (minor attracted people). According to Beyond the Plus, “MAPs” are some of “the world’s most marginalized beings.”
The site goes on to describe “age-based attractions” as being innate and similar to heterosexuality or homosexuality.
“A number of MAPs, usually ones who are intersectional with other queer identities (though not always), consider age-based attractions to be another, less recognized type of orientation,” reads the Beyond the Plus site.
Labour MSP defends ‘loyalty and care’ friendship with convicted paedophile that cost her the party whip
A Labour MSP has defended her relationship with a twice-convicted paedophile after she was suspended from the party.
Pam Duncan-Glancy said she was ‘deeply disappointed’ by Scottish Labour’s decision to remove the whip and said it was not yet clear why the party chose to do so now.
Party leader Anas Sarwar told reporters at Holyrood that the Glasgow MSP had been suspended after ‘new information’ came to light.
It is not yet clear what the information is or when the party found out about it.
Ms Duncan-Glancy was sacked as Scottish Labour’s shadow education secretary by Mr Sarwar in December following revelations about her friendship with Sean Morton, a former Labour councillor in Moray who held indecent images of children.
In 2017, he was convicted for possessing indecent child images as well as extreme pornography of animals.
He was convicted again in January 2025 for possessing indecent images of children and breaching a sexual offences order and was given a 16-month sentence.
In her statement, Ms Duncan-Glancy said that while she did not condone Morton’s crimes, he remains someone who is vulnerable and in need of support.
She said: ‘I am deeply disappointed that the Party have taken the decision to remove the whip. The details of their decision to do this now are not yet clear to me.
‘My personal relationship with someone who grew up with me, who stayed with my family for periods of time during our childhood, and who is to all intents and purposes, family, has never affected my work.
‘When he was convicted of these very serious crimes, the justice system, rightly, dealt with him. I have never condoned his crimes and have always been clear that his actions were wrong.
‘He, however, was and remains someone requiring support, and my family and I, as is often the case, ensured his welfare.
‘There is no doubt this is difficult. I accept that not everyone will understand my reasons for doing what I did.
‘My actions arise from loyalty and care. I was providing support to a highly vulnerable person. Loyalty and care are values that I think make me a good representative and for which I believe others know me for.
‘I am also hugely grateful for the outpouring of support I have been shown, from constituents, colleagues, family, friends and indeed strangers alike.
Top GOP official is arrested over claims he ‘WATERBOARDED’ his terrified 16-year-old daughter
A GOP leader in Utah was arrested on Tuesday after his 16-year-old daughter accused him of ‘waterboarding’ her as a punishment for not cleaning her room.
David Nephi Johnson, the chair of the Republican Party in Wasatch County, has been charged with aggravated child abuse for the alleged drowning incident in January.
The vice chair of county GOP, Patty Sprunt, told KSL News Radio that she had only ever observed a healthy relationship between Johnson and his family. She said people should not jump to conclusions.
The investigation into Johnson, 54, began on January 21, when the Herber City Police Department was informed that a teenager had been interviewed by the Utah Division of Child and Family Services.
The girl told authorities that her father, Johnson, got upset with her about two weeks earlier because she went out with her friends before making sure her bedroom was ‘spotless to his expectations’, according to a police affidavit.
When she got home, Johnson allegedly grabbed her by the back of her neck and ‘took her into the bathroom while the sink was filling with water,’ the affidavit stated.
Johnson ‘dunked her head under, brought it out, splashed water in her face, then dunked the victim’s head under again,’ the affidavit stated.
The girl couldn’t recall how long she had been under water but claimed she wasn’t able to breathe for ’20 to 30 seconds,’ according to the affidavit.
Though the girl described what her father allegedly did to her as waterboarding, there was no claim that her father carried out waterboarding in the strict sense of the torture method, which involves covering someone’s mouth with a cloth and pouring water through the cloth and into the mouth.
The teen said that after she was allegedly attacked, her immediate thought was that she was at fault and that she should have cleaned her room, according to the affidavit. She also reported having trouble breathing afterwards and feeling sick.
She told investigators that Johnson abused her and her siblings on other occasions, according to police.
‘The victim described one incident a few years prior involving her now 8-year-old brother, stating that after a minor argument, David became upset, grabbed her brother by the neck, took him into the bathroom, and forced his head under the water,’ the affidavit stated.
‘The victim stated that David removed her brother from the water, splashed water on his face and nose, knocked him down, and repeated the act multiple times. Following the incident, the now 8-year-old sibling ran upstairs to his bedroom, crying,’ it continued.
Additionally, the girl recalled a time when Johnson allegedly ‘backhanded her on the torso because she wasn’t compliant to do something’, according to the affidavit.
Johson was then accused of making fun of her for crying,’ the affidavit alleged.
‘I don’t feel very safe. When I go to bed, I feel like I can’t sleep because I don’t feel safe. When my dad’s not home, I feel fine. But when he’s home, I never feel safe because I feel like something is going to happen,’ the girl said to investigators.
Hellbound and Down 
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