Tag: the war on (some) drugs

Lone Democrat Who Opposed Marijuana Banking Bill In Senate Committee Explains His Vote

U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) was the sole Democrat to vote against a marijuana banking reform bill during a committee markup last month. In a new interview, the senator described his vote as an effort at making important equity improvements while there’s still a chance to do so.

“I’m worried that if we pass a bill with all of the fees and the revenue that comes, and not begin to address the issue of restorative justice, we’re not going to go back and get those communities,” Warnock said during an appearance on Crooked Media’s Lovett or Leave It podcast that was posted on Sunday. Black and brown people especially, he said, have been “hollowed out by half a century of the so-called war on drugs for using marijuana.”

Warnock was discussing the Secure and Fair Enforcement Regulation (SAFER) Banking Act, which would protect banks that service state-legal marijuana markets from being punished by federal regulators.

“What it does is it allows businesses and banks to participate with cannabis businesses in states where it’s legal,” Warnock explained, “and so it creates a safe space for them. But the communities that have been most devastated by the so-called war on drugs, [it] doesn’t do a thing for them at all.”

“My question was, ‘Who are we really making safer?’”

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THE U.S. GOVERNMENT IS PREPARING FOR A FENTANYL WMD ATTACK

LAST YEAR, the White House publicly shot down a controversial proposal from Republican lawmakers to designate fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction. 

Though President Joe Biden declined to issue the executive order granting the WMD designation, which would have come with extraordinary powers to combat the scourge, federal agencies — including the Department of Defense, the FBI, and the Department of Homeland Security — had already begun preparing for a fentanyl WMD attack as far back as 2018.

Government documents obtained by The Intercept reveal that national security agencies have for years been advancing the narrative that the drug could pose a WMD threat, going so far as conducting military exercises in preparation for an attack by a fentanyl weapon.

The push to declare fentanyl a WMD — and the security state approaching the drug that way even absent the declaration — has been a boon to federal agencies’ budgets. It’s not clear, however, that reimagining the highly toxic drug as a superlethal weapon has had any effect of combating the ongoing crisis of fentanyl overdoses. What it has done, though, is help kick off a panic.

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California Governor Newsom Vetoes Psychedelics Legalization, But Calls For New Bill On Therapeutic Access Next Year

The governor of California has vetoed a bill to legalize certain psychedelics and create a pathway to regulated access—a move that comes at a time when two states have already enacted comprehensive psychedelics policy reform and as two campaigns are working to put the issue on California’s 2024 ballot.

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D)—who was one of the most prominent and earliest lawmakers to call for an end to the war on drugs as mayor of San Francisco and later push for the legalization of cannabis as lieutenant governor of California—vetoed the bill, SB 58, from Sen. Scott Wiener (D) on Saturday.

In a veto message, the governor caveated that he wants the legislature to send him a new bill next year establishing guidelines for regulated therapeutic access to psychedelics and also consider a “potential” framework for broader decriminalization in the future. But at this stage, he’s unwilling to let the reform be enacted with his signature.

“Both peer-reviewed science and powerful personal anecdotes lead me to support new opportunities to address mental health through psychedelic medicines like those addressed in this bill,” Newsom said in a veto message on Saturday. “Psychedelics have proven to relieve people suffering from certain conditions such as depression, PTSD, traumatic brain injury, and other addictive personality traits. This is an exciting frontier and California will be on the front-end of leading it.”

“California should immediately begin work to set up regulated treatment guidelines—replete with dosing information, therapeutic guidelines, rules to prevent against exploitation during guided treatments, and medical clearance of no underlying psychoses,” he continued.  “Unfortunately, this bill would decriminalize possession prior to these guidelines going into place, and I cannot sign it.”

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‘Breaking Bad’ grandma Joanne Segovia could be snitching on alleged fentanyl ring accomplices: sources

The “Breaking Bad” grandma accused of running an international drug ring out of her San Jose, Calif., home appears to be cooperating with federal authorities, The Post has learned.

Legal sources told The Post the “wheels could already be in motion” as Joanne Segovia’s hearings in her federal case continue to get postponed — which they say typically indicates a deal being worked out.

Meanwhile, the 64-year old grandma appears to be remaining positive even with a possible 20-year prison sentence hanging over her head.

“She even told one of the neighbors the case had been dropped,” a source close to Segovia told The Post.

Segovia, who is out on bail and doesn’t have to wear an ankle monitor, hasn’t appeared in court since her initial appearance in March.

At that appearance, she pleaded not guilty. Segovia has previously claimed the mastermind behind the drug operation was actually her housekeeper — a “family friend” who suffered from a substance abuse problem, according to a Homeland Security Investigations report.

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Ohio Marijuana Legalization Campaign Sends Cease And Desist Letters To TV Stations Airing Opposition Ads ‘Filled With Lies’

Advocates behind a ballot measure to legalize marijuana in Ohio sent cease and desist letters on Thursday to local TV stations in an effort to get them to stop airing opposition ads that the cannabis campaign says are “filled with lies.”

“It’s incredibly disappointing anytime Ohio voters are lied to,” said Tom Haren, a spokesperson for the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, “but it’s clear our opposition sees no other way to defeat Issue 2.”

According to a copy of the letter included in a campaign press release, two television ads from the organization Weed Free Kids “contain multiple false or misleading statements about the proposed law.”

“Unlike candidate ads,” wrote lawyer Donald McTigue of Columbus-based McTigue & Colombo LLC, “organizations like ‘Weed Free Kids’ do not have a ‘right to command the use of broadcast facilities.’” And because stations aren’t required to run issue ads, the letter continues, “your station bears responsibility for its content when you do grant access.”

Citing federal regulations and case law, the letter says the stations have a duty to protect the public from false, misleading or deceptive advertising, warning that failure to do so “can be cause for the loss of a station’s license.”

“My client asks that your station cease broadcasting these ads immediately in the public’s interest in accurate discourse on the subject of the proposed law,” it says.

The yes campaign uploaded the videos to YouTube for reference.

In one, titled “Flatline,” a series of warnings flashes across the screen as the sound of an EKG machine beeps sporadically. A steady beep at the end of the spot suggests heart failure or death.

Among the alleged falsehoods in the ad are claims such as the initiative would allow “recreational marijuana sold in thousands of Ohio stores with NO protections for children.”

In another ad, “Candy,” the opposition campaign says that “stores could be flooded with candy laced with a drug that puts kids at risks”—a claim juxtaposed against a background products called Stoney Patch Kids, which resemble Sour Patch Kids candy.

The producer of those products, which are unregulated and not sold in licensed cannabis stores, was sued by the maker of Sour Patch Kids in 2019. Earlier this year, the Federal Trade Commission also sent the company a warning letter.

“Issue 2 allows for marijuana manufacturers to market their edibles as sweets as candy, without any safeguards for children,” the opposition ad claims. “That means many children will be poisoned by lookalike products.”

Included with the one-page cease and desist letters are seven pages of fact-checking notes meant to demonstrate the alleged falsehoods in the Weed Free Kids ads.

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Feds Threaten To Make It Harder For Medical Marijuana Patients To Get State Gun Permits In Arkansas

Arkansas’s recently enacted law permitting medical cannabis patients to obtain concealed carry gun licenses “creates an unacceptable risk,” and could jeopardize the state’s federally approved alternative firearm licensing policy, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) says.

The Arkansas law took effect in August, clarifying that a person’s status as a qualified patient in the state cannot be used “in determining whether an applicant is eligible to be issued a license to carry a concealed handgun.”

The policy change has apparently attracted the critical attention of federal officials at the Justice Department, The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette first reported. A letter sent by Marianna Mitchem, chief of ATF’s Firearms and Explosives Industry Division, to the operations director for the Division of Arkansas Crime Information this week said there are “public safety concerns” with the law.

Mitchem advised the state official that Arkansas has been previously notified that a condition of its alternative gun licensing scheme, which allows gun buyers to receive approval by the state without going through a federal background check, is that firearms cannot be purchased by a “controlled substance user.” In the eyes of the federal government, that includes medical cannabis patients.

The letter contained a veiled threat, stating that if the state department did not answer two specific questions, it would warrant a reevaluation of Arkansas’s alternative gun permit policy.

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Weed Is Legal in Illinois. Police Searched His Car Anyway.

In June 2022, police in Illinois pulled over Prentiss Jackson for driving without his lights on. An officer with the Urbana Police Department subsequently claimed he could smell “a little bit of weed” coming from the car, leveraging that to search Jackson’s vehicle and ultimately kicking off a legal odyssey that would result in an 84-month sentence in federal prison.

At the officer’s request, Jackson handed over two grams of unburnt cannabis he kept in a baggie in his glove box. Possessing up to 30 grams is permissible under Illinois law. 

But when the officer demanded Jackson exit the vehicle, he ran—dropping a gun in the process. Prentiss was charged with possessing a firearm as a felon. Although Jackson sought to suppress the evidence from that search—invoking Illinois’ legal cannabis threshold and alleging that the officer lacked probable cause—Judge James E. Shadid of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois came down in favor of police, ruling that Jackson had run afoul of the state requirement to keep marijuana in an odor-proof container.

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USDA Says Genetically Modified Hemp Plant ‘May Be Safely Grown And Bred’ In The United States

A hemp plant genetically engineered to produce lower levels of the cannabinoids THC and cannabichromene (CBC) “may be safely grown and bred in the United States,” the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced.

The hemp plant was genetically modified and submitted for review by Growing Together Research, a biotechnology firm headquartered in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The company announced earlier this year that it had achieved “the first known stable transformation and regeneration of multiple THC-free hemp cultivars” and in June announced it would work to increase THC production in cannabis plants.

“We reviewed the modified hemp plant to determine whether it posed an increased plant pest risk as compared to cultivated hemp,” USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) said in a notice last week. “APHIS found this modified hemp is unlikely to pose an increased plant pest risk compared to other cultivated hemp.”

It its request for the USDA review, Growing Together Research said the changes are intended to make the engineered plants free of THC and CBC and also boost resistance to the herbicide bialaphos. It says genes in the new hemp plants came from multiple donor organisms, including plants, bacteria, a virus and at least one artificial sequence.

The company said in the request that it believes the intended resistance to the herbicide “is not expected to result in any other material changes to metabolism, physiology or development of the plant.”

The APHIS review focused on whether the new hemp plant poses a “plant pest risk.” The process, according to the agency, “examines the plant pests and diseases that are known to be associated with a commodity, identifies those pests that are likely to remain on the commodity upon importation into the United States, and evaluates the mitigations that may be required to avoid, reduce, or eliminate the risk of pest introduction into the United States.”

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Psychedelics plus psychotherapy can trigger rapid changes in the brain

The human brain can change—but usually only slowly and with great effort, such as when learning a new sport or foreign language, or recovering from a stroke. Learning new skills correlates with changes in the brain, as evidenced by neuroscience research with animals and functional brain scans in people. Presumably, if you master Calculus 1, something is now different in your brain. Furthermore, motor neurons in the brain expand and contract depending on how often they are exercised— a neuronal reflection of “use it or lose it.”

People may wish their brains could change faster—not just when learning new skills, but also when overcoming problems like anxiety, depression, and addictions.

Clinicians and scientists know there are times the brain can make rapid, enduring changes. Most often, these occur in the context of traumatic experiences, leaving an indelible imprint on the brain.

But positive experiences, which alter one’s life for the better, can occur equally as fast. Think of a spiritual awakening, a near-death experience or a feeling of awe in nature.

Social scientists call events like these psychologically transformative experiences or pivotal mental states. For the rest of us, they’re forks in the road. Presumably, these positive experiences quickly change some “wiring” in the brain.

How do these rapid, positive transformations happen? It seems the brain has a way to facilitate accelerated change. And here’s where it gets really interesting: Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy appears to tap into this natural neural mechanism.

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Florida Is Giving Foster Children Powerful Psychotropic Drugs Without Proper Records, Audit Finds 

An audit conducted this summer revealed that children in Florida’s foster care system are being prescribed powerful psychotropic medications at alarmingly high rates. In many cases, state child welfare officials are failing to properly document prescriptions, resulting in children taking powerful medications with scant medical records available to justify them.

Over 2,200 children that are currently in Florida’s foster care system—around one in 10—are prescribed psychotropic medications, reported the Tampa Bay Times. For foster children over the age of 13, more than one in three are on this kind of medication, which includes treatments for conditions like ADHD, depression, anxiety, and schizophrenia.

According to state rules, “the physician or psychiatric nurse recommending the psychotropic medication is required to complete and sign a medical report,” and each prescription “is required to be documented on a medication log. The case manager must obtain the medication logs at each home visit and include the medication logs in the child’s case file” with the Florida Safe Families Network (FSFN), the state’s child welfare agency.

Yet a state audit released in July found “no records of the psychotropic medications prescribed in the case file in the state’s primary case management system,” according to the Tampa Bay Times. “Logs that record the frequency and dosage of psychotropic medication were missing from 66% of case files reviewed, and authorization records were not found in more than one-third of the case files.”

Even more troubling, the audit found that the state welfare agency did not document prescriptions in 57 out of the 60 cases of children prescribed opioid medication that were reviewed. 

“These documentation deficiencies occurred because the State agency did not have adequate controls to ensure the [child protective investigators] and case managers maintained the children’s case files in FSFN in accordance with State requirements,” the audit reads. “Without adequate controls in place, the State agency could not ensure that children in foster care received the necessary monitoring and care. As a result, the children’s quality of care and health and safety may have been at risk.”

This lack of documentation has had severe effects on many children in Florida’s foster care system. Without proper documentation, children can end up taking unnecessary medications or not getting the prescriptions they actually need.

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