Tag: the war on (some) drugs

Rising psychedelic use has not led to a corresponding surge in hospital admissions

A new analysis suggests that while the use of psychedelic substances appears to be increasing in the United States, this trend has not resulted in a corresponding surge in emergency room visits or hospitalizations. The findings indicate that severe adverse events requiring hospital care for hallucinogens remain comparatively rare when measured against other substances like alcohol and opioids. This research was published in JAMA Network Open.

The cultural landscape regarding psychedelics is shifting rapidly in the United States. Changes in state and local laws regarding decriminalization are occurring alongside increased media attention on the potential therapeutic benefits of drugs like psilocybin and MDMA. Government agencies have granted breakthrough therapy designations to some of these substances, acknowledging their potential medical utility.

This changing landscape raises important safety questions for public health officials. It is necessary to understand whether increased availability and reduced stigma are leading to more adverse health outcomes in the general population. Jacob Steinle, a psychiatry resident, and Kevin Xu, an assistant professor at Washington University in St. Louis, led an investigation to address this gap.

“Hallucinogen use is increasing in recreational settings, and legislation around clinical use is evolving,” explained Steinle. “Prior to the study, relatively little was known about the safety of these substances in real-world settings beyond small clinical trials or theoretical risk assessments. We wanted to investigate the prevalence of hospitalizations associated with hallucinogens to address this knowledge gap.”

To address this, the research team designed a retrospective cohort study using large-scale administrative data. They utilized records from the Merative MarketScan Commercial and Multi-State Medicaid databases.

These databases provide a comprehensive view of healthcare claims from a diverse population across the country. The study period spanned seven years, covering data from 2016 through 2023. The investigators specifically focused on individuals between the ages of 16 and 64 years.

This age range captures the demographic groups most likely to engage in substance use. The researchers focused on identifying specific medical codes associated with hallucinogen-related disorders. They used the International Statistical Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, known as ICD-10.

Specifically, they looked for the code F16, which denotes hallucinogen-related issues in medical records. The team calculated the monthly rate of these admissions to track changes over time. They expressed this rate as a proportion of all substance-related emergency or hospital admissions.

Keep reading

Perhaps We Should Actually Be Focusing On Fixing America

After years of heading in the wrong direction, nobody can deny that the United States is facing overwhelming problems.  So why don’t we focus on fixing those problems first?  The truth is that we can’t do everything because our resources are very limited.  U.S. households are more than 18 trillion dollars in debt, and the federal government is more than 38 trillion dollars in debt.  Even though we have literally stolen trillions upon trillions of dollars from future generations, our major cities are rapidly decaying, our infrastructure is crumbling, corruption is rampant, the middle class is shrinking, most of the population is struggling to even afford the basics each month, mass layoffs are happening all over the nation, our streets are teeming with hordes of drug addicts and homeless people, large numbers of Americans are selling images of themselves online just to make ends meet, and millions of others are living in their vehicles.

So why don’t we use what limited resources we have to fix our own problems?

If you don’t understand the point that I am trying to make, just go take a stroll through downtown Seattle.

The new mayor has decided that it will be her policy to allow people to openly do drugs in the streets…

Seattle’s new ultra-woke mayor has triggered chaos by ordering police not to arrest people doing drugs on the streets of the city plagued by crime and homelessness.

Democratic socialist Katie Wilson, 43, was sworn in as the city’s 58th mayor on Friday.

The progressive politician who co-founded the Transit Riders Union has already taken steps that concerned residents and law enforcement officials say will destroy Seattle.

The president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild, Mike Solan, is warning that this will make the lawlessness in the streets of Seattle even worse…

‘We’ve all seen how our streets can be filled with death, decay, blight and crime when ideology like this infects our city, Solan continued in his statement.

‘Now with this resurrected insane direction, death, destruction and more human suffering will be supercharged.’

Lawmakers and residents have reacted to this news in horror, as the city already has a raging homelessness epidemic that they believe this lax drug policy will only amplify.

Once upon a time, Seattle was one of the most beautiful cities on the entire planet.

So what in the world happened?

Keep reading

Senate confirms journalist Sara Carter as new Trump drug czar

he Senate confirmed journalist Sara Carter in a party-line vote Tuesday as the United States’ new “drug czar,” who will help with the administration’s efforts to curb the fentanyl crisis in the country.

President Donald Trump nominated Carter, an investigative journalist who has covered the fentanyl crisis and border security, for the post last year. She will officially serve as the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Carter was confirmed in a 52-48 split. Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul voted against the confirmation. 

The journalist has received multiple national awards for her coverage of national security issues, including the Society of Professional Journalists’ Sigma Delta Chi award for her coverage of the brutality of the Gulf and Sinaloa Cartel wars along the U.S.-Mexico border.

“My work in the frontlines wasn’t just about telling stories, it was about mapping the enemy,” Carter told senators in September, according to Politico. “I have seen these predatory criminal empires operate with impunity in our hemisphere. That impunity ends now. This is not just a public health crisis, it’s a chemical war being waged against the American people.”

Carter will now play a critical role in overseeing federal policy and funding related to drug trafficking, substance use prevention, treatment and recovery. 

Keep reading

Florida Patients Could Lose Medical Marijuana Registrations For Having Open Containers Of Cannabis In Cars Under New Legislation

Carrying an open package of medical marijuana, hemp or THC products, including beverages, in a car, would be illegal and could lead to suspension or possible revocation of a patient’s access to medical marijuana under a bill that’s been filed in the Senate.

Fort Myers Republican Sen. Jonathan Martin filed SB 1056 Monday, eight days before the 2026 regular legislative begins.

Martin’s bill would give law enforcement the green light to search a vehicle based on the “plain smell” of edibles, hemp, marijuana or THC beverages by creating a new statute that provides “legislative intent.” In doing so, the bill aims to blunt the effect of an October 2025 Florida Second District Court of Appeal ruling that the smell of marijuana alone is not enough to establish probable cause for a police search because marijuana no longer is illegal.

Because the ruling was in conflict with one of its previous rulings, the appeals court certified the question of whether the legalization of medical marijuana and hemp in Florida means the “plain smell” doctrine, which allows searches based solely on the smell of marijuana, still is valid. 

Sen. Martin didn’t immediately reply to Florida’s Phoenix’s request for comment on the bill.

The ban on the carry of open medical marijuana products applies to both drivers and passengers, although it wouldn’t apply to paying commercial passengers or passengers on buses or passengers in self-contained motor homes that are longer than 21 feet. The definition of “open container” mirrors the definition of open container for alcohol.

The bill has different penalties for drivers and passengers who break the law.

There are 929,655 medical marijuana patients in Florida, Office of Medical Marijuana Use data show.

Both drivers and passengers who violate the law could be charged with a noncriminal moving traffic violation and suspension of their medical marijuana identification cards, which enable them to buy the product. And both drivers and passengers who repeatedly violate the law could have their access to medical marijuana permanently revoked.

A driver who breaks the law a second time could be imprisoned for up to 90 days and forced to pay up to a $500 fine or both. Jail time for a third offense for a driver would be increased to up to six months and the potential fine upped to $1,000.

Keep reading

Seattle’s New Communist Mayor Katie Wilson Orders Police to Stand Down on Open Drug Use

Seattle’s newly installed Communist Mayor Katie Wilson has effectively ordered the police to stand down on open drug use, turning the once-vibrant Emerald City into a dystopian nightmare of needles, overdoses, and unchecked criminality.

This is what happens when Democrats hand the keys to power-hungry socialists who hate law and order – total chaos!

Wilson, a self-described democratic socialist and co-founder of the Transit Riders Union, was sworn in Friday as Seattle’s 58th mayor after defeating incumbent Bruce Harrell in the November 2025 election.

Almost immediately, an internal order from the Seattle Police Department set off alarm bells across the city.

According to an internal New Year’s Day email from SPD Chief Shon Barnes, officers are now instructed to divert all drug possession and use cases away from prosecution and into the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program.

Under the policy, drug offenders who refuse LEAD may eventually face prosecutorial review.

The program excludes drug dealers, violent felons, sex offenders, and individuals under Department of Corrections supervision, but everyday public drug use is now functionally tolerated unless officers decide it rises to a “priority situation.”

Keep reading

“Cocaine Mills”: Trump Puts Three More Latin American Countries On Notice

President Trump soon after the overnight into early Saturday brief invasion of Venezuela and nabbing of President Nicolas Maduro – now in US custody on American soil – put more Latin American countries on notice, calling them essentially “cocaine mills” which ship ‘poison’ into the United States.

The not-so-veiled warnings and threats were issued to the governments of Mexico, Colombia, and Cuba – the latter which has been a Washington enemy stretching many decades back into the height of the Cold War.

In the comments, Trump again called Maduro as a “narco-terrorist” while fielding a question about the implications for neighboring countries, before linking the Venezuelan leader to his ally Colombian President Gustavo Petro.

“He has cocaine mills, he has factories where he makes cocaine and they’re sending it into the United States” Trump said of the Colombian leader, adding, “he does have to watch his ass.” 

And on Cuba, the warning was more veiled, as he described his administration is “going to be something we’ll end up talking about” as Washington suppose wants to “help the people” of this “failing nation” akin to Venezuela. 

“It’s very similar in the sense that we want to help the people in Cuba, but we also want to help the people who were forced out of Cuba and are living in this country,” he continued, in reference to Trump’s own significant support base among Cuban-Americans.

Among the more interesting and somewhat post-Venezuela regime change remarks by Trump were aimed just south of the border. Trump again put Left wing, or perhaps more accurately center-left Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo on notice.

Trump described that the drug cartels are basically running the country, and that “something’s going to have to be done with Mexico” and that the government is “frightened” of them.

“They’re running Mexico. I’ve asked her numerous times: ‘Would you like us to take out the cartels?’ ‘No, no, no, Mr. President, no, no, no, please.’ So we have to do something,” he said in a phone interview with Fox.

Keep reading

Trump Doubles Down, Says Gustavo Petro “Does Have to Watch His Ass” After Threatening to Take Action Against Cocaine Factories

President Trump on Saturday doubled down on past threats to Colombian President Gustavo Petro, saying that he should “watch his ass” after Trump ordered strikes inside Venezuela and captured President Nicolas Maduro, signaling possible actions against Colombia next.

The US military executed strikes and a ground invasion to capture Maduro and his wife on Saturday at approximately 2 am local time, and they were taken prisoner on board the USS Iwo Jima. Maduro was indicted in the Southern District of New York on charges of Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy, Possession of Machineguns and Destructive Devices, and Conspiracy to Possess Machineguns and Destructive Devices against the United States, the Gateway Pundit reported.

As The Gateway Pundit reported last month, Trump told reporters that Petro needs to “watch his ass” and close the cocaine factories, which “we know where they are,” he said, while making an announcement on shipbuilding at Mar-a-Lago.

WATCH:

Trump: He has to watch, because, you know, he’s got drug factories. They make cocaine in Colombia, and he’s no friend of the United States. He’s very bad, very bad guy, and he’s got to watch his ass, because he makes cocaine and they send it into the United States of America from Colombia. We love the Colombian people. I love the Colombian people. They’re great people, energetic, smart, great, but their new leader is a troublemaker, and he better watch it. They better close up those cocaine factories. They have at least three major cocaine factories. We know where they are. He better close them up fast.

Keep reading

Trump: We Are in Venezuela Now, and We Are Going to Stay

Following a military operation that captured President Nicolas Maduro, President Donald Trump said the US would run Venezuela until an acceptable government is set up. 

“We are going to run [Venezuela] until such time as we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition. We don’t want to be involved with having somebody else get in and we have the same situation that we had,” the President said on Saturday. “We are there now, and we are going to stay until the proper transition takes place.”

Trump went on to say that the US is prepared to attack Venezuela again. “We are ready to stage a second, much larger attack if we need to do so.” He continued, “All political and military figures in Venezuela should understand what happened to Maduro can happen to them, and it will happen to them if they aren’t fair.”

The President did not name a new leader of Venezuela. However, María Corina Machado said, “Today we are prepared to enforce our mandate and take power.” Machado is a Venezuelan opposition figure who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2025. She has endorsed US sanctions and military action against Venezuela. 

Trump did say he had not spoken with Machado, adding that she doesn’t have the respect needed to lead the country. 

Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said following the attack that she had activated Maduro’s military plans. “The first thing President Maduro told the people of Venezuela was ‘people to the streets,’ activated as militia, activating all the Nation’s comprehensive defense plans,” the vice president said. “No one will undermine the historic legacy of our Liberator father, Simon Bolivar. The people of Venezuela, in perfect national unity, must mobilize to defend their natural resources and what is most sacred: their right to independence and to the future.”

Trump claimed his administration spoke with Rodriguez, who agreed to work with the US. 

When asked by the press, Trump refused to give a timeline on how long American control over Venezuela would last. The President said Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth would act as the viceroys of Venezuela.

Trump added that he was willing to deploy American troops to occupy the South American nation. “We’re not afraid of boots on the ground,” the President explained. He claimed Washington would pay for the occupation of Venezuela with profits from the country’s oil. 

Trump said no Americans were killed and no military equipment was lost in the operation that captured Maduro early Saturday. Caracas has not reported on the Venezuelan casualties from the American raid and strikes. 

Trump said he ordered the attack on Venezuela because Maduro was trafficking narcotics to the US, hosting Washington’s adversaries, and stealing American oil. Venezuela is not a major drug trafficking hub and is not listed by the Drug Enforcement Agency as responsible for fentanyl entering the US. 

The President and Rubio suggested a similar operation could take place in Cuba. 

Keep reading

Anti-Marijuana Group Hires Trump’s Former Attorney General For Lawsuit To Block Rescheduling Move Directed By President

A leading marijuana prohibitionist group says it’s retained the legal services of President Donald Trump’s former attorney general, Bill Barr, to sue to reverse federal marijuana rescheduling if and when the pending rule is finalized. And they’ll also be filing a petition through the administrative process to keep cannabis strictly prohibited.

Trump earned bipartisan applause last month when he signed an executive order directing the current attorney general to complete the process of moving cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). The policy change wouldn’t legalize marijuana, but it would formally recognize the plant’s medical value, allow marijuana businesses to take federal tax deductions and remove certain research barriers.

Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) President Kevin Sabet called the move a “full betrayal” of the president’s “promise to keep all Americans safe and health” that amounts to a giant gift to Big Marijuana and its pushers who are now more incentivized to target children with their highly addictive products.”

“This rule, if finalized, will herald a public health disaster,” he said. “Thankfully, this decision does not legalize marijuana, but it gifts the industry with more than $2 billion in tax write-offs at a time when their advertising is inflicting carnage on America’s families.”

SAM described the reform as a “pyrrhic victory for the industry”—and one that they intend to fight with the legal assistance of Barr, who now serves as a partner at the firm Torridon Law.

Barr’s firm previously represented SAM last year in asking the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to extend the public comment period for the cannabis rescheduling proposal.

Because current Attorney General Pam Bondi has not yet signed off on the proposed rescheduling rule, which is the product of a scientific and legal review initiated under the Biden administration, no lawsuit has been filed yet. But should that happen, Sabet said SAM intends to sue in the court system while also petitioning DEA to move cannabis back to Schedule I.

Sabet said that advocates have “failed in their attempt to legalize their products, banking, and they were dealt a huge blow with the new law outlawing Delta-8 and other synthetic pot products.”

While there was some speculation that the executive order Trump signed would include a directive for Congress to pass a bipartisan marijuana banking bill, there weren’t expectations that the president would push for outright legalization through that action.

Keep reading

Pam Bondi Deletes Social Media Post That Accidentally Gave Biden Credit for “Reducing” Drug Overdose Deaths

Attorney General Pam Bondi just handed the fake news media and radical Democrats a gift-wrapped ammunition to attack President Trump’s unbreakable war on drugs.

Bondi was out there bragging about the Trump administration’s heroic efforts to crush the fentanyl crisis, seize millions of deadly doses at the border, and prosecute cartel scum. But her own graph shows the overdose rates plummeting under crooked BIDEN’S watch.

“Since day one, the Trump Administration and this Department of Justice have been fighting to end the drug epidemic in our country,” she wrote.

“President Trump closed the border. DOJ agents have seized hundreds of millions of potentially lethal fentanyl doses. We are aggressively prosecuting drug traffickers and cartel leaders. These are the results.”

“Elections have consequences,” she added. “Electing President Trump and enforcing the law is saving American lives.”

The chart, straight from the National Institutes of Health, shows national overdose deaths dropping from about 32.5 per 100,000 to 25 between October 2023 and October 2024. Every region – Northeast, Midwest, South, and West – allegedly saw huge declines DURING BIDEN’S FAILED PRESIDENCY.

Keep reading