Tag: the war on (some) drugs

Flesh-eating drug ‘tranq’ meant for animals now linked to thousands of heroin, fentanyl ODs

The flesh-eating animal tranquilizer xylazine has been linked to thousands of drug overdoses across the country as it inundates heroin and fentanyl supplies in places such as Philadelphia, Delaware and Michigan, reports say.

Known on the street as “tranq,” the sedative is now found in 91% of Philly’s heroin and fentanyl supplies, according to a report earlier this month in the peer-reviewed journal Science Direct.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that its prevalence is also soaring in President Biden’s home state of Delaware, it was reported last week.

In Michigan, deaths from the drug, which is often used on horses as a muscle relaxant and anesthetic, increased 86.8% between 2019 and 2020 before dropping off slightly in 2021, the Detroit Free Press reported Friday. In the past two years, it was detected in half the opioid deaths in the Ann Arbor region, accelerating fears of its westward proliferation, the paper said.

Xylazine also was involved in 19% of all drug overdose deaths in Maryland in 2021 and 10% of those in Connecticut the year before, according to federal officials.

Xylazine causes wounds and sores on users’ bodies, resulting in a significant increase of soft-tissue infections, bone disease and amputations in places such as Philadelphia, substance-abuse field epidemiologist Jen Shinefeld told Vice in March.

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AOC’s GOP rival is CRIME MOLL: Aspiring US rep. railed against bail reform and woke DAs – but has serial criminal husband and son who used family’s NYC drinks firm as front for huge drug-dealing operation

An aspiring GOP congresswoman running against Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez with attacks on the US Rep’s soft-on-crime stance has a husband and son who have both been convicted of serious crimes.  

Tina Forte, 52, has blamed increasing crime rates on bail laws that New York State liberalized four years ago, saying that she will be tougher on crime than AOC.

She has even shared finger-jabbing campaign videos of herself targeting the so-called Squad member’s progressive beliefs on law and order.

But Forte makes no mention of the repeated disgrace heaped on her family by her close relatives’ grubby criminal antics.  

Forte’s husband Joseph ‘Joey Snapple’ Galdieri, 55, has been in and out of jail several times.

Her son Joseph Jr, 28, has also spent time in the slammer – despite trying to avoid prison by moaning about his food allergies. 

The father and son ran a huge cannabis dealing operation from the family’s beverage company in the Bronx, according to the Daily Beast.

A gun with its serial number filed-off was found on the same premises, even though Galdieri Sr and Jr’s prior felony convictions ban them from owning firearms.

Forte, who bills herself as a fervent Donald Trump and police supporter, has been accused in the past of using her maiden name to distance herself from her ‘crime family’, with the hashtag ‘galdiericrimefamily’ being widely used online.

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Study Appears To Bust A Huge Myth About Cannabis Users

Several pervading stereotypes about cannabis users have been investigated by a new study, including the notion that they are “lazy” and lack motivation – and the results make these stereotypes go up in a puff of smoke.

Participants who used cannabis three to four times a week showed no differences compared to non-users in terms of motivation, also scoring better in terms of their ability to feel pleasure. They also showed no reduced want of rewards, nor reduced willingness to put in the effort to gain those rewards.

Scientists from University College London; the University of Cambridge; and the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at King’s College London looked at teenagers (aged 16-17 years) and adults (26-29 years) who use cannabis regularly and compared them to controls who do not use the drug. 

In a survey, the 274 participants were asked questions to assess their levels of apathy, anhedonia (inability to feel pleasure), and effort-based decision-making for rewards using pre-established scales. They were also set tests, such as button pressing tasks with chocolate and sweet rewards, to measure motivation, with participants rating their rewards to assess their levels of enjoyment. 

“Cannabis use has historically been linked with amotivation, which is reflected in prevalent, pejorative ‘lazy stoner’ stereotypes,” the authors wrote in their paper. “In this study, we counter this cliché by showing that a relatively large group of adult and adolescent cannabis users and controls did not differ on several measures of reward and motivation.”

“We were surprised to see that there was really very little difference between cannabis users and non-users when it came to lack of motivation or lack of enjoyment, even among those who used cannabis every day,” Lead author, PhD candidate Martine Skumlien from University College London said in a statement. 

“This is contrary to the stereotypical portrayal we see on TV and in movies.”

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President Trump Calls for Death Penalty for Drug Dealers and Human Traffickers During Ohio Rally

On Saturday night, President Trump gave a speech at a Save America rally held in Youngstown, Ohio. He was there to campaign for U.S. Senate candidate J.D. Vance. Additional speakers include Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Bill Johnson (R-OH) and congressional candidates Madison Gesiotto Gilbert, J.R. Majewski and Max Miller.

Trump’s Save America Super PAC said in a statement that the rally continues an “unprecedented effort to advance the MAGA agenda by energizing voters and highlighting America First candidates and causes.”

At the rally, President Trump advocated for the death sentence for drug dealers and human traffickers, which will reduce drug distribution and crime in our country.

“Congratulations Democrats! What a rotten job you’re doing! You’re destroying our country,” said Trump.

According to President Trump, “carjackings in the city are up 57%. Much of the crime wave is caused by drug dealers who, during the course of their lives, will kill an average of 500 American citizens.”

“It’s an invasion of crime. And remember, much of the crime that we talk about is caused by drugs,” he added.

According to the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), trafficking of illegal drugs and human trafficking often happen together.

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SWAT Team Raids Innocent Elderly Couple, Destroys Their Home Because Their Power Bill Was Too Low

Even in states with legal marijuana, law enforcement’s addiction to the drug war still lingers like a dark cloud over over the land of the ostensibly free. Even in California, who has paved the way in legalization of cannabis, police officers still violently, and with extreme prejudice, lay waste to the rights of innocent people who dare grow, use, or sell this most beneficial plant.

Because of their addiction to the war on drugs, cops in Riverside County have just cost the taxpayers of their town $136,000. The money was paid to Chen-Chen Hwang, 67, and her husband, Jiun-Tsong Wu, 75, to settle a federal civil rights lawsuit alleging that their two homes were broken into by armed agents of the state and ransacked as officers looked for non-existent marijuana plants.

According to Alex Coolman, the attorney who filed the suit on behalf of the elderly couple, police were monitoring power bills of town residents and used the low amount of the couple’s bill as reason to believe they were growing marijuana.

“This was a very strange and frightening incident,” Hwang said in a release from Coolman’s office. “We did nothing to deserve this, and it made us feel unsafe in our own homes.”

The raid unfolded on August 5, 2021 and caused thousands in damage to the couple’s home.

Apparently police in Riverside County monitor power consumption and when they see low power usage, they automatically assume that people are stealing power to grow marijuana.

“The deputies believed the defendants were stealing power to grow marijuana because their power consumption was low, and they said as much,” Coolman told the Press-Enterprise.

But the couple was not growing marijuana and their power consumption was low because they used solar power and were “thrifty,” according to Coolman.

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Biden Admin Is Placing Vending Machines Filled With Drug Supplies in Rural Kentucky

The Biden administration is set to spend $3.6 million to deploy vending machines filled with drug supplies in rural Kentucky—an effort the Biden administration claims will reduce stigma for drug users.

The project from the National Institutes of Health was launched in August and will study the effectiveness of “harm reduction kiosks” in rural Appalachia that contain “injection equipment, naloxone, fentanyl test strips, hygiene kits, condoms, and other supplies.” The vending machines allow drug users to obtain items such as syringes without interacting with a health professional, in hopes of eliminating the “stigma” that comes with visiting an in-person harm reduction facility, according to the health agency.

The White House referenced the project in an August 31 press release on its actions taken “to address addiction and the overdose epidemic.” The administration has adopted a wide range of harm reduction policies, which aim to make illicit drug use safer rather than eliminate it.

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