Tag: the war on (some) drugs

Demands to Release Full Video of Deadly US Boat Strike Grow After Congressional Briefing

Calls mounted Thursday for the Trump administration to release the full video of a September US airstrike on a boat allegedly transporting drugs in the Caribbean Sea following a briefing between Pentagon officials and select lawmakers that left some Democrats with more questions than answers.

“I am deeply disturbed by what I saw this morning,” Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said after the briefing. “The Department of Defense has no choice but to release the complete, unedited footage of the September 2 strike, as the president has agreed to do.”

Reed’s remarks came after Adm. Frank Bradley and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Dan Caine briefed some members of the Senate and House Armed Services and Intelligence committees on the so-called “double-tap” strike, in which nine people were killed in the initial bombing and two survivors clinging to the burning wreckage of the vessel were slain in second attack.

Lawmakers who attended the briefing said that US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth allegedly did not give an order to “kill everyone” aboard the boat. However, legal experts and congressional critics contend that the strikes are inherently illegal under international law.

“This did not reduce my concerns at all – or anyone else’s,” Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), who attended the briefing, told the New Republic’s Greg Sargent in response to the findings regarding Hegseth’s actions. “This is a big, big problem, and we need a full investigation.”

“I think that video should be public,” Smith added.

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Ohio Senate Expected To Vote On Bill Recriminalizing Some Marijuana Activity That Voters Legalized

A new law that’s likely to pass at the Statehouse next week would establish a series of minor criminal penalties for people who improperly transport or possess marijuana in Ohio, while rolling back legal protections for users in venues like child custody or professional licensing disputes.

For that reason, NORML, the oldest marijuana advocacy organization in the U.S., is leading a quixotic effort to ask the Ohio Senate to reject Senate Bill 56 before a final vote next week.

With the Senate’s approval, the bill would go to Gov. Mike DeWine (R) for a signature or veto.

The marijuana changes come within a larger package that also imposes a comprehensive, new regulatory system on intoxicating hemp, a product that’s functionally similar to legal marijuana but sold without the age restrictions, taxes or quality controls. DeWine, a Republican who opposed relaxing Ohio’s marijuana laws, has made a public cause of the intoxicating hemp issue for more than a year now.

But perhaps out of a political compromise, marijuana users have found themselves caught in the crosshairs within the hemp crackdown, according to Morgan Fox, NORML’s political director.

“A lot of these things are completely nonsensical,” he said in an interview. “This is recriminalizing a lot of behavior that is relatively innocuous and has been legal for some time.”

House and Senate lawmakers negotiated a final version of the legislation in a conference committee, which means the bill can no longer be changed. The House passed it last month, with a late-night 52-34 vote, where a handful of Republicans joined Democrats in opposition.

Committee members described the final version as a compromise between a list of scrambled voting blocs: Democrats who don’t want new criminal penalties for run-of-the-mill users, libertarian-minded Republicans protective of the right to grow one’s own marijuana, religious conservatives who disapprove expanding the legal use of intoxicants, local governments who want their tax money, a governor seeking a crackdown on the gas station hemp retailers, and both the hemp and marijuana industries seeking market advantage. (All told, 153 lobbyists registered to work on the bill as of August, state records show.)

In 2023, Ohio voters passed Issue 2 by a 57 percent to 43 percent vote, allowing for adults to lawfully use, buy, sell and possess cannabis. Those rights remain broadly intact under the bill.

However, SB 56 imposes legal penalties for things like possessing marijuana in anything but its original container or buying legal marijuana in Michigan where it tends to be much cheaper.

What follows is a closer look at some of those rules.

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A Few ‘Laughing Gas’ Breaths May Rapidly Lift Depression, Major Study Finds

Nitrous oxide is emerging as a surprisingly fast-acting option for people with major or treatment-resistant depression.

New research shows that even a single inhaled dose can ease symptoms within a day, while repeated sessions may create longer-lasting improvements.

Nitrous Oxide Shows Potential for Fast Depression Relief

Patients diagnosed with major depressive disorder, including many who have not improved with first-line antidepressants, may benefit from short-term treatment with nitrous oxide. This conclusion comes from a large meta-analysis led by the University of Birmingham.

A new paper published in eBioMedicine on November 30 reviewed the most reliable clinical data available to examine how medically administered nitrous oxide (N2O) may offer rapid relief from depressive symptoms in adults with major depressive disorder (MDD) and treatment-resistant depression (TRD).

Understanding TRD and Why New Options Are Needed

TRD refers to depression that remains insufficiently controlled after a person has tried two different antidepressants. According to a previous study* by the same research team, about 48% of UK patients see limited benefit from current treatments, making the search for alternative approaches increasingly important.

To explore this further, researchers from the University of Birmingham, University of Oxford, and Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust examined seven clinical trials and four protocol papers produced by scientists around the world. These studies focused on how nitrous oxide, a gas commonly used as pain relief in medical settings, might help treat depressive disorders such as MDD, TRD, and bipolar depression.

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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.

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World Health Organization Won’t Ease Coca Leaf Ban, Even As Review Found Prohibition Is More Dangerous Than The Plant

The World Health Organization had a historic opportunity to ease a strict global ban on the coca leaf—a prohibition, campaigners said, with “racist and colonial” roots. But the agency has chosen not to do so.

The WHO’s own expert review had detailed in September how millions of people across the Andes consume the coca leaf daily as part of a longstanding cultural practice without any significant negative effects—and that, conversely, coca control strategies are associated with substantial public health harms.

And yet on December 2, the WHO’s Expert Committee on Drug Dependence (ECDD) recommended that the plant be kept in Schedule I of United Nations drug treaties—the most restrictive category of control—because coca leaves can relatively easily be converted into cocaine.

“The simplicity of extracting cocaine from coca leaf and its high yield and profitability are well known,” the ECDD wrote. “The Committee also reviewed evidence of a marked increase in coca leaf cultivation and in the production of cocaine-related substances, in the context of significant, increasing public health concern about cocaine use. In that context, the Committee considered that reducing or removing existing international controls on coca leaf could pose an especially serious risk to public health.”

The committee noted that a 34 percent year-on-year increase in cocaine production was reported in 2023, with some countries reporting historically high levels. But reform advocates emphasize that coca is not cocaine. They insist that the WHO’s review acknowledged both the plant’s medical potential and the lack of evidence of problematic coca leaf use anywhere in the world—two key criteria a drug must satisfy to be placed in a less restrictive schedule.

“It’s unacceptable for humanity to demonize a sacred medicinal plant,” Jaison Perez Villafaña, a wisdom keeper or mamo from Colombia’s Arhuaco community, told Filter. “It was more of a political decision than a scientific one. The coca leaf (el ayu) is not itself to blame for being converted into cocaine by humans with economic interests.”

The ECDD said it recognized that “coca leaf has an important cultural and therapeutic significance for Indigenous peoples and other communities and that there are exemptions for traditional use of coca leaf in certain national frameworks.” A coalition of Indigenous coca leaf producers and consumers wrote to the WHO in October urging the UN body to “clearly differentiate” between traditional coca use and issues associated with cocaine.

Steve Rolles, senior policy analyst at Transform Drug Policy Foundation, called the WHO’s suggestion that keeping coca in Schedule 1 would restrict cocaine production “ridiculous,” saying the decision exposed “the moral and scientific bankruptcy pervading the entire system” of global drug control.

“Whilst we may expect decisions like this to emerge from political bodies subsumed within entrenched ‘war on drugs’ narratives, there was a hope that the more objective, scientific, and nominally independent corners of the UN would maintain a degree of pragmatism and principle—even if their recommendations were later rejected by UN political entities,” he wrote on LinkedIn.

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Top Obama DEA Official Charged With Laundering Money For Mexican Drug Cartel

A former Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) official appointed as deputy chief of the Office of Financial Operations during the Obama administration – and who still holds a security clearance – was indicted on Friday on charges of agreeing to launder $12 million for the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) – which was designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization in February of this year.

Paul Campo, who oversaw the FBI’s money laundering operations and resigned in January 2016 ahead of Trump’s inauguration, laundered around $750,000 for the cartel by converting cash into cryptocurrency, and agreed to launder far more – totaling over $12 million, according to the indictment. 

Campo’s hoome was raided by federal agents on Thursday.

Campo also provided a payment for around 220 kilos of cocaine on the understanding that the drugs had been imported into the USA, the indictment further states. 

He was able to do this after spending 25 years at the DEA, rising to a high-level position which he used to sell himself to CJNG as someone who could; 

  • give inside information on DEA operations
  • help them move drug money
  • help them avoid detection
  • and even advise on narcotics logistics

In late 2024, Campo, along with a friend Robert Sensi, began conspiring with an undercover government source they believed was with the cartel. They allegedly discussed using drones packed with C-4 explosives for CJNG operation. When the undercover agent asked what they could do with the drones, Campo allegedly said “We put explosives and we just send it over there,” adding that six kilos of C-4 would be enough to blow up “the whole fucking…” [sentence trails off]

Campo also allegedly told the undercover source that, because of his past work inside DEA’s intelligence and financial units, he still had “connections” within the agency and could advise CJNG on how to evade detection. According to the indictment, he portrayed himself as someone who understood DEA investigative patterns, internal targeting systems, and the vulnerabilities of U.S. financial controls.

Both Campo and Sensi allegedly assured the undercover officer that they could convert cartel cash into cryptocurrency in a way that would appear legitimate, billing themselves as specialists capable of “getting money back” for clients whose assets had been seized by law enforcement.

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Trump’s Illegal Boat Strikes Recall Duterte’s “Drug War” Mass Killings

Public outrage is mounting over the Trump administration’s September 2 “double tap” strike, in which the U.S. military bombed a small boat for a second time to kill the survivors of a first strike. This particular strike has garnered significant attention due to its clear violation of U.S. and international law because shipwrecked sailors should never be targeted. But it is crucial to note that Donald Trump’s entire bombing operation against vessels in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific is illegal as well.

Trump’s campaign of extrajudicial violence under the pretext of fighting a “drug war” is reminiscent of the policies of former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who is currently in custody in the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands, awaiting trial for murdering alleged drug dealers and users. Like Duterte, Trump’s bombing campaign should be considered a crime against humanity.

Trump Issued Orders to Bomb Alleged Drug Smugglers on Small Boats

On September 2, Trump proudly posted a video on Truth Social depicting the first of his murderous bombings of alleged drug traffickers on small boats in international waters. Trump stated he had personally ordered the operation:

Earlier this morning, on my Orders, U.S. Military Forces conducted a kinetic strike against positively identified Tren de Aragua Narcoterrorists in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility. TDA is a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, operating under the control of Nicolas Maduro, responsible for mass murder, drug trafficking, sex trafficking, and acts of violence and terror across the United States and Western Hemisphere. The strike occurred while the terrorists were at sea in International waters transporting illegal narcotics, heading to the United States. The strike resulted in 11 terrorists killed in action. No U.S. Forces were harmed in this strike. Please let this serve as notice to anybody even thinking about bringing drugs into the United States of America. BEWARE! Thank you for your attention to this matter!!!!!!!!!!!

Although Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has waffled about whether it was he or Admiral Frank M. Bradley who issued the order for the second strike, Trump left no doubt that the orders resulting in the killing of 11 people came directly from him, the Commander in Chief.

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Amid Raging Drug War Trump’s Hemp Ban Will Further Empower Cartels

During his first term, the Trump Administration’s legalization of hemp in the 2018 Farm Bill was seen as a fantastic win in the crusade to legalize cannabis across the country. Thanks to the bill, not only was hemp cultivation legalized for industrial use, but an additional loophole also paved the way for the legalization of a psychoactive cannabinoid known as Delta-8-THC, which has received high praise for its numerous medicinal uses without the accompanying intensity that comes with a typical cannabis high.

According to the National Cancer Institute, delta-8-THC can be defined as:

“An analogue of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) with antiemetic, anxiolytic, appetite-stimulating, analgesic, and neuroprotective properties. [Delta-8-THC] binds to the cannabinoid G-protein coupled receptor CB1, located in the central nervous system…This agent exhibits a lower psychotropic potency than [delta-9-THC], the primary form of THC found in cannabis.”

Hemp cultivation has a long history in the United States marred by restrictive prohibition at the behest of industrial tycoons of the early 20th century who were threatened by hemp’s capability to replace the petrochemical industry due to its potential to create more effective, cleaner, and safer alternatives for thousands of products; capable of replacing oil, plastic, lumber, paper, and cotton.

The passage of the 2018 bill presented a promising future for the cultivation of hemp in the United States to potentially revolutionize domestic infrastructure, in addition to serving as a victory for advocates of personal freedom. However, new legislation threatens to change all of that.

The recently passed federal spending bill includes a provision intended to close the aforementioned loophole, banning hemp derived THC products in a move that CNBC notes threatens a growing 28 billion dollar industry.

“What this ban is going to do is it’s going to force all those little players right now into the illegal market. Companies have got way too much money invested in this and the demand is still there and growing. They [companies] aren’t just going to go away, they’re just going to go into the illicit market and put more people at risk.” Said Boris Jordan, CEO of cannabis company Curaleaf.

The move, spearheaded by Kentucky senator Mitch McConnell, who led the charge to pass the original 2018 bill and said to be his final major act in Congress before his retirement next year has been sharply criticized by colleagues such as senator Rand Paul, who worked with McConnell on the original legislation.

“This is the most thoughtless, ignorant proposal to an industry that I’ve seen in a long, long time,” Paul said after the ban was passed. 

This move represents the latest ridiculous folly in the failed war on drugs, as Congress attempts to legislate morality over the rights of individuals self ownership, prohibition will only continue to do what it has always done and fuel the growth of illicit market industry.

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Florida drug bust seizes 92,000 pounds of 7-OH, arsenal of guns and explosives, sheriff says: “‘Breaking Bad’ on steroids”

In what is considered the largest bust of its kind in the country, a young man is facing serious charges after a Central Florida drug and explosives seizure unveiled an operation that authorities referred to as “‘Breaking Bad’ on steroids.”

In a Facebook video shared Wednesday, Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey and Palm Bay Police Chief Mariano Augello announced they arrested 26-year-old Maxwell Horvath on several charges after local and federal law enforcement agents seized approximately 92,000 pounds of an illegal substance believed to contain concentrations of 7-OH — a byproduct of the kratom plant said to be just as addictive as opioids — with a street value of around $4.7 million.

Earlier this year, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier issued an emergency rule banning the use of 7-OH, calling it an “immediate danger.” Uthmeier is looking to have a judge toss out a challenge to a rule banning the sale and manufacture of the kratom byproduct.

“This is what danger looks like right here,” Ivey said, detailing the dozens of weapons and boxes shown throughout the video. “Everything that you see behind us, everything you see in front of us, is a red flag for disaster.”

Augello added that along with the drugs, agents seized an arsenal of firearms and explosives, including five improvised explosive devices (IEDs) on the property where the warrant was searched, along with grenade simulators and 50 pounds of precursor chemicals to make explosives.

“We’re not just talking about drugs, we’re not just talking about illegal substances out in the street, we’re talking about explosive devices,” he said. “Things that the military and other countries are utilizing all over the world to take out populations of people.”

Ivey chimed in, calling the situation “terrorist activity across the board.”

“This guy was either looking to engage in war or looking to arm those or furnish to those who are,” Ivey said.

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Murder for Christmas?

When Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth posted a meme of Franklin the Turtle, the amiable child’s cartoon character, in a helicopter using a military weapon to kill people in a small boat below him, and captioned it “For your Christmas wish list,” it understandably caused an uproar.

Should the secretary of defense be mocking the people his troops have killed? Should he engage a child’s cartoon character to produce this mockery? Should anyone in his right mind, who professes to understand Christianity, suggest that this killing should be on a child’s Christmas wish list? Should he be killing nonviolent boatpeople?

Here is the back story.

President Donald Trump has ordered the Department of Defense to annihilate persons in speedboats in the Caribbean Sea, 1,500 miles from the United States and elsewhere. The true targets of these killings are not the boats but the persons in the boats. We know this because the president has stated so, and because in a particularly gruesome event, two survivors of an initial attack on Sept. 2, 2025, who were clinging to the broken remains of their boat hoping to be rescued, were hit with a second attack, which obliterated them.

Based on evidence he says he has and chooses not to share, Trump has designated these folks in the speedboats as “narco-terrorists” and argued that his designation offers him legal authority to kill them. But “narco-terrorist” is a political phrase, not a legal one. There is no such designation or defined term in American law. Labeling them confers no additional legal authority.

Lawyers in the Office of Legal Counsel of the Department of Justice who advise the attorney general on the meaning of the law have apparently authored a legal opinion informing her that she can tell the president what he wants to hear; that it is lawful to kill these boatpeople. This is the same office that told President George W. Bush that he could legally torture prisoners and President Barack Obama that he could legally kill unindicted Americans — including a child — overseas.

Neither the president nor the attorney general will produce this legal opinion for public scrutiny.

These killings constitute murder under federal law and under international law, and persons who use the force of government to commit murder may themselves be prosecuted for it in U.S. courts, courts of the countries from which their victims came, and in international courts. These killings constitute murder because none of the 81 dead boatpeople was engaged in any violence at the times of their deaths.

It doesn’t matter, Trump has claimed, just look at the numbers of drug deaths in the U.S., they are “way down.” Does the president believe that murder is justified by a diminution in drug deaths? Drug distribution is not a capital offence. If the police see a nonviolent person distributing dangerous drugs in an American city, can they summarily kill that person? Of course not.

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