Tag: the war on (some) drugs

Oregon Police Improperly Used Aerial Camera To Bust Marijuana Grow, State Appeals Court Says

Oregon’s Court of Appeals chided the state’s police force on Wednesday for using warrantless “technologically-enhanced surveillance” to bust an illegal marijuana operation, sending the court’s clearest message yet about how law enforcement may use the increasingly popular, but controversial technology.

The case, captured in an eight-page ruling from a three-judge panel, centers on a June 2021 multi-county investigation involving the Polk County Sheriff’s Office and Oregon State Police. The defendant, 54-year-old Sengdara Nakhiengchahn, was not the target of the investigation, but Oregon State Police Sergeant Tyler Bechtel, a leading officer on the case, noticed “what looked to be a massive agricultural operation” that “was likely a marijuana grow,” while flying in a surveillance plane nearly 5,000 feet in the air, according to the ruling.

The defendant was charged in August 2021 with two felonies for possession and manufacturing of marijuana. She pled guilty in a conditional deal that allowed her to get the possession charge dropped by serving two years of probation, court records show. But she maintained her right to appeal the charges, arguing the evidence gathered from aerial surveillance constitutes a warrantless and unlawful search and should not have been admissible.

The appeals court agreed with Nakhiengchahn, returning the case back to the trial court where she can withdraw her guilty plea. Bechtel did not respond to an email seeking comment.

“While the trial court didn’t agree with us, we’re grateful the appellate court did,” said Luke Miller, Nakhiengchahn’s trial attorney, in a statement. “It’s important for Oregonians to maintain the right to privacy, and be free from government intrusion absent legal justification for such intrusion.”

Jenny Hansson, a spokeswoman for the Oregon Department of Justice, said officials were still reviewing the decision and could decide to appeal the court’s ruling in the coming weeks.

Jolene Kelly, a spokeswoman for the Oregon State Police, declined to comment on the ruling or its findings, but said in an email the agency “remains committed to following applicable laws and court directives.”

The ruling was lauded by civil rights advocates and privacy watchdogs who were fresh off of a fight in the Oregon Legislature over Senate Bill 238, which would have extended unprecedented power to police to use unmanned aerial surveillance devices like drones when responding to 911 calls, executing a warrant or responding to “exigent circumstances.” The bill ultimately died in the House Rules Committee without a vote.

The ACLU of Oregon opposed the bill, warning in a news release that it was unnecessary and “undermines basic rights including privacy and free speech.”

Kelly Simon, legal director of the ACLU of Oregon, said Wednesday’s ruling marks an “important decision to ensure that as police technology advances, we are maintaining the integrity of our warrant requirements under the Oregon Constitution.”

“We’re beginning to see in the surveillance tech industry all sorts of high-powered enhancements,” she told the Capital Chronicle. “It is important that our courts maintain the integrity of our warrant requirements by making sure that if law enforcement wants to use those enhancements, they go to court first, they present the evidence they have against a person and they get permission to do that.”

In the ruling, Justice Scott A. Shorr wrote that state police saw “materially different information” through a camera attached to their aircraft than what could’ve been seen with a naked eye, striking down a decision by Polk County Circuit Judge Rafael A. Caso to allow evidence tied to the camera footage to be admitted at trial.

“We have never upheld as constitutionally permissible an officer’s technologically enhanced surveillance to see what was otherwise indiscernible. We decline to do so here,” Shorr said. “In this case, the officer used technology to obtain information from inside defendant’s private structures that was undetectable from his vantage point in public airspace.”

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Psilocybin treatment extends cellular lifespan and improves survival of aged mice

Psilocybin, the naturally occurring psychedelic compound produced by hallucinogenic mushrooms, has received attention due to considerable clinical evidence for its therapeutic potential to treat various psychiatric and neurodegenerative indications. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms remain enigmatic, and few studies have explored its systemic impacts. We provide the first experimental evidence that psilocin (the active metabolite of psilocybin) treatment extends cellular lifespan and psilocybin treatment promotes increased longevity in aged mice, suggesting that psilocybin may be a potent geroprotective agent.

Introduction
To date, >150 clinical studies with psilocybin have been completed or are ongoing for various clinical indications, including psychiatric (anxiety, depression, addiction), neurodegenerative (Alzheimer’s), pain, and more1,2,3. Human studies have demonstrated that a single-dose of psilocybin can improve debilitating physical and psychological symptoms—with durable effects (up to ~5 years)4,5. Despite considerable clinical evidence supporting the therapeutic benefits of psilocybin, the molecular mechanisms responsible for these impacts remain enigmatic. Studies with psilocybin have predominantly focused on neurological impacts and/or behavioral outcomes; few studies have evaluated alternative or systemic mechanisms which may also contribute to its beneficial effects. The “psilocybin-telomere hypothesis”6 postulates that psilocybin interventions may quantifiably impact telomere length, which offers a potential explanation for its efficacy across a wide range of clinical indications. This hypothesis is based on a large corpus of studies linking mental health biological aging markers6. Accumulating evidence indicate that clinical depression accelerates aging and telomere shortening7,8,9. Positive mental psychological states are associated with longer telomeres, whereas negative psychological conditions (e.g. chronic stress, anxiety, and depression) are associated with telomere attrition7,10,11,12,13. Given the clinical evidence supporting the efficacy of psilocybin for these conditions, it is plausible that psilocybin may impact telomere length. However, no prior studies have experimentally investigated the direct impact of psilocybin on biological aging.

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Top police chiefs say smell of cannabis is a ‘sign of crime’ that can make even them feel ‘unsafe’… and frontline officers should ‘do something about it’

Britain’s top police chiefs today urge their officers to crack down on cannabis.

The country’s longest-serving chief constable admits the smell of the drug is a ‘sign of crime and disorder’ which makes even him ‘feel unsafe’.

Sir Andy Marsh, who leads the College of Policing, said frontline officers should ‘do something about it’.

He is backed by Greater Manchester Police Chief Sir Stephen Watson and Merseyside Chief Constable Serena Kennedy.

In a joint intervention following recent calls for decriminalisation, they tell future police leaders they must listen to their communities and be prepared to take a tougher line.

Launching a new leadership programme for policing, they acknowledged forces were in a ‘foot race for public confidence’ and officers can no longer ignore what has traditionally been perceived as the ‘little stuff’. 

Sir Andy, who is the officer in charge of police standards, said: ‘In my community, my kids are too frightened to use the bus stop because it always stinks of cannabis.’

He told the Mail ‘policing is about creating an environment that people feel safe in’ and said: ‘I’m speaking from personal experience and people I talk to, if I walk through a town, city, or even village centre and I smell cannabis, it does actually have an impact on how safe I feel.

‘One definition of what police should be doing is – [if] something [is] happening which does not feel right, someone ought to do something about it.’

He added: ‘For me, the smell of cannabis around communities, it feels like a sign of crime and disorder.’

The call for action comes after figures on Sunday revealed that three in four people caught with the drug last year were let off with an informal warning or community resolution.

In the year to September 2024, 68,513 people were found in possession of cannabis, but only 17,000 were charged, according to data released under Freedom of Information laws.

Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan has called for the decriminalisation of possession when it involves small amounts of the drug. 

But recently judges have warned that cannabis is ‘not a benign drug’ after a series of horrific cases, including a samurai sword rampage in Hainault, east London, where a schoolboy was killed and four others seriously injured by a drug-crazed Brazilian who had a £100-a-day habit.

The head of Merseyside Police said of cannabis: ‘The public should absolutely expect us to take positive action around those things and hold us to account over it. 

‘We have to work with our communities, it’s no longer good enough to inflict priorities on them, we have to hear their voices and make them part of the problem-solving.’

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The Real Opioid Crisis Isn’t Prescriptions—It’s Prohibition

Purdue Pharma recently reached a $7.4 billion settlement with all 50 states and the District of Columbia over its alleged role in fueling the opioid crisis through aggressive marketing of OxyContin. Regardless of the case’s merits, this landmark deal highlights what can happen when an expedient narrative replaces data-driven public policy.

Nowhere is the gap between narrative and data more clear than in West Virginia, the hardest-hit state in the country. While a wave of books and Netflix docudramas has promoted an oversimplified and often misleading storyline, new data from the West Virginia Department of Health cast a glaring spotlight on the human cost of “prescription opioid prohibition”—a policy that has failed in every tangible way. 

Overdose deaths in the state have doubled as illicit fentanyl and other street drugs have replaced the much safer prescription pills. Meanwhile, policymakers and regulators have demonized pain medications, causing real harm to patients. Many patients can no longer access legal prescriptions and instead turn to the streets, where they have an increased risk of death from taking adulterated or counterfeit pills. Policymakers addressed the wrong problem with the wrong tools—and made the crisis worse.

West Virginia Department of Health data illustrate this deadly shift. From 2015 to 2023, as prescription opioid access declined, overdose deaths in West Virginia soared—even though overdoses from prescription medications declined slightly—because users and abusers turned to riskier street drugs.

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Marijuana Users In Iowa Are Engaged And Active Citizens, Survey Shows—Smashing ‘Lazy Stoner’ Stereotypes

For many years, cannabis users were characterized as a cult of stoners: young, often unemployed, party animals. That sector still exists in some form, however, many of today’s cannabis consumers are “middle American” adults, employed, own a home, vote regularly, pay their taxes and are involved in their communities.

That is the general profile of adult cannabis consumers across the country and in Des Moines, according to a recent survey by Consumer Research Around Cannabis/The Media Audit.

The Media Audit, the parent company of Consumer Research Around Cannabis, is an international research company serving 80+ local markets in the U.S. and Canada for more than 20 years. It started gathering data about cannabis use and attitudes in 2016.

Although the sale of adult recreational cannabis is illegal in Iowa, the survey found 16.2 percent of all adults age 18+ in Des Moines said they used or bought cannabis during the past month, or the statistical equivalent of approximately 140,000 adults.

The smallest percentage in the following table, monthly usage in Des Moines, is still substantial—and suggests a pent-up market. Unleashing the recreational cannabis market in Des Moines and all of Iowa would likely generate jobs and significant taxes for the state—money now escaping across the borders.

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US Reassesses Relations With Colombia As Crime And Cocaine Surge Under Leftist Regime 

The Trump administration recalled its top diplomat in Colombia, John McNamara, for “urgent consultations” on Thursday in response to what it described as “baseless and reprehensible” statements from senior Colombian officials. While the State Department did not specify which remarks prompted the move, it indicated that further actions would follow. In response, Colombian President Gustavo Petro recalled his country’s ambassador to the U.S., citing the need to reassess the bilateral relationship.

Tensions between the two nations have been rising, exacerbated by the recent shooting of opposition Senator Miguel Uribe, which U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio blamed on inflammatory rhetoric from Colombia’s far-left government.

Earlier in the year, President Petro refused to accept deportation flights from the U.S., prompting President Trump to threaten tariffs and sanctions; however, that dispute was ultimately defused. Colombian Foreign Minister Laura Sarabia resigned amid the diplomatic fallout. 

The deterioration in bilateral relations comes as Colombia’s security situation has deteriorated under President Petro’s leftist regime. Once a close ally of the U.S., Colombia has descended into crime and chaos, with coca cultivation surging. 

Coca cultivation rose 10% last year to 253,000 hectares — enough to produce more than 2,600 tons of the drug. The National Liberation Army, or ELN, capitalized on the boom, seizing full control of the Catatumbo region near the Venezuelan border, one of the world’s most prolific drug corridors. -Bloomberg

Petro’s “total peace” policy—centered on negotiating with drug cartels—has deeply frustrated the Trump administration, which has spent several months seeking to dismantle cartel command-and-control networks across the Americas to stop the flow of illicit drugs into the U.S. 

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Marijuana Use Is Tied To ‘Significantly Higher Sexual Desire And Arousal,’ New Study Shows

Marijuana use is associated with increased sexual desire and arousal, as well as lower levels of sexual distress, new research shows.

The report, a doctoral thesis out of Queens University in Canada, includes two separate studies: an online survey of 1,547 cannabis users as well as a 28-day diary analysis of 115 individuals—87 of whom were marijuana users, while 28 were infrequent users or nonusers.

“More frequent cannabis use was linked with greater daily sexual desire,” wrote author Kayla M. Mooney. “On sexual activity days, participants reported significantly higher sexual desire and arousal on days they used cannabis compared to non-use days.”

“Across all study days (regardless of sexual activity), participants reported significantly higher sexual desire and lower sexual distress on days they used cannabis compared to non-use days,” the study continues, noting the findings could help inform both both sex therapy and general psychotherapy.

As for the online survey, “Approximately half of the sample reported sexual motivations for cannabis use, most commonly to enhance aspects of the sexual response,” according to the abstract.

The new report—which itself calls the relationship between cannabis and sexual functioning “complicated”—adds to a growing body of research about the subject.

For example, late last year a study found that cannabis-infused vaginal suppositories seemed to reduce sexual pain in women after treatment for gynecological cancer. Combining the suppositories with online exercises in “mindful compassion” offered patients even more substantial benefits.

“The outcomes favoured the [combined] group,” that research said “in which sexual function, levels of sexual arousal, lubrication, and orgasm increased, and the levels of sexual pain decreased.”

Earlier research also found that administration of a broad-spectrum, high-CBD vaginal suppository was associated with “significantly reduced frequency and severity of menstrual-related symptoms” as well as the symptoms’ negative impacts on daily life.

As for sexual fulfillment, a separate study last year found that while alcohol might be effective to “facilitate” sex, marijuana is better at enhancing sexual sensitivity and satisfaction.

While alcohol increased some elements of sexual attraction—including making people feel more attractive, more extroverted and more desirous—people who used marijuana “have more sensitivity and they are more sexually satisfied than when they consume alcohol,” authors wrote.

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Czech Republic Bill To Legalize Marijuana Home Cultivation And Allow Psilocybin For Medical Use Heads To President’s Desk

Lawmakers in the Czech Republic have passed a bill to reform the nation’s drug laws by legalizing simple possession and home cultivation of marijuana and allowing the use of psilocybin for medical purposes.

One month after the Chamber of Deputies approved the legislation, the Senate gave it final approval on Thursday. It now heads to the desk of President Petr Pavel to be signed into law.

The drug policy reforms are part of a package of amendments to the Czechia’s criminal code that supporters say will reduce spending on low-priority offenses, lower the number of people behind bars and reduce recidivism.

“The amendment will help criminal law better distinguish between truly socially harmful behavior and cases that do not belong in criminal proceedings at all,” outgoing Justice Minister Pavel Blažek said last month, according to a translated report from broadcaster Česká Televize (CT).

With respect to cannabis, the proposal would legalize possession of up to 100 grams of marijuana at home or 25 grams in public. Cultivation of up to three plants would also be allowed, though four or five plants would be a misdemeanor and more than that would be a felony. Possession of more than 200 grams would also carry criminal penalties.

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Hawaii Governor Signs Medical Marijuana Expansion Bill, After Calling One Of Its Provisions ‘A Grave Violation Of Privacy,’

On the heels of signaling a possible veto of a bill meant to expand access to medical marijuana in Hawaii, Gov. Josh Green (D) instead signed the measure into law over the weekend, regardless of a provision he recently described as “a grave violation of privacy.”

HB 302 will make two main reforms around patient access. First, it allows a patient’s primary treating medical provider to recommend marijuana for any malady they see fit, regardless of whether it’s a specified qualifying condition in Hawaii. It also allows patients to receive medical cannabis recommendations through telehealth visits rather than having to establish an in-person relationship with a provider.

Before lawmakers sent the bill to Green, a conference committee revised the plan, inserting a provision to allow the state Department of Health to access medical marijuana patient records held by doctors for any reason whatsoever.

The revised bill authorizes the Department of Health to “inspect a qualifying patient’s medical records held by the physician, advanced practice registered nurse, or hospice provider who issued a written certification for the qualifying patient.” Providers who don’t comply with a department request for a patient’s records could see their ability to issue medical cannabis revoked.

Advocates initially supported HB 302 as a means to expand access to patients with conditions beyond those specified under state law. But many withdrew support following the conference committee’s changes.

An additional provision establishes a new Class C felony for unlicensed operation of a dispensary, adding another major charge on top of the state’s existing laws against illegal distribution of marijuana.

In early June, Green himself put the cannabis measure on a list of bills he intended to veto—an indication, though not a commitment, that he was leaning towards rejecting it.

“Although this bill’s authorization of medical cannabis certifications via telehealth expands access to medical cannabis,” his office wrote at the time, “provisions authorizing the inspection of patients’ medical records without warrant constitute a grave violation of privacy.”

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8 In 10 Marijuana Consumers Use It As A Substitute For Prescription Drugs, New Survey Finds

A whopping eight in 10 marijuana consumers say they use cannabis, at least in part, as an alternative to traditional prescription drugs, according to a new poll.

The survey from the cannabis telehealth platform NuggMD, which was shared exclusively with Marijuana Moment, asked cannabis consumers a simple question: “Do you use cannabis as a replacement for prescription medication?”

Of the 485 respondents, 79.6 percent affirmed that they did, in fact, use marijuana as a substitute to pharmaceuticals, compared to 20.4 percent who said they did not.

“Pharmaceutical interests know the substitution effect cannabis has on their products is real,” Andrew Graham, head of communications at NuggMD, told Marijuana Moment. “Federal prohibition locks in a lot of demand for their addictive and potentially fatal drugs by depriving millions of Americans of legal access to the plant, and I can’t name a single interest aligned with Big Pharma that’s stated support for ending it.”

“Our newest poll shows the substitution effect may well be a lot higher than the pharma industry thinks that it is,” he said. “It estimates that around 40 million Americans use cannabis to some degree as a replacement for prescription drugs. That’s costing Big Pharma billions annually in lost profits.”

“I genuinely want Big Pharma to see this data and decide to spend yet more resources fighting against the plant. Because the more noise they make against cannabis, the more popular our movement becomes. They are that unpopular,” Graham added.

Notably, a majority of respondents in the survey sample did not report having a state medical cannabis card, indicating that the substitution effect extends beyond the registered patient population.

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