Tag: the war on (some) drugs

Weight-loss jab users are being left with debilitating new side-effect, one of the UK’s leading orthopaedic surgeons warns

Weight-loss jab users are being left with a devastating new side-effect, a top surgeon has warned.

The alarming trend spotted amongst GLP-1 users means some patients cannot lift their limbs due to nerve dysfunction.

One of the UK’s leading orthopaedic surgeons, Tim Sinnett, has said he ‘expects to see more patients presenting these symptoms over time’.

The Foot and Ankle Surgeon, who is part of the prestigious Grosvenor Orthopaedic Partners group, added: ‘In the past six months, I have seen a handful of patients with foot drop related to weight-loss jabs – a phenomenon which has only presented itself this year.

‘The sudden loss of weight, associated with this medication, is what is causing the problem.

‘All nerves have a natural rim of fat around them. Suddenly losing weight, and the fat surrounding nerves, can cause this nerve dysfunction in the foot and ankle.

‘Patients with foot drop can have difficulty lifting the front part of the foot, causing it to drag on the floor.

‘Although losing weight is generally beneficial for the feet and ankles, in terms of reducing the force on the joints, the speed of the weight loss appears to be causing the nerves to malfunction.

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“We Have Only Just Begun to Kill Narco-Terrorists” – War Sec. Pete Hegseth Responds to Reports of “Illegal” Orders to “Kill Everybody” on Narcotrafficking Boats as Democrats Call for Prosecution of “a War Crime or Outright Murder”

War Secretary Pete Hegseth has responded to a recent report, claiming that the Department of War, under dubious legal authority, ordered secondary strikes to kill drug traffickers in the Caribbean Sea after they survived an initial strike, and that US forces are killing narcoterrorists without justification. 

“As two men clung to a stricken, burning ship targeted by SEAL Team 6, the Joint Special Operations commander followed the defense secretary’s order to leave no survivors,” the Washington Post report claims. According to an anonymous source, Hegseth gave a verbal order “to kill everybody” in the September 2 strike against narcoterrorists trafficking narcotics into the United States, which killed 11 designated terrorists.

As The Gateway Pundit reported, President Trump posted footage from the strike on September 2, stating, “Please let this serve as notice to anybody even thinking about bringing drugs into the United States of America. BEWARE!”

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There may not be a safe off-ramp for some taking GLP-1 drugs, study suggests

The popularity of GLP-1 weight-loss medications continues to soar—and their uptake is helping to push down obesity rates on a national scale—but a safe, evidence-based way off the drugs isn’t yet in clear view.

An analysis published this week in JAMA Internal Medicine found that most participants in a clinical trial who were assigned to stop taking tirzepatide (Zepbound from Eli Lilly) not only regained significant amounts of the weight they had lost on the drug, but they also saw their cardiovascular and metabolic improvements slip away. Their blood pressure went back up, as did their cholesterol, hemoglobin A1c (used to assess glucose control levels), and fasting insulin.

In an accompanying editorial, two medical experts at the University of Pittsburgh, Elizabeth Oczypok and Timothy Anderson, suggest that this new class of drugs should be rebranded from “weight loss” drugs to “weight management” drugs, which people may need to take indefinitely.

Some studies have found that about half of people who start taking a GLP-1 drug for weight loss stop taking it within a year—for various reasons—and many people think they can stop taking anti-obesity drugs once they’ve reached a desired weight, Oczypok and Anderson write. But that’s not in line with the data.

“It may be helpful to compare them to other chronic disease medications; patients do not stop their anti-hypertensive medications when their blood pressure is at goal,” they write.

In the trial, researchers—led by Eli Lilly scientists—followed 670 participants with obesity or overweight (but without diabetes) who were treated with tirzepatide for 36 weeks. Then the participants were split into either continuing with the drug for another 52 weeks (88 weeks total) or getting a placebo for that period of time. Both groups were told to continue a reduced-calorie diet and an exercise plan.

In all, 335 participants were randomized to switch to a placebo, and the researchers monitored changes in their weight and cardiovascular health metrics after the switch. Not everyone in the first phase of the trial lost significant amounts of weight on the drug. So, the researchers only closely tracked the 308 of the 335 who lost at least 10 percent of their body weight on the drug.

Of the 308 who benefited from tirzepatide, 254 (82 percent) regained at least 25 percent of the weight they had lost on the drug by week 88. Further, 177 (57 percent) regained at least 50 percent, and 74 (24 percent) regained at least 75 percent. Generally, the more weight people regained, the more their cardiovascular and metabolic health improvements reversed.

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Trump pardons convicted narco-trafficking pol amid plot to rig Honduran election

Donald Trump is threatening to destroy the Honduran economy unless the country elects the oligarch-run National Party. Now, he’s even pardoned the last party member to rule the country, who was convicted in 2024 of smuggling hundreds of tons of drugs into the US.

On November 28, US President Donald Trump Trump declared he will be pardoning former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who was sentenced to 45 years in a New York prison in 2024 for his role in helping smuggle 400 tons of cocaine into the US in a drug-running scheme linked to the Sinaloa cartel. Hernandez, Trump wrote, had been “treated very harshly and unfairly.”

While Hernandez was President of Honduras, he initiated contracts worth over half a million dollars with Republican lobbying firm BGR Group, after his brother, Tony, was sentenced to life in prison for cocaine smuggling. In the time since, BGR has donated tens of thousands of dollars to the campaign of Marco Rubio, the Cuban American former senator who now serves as Trump’s Secretary of State.

As The Grayzone reported, the US Department of Justice indictment of Hernandez contained explicit and often shocking details of his role in transforming his country into the Western hemisphere’s premier narco-state. The US-backed president “wielded incredible influence and partnered with some of the most notorious narcotics traffickers in Honduras, allowing them to flourish under their control,” a DOJ prosecutor stated.

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Tennessee Officials Reach Agreement With Hemp Industry To Temporarily Allow THCA Sales

Tennessee’s hemp industry has reached an agreement with state agencies, dismissing a lawsuit and enabling some businesses to keep selling hemp-derived products such as THCA for a short time after new restrictions take effect.

The Tennessee Healthy Alternatives Association announced it entered an order with the state Agriculture and Revenue Departments allowing businesses with licenses issued before December 31, 2025 to continue using a 2023 regulatory framework until their licenses expire June 30, 2026. Such a move allows stores to keep selling many products that will be banned after a new law takes effect January 1.

Because of the agreement, a pending declaratory judgment against the Agriculture and Revenue departments has been dismissed, the association said in a statement.

Part of the new law adopted by the legislature this year transfers regulatory authority over hemp products and beverages from the state Agriculture Department to the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission.

The new law also bans the hemp derivative, THCA, which converts into delta-9 THC–an illegal substance in Tennessee in greater than trace amounts–when smoked or heated. The synthetic cannabinoid, THCP, is also banned under the law.

Hemp industry representative Clint Palmer, who testified before lawmakers this year, said about 75 percent of the market will be considered illegal under the new ban, which includes THCA flower and vapes. The new law will push consumers to synthetic cannabinoids, he said.

“If you ask your typical consumer, they’re gonna say gross,” Palmer said.

Palmer told lawmakers early this year hemp businesses will be forced to shut down despite spending millions of dollars to comply with state regulations.

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Trump Declares Closure of Venezuela’s Airspace

President Trump on Saturday declared that the airspace “above and surrounding” Venezuela is to be closed, a sign that he might soon launch an attack on the country with the aim of ousting President Nicolas Maduro.

“To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY,” the president wrote on Truth Social.

It’s unclear if the declaration means that the US will impose a no-fly zone on Venezuela, which would be an act of war. Such a step or any military strikes on Venezuela would be illegal without congressional authorization, per the US Constitution.

The order came after the president said that he may “very soon” expand the bombing campaign against alleged drug-running boats in the region to strikes on Venezuelan territory.

The New York Times reported on Friday that Trump spoke to Maduro by phone last week and discussed the possibility of meeting in person, but it doesn’t appear that the conversation did anything to slow the US military buildup in the region and push toward the US launching a regime change war.

The Times report said Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has been leading the campaign against Venezuela, joined Maduro and Trump in the phone call. They spoke a few days before Rubio’s State Department declared the Cartel of the Suns, or Cartel de los Soles, a group that doesn’t actually exist, a “Foreign Terrorist Organization.”

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‘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.

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The other thing Americans consume in record numbers on Thanksgiving: marijuana

On what was shaping up to be the busiest day of the year at a marijuana dispensary in Maryland, people kept rolling in. They had all come with the same plan: to get a little something extra to bring to Thanksgiving dinner.

Edibles for the in-laws, pre-rolls for that post-meal walk. Maybe some special cookies to share with friends.

“People getting stocked up for Thanksgiving, huh?” one customer observed, scanning the busy rows of check-out stations.

“Yeah, you know, cousins coming into town, family getting together, people needing to relax a little” said E. Friday, a personal care specialist who goes by their first initial and uses the pronouns they and them. Friday works at RISE, a cannabis dispensary in Silver Spring, Md.

“You know how it goes,” Friday added.

They chuckled.

As cannabis has become less stigmatized and more readily available in the U.S., industry experts said, Green Wednesday has begun to rival famed stoner holiday 4/20, which falls on April 20, as the day weed dispensaries see the highest sales numbers and the most foot traffic.

At RISE, the merchandise was moving. Doorbuster deals like the exclusive Queen Cola — a long stem with 14 grams of marijuana flower cut from the cluster at the very top of a cannabis plant, which experts say produces the highest concentration of resin — flew off the shelves at $100.Expand article logo  Continue reading

General manager Rick Gizzi said the batch of limited-edition Queen Cola flowers the store had in stock sold out in 15 minutes.

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GOP-Controlled Senate Committee Warns DC That Marijuana Is Federally Illegal, With ‘Enhanced Penalties’ For Sales Near Schools

GOP members of a powerful Senate committee are issuing a reminder that marijuana remains illegal under federal law and that the sale of cannabis near public schools and playgrounds can carry “enhanced penalties”—an issue they are specifically highlighting in relation to the location of dispensaries in Washington, D.C.

The Republican majority in the Senate Appropriations Committee released the text of a Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) spending bill and an attached report on Tuesday. As expected, the legislation itself retains a rider long championed by Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) barring D.C. from using its tax dollars to legalize and regulate recreational marijuana sales, despite voters approving a ballot initiative to allow possession and home cultivation more than a decade ago.

In the report, a section on funding for “emergency planning and security costs” associated with the federal government’s presence in the District includes additional language related to cannabis enforcement and zoning issues.

Here’s the text of that section:

“Marijuana Dispensary Proximity to Schools—The Committee reminds the District that the distribution, manufacturing, and sale of marijuana remains illegal under Federal law, which includes enhanced penalties for such distribution within one thousand feet of a public or private elementary, vocational, or secondary school or public or private college, junior college, or university, or a playground, among other real property where children frequent.”

The report language is being released months after anti-marijuana organizations formally narced on several locally licensed cannabis businesses in D.C.—sending a letter to President Donald Trump, the U.S. attorney general and a federal prosecutor that identifies dispensaries they allege are too close to schools despite approval from District officials.

The groups said that while they were “pleased” to see former interim U.S. Attorney Ed Martin “take initial steps against one of the worst offenders” by threatening a locally licensed medical marijuana dispensary with criminal prosecution back in March, “we have not seen any public progress since then.”

Martin, for his part, has since been tapped by Trump to serve as U.S. pardon attorney.

Meanwhile, the underlying FSGG spending bill put forward by the committee’s GOP majority would continue to prohibit D.C. from creating a regulated, commercial cannabis market.

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Amid fraud claims, campaign to end Mass. adult-use cannabis claims win

The controversial bid to end Massachusetts’ $1.6 billion annual adult-use marijuana industry claimed yet another significant early victory.

Amid widening accusations of voter fraud, the Coalition for a Healthy Massachusetts “is confident it has submitted enough signatures to put the question on the ballot” ahead of a Nov. 19 deadline, a campaign spokesperson told The Cannabis Business Times.

Ballot questions filed over the summer by lead sponsor Caroline Cunningham, a member of the state Republican Committee, seek to repeal Chapters 94G and 64N of the state’s General Laws.

If the “Act to Restore a Sensible Marijuana Policy” qualifies for the 2026 ballot and is approved by voters, adult-use cannabis retail sales would be outlawed in Massachusetts- though medical marijuana sales, home cultivation, and “gifting” between adults 21 and over would still be allowed.

Will Massachusetts vote to stop adult-use cannabis sales?

The campaign successfully collected a minimum of 74,574 signatures by Nov. 19 in order to qualify for a local vetting process ahead of another filing deadline Dec. 3, campaign spokesperson Wendy Wakeman told the Business Times.

Organizers have vowed to collect as many as 100,000 signatures.

And that’s despite mounting claims that signature-gatherers are using deceptive tactics to convince voters to sign the petition.

As MJBizDaily reported earlier this month, there are several accounts of campaign workers approaching voters while claiming the petition does something else, such as combat fentanyl or create housing.

Wakeman claimed in an MJBizDaily interview to have no knowledge or involvement with the alleged deceptive tactics. Campaign workers engaging in such behavior are volunteers and not paid signature gatherers, she said.

Cannabis industry advocates aren’t convinced.

Bid to stop Massachusetts adult-use marijuana sales accused of fraud

Such acts constitute voter fraud, according to the Massachusetts Cannabis Business Association, a statewide trade group.

It remains unclear what recourse cannabis advocates could pursue if the repeal campaign does indeed advance.

Using false claims to woo voters to sign is a protected free-speech activity under Massachusetts state law.

However, voters could petition local authorities to have their signatures removed and the petition disqualified if they feel they signed under false pretenses, elections observers have said.

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