Tag: the war on (some) drugs

NIH spends $14 million to study reproductive effects of marijuana on macaques

This week’s Golden Horseshoe is awarded to the National Institutes of Health for a $14 million experiment last year on monkeys that included feeding them marijuana edibles and then monitoring the effects, according to the watchdog group Open The Books.

The primate marijuana experiment had two parts, according to an investigation by the White Coat Waste Project (WCWP).

In the first part, female macaques were served THC edibles daily for up to four months. They were then observed to see if any changes occurred in their menstrual cycles. 

In part two, male macaques were fed the edibles for up to seven months and then observed to see if any fertility changes occurred.

NIH awarded the two grants for the experiments. A $13.1 million grant was awarded to the Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU), and $1.1 million was awarded to the University of Missouri-Columbia.

“The White Coat Waste Project was only able to find the enormous price tag of this project by filing a complaint with the NIH,” wrote Open The Books CEO and founder Andrew Andrzejewski. “Federal law known as the Stevens Amendment requires labs to say what percent of the costs of the experiment come from taxpayer money, the dollar amount of taxpayer funds used, and the percent and amount of funding by non-governmental sources. The Oregon Health and Science University disclosed none of these figures in its reports announcing the research results.”

Andrzejewski also pointed out that since recreational marijuana is legal in Oregon, experiments could have been conducted on humans.

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Love & Other Drugs: The Couples Using Psychedelics as a Way To Get Closer

Some couples like to take time off and wander the world to recharge, rejuvenate and reconnect with each other. Others prefer a different kind of trip. 

Psychedelics are increasingly gaining prominence as well as regulatory approval as a form of treatment for mental health disorders ranging from PTSD to anxiety. This has also sparked a larger conversation on whether using hallucinogens like psilocybin mushrooms or LSD could then also emerge as a form of relationship therapy, given that these substances have the ability to curb inhibitions and change the way we perceive reality. 

The rise and rise of psychedelic wellness has also led to couples experimenting with the substances together, either to forge stronger bonds, deal with deep-seated issues in a controlled setting or simply share the euphoric experience together. In fact, though psychedelics are not legal in most countries, relationship counsellors are increasingly advocating their use in counselling sessions, where a couple is administered a mild dosage in a controlled environment, asked leading questions about their hopes and fantasies while they’re tripping, and given calculated counselling based on their experiences. 

“Psilocybin has incredible [potential] as a catalyst for such therapy because it tears down all your walls and filters, and changes the way you think about the relationship,” Kripi Malviya, a psychologist and founder of de-addiction and rehabilitation centre TATVA, told VICE. 

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Cop Arrested for Selling Large Amounts of Cocaine From His Police Cruiser, While On Duty, In Uniform

Thanks to the state’s immoral and often deadly war on drugs, countless American citizens have had their lives ruined or ended over their personal choice to put a substance in their bodies. Highlighting the colossal failure of the war on drugs is the fact that drug overdoses are at an all-time high while the DEA and other law enforcement programs for drug enforcement are receiving record amounts of taxpayer dollars.

Despite years of suffering, oppression, and the expansion of the police state, most lawmakers cannot see the atrocities that their policies are creating. Their answer to the war on drugs, is more war on drugs.

Nothing epitomizes this madness better than when cops — who are tasked with arresting people for arbitrary substances deemed illegal by the state — are caught selling or using those very substances. When the enforcers of the drug war actually become participants in the drug trade, it is high time we admit defeat and try something different.

A cop in Raleigh, North Carolina made this point perfectly after he was arrested for trafficking drugs — from his patrol car, while on duty, and in uniform. According to court documents, Keven Rodriguez, 33, a Field Operations Division Officer with the Raleigh Police Department, distributed cocaine while on duty in his patrol car.

Rodriguez had become so brazen with his drug sales that his own officers apparently found out that he was selling the drugs from his patrol car. After suspicions were raised, a DEA investigation was launched and subsequently ensnared the cop.

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Hemp farmers forced to destroy crops over USDA rules

Hemp farmers across Tennessee are having to destroy their hemp crop that tested over the new federal THC limit.

The USDA made a ruling in 2021 that all hemp must have a total THC level of 0.3%. Before that decision, hemp farmers needed to keep the levels of Delta-9 THC below 0.3%. The new rules apply to numerous other compounds in the plant.

According to the Department of Agriculture, 42% of crops are being found non-compliant with the requirement.

About half the crop at Nashland Farms, a Middle Tennessee hemp operation, was found to be over the limit. The farm grows hemp for its CBD.

Seth Fuller, co-owner of Nashland Farms, said it means many thousands of dollars lost.

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Highly Decorated D.A.R.E. Cop Admits to Running Enormous Child Porn Ring That Abused Toddlers

The Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) program should better be called an egregious exercise in how not to convince kids to keep away from substances the state deems illegal. As cops hopped on their high horses and had children pledge not to do drugs, the rate of drug use skyrocketed — thrusting the country into one of the worst drug epidemics in human history. The hypocrisy by the cops who pushed the D.A.R.E. program has been well-documented over the years, explaining, at least in part, as to why the program was such a failure from the start. Now, another cop who pushed kids to ‘just say no’ has pleaded guilty to disturbing criminal activity. 

Parents whose children participated in the D.A.R.E. program in Beavercreek, Ohio now need to question their children who may have had contact with former Beavercreek police officer Kevin A. Kovacs. In April 2019, Kovacs, 60, was arrested at his home for unspeakable crimes against children. This week, he admitted to all of it and it’s utterly horrifying.

“Videos featured the sexual abuse of children as young as toddler aged,” the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement. “One video depicted a toddler lying on a diaper whose arms and legs were bound by black tape.”

In total, as of December 2019, Kovacs possessed more than 780 images and 5,100 videos of child pornography, according to the release. He had used online messenger, social media, cloud storage and email accounts to transport and possess child pornography.

This disgusting individual will now be spending up to the next 240 months in a cage, where he belongs.

“The conduct he is alleged to have committed is both disgusting and extremely disappointing,” said former Beavercreek Police Chief Dennis Evers at the time of Kovacs arrest. “As a former D.A.R.E. officer who received departmental and community awards for his work, he, of all people, knew this criminal activity to be exploitation of children and unlawful.”

Less than two years before this cop was arrested for running a child porn ring, Officer Kovacs received the “Law Enforcement Officer of the Year” Award. When presented with the honor, the Beavercreek police department praised him for his work with young children.

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