Tag: opioid epidemic

CBD Helped Relieve Chronic Pain In More Than 98% Of Patients, Newly Published Study Finds

The marijuana component CBD can help patients manage chronic pain even at low dosages, making it “a promising alternative to conventional pain management strategies,” according to new research.

The peer-reviewed study, published in the journal Cureus, drew from responses to a survey posted on social media and in multiple medical clinics. Key findings, authors wrote, “are that the use of cannabinoids is positively associated with decreased chronic pain, even at low dosages (<100 mg).”

Most patients reported no side effects, while those who did reported only mild effects, the report says. No severe side effects were reported.

“These findings suggest that CBD may serve as a promising alternative to conventional pain management strategies,” the study concludes. “We believe these data point the way for new and continued avenues of research that can better optimize treatment regimens and help patients with chronic pain.”

The survey included 121 adults aged 21 and older who self-reported as having chronic pain, defined as pain lasting six months or longer. Questions involved demographics, patients’ perceptions of CBD’s effectiveness, dosage, frequency of use and side effects.

Authors wrote that they set out “to further explore this topic and add to the literature with the aim of asking chronic pain patients who use CBD for pain relief about their perceived benefits and side effects of CBD.”

Respondents were an average age of 37 years, and 61.2 percent were male. Most—100 people—said their pain had lasted two years or longer, while 21 said their pain had lasted 23 months or less.

As for causes of pain, the most common were arthritis (15.7 percent), disc herniation (14.9 percent), fibromyalgia (7.4 percent), headache or migraine (6.6 percent) and neuropathy (6.6 percent). Participants could select multiple responses.

Subjects were asked to rate their baseline level of chronic pain before CBD use on a scale from 1 to 10, as well as their pain level after beginning treatment.

“The average baseline level of chronic pain across participants before CBD was 5.4 ± 1.8,” the report says, “which decreased to 2.6 ± 1.7 (p < 0.0001, n = 121) after CBD, which is a decrease of 2.8 ± 1.7.”

Improvement was reported by 98.3 percent of subjects, while the remainder (1.7 percent, or two participants) reported no improvement at all. Three subjects “reported complete resolution of their baseline chronic pain after CBD,” according to the research.

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Canadian Banks Linked To Chinese Fentanyl Laundering Risk US Treasury Sanctions After Cartel Terror Designation

In an explosive interview with The Bureau’s Sam Cooper, David Asher – a former senior U.S. State Department official with close ties to the Trump administration’s financial and national security apparatus—issued a stark warning: Canadian banks could soon face a “new universe” of regulatory scrutiny from the U.S. Treasury. This follows the formal designation of Mexican cartels, including the Sinaloa group, as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs). According to Asher, the command-and-control structure for laundering proceeds from synthetic narcotics—produced using Chinese precursor chemicals—is largely orchestrated by Chinese triads operating out of Canada.

Asher warned that these transnational crime gang nexus seriously threatens both U.S. national security and the stability of the North American financial system. 

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A New Study Adds to the Evidence That Drug Busts Result in More Overdose Deaths

Prohibition makes drug use more dangerous by creating a black market in which quality and potency are highly variable and unpredictable. Ramped-up enforcement of prohibition magnifies that problem, as dramatically demonstrated by the deadly impact of restricting access to pain medication at the same time that illicit fentanyl was proliferating as a heroin booster and substitute. That sort of perverse effect pervades drug law enforcement, as illustrated by a new study that found drug seizures in San Francisco were associated with a substantial increase in overdose risk.

The study included 2,653 drug seizures and 1,833 opioid-related deaths from 2020 to 2023. “Within the surrounding 100, 250, and 500 meters,” RTI International researcher Alex H. Kral and his two co-authors reported in JAMA Network Open on Wednesday, “drug seizures were associated with a statistically significant increase in the relative risk for fatal opioid overdoses.”

That is not the result that local authorities expected. “Since fentanyl entered the unregulated drug supply in San Francisco, California, around 2019, overdose mortality rates have reached record highs,” Kral et al. note. “This has sparked increased enforcement of drug laws.”

In December 2021, then-Mayor London Breed “declared a state of emergency in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco to enable ‘more coordinated enforcement and disruption of illegal activities.'” District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, who took office in July 2022, “made combatting open-air drug markets and holding drug dealers accountable a top priority of her administration,” her office brags. In May 2023, Kral et al. note, Gov. Gavin Newsom “authorized the assignment of California Highway Patrol and California National Guard personnel to a new multiagency operation with the San Francisco Police Department aimed at ‘targeting fentanyl trafficking, disrupting the supply of the deadly drug in the city, and holding the operators of drug trafficking rings accountable.'”

How did all of that work out? The day after cops busted drug dealers, Kral et al. found, the risk of fatal overdoses rose by 74 percent, on average, within 100 meters. The increase in risk persisted for as long as a week, falling to 55 percent after two days, 45 percent after three days, and 27 percent after seven days. That pattern reinforces the conclusion that these police interventions, which aimed to reduce drug-related deaths, had the opposite effect.

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Purdue Pharma Files New Bankruptcy Plan For $7.4 Billion Opioid Settlement

Drugmaker Purdue Pharma filed a new bankruptcy plan on Tuesday, marking a major step towards finalizing a proposed opioid settlement of $7.4 billion.

The maker of the powerful semi-synthetic opioid oxycodone—also marketed as OxyContin and by other names—filed a Chapter 11 reorganization plan and related disclosure statement with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

According to a statement announcing the proposal, a new public benefit company “100 percent devoted to improving the lives of Americans,” would be created after Purdue is dissolved, and its assets transferred to the new company.

The Sackler family, which previously owned Purdue Pharma, would “have no ownership interest or role with the new company,” according to the statement, which noted family members have had no involvement in Purdue since the end of 2018.

The new company would have a core mission to abate the opioid crisis and improve public health, including by developing and distributing lifesaving opioid use disorder and overdose rescue medicines for no profit, the statement said.

It would also be run by a board appointed by state governments, the statement added.

Assuming full creditor participation, the plan would see the Sacklers pay out approximately $6.5 billion in installments over the next 15 years—subject to certain reserves—to states, local governments, and individuals harmed by the crisis.

They would pay $1.5 billion on the day the reorganization plan becomes effective and Purdue would contribute 100 percent of its assets, “with an expected $900 million in cash available for distribution on the day of emergence,” according to the statement.

Purdue said it expects widespread creditor support for the deal.

According to the statement, the latest plan “is the only opioid settlement to date that meaningfully compensates individual victims” and, assuming full participation, “individual victims will receive more than $850 million, subject to certain reserves.”

A court hearing to approve the disclosure statement is currently expected to take place in May, according to the statement.

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Illinois bill would allow addicts to use drugs legally at ‘overdose prevention sites’

Illinois legislators are proposing a bill that would let drug addicts use illicit substances at “overdose prevention sites” under the supervision of medical personnel.

House Bill 2929, introduced by Rep. La Shawn Ford (D-Chicago), would require the Department of Human Services to research the possibility of following the lead of New York and Rhode Island in creating sites where drug users could use pre-obtained substances in a safe environment, and be connected with treatment services.

The bill would grant criminal immunity to people who use drugs at the proposed sites.

Ford said no tax dollars would be used in the creation of the program.

“The opioid settlement fund will be the fund that we will use if this becomes law to fund the program, so there will be no general revenue funds,” he said.

Rep. Bill Hauter (R-Morton) told the Center Square he was torn over the proposal, but ultimately voted for it.

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Using Marijuana Every Day Could Help People Quit Opioids, New Study Indicates

A newly published study found that among drug users who experience chronic pain, daily cannabis use was linked to a higher likelihood of quitting the use of opioids—especially among men.

“Participants reporting daily cannabis use exhibited higher rates of cessation compared to less frequent users or non-users,” says the report, published last week in the journal Drug and Alcohol Review.

When results were split by sex, researchers observed that “daily cannabis use was significantly associated with increased rates of opioid cessation among males.” Those differences “suggest potential differences in cannabis use behavior and effects,” the paper says, and underscores the need for further research.

The report was authored by an eight-person research team from the British Columbia Centre on Substance Abuse as well as the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University.

Between June 2014 and May 2022, the team examined data from 1,242 people who used drugs (PWUD) while also living with chronic pain. Of those, 764 experienced “a cessation event.”

Daily cannabis use, it says, “was positively associated with opioid cessation.”

“Our findings add to the growing evidence supporting the potential benefits of cannabis use among PWUD, underlining the need for further research,” authors wrote.

Indeed, a growing body of research to date has examined the associations between cannabis reform and opioids, often finding reductions in opioid use in areas that legalize marijuana for medical or adult use.

A recent federally funded study in the U.S., for example, found an association between state-level marijuana legalization and reduced prescriptions for opioid pain medications among commercially insured adults—indicating a possible substitution effect where patients are choosing to use cannabis instead of prescription drugs to treat pain.

That research, which was supported by a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, looked at national records of opioid prescription fills as well as prescribing of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and other pain medications. Analysis showed that prescription opioid fills dropped following legalization in U.S. while prescribing of non-opioid pain medications saw “marginally significant increases.”

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Defense Secretary Hegseth Puts Mexico on Blast: ‘Curb the Influx of Migrants and Fentanyl, or US Military Will Strike the Cartels’

Donald J. Trump is moving decisively on a wide array of fronts, both in domestic and foreign policies—and sometimes, these two categories overlap.

Take, for example, border security and the fight – on both sides of the divide with Mexico – against drug influx and illegal migrant smuggling-human trafficking operations, both undertaken by the brutal and extremely well-armed Mexican Cartels.

Here, too, Trump’s team will not operate in the old, expected fashion – but is alerting the neighboring authorities of their full intention of acting forcefully unless they up their game and tackle the issue.

A report arose that, in late January, a mere 7 days after his confirmation as Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth warned Mexican officials that the US military was ‘ready to take unilateral action’ against the country’s drug cartels.

The only way for Mexico to prevent this, the Secretary reportedly stated, is by working harder to stem the flow of fentanyl and migrants into the US.

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Florida Bill Would Let People With Opioid Use Disorder Qualify For Medical Marijuana

A newly introduced bill in the Florida Senate would expand eligibility for the state’s medical marijuana program by adding as a qualifying condition “an addiction to or dependence on an opioid drug.”

The legislation, SB 778, was filed Monday by Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith (D). If enacted, it would take effect on July 1 of this year.

Current qualifying conditions for medical marijuana in Florida include cancer, epilepsy, glaucoma, HIV/AIDS, PTSD, ALS, Crohn’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, terminal conditions and chronic pain caused by a qualifying condition, according regulators at the state’s Office of Medical Marijuana Use (OMMU).

The new bill has not yet been referred to a committee, according to the state Senate website.

Smith has in the past also filed legislation to legalize cannabis for adults, and last year he criticized Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) for spending the state’s opioid settlement funds on advertisements opposing Amendment 3, an industry-funded ballot measure that would have legalized adult-use cannabis in the state.

“Thousands of Floridians have died from opioid overdoses. ZERO Floridians have died from marijuana overdose,” he said on social media last October. “Yet DeSantis is spending MILLIONS of Florida’s opioid settlement money meant to fight the opioid crisis on his prohibitionist anti-freedom, anti-marijuana campaign.”

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Rep. Addison McDowell: Trump Using Trade to Address ‘Chemical Warfare Against the American People’

The fentanyl crisis is not a drug crisis but “a chemical warfare against the American people,” Rep. Addison McDowell (R-NC) said during an appearance on Breitbart News Saturday.

Discussing how President Donald Trump is using trade to force Mexico and Canada to help secure the borders — thereby stopping the flow of fentanyl into the country –McDowell said this issue hits close to home for him, as he lost his brother to fentanyl poisoning.

“My little brother died from a fentanyl poisoning in 2016. He was 20 years old, and it’s fentanyl that we’re almost certain came up through our southern border. And this is not a unique story to me, but I know personally what this is like,” he said, noting that Friday would have been his brother’s 29th birthday.

“It’s at the front of my mind, and it always is, because it’s something that I’ve had to learn to live with, and I shouldn’t have to,” he said, recalling when Trump endorsed him in his race. He said he told Trump his story and said, “Sir, you’re the only person that’s been taking the border seriously, and you need somebody that’s going to be behind you 100 percent, and that person is me.”

“I know the pain that this stuff causes,” he said, adding that Democrats are making excuses.

“We voted on the HALT Fentanyl Act in Congress this week, and there were 107 Democrats that voted against it. And we’re debating this on the floor. They’re saying things like … ‘We don’t need to send people to prison over this.’ I would so much rather my brother be in jail than dead. Democrats don’t seem to get that,” he said.

“And it’s — this is not a drug crisis. It’s a chemical warfare against the American people, and it’s being fueled by the cartels and the Chinese Communist Party, and President Trump is holding them accountable,” McDowell said.

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Trump Sets Saturday Deadline for 25% Tariffs on Mexico and Canada to Force Action on Illegal Migration and Fentanyl Crisis

President Donald Trump has set a Saturday deadline to impose a 25% tariff on all imports from Mexico and Canada.

The administration asserts that these tariffs will remain until both neighboring countries take substantial measures to curb the flow of unauthorized migrants and illicit drugs into the United States.

This announcement follows a recent agreement with Colombia, where the threat of similar tariffs led the Marxist president to fold like a cheap suit and begin accepting deported migrants.

In a statement from the Oval Office Thursday, President Trump emphasized the urgency of the situation.

“Mexico and Canada have never been good to us on trade. They’ve treated us very unfairly on trade,” Trump said.

“We’ll be announcing the tariffs on Canada and Mexico for a number of reasons. Number one is the people that have poured into our country so horribly and so much.

“Number two are the drugs, fentanyl and everything else that have come into the country. Number three are the massive subsidies that we’re giving to Canada and to Mexico in the form of deficits.

“I’ll be putting the tariff of 25% on Canada and separately 25% on Mexico. We will really have to do that because we have very big deficits with those countries. Those tariffs may or may not rise with time,” Trump said.

When asked about whether he would impose tariffs on Canadian and Mexican oil, Trump said, “We may or may not. We’re going to make that determination probably tonight.”

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