Tag: the war on (some) drugs

Legalizing Medical Marijuana Leads To ‘Significant Reductions’ In Opioid Prescriptions, Another Study Shows

Medical marijuana legalization is “associated with significant reductions in opioid prescribing,” yet another new study has found.

Researchers at the University of Georgia and University of Colorado analyzed prescription claims for 15 to 20 million insured Americans annually from 2007-2020, comparing the prevalence of opioid prescriptions in states with and without medical cannabis programs in place.

“We find that [medical cannabis laws, or MCLs] are associated with significant reductions in opioid prescribing,” the study, published in the American Journal of Health Economics, found. “Among treated states, the rate of patients receiving opioid prescriptions fell by 16% on average, masking substantial heterogeneity across states, with individual state declines reaching 22%.”

“We also find significant decreases in the intensive margin, both in the daily supply and prescriptions per patient,” the researchers said. “Among subpopulations, decreases were relatively uniform across sex, age, and race/ethnicity, though cancer patients, and non-cancer Black patients experienced a larger reduction (over 20%).”

The study also identified increases in the frequency of use of NSAID pain medications, “suggesting that MCLs are associated with substitution away from opioids toward safer alternatives.”

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Mexican and Colombian Cartels Sending Members to Ukraine To Learn To Operate Attack Drones, Changing Drug War Tactics Forever

It’s a clear and present danger to the US.

The ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine is generating bad repercussions for Europe and the outside world, such as an energy crisis, military escalations, and other problematic developments.

To the US, there’s a new, dangerous reality that may be about to bring a whole new level of danger, as the Latin American cartels are sending their operatives to Ukraine to be trained in drone warfare.

These criminals are attending the Kill House Academy, a ‘Top Gun school for the drone-warfare era’, according to the British media, a place that trains some of Kiev regime’s best UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) pilots.

It’s actually easy for a cartel member to blend in with the thousands of new Latin American recruits.

The Telegraph reported:

“Among the more promising recent recruits [at the Kill House Academy] was a pilot with the callsign Aguila 7 (Eagle 7) – a former special forces soldier from Mexico, enlisted with Ukraine’s International Legion. But while he excelled at the course, it seemed he had foes other than Russian soldiers in his sights. Eagle 7 was in fact a foot soldier in Mexico’s feared Los Zetas drug cartel and had been sent there to learn drone skills for use in drug wars back home, according to reports.”

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US Bombs Another Boat Off the Coast of Venezuela, Trump Claims Six ‘Narcoterrorists’ Killed

The US military has bombed another boat off the coast of Venezuela, according to a statement from President Trump, who claimed, without providing evidence, that the vessel was carrying drugs.

The president also claimed that the strike killed “six male narcoterrorists,” bringing the total number of people extrajudicially executed by the US military since the bombing campaign started on September 2 to 27. The Trump administration has not presented any evidence to Congress to back up its allegations that the boats it has been bombing were carrying drugs or that the victims were “narcoterrorists,” a term used to justify the killings.

“Under my Standing Authorities as Commander-in-Chief, this morning, the Secretary of War, ordered a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO) conducting narcotrafficking in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility — just off the Coast of Venezuela,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday.

“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was trafficking narcotics, was associated with illicit narcoterrorist networks, and was transiting along a known DTO route. The strike was conducted in International Waters, and six male narcoterrorists aboard the vessel were killed in the strike. No U.S. Forces were harmed. Thank you for your attention to this matter!!!!!!” he added.

The president’s post included a video that appeared to show a boat that wasn’t moving getting struck with a missile, then exploding.

The latest US strike on a boat in the Caribbean comes amid reports that the Trump administration is considering bombing Venezuela as part of an effort to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. The administration is using drug trafficking allegations as a pretext to push for regime change in the country and could potentially take military action directly against Maduro.

In response to the pressure, Maduro and his top officials have denied the drug trafficking allegations by pointing to data that shows the majority of the cocaine that is produced in Colombia doesn’t go through Venezuela. President Trump has framed the military campaign in the region as a response to overdose deaths in the US due to fentanyl, but fentanyl isn’t produced in Venezuela, and it does not go through the country on its way to the US.

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Why we need to take Trump’s Drug War very seriously

Donald Trump has long been a fan of using the U.S. military to wage a more vigorous war against drug cartels in Latin America. He also shows signs of using that justification as a pretext to oust regimes considered hostile to other U.S. interests.

The most recent incident in the administration’s escalating antidrug campaign took place on October 3 when “Secretary of War” Mike Hegseth announced that U.S. naval forces had sunk yet another small boat off of the coast of Venezuela. It was one of four destroyed vessels and a total of 21 people killed since late September. The administration claims they were all trying to ship illegal drugs to the United States.

Colombian president Gustavo Petro said publicly Wednesday that one of the vessels was carrying Columbian citizens and that they were killed. Two administration officials confirmed to the New York Times that Colombians were on one of the boats blown out of the water. The White House called Petro’s claims “baseless” and “reprehensible.”

However, Trump’s enthusiasm for the military option in the war on drugs long predates this episode. Mike Esper, who served as secretary of defense during the final stages of Trump’s first term, relayed in his memoirs that the president had seriously explored the option of conducting missile strikes against suspected traffickers in Mexico. Esper recalled that his boss asked him at least twice in 2020 about the feasibility of launching missiles into Mexico to “destroy the drug labs” and wipe out the cartels.

The president considered such a drastic step to be justified because Mexican leaders were “not in charge of their own country.”

Esper’s account is not the only evidence of Trump’s enthusiasm for the military option. After a 2019 incident in which cartel gunmen massacred a family of American Mormon ex-pats in northwest Mexico, Trump reacted with a tweet insisting that “this is the time for Mexico, with the help of the United States, to wage WAR (sic) on the drug cartels and wipe them off the face of the earth. We merely await a call from your great new president!” He added: “If Mexico needs or requests help in cleaning out these monsters, the United States stands ready, willing & able to get involved and do the job quickly and effectively.”

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As Ohio’s Intoxicating Hemp Product Ban Takes Effect, Business Owners Brace For Impact

Ohioans who sell intoxicating hemp products are worried what the 90-day ban that goes into effect on Tuesday will mean for their businesses and customers.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) recently announced a 90-day executive order that bans the sale of intoxicating hemp products that starts October 14.

Intoxicating hemp products are items that contain THC that are sold anywhere other than licensed marijuana dispensaries including gas stations, smoke shops and CBD stores, among others.

Todd Hicks opened his new CBD store in Columbus days before DeWine announced the ban.

“It’s been heartbreaking,” he said. “Honestly, it’s been totally heartbreaking. I don’t know which direction to go.”

Hicks said he will likely have to close his new shop and let go of his three employees.

“I can’t afford them,” he said. “Well, there’s nothing for them to do, right? They can’t sell the product. There’s no one going to be answering the door or coming to the door to actually buy the product. So I don’t need them.”

Children getting ahold of intoxicating hemp products is a parental issue, Hicks said.

“They’re digging it out of their parents’ purse or something like that,” he said. “It’s not a sale issue.”

Mark Fashian, president of hemp product wholesaler Midwest Analytical Solutions in Delaware, Ohio, said the ban will put him out of business. He works with more than 500 stores around Ohio that sell intoxicating hemp products.

“We typically will sell to smoke shops or gas stations or convenience stores or drive-thrus, and every one of those have a mechanism for carding anyone,” Fashian said. “There is definitely carding happening all over the place.”

He said those shops are worried about how the ban will impact them.

“They’re just worried,” Fashian said. “They don’t know what to do. They don’t know what to do with their products.”

Jim Higdon, co-founder of Cornbread Hemp in Kentucky, which sells its products in more than 300 Ohio retail stores, said the intoxicating hemp ban has caused lots of confusion.

“Our retailer and distributor partners are very unhappy,” he said. “It’s really frustrating to watch the Republican Party be an anti-business party… To see the governor and members of the legislature be anti-business on this front is very concerning when other states have been able to figure this out.”

Kim Bryant, a salesperson at Your CBD Store Marion, said the average age of their customer is 50 years old.

“They want gummies for pain and gummies for sleep,” she said. “People want that instead of opioids or prescription drugs… The older people, they have no desire to go to a medical marijuana or recreational marijuana facility.”

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Newsom Vetoes California Bill To Let Marijuana Businesses Deliver Products Directly To Patients

The governor of California has vetoed a bill that would have allowed certain marijuana microbusinesses to ship medical cannabis products directly to patients via common carriers like FedEx and UPS, stating that the proposal “would be burdensome and overly complex to administer.”

After advancing through the legislature last month, the measure from Assemblymember Patrick Ahrens (D) was rejected by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) on Saturday.

“This bill would authorize a limited number of cannabis microbusinesses to ship certain medicinal cannabis products directly to patients using a common carrier,” the governor said in a veto message.

An analysis of the legislation says supporters argue that “a small population of patients in California requires specific medicinal products that retailers do not stock, as only a handful of individuals seek them, and these products are perishable.”

“This bill is intended to create flexibility for medical patients and caregivers for whom it is a hardship to travel to purchase medicinal cannabis products. However, prior amendments narrowed the scope of the bill by prohibiting the shipment of medicinal cannabis goods to patients who live within 60 miles of a cannabis retailer or delivery option. It is unclear how many patients currently stand to benefit from this bill.”

The bill sponsor, Ahrens, said in the analysis that “the availability of medical cannabis products has declined significantly due to regulatory burdens, high taxation, and the prioritization of adult-use recreational products over medicinal formulations.”

“As a result, many patients—particularly those with intractable epilepsy, advanced cancers, multiple sclerosis, and neurodegenerative disorders—are struggling to obtain appropriate and effective medical cannabis products,” he said. “California’s vast geography further exacerbates this issue, as many seriously ill patients live in areas where specialized medical cannabis products are not available locally and these patients are not able to travel long distances to dispensaries that carry the products they need.”

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Study: Cannabidiol Alters Gene Expression Linked to Immune Response and Cell Death in Leukemia Cells

The study focused on K-562S cells, an imatinib-sensitive leukemia line, which were treated with CBD at an IC50 concentration of 17.69 μM for four and twelve hours. RNA sequencing revealed over 3,400 differentially expressed genes at both time points. Notably, CBD influenced oxidative stress pathways regulated by metallothionein genes (MT1, MT2, SLC30A2) and activated p53-dependent apoptotic markers such as TP53TG3, BBC3, CHAC1, DDIT4, NOXA1, and DAPK2.

Beyond apoptosis, CBD exposure was linked to altered immune signaling, including type I interferon activity, PI3K-Akt-mTOR regulation, and Toll-like receptor signaling—all central to leukemia progression. The compound also appeared to impact lipid metabolism and mitochondrial stability, underscoring its broad influence on cancer-related cellular processes.

The authors conclude that CBD induces sweeping transcriptional and signaling changes that could have therapeutic implications for blood cancers. While additional preclinical and clinical studies are needed, the research lays groundwork for exploring CBD as a potential precision therapy in hematological malignancies.

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DeSantis Admits Marijuana Legalization Is Popular With Florida Voters Even Though He Opposes It

The Republican governor of Florida is conceding that “more people probably agreed” with a marijuana legalization ballot initiative he helped defeat last year than sided with his prohibitionist viewpoint—but he argued that it was the “morally right” choice for him to intervene to prevent the sale of “dangerous stuff” in his state.

At an event hosted by the Pennsylvania Family Institute on Saturday, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) talked about his administration’s uphill work to dissuade voters from approving both the cannabis measure as well as a separate reproductive rights initiative during the November 2024. While both initiatives received majority support from voters, they failed to meet the state’s high 60 percent threshold required to enact constitutional amendments.

In the speech, DeSantis claimed that the marijuana proposal, Amendment 3, wouldn’t just have legalized cannabis but also made it a “constitutional right to possess and smoke it, including in public,” while giving one company in particular “a lot of benefits,” seemingly referring to the Smart and Safe Florida campaign’s largest financier Trulieve.

“Somehow you got people that are going to spend a lot of money to basically make us California through the back door with these initiatives and these amendments,” DeSantis said. “The marijuana people spent $150 million on this. The abortion people spent $130 million. So we had to contend with $280 million of spending on very misleading language—and, let’s just be honest, they were pushing issues in which probably more people agreed with them than agreed with me or agreed with us.”

“Marijuana was somewhat popular,” the governor said in comments first reported by Florida Politics. “I didn’t do it to be popular. I did it because it was the right thing to do. So we were having to deal with navigating all this.”

Despite raising money to finance ads opposing the cannabis measure, DeSantis said governors don’t officially “have a role in these amendments.” He faulted “special interest” parties and the state Supreme Court approval of the initiative language that he described as a “mistake.”

“I mean, most people that get elected in my positions like mine, all their advisors say, ‘stay away from this. There’s nothing for you to gain by getting involved in this. All you’re going to do is alienate supporters,’” he said. “And that may be true, but that also wouldn’t be the right thing to do. It wouldn’t be the morally right thing to do. So I was in a position. I had this platform as governor. I had a megaphone. There were things being proposed that would be harmful for my state.”

“In terms of the marijuana, I mean, you can’t function as a state if you smell marijuana everywhere—if these kids are doing it,” DeSantis said. “And this isn’t the marijuana they had in Woodstock. This is really, really dangerous stuff, so it would have been terrible for Florida.”

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Study: Recreational Marijuana Legalization Linked to Fewer Opioid Overdose Deaths

Using event studies and a two-way fixed-effects, difference-in-differences approach modeled on the work of Callaway and Sant’Anna, the study found a consistent negative relationship between legal marijuana markets and opioid mortality. According to the data, recreational legalization is associated with a reduction of about 3.5 opioid overdose deaths per 100,000 people.

The study was conducted by researchers from West Virginia University, Angelo State University, New Mexico State University, and the American Institute for Economic Research

The researchers also discovered that states that adopted legalization earlier tended to see stronger declines in overdose deaths compared to later-adopting states. The findings held up through numerous robustness checks, suggesting a stable association rather than a temporary or coincidental effect.

These results add to a growing body of research suggesting that marijuana access may play a role in reducing reliance on opioids, potentially informing future public health and drug policy decisions. The authors note that their work highlights the importance of considering marijuana laws as part of a broader strategy for addressing the opioid epidemic.

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New Michigan Marijuana Tax Could Shutter Businesses And Actually Reduce The State’s Cannabis Revenue, Industry Says

As state budget negotiations drew to a close last week, members of the Democratic-led Senate and the Republican-led House were able to reach a deal to bring in additional funding for road repairs through a plan that drew much debate: levying additional taxes on marijuana.

Hundreds of individuals from the cannabis industry came out in opposition to the proposal last week, gathering on the Capitol lawn and lining the halls of the building as lawmakers worked to finalize the state budget.

While the policy won support from both sides of the aisle, its detractors were similarly bipartisan as some lawmakers warned that an additional 24 percent tax on wholesale marijuana could carry a host of issues, from smothering small businesses to expanding the black market, and even opening the state up to a potential constitutional challenge.

Although Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) put her pen to the new tax law on Tuesday, the future of the law has already been challenged, with the Michigan Cannabis Industry Association filing a complaint the same day, arguing the law improperly alters the law initiated by voters when they agreed to legalize marijuana in 2018.

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