Tag: the war on (some) drugs

The Time Hunter Biden Failed a Drug Test for the Navy and Then Blamed It on Two Random Africans

When families get together over Thanksgiving or Christmas, there’s usually a lot of … “Remember the time … ?” followed by some teasing and laughter.

But one wonders what it must be like at the Biden house when every reference to Hunter Biden’s past is more disgusting than the previous one, from his drug use to his relationship with his sister-in-law (and her sister) to his porn, sex, and prostitute addiction, just for starters.

With the “mysterious” discovery of cocaine in the White House, a little-publicized story in the New Yorker from 2019 has re-emerged, which tells how the younger Biden failed a drug test for the Navy and then blamed it on a cigarette he bummed from some random South Africans.

Adam Entous told the story about Hunter’s first weekend of Reserve duty, when he said he stopped at a bar a few blocks from the White House. Outside, according to Hunter, he bummed a cigarette from two men who told him that they were from South Africa.

“A few months later, Hunter received a letter saying that his urinalysis had detected cocaine in his system,” the New Yorker story said. According to Navy rules, a positive drug test usually results in a discharge from service.

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After 50 Years, the DEA Is Still Losing the War on Drugs

“COCAINE UNIQUELY FITS THE FAST-PACED AMERICAN LIFESTYLE,” reads a caption for an exhibit at the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Museum in Arlington, Virginia. “The Federal Bureau of Narcotics considered cocaine a nearly defeated drug,” it continues. “However, cocaine use rebounded, reaching its highest use level ever at the end of the 20th century.” It’s an oddly candid observation to find in a place you’d expect to celebrate the federal agency whose mission is to “enforce the controlled substances laws and regulations of the United States.”

The DEA is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, marking half a century of abject mission failure. During five decades as a bottomless money pit that has destroyed countless lives while targeting Americans for personal choices and peaceful transactions, the agency’s annual budget has ballooned from $75 million to $3.2 billion. The DEA currently operates 90 foreign offices in 67 countries. It has seized billions of dollars in drugs, cash, vehicles, and real property. Since 1986, it has arrested more than 1 million people for manufacturing, distributing, or possessing illegal drugs. Yet in 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) counted more than 107,600 drug-related deaths—an all-time high. The DEA’s own data show a steady, gradual decline in price and rise in purity for most street drugs since the 1980s. The DEA’s 2020 National Drug Threat Assessment notes that methamphetamine “purity and potency remain high while prices remain relatively low,” and cocaine availability remains steady.

While there are some reasons to believe Americans may finally have tired of the DEA’s oversized role in their lives, the agency remains a powerful force. To understand what went wrong—and why it will keep going wrong—you have to go back to the agency’s origins.

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Circle the Wagons: The Government Is On The Warpath

“Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear.”—Harry S. Truman

How many Americans have actually bothered to read the Constitution, let alone the first ten amendments to the Constitution, the Bill of Rights (a quick read at 462 words)?

Take a few minutes and read those words for yourself—rather than having some court or politician translate them for you—and you will be under no illusion about where to draw the line when it comes to speaking your mind, criticizing your government, defending what is yours, doing whatever you want on your own property, and keeping the government’s nose out of your private affairs.

In an age of overcriminalization, where the average citizen unknowingly commits three crimes a day, and even the most mundane activities such as fishing and gardening are regulated, government officials are constantly telling Americans what not to do.

Yet it was not always this way.

It used to be “we the people” giving the orders, telling the government what it could and could not do. Indeed, the three words used most frequently throughout the Bill of Rights in regards to the government are “no,” “not” and “nor.”

Compare the following list of “don’ts” the government is prohibited from doing with the growing list of abuses to which “we the people” are subjected on a daily basis, and you will find that we have reached a state of crisis wherein the government is routinely breaking the law and violating its contractual obligations.

For instance, the government is NOT allowed to restrict free speech, press, assembly or the citizenry’s ability to protest and correct government wrongdoing. Nevertheless, the government continues to prosecute whistleblowers, persecute journalists, criminalize expressive activities, crack down on large gatherings of citizens mobilizing to voice their discontent with government policies, and insulate itself and its agents from any charges of wrongdoing (or what the courts refer to as “qualified immunity”).

The government may NOT infringe on a citizen’s right to defend himself. Nevertheless, in many states, it’s against the law to carry a concealed weapon (gun, knife or even pepper spray), and the average citizen is permitted little self-defense against militarized police officers who shoot first and ask questions later.

The government may NOT enter or occupy a citizen’s house without his consent (the quartering of soldiers). Nevertheless, government soldiers (i.e., militarized police) carry out more than 80,000 no-knock raids on private homes every year, while maiming children, killing dogs and shooting citizens.

The government may NOT carry out unreasonable searches and seizures on the citizenry or their possessions, NOR can government officials issue warrants without some evidence of wrongdoing (probable cause). Unfortunately, what is unreasonable to the average American is completely reasonable to a government agent, for whom the ends justify the means. In such a climate, we have no protection against roadside strip searches, blood draws, DNA collection, SWAT team raids, surveillance or any other privacy-stripping indignity to which the government chooses to subject us.

The government is NOT to deprive anyone of life, liberty or property without due process. Nevertheless, the government continues to incarcerate tens of thousands of Americans whose greatest crime is being poor and not white. The same goes for those who are put to death, some erroneously, by a system weighted in favor of class and wealth.

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Drug Busts Are Linked to More Overdoses and Deaths

As the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) celebrates its 50th birthday, new research highlights how counterproductive its mission is. Published in the American Journal of Public Health, the research links drug busts to a spike in overdoses in nearby areas.

The cross-university team of researchers started out with this hypothesis: “Law enforcement efforts to disrupt local drug markets by seizing opioids or stimulants are associated with increased spatiotemporal clustering of overdose events in the surrounding geographic area.”

To test this hypothesis, they looked at data from Marion County, Indiana, on drug seizures and overdoses—including fatal overdoses, emergency medical calls for nonfatal overdoses, and naloxone administration—in 2020 and 2021. Marion County is the largest county in Indiana and contains the state capital, Indianapolis.

They found a significant association between “opioid-related law enforcement drug seizures” and an increase in drug overdoses in surrounding areas (that is, within 100, 250, and 500 meters). This association held at one week, two weeks, and three weeks from the drug bust data.

“For example, the expected number of fatal overdoses within 500 meters and 21 days of opioid-related drug seizures ranged from 18.0 to 22.7 per 100 drug seizures, so the observed rate of 23.6 was higher than expected,” the paper states.

Stimulant-related drug seizures were also associated with an increase in drug overdoses, albeit to a lesser extent than with opioid-related drug seizures. The significant association here only held “at a distance of 100 meters within 7 days,” and was stronger for nonfatal overdoses.

During the two-year study period, there were 2,110 opioid-related and 3,039 stimulant-related seizures—an average of seven per day. There were 1,171 overdose deaths recorded during that period (an average of 1.6 per day) and 12,590 nonfatal overdoses (an average of 17.2 per day).

“Supply-side enforcement interventions and drug policies should be further explored to determine whether they exacerbate an ongoing overdose epidemic and negatively affect the nation’s life expectancy,” the researchers suggest.

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White House cocaine mystery deepens as Secret Service says it was found in the West Wing and NOT the library: Joe and Hunter’s July 4 celebrations clouded in controversy as agents try and track down who was responsible for dropping drugs

The White House was engulfed in scandal during President Joe Biden‘s Fourth of July celebrations as the Secret Service hunted for whoever was responsible for leaving cocaine in the West Wing.

Hunter Biden was among the first family members at 1600 Pennsylvania for the festivities just hours after it was confirmed a white powder that sparked a hazmat situation contained traces of the illicit drug.

The White House has stayed silent on the shocking discovery on Sunday night that forced an evacuation while the president was in Camp David with his recovering drug addict son Hunter.

The mystery of the cocaine also deepened on Tuesday afternoon when Secret Service officials said it was found in the West Wing – an area used by members of the Biden administration, White House staff and hundreds of journalists.

Radio dispatches by the D.C. Fire Department and reviewed by DailyMail.com, suggested the substance had been found in the library two floors below the private White House residence – and part of the public tour.

The West Wing, where officials claim the cocaine was discovered, is the activity center for the White House. It includes the Oval Office, offices for the president’s executive staff, Cabinet Room, Roosevelt Room and the press briefing room where dozens of members of the White House press corps gather for work every day.

Both career and political White House staff traverse the West Wing on a daily basis. The sheer number of individuals in that space daily spans all the way up to the president’s closest advisers down to cleaning and maintenance staff.

Following initial reports that the white powder substance was found in the library and was confirmed as cocaine, trolls began to speculate that President Biden’s addict son Hunter Biden was the source of the illicit drug making it into the White House.

The White House library, however, is located in the executive residence and is part of the tour where members of the public regularly walk through. It is also two floors below the first family’s living quarters.

The Biden family arrived back at the White House for Independence Day celebrations Tuesday morning as the Secret Service continued its investigation.

Joe and Jill were joined by son Hunter, his wife Melissa and son Beau, three. The president’s son donned a black ball cap with an American Flag stitched on it in celebration of the Fourth of July. 

A dispatch call reviewed by DailyMail.com reveals a preliminary test found that the white powder tested positive for cocaine – leading to an evacuation of the White House premises on Sunday evening.

The discovery came two days after Hunter, 52, was last seen at the White House as he headed to Camp David with his father for the long holiday weekend.

Mystery has ensued over who brought cocaine into the White House and the Secret Service is still investigating the matter and has sent the substance for additional testing.

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Story of Cocaine at the White House Takes a Sudden Turn, Left-Wingers Float Insane Theory in Response

As RedState reported, a baggie of cocaine was found at the White House on Sunday, leading to an evacuation of the grounds for fear it was something more dangerous.

Even while streets were still shut down, the spin began posthaste. Most media outlets initially took the line that the baggie was found “near” the White House. Multiple reporters also described the substance as “cocaine hydrochloride,” suggesting it was the equivalent of a local anesthetic nasal spray used by (very few) dentists.

The messaging strategy was obvious. The administration and its compliant press allies wanted everything to think this substance was medical-grade and that did not originate from anyone inside the White House. Of course, “cocaine hydrochloride” does not exist in powdered form as an anesthetic, and no medical version of the drug comes in a bag. In other words, what was actually found here is just run-of-the-mill cocaine.

Now, we know where it was found. According to The Washington Post and others, the baggie was located in the White House Library.

One of the first reactions I saw to that news was that the White House Library is part of the public tours that take place multiple days a week. Surely, that means some random tourist left their baggie of cocaine laying around after somehow getting it past Secret Service. A quick look at the tour website, though, shows that theory doesn’t really wash.

For starters, the last tour happened at 12:30 PM on Saturday. The cocaine was found Sunday afternoon. Are we to believe it just sat there on a table or similar, unnoticed by the cleaning crews and security sweeps for over 24 hours? That seems highly unlikely. Further, the current White House tour does not actually include entering the library. Rather, you look at the library through a hallway door before going up the stairs to the left of the room. Am I to believe a tourist high-heated a baggie of cocaine into a secret hiding spot in the library somehow while not actually entering it? Again, that seems highly unlikely.

There is one logical explanation, though. Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, is a notorious drug addict who was made infamous for filming himself doing crack and coke. So let’s do the math. The Secret Service found a baggie of cocaine hidden inside the White House in a place normal people can’t go. Hunter Biden lives at the White House and reportedly uses the library often.

It’s a mystery that may never be solved.

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They Followed Doctors’ Orders. Then Their Children Were Taken Away.

One morning in the summer of 2020, Jade Dass woke up and vomited. She assumed she was hung over; she’d been depressed lately and sometimes self-medicated with too much wine. But then a woman in her online counseling group suggested that she might be pregnant. Dass looked in the mirror and realized she was probably right.

At 26, Dass had spent the previous 10 months in recovery from an opioid addiction. Her boyfriend of three years, Ryne Bieniasz, was in recovery, too. Since getting out of rehab in 2019, they had been trying to re-establish their lives, but they had trouble finding work and a place to live. Eventually they made their way to a remote horse farm east of Phoenix, doing odd jobs in exchange for housing. They didn’t have a car or close friends or much in the way of family support. Even so, Dass longed to be a mother; she thought she would be good at it.

To help with her recovery, Dass had been taking Suboxone, a medication that binds to the receptors in the brain that crave opioids, preventing withdrawal without creating a high. She was concerned that it might affect the developing fetus, but a health care provider, she says, assured her that she should continue taking it. The advice seemed counterintuitive; pregnant women are routinely urged to abstain from alcohol, tobacco, even ibuprofen. So Dass did her own research. Everyone from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the same thing. Pregnant women with opioid addiction should be encouraged to take doctor-prescribed synthetic opioids such as buprenorphine, the main component of Suboxone, or methadone, which has been used to treat heroin and other addictions for almost six decades. Weaning off these medications could trigger withdrawal and contractions that could result in a miscarriage, premature birth or cause a person to relapse.

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MDMA: Australia begins world-first psychedelic therapy

Earlier this year, researchers raised eyebrows when Australia’s traditionally conservative medicines regulator approved the use of psychedelics to assist therapy sessions.

The decision will see psilocybin, found in magic mushrooms, used for treatment-resistant depression. It will also allow MDMA, known as ecstasy in tablet form, for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The changes come into effect on Saturday, making Australia the first country to classify psychedelics as medicines at a national level.

While initial access to the drugs will be limited and costly, many experts and patients are hailing it as a landmark moment.

But major health organisations have also urged caution.

Marjane Beaugeois was diagnosed with severe depression in 2017. “Within two months, I lost my mother, grandmother, beloved pet dog and my romantic relationship,” she recalls.

She couldn’t eat, shower, or leave her house in Melbourne – but says prescription antidepressants left her “zombie-like, unable to cry, self-soothe or feel better”.

“I’d still go to bed praying not to wake up,” the 49-year-old says.

When her research for alternative therapies led her to a psilocybin clinic in Amsterdam, she was hesitant.

“I have no history of drug or alcohol use. As an addiction counsellor, I was always very against it,” she says.

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Pilgrims Are Flocking to This Psychedelic Temple

UPSTATE NEW YORK has been the birthplace of many Great Awakenings. In the 1820s, religious fervor so swept the region it became known as “the burned-over district.” In the 1960s, Timothy Leary’s commune in Millbrook became ground control for the East Coast psychedelic movement. “By the time we got to Woodstock,” sang Joni Mitchell, “we were half a million strong.”

More than five decades after Woodstock, in Wappinger Falls, Alex Grey and his wife, Allyson Grey, are trying to use art to get back to the garden. Under the full June moon earlier this month, the Greys opened the bronze, 700-pound doors of Entheon, a temple-museum hybrid dedicated to advancing visionary art, and a message of ecological unity. 

“Humanity’s materialistic worldview must transition to a sacred view of oneness with the environment and cosmos,” Alex tells me after the celebration where soap heir David Bronner, who funded part of the museum, billowed about in his purple robes like a psychedelic Medici. It is a message Americans heard before — in the indigenous language of animacy, and in the prose of Alan Watts, who wrote that the individual is not, contrary to our common perception, a separate “ego inside a bag of skin,” but more like a wave coming out of the ocean. 

As psychedelics return from the outlaw regions of the culture, arriving alongside the climate crisis, the gospel of interconnectedness is spreading again, this time through the mycelial tendrils of the internet. Alex Grey, demure and snowy-haired at age 69, is not entirely sure why he has become such a popular progenitor, but he nevertheless has: On Instagram, he is one of the most famous living visual artists in the country, with 1.4 million followers — more than Jeff Koons and Yayoi Kusama combined. 

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A Neurosurgeon Compares His Near-Death Experience With Smoking Psychedelic Toad Slime

Few neuroscientists can claim to have probed the outer limits of human consciousness to the same extent as Dr Eben Alexander. After contracting bacterial meningoencephalitis in 2008, the brain surgeon wrote a book describing his remarkable near-death experience (NDE) while in a coma. A decade later, he smoked the psychedelic venom of the Sonoran Desert toad, and has now provided a detailed comparison of the two life-changing events.

Introducing their interviewee, the authors of the new report explain that NDEs and psychedelic experiences often have “shared characteristics such as entering other worlds, meeting menacing or benevolent entities, experiencing synesthesia, perinatal regression, and lucid dreamlike properties.” However, they go on to say that no studies have ever compared the experience of dying with the effects of 5-MeO-DMT, the main psychoactive component in the secretions of certain hallucinogenic toads.

Finding a subject familiar with both experiences is no easy feat, and it’s unlikely there are many out there other than Alexander. Recording the neurosurgeon’s testimony, therefore, provided the researchers with a rare opportunity to analyze the “high level of comparability” between NDEs and smoking 5-MeO-DMT.

In particular, the authors say that both experiences are characterized by a sense of “ego dissolution” as well as “transcendence of time and space.” Regarding the former, Alexander explains that during his NDE, he found himself “in a position similar to that of someone with partial but beneficial amnesia. That is, a person who has forgotten some key aspect about him or herself, but who benefits from having forgotten it.”

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