Tag: the war on (some) drugs

PA Dem Commissioner Charged With Dozens of Felony Drug Offenses

A local elected official in Pennsylvania is facing extensive felony drug charges following an investigation that authorities say uncovered evidence of repeated narcotics transactions over a nearly two-year period.

Zachary Borghi, a Democratic commissioner in Lehigh County, was arrested and arraigned in late March in connection with the case. He remains in custody at the Lehigh County Jail after failing to post $500,000 bail.

Prosecutors allege that Borghi faces a wide range of charges, including 89 counts of criminal use of a communication facility, 14 counts related to the delivery of cocaine, and an additional count involving the delivery of psilocybin mushrooms. The charges stem from what investigators describe as a detailed review of digital communications spanning from November 2023 through August 2025.

According to the Lehigh County District Attorney’s Office, the case was built in part through forensic analysis of Borghi’s cellphone and Apple iCloud data. Authorities say the records include text messages that appear to show arrangements for drug transactions taking place across multiple locations, including his home, a relative’s residence, government offices, and other sites within the region.

Among the more serious allegations, prosecutors claim that Borghi conducted or facilitated drug-related communications during official public events. These include a Lehigh County Board of Commissioners meeting and a “Peace and Justice Symposium” held at Northampton Community College. Investigators say they were able to match timestamps from text messages with video recordings of public meetings, strengthening the case.

Lehigh County District Attorney Gavin Holihan said the investigation initially identified Borghi through a broader grand jury probe before additional evidence led to the current charges.

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New audio recordings put Petro’s government on the spot over alleged efforts to shield drug traffickers wanted in the United States

The audios that have shaken Colombia in recent hours are no minor episode. Far from it, they are not just another anecdote in the long list of controversies surrounding President Gustavo Petro.

What is at stake, according to security and justice experts, is the possibility that members close to the government may have discussed or hinted at alleged efforts to favor drug traffickers wanted by U.S. authorities.

This issue alone would be enough to spark a political storm, but it takes on another dimension as it surfaces just before diplomatic meetings and at a time of particular sensitivity for Bogotá and Washington.

The audios were released by sources that so far have kept the exact origin of the material confidential.

They feature several voices talking about contacts and potential maneuvers involving drug lords facing ongoing proceedings in the United States. Although President Petro is not heard in the recordings, opposition sectors interpret the content as a sign that someone within the government could be willing to provide some form of unofficial protection or negotiation.

The president’s response was swift. Petro called the recordings “smear tactics” and asserted that he has never had contact with drug traffickers nor ordered any irregular intervention in favor of criminal organizations.

He did admit, however, that he was alerted to the existence of the audios before meeting with President Donald Trump, which heightened suspicions in diplomatic circles and raised concerns about whether the Casa de Nariño fears that these leaks could damage its relationship with Washington.

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Drugs, sexual blackmail: shocking confession letter exposes Israel’s Red Crescent spy ring

A bombshell confession letter obtained by The Grayzone reveals Israeli intelligence recruited an asset in the Palestinian Red Crescent, who admitted using drugs and sexual blackmail to create a “network of informants” which could infiltrate and destroy resistance groups.

A leaked confession indicates the Red Crescent was infiltrated by Israeli intelligence, which exploited its collaborator network within the Occupied Palestinian Territories to engage in criminal activity including drug trafficking, shocking acts of sexual blackmail, and political executions. 

The document was obtained by The Grayzone, which verified its authenticity through two West Bank sources with knowledge of the case. Originally published by the State of Palestine Public Prosecution, the letter shines a light on the inner workings of Tel Aviv’s espionage network inside the West Bank, revealing how resistance groups are infiltrated and monitored, while common Palestinians are press-ganged into serving the apartheid state.

The confession traces the story of a longstanding Palestinian collaborator within the Red Crescent who was originally recruited by Israel in December 2004, following “security incidents” across the West Bank during the height of the Second Intifada.

At this time, the Palestinian visited an Israeli “field interrogation center” established near their home. Struggling financially as the primary breadwinner in a fatherless family, they were considered an ideal recruit by Israel’s intelligence services. The Grayzone has omitted the identities of the Palestinians named in the confession letter.

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Scientists Engineered a Plant to Produce 5 Different Psychedelics at Once

What do plants, toads, and mushrooms have in common? They can all produce psychedelic substances – and now their powers have been combined in one plant, like a trippier Captain Planet.

In a wild first, scientists have taken the genes these organisms use to make five natural psychedelics and introduced them into a tobacco plant (Nicotiana benthamiana), which then produced all five compounds simultaneously.

As interest grows in psychedelics as potential treatments for illnesses such as depression, anxiety, and PTSD, the newly developed system could offer scientists a new way to produce these compounds for research purposes.

“[Our] strategy established a heterologous plant system for the production of five prominent therapeutically valuable compounds, their derivatives, and nonnatural plant analogs, providing a starting point for their production in plants,” writes a team led by researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel.

Tryptamine psychedelics are a class of compounds that includes psilocin, psilocybin, and a number of dimethyltryptamine (DMT) compounds. The ability to produce these substances has emerged in diverse organisms across the tree of life – plants, fungi, and animals.

In recent years, a number of studies have shown that tryptamine psychedelics may represent an untapped resource when it comes to mental health treatments.

However, progress in this field remains limited, in part due to regulatory restrictions, underscoring the need for more research. This creates practical challenges for scientists.

“Traditionally, the supply of psychedelics relies on natural producers, mainly plants, fungi, and the Sonoran Desert toad,” the researchers write.

“Harvesting these organisms for their psychoactive compounds raises ecological and ethical concerns, being increasingly threatened by habitat loss and overexploitation.”

In an effort to tackle this, plant scientists Paula Berman and Janka Höfer and their team set out to map and rebuild the biochemical pathways behind these compounds.

They identified the key genes used by two plants – Psychotria viridis and Acacia acuminata – to make DMT, and the step-by-step chemical pathways involved in producing the compound.

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Kratom is now legal in RI, making it the first state to overturn ban

Businesses can now start applying for licenses to sell and distribute kratom in Rhode Island.

According to the Rhode Island Department of Health, the psychoactive plant is used to self-treat things like pain, opioid withdrawal and anxiety, but the FDA has not yet approved any kratom products.

The new law will allow people 21 and older to purchase kratom from licensed businesses. But with applications opening Wednesday, it could be a while before kratom goes up on the shelves.

“The average kratom consumer is someone like me … OK, maybe a little younger,” said Mac Haddow, senior fellow on public policy for the American Kratom Association. “It really deals with the normal stresses of daily life and the aches and pains related to it.”

Haddow is part of a national organization that has been advocating for the legalization of kratom in Rhode Island.

The state has a lengthy legislative history with the substance and was one of a few states to ban it in 2017. But after a few years of debate on Smith Hill, Rhode Island has now become the first state in the country to overturn that ban.

A spokesperson for the R.I. Department of Health said retailers will have to go through training similar to what’s already in place for tobacco products.

The law in Rhode Island does ban a synthetic form of kratom known as 7-OH, which federal health officials warn is addictive like opioids and more dangerous than morphine.

Some have pushed back on the legalization of kratom, including Portsmouth state Rep. Michelle McGaw.

“Without clean scientific trials, without going through a drug approval process, I’m not comfortable having a drug that works directly on the opioid receptors,” she said.

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Missouri Senate Passes Bill To Ban Intoxicating Hemp THC Products

After nine hours of debate over competing proposals to ban intoxicating hemp products, the Missouri Senate finally approved a House bill Tuesday night that would align state law with a federal ban set to take effect in November.

It also includes provisions to protect marijuana consumer privacy and cannabis workers’ right to organize.

It now heads back to the House, which can either ask for a conference to work out differences with the Senate or send it to the governor.

The bill, sponsored by Republican state Rep. Dave Hinman of O’Fallon, would prohibit hemp products from containing more than 0.4 milligrams of THC per container, which is among the limits included in a provision in the federal spending bill Congress approved last year.

Even if Congress reverses course and decides to allow the sale of these products, Hinman’s bill would only permit them to be sold in Missouri’s licensed marijuana dispensaries. And if Congress chooses to delay the ban for a couple years, Missouri would still ban all products, except for intoxicating beverages.

“I had just a good opportunity over in the Senate to work with several of the senators to get some of the things that they wanted to get on there that I think actually benefit the bill,” Hinman told The Independent Wednesday morning. “So I’m very happy with the things that were done last night and look forward to bringing that to the House tomorrow.”

Resistance to the bill came from Republican senators who expressed concern that the hemp industry members weren’t included in the final negotiations that took place for more than 12 hours Tuesday.

And Democratic state Sen. Karla May of St. Louis argued Missouri would be taking a more restrictive approach than the federal government because the proposals would deem the intoxicating hemp products as “marijuana.”

“They claim they’re mirroring the federal regulation,” May said during the debate Tuesday. “There’s some things in there that’s going far beyond the federal regulation, such as…hemp-derived cannabinoids will be put under the marijuana umbrella and have to be sold in dispensaries.”

May successfully led a nearly seven-hour filibuster on the first bill brought for discussion, sponsored by Republican state Sen. David Gregory, which would have made the ban effective as soon as the governor signed it.

“We spent pretty much from 11 a.m. until really 9 p.m. trying to figure out where we wanted to go, trying different things,” Hinman said, regarding Gregory’s bill. “We couldn’t get everyone really to agree, and so the senator [Gregory] suggested, ‘Let’s just go back to Hinman’s bill and go with that.’”

In an unusual move, the senators decided to reconvene the Senate Fiscal Oversight Committee at about 10 p.m. The same committee had decided not to vote on Hinman’s bill earlier that day, saying Hinman needed to reach a resolution with the hemp industry.

There was no public notice of the fiscal oversight committee’s evening meeting, which ended when senators voted to move the bill forward and allowed the full Senate to take it up for debate.

An amendment was approved to keep dispensaries from collecting marijuana consumers’ information unless they “opted in,” Hinman said, and another ensured all cannabis workers can unionize and shouldn’t be considered “agricultural workers” who aren’t protected under federal law. A group of workers in St. Louis have been battling this point since 2023.

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Judge Rejects Anti-Marijuana Groups’ Motion To Block CBD And THC Medicare Coverage Plan, Setting Hearing For 4/20

A federal judge has denied a request from a coalition of anti-marijuana organizations that sought to immediately block the Trump administration’s initiative to cover hemp-derived CBD and THC products through Medicare from launching on Wednesday.

The groups’ overall lawsuit challenging the policy is still under consideration, however, with a hearing on their separate motion for a preliminary injunction scheduled for April 20, which coincidentally is known as the unofficial cannabis cultural holiday 4/20.

Judge Trevor N. McFadden on Tuesday rejected the request from Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) and nine other drug prevention groups to issue a temporary restraining order to halt the federal cannabis initiative, which is being facilitated by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), from taking effect.

McFadden, in his one-page order, quoted case law holding that a temporary restraining order is an “extraordinary and drastic remedy” that can only be granted if a party makes a “clear showing that four factors, taken together, warrant relief: likely success on the merits, likely irreparable harm in the absence of preliminary relief, a balance of the equities in its favor, and accord with the public interest.”

“Having considered the arguments in Plaintiffs’ motion and at a motions hearing, the Court finds that Plaintiffs have not met this high standard,” the judge wrote. “The motion for a temporary restraining order is thus denied. The Court will consider Plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction and motion to stay upon the completion of briefing.”

Defendants in the lawsuit—CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.—now have until April 9 to file briefs responding to the prohibitionist groups’ motion for a preliminary injunction. The plaintiffs then have a reply brief due on April 13, a week ahead of the 4/20 hearing on the matter.

The lawsuit comes as CMS is set to start covering CBD and THC products under select federal health insurance programs as a Substance Access Beneficiary Engagement Incentive (BEI) beginning on Wednesday.

Under the BEI, patients enrolled in specific federal health insurance programs could have up to $500 worth of hemp-derived products covered each year. The CBD-focused plan will also allow a certain amount of THC in products, but the agency said that the rules are subject to change if federal hemp policy changes, as is currently expected under a law set to take effect later this year.

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Anti-Marijuana Groups File Lawsuit To Block Trump Administration’s Hemp CBD And THC Medicare Coverage Plan

A coalition of anti-marijuana organizations is suing the Trump administration over a novel initiative set to launch this week to widen the availability of CBD and THC for certain patients by covering hemp-derived products under select federal health insurance programs.

Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) and nine other drug prevention groups on Monday filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, challenging the legality of the cannabis program—which is being facilitated by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)—and seeking a temporary restraining order to immediately halt the process.

The filing names CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. as defendants in the lawsuit. The lawsuit comes as CMS is set to start covering CBD and THC products as a Substance Access Beneficiary Engagement Incentive (BEI) beginning on Wednesday.

Under the BEI, patients enrolled in specific federal health insurance programs could have up to $500 worth of hemp-derived products covered each year. The CBD-focused plan will also allow a certain amount of THC in products, but the agency said earlier this month the rules are subject to change if federal hemp policy changes, as is currently expected under a law set to take effect later this year.

SAM and the other organizations—including the Cannabis Impact Prevention Coalition, Drug Free American Foundation and Save Our Society From Drugs—made several arguments in support of legal intervention to prevent the cannabidiol BEI from moving forward. Much of the complaint focuses on alleged violations of administrative rules to provide the treatment, which they point out has not received Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval.

CMS didn’t publish a notice of proposed rulemaking for the cannabis BEI that would have afforded the public with a comment period to weigh in, and the agency’s initiative runs counter to a separate final rule it issued last year that “declared cannabis products ineligible for supplemental Medicare coverage for chronically ill patients,” the prohibitionist plaintiffs said.

Beyond those alleged violations of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), the groups noted that CMS described a BEI for CBD containing a maximum THC concentration that exceeds what would constitute federally legal hemp under a policy that’s set to be implemented in November.

The filing says the program would additionally violate the Social Security Act (SSA), which “does not allow CMS to sanction the possession and use of illegal and dangerous Schedule I substances by Medicare patients without clear congressional authorization.”

“CMS’s action represents an unprecedented and unlawful assertion of binding decision-making authority that will profoundly affect the health of elderly Americans,” SAM and the other organizations said in their complaint. “CMS took this action without the guardrails imposed by the administrative process, without any reasoned explanation, in conflict with the agency’s own recent APA-compliant determination, and without statutory authority.”

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AOC Slams Federal Drug Laws That Restrict Marijuana And Psychedelics Despite Their Medical Value

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) tore into the current U.S. drug scheduling system on Thursday—making the case that placing substances like marijuana and LSD in the most restrictive category runs counter to evidence showing their medical potential, hinders research and is associated with criminal penalties that haven’t effectively prevented harms from substance misuse.

In some cases, the congresswoman said during a hearing before the House Energy & Commerce Health Subcommittee, classifying drugs as Schedule I under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) can exacerbate the overdose crisis, leading to the introduction of new, sometimes more dangerous drugs into the illicit marketplace.

The panel on Thursday took testimony on a variety of bills aimed at curbing overdose deaths and responding to emerging public health threats posed by illegal drugs such as xylazine and other opioid-like synthetics that are often more potent than the analogues that came before them.

Ocasio-Cortez said it was time to “take a step back” and “really explore and examine the scheduling system in the United States as a whole and really how we think about this,” directing her questions to Nabarun Dasgupta, a senior scientist at the University of North Carolina who served as an expert witness for the hearing.

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