Tag: the war on (some) drugs

Biden’s Pardon Of Son’s Drug-Related Crimes Draws Calls From Advocates To Free Marijuana Prisoners

President Joe Biden’s pardon of his son, Hunter, for drug-related and other crimes is drawing cries from criminal justice and marijuana policy reformers, who call the action hypocritical and say the president should do more to grant clemency to cannabis prisoners before his term expires next month.

“In pardoning Hunter Biden, the president noted that despite believing in our justice system, sometimes the outcome of that process is not fair or just,” said Sarah Gersten, executive director and general counsel for Last Prisoner Project (LPP), a nonprofit that focuses on drug policy reform. “That is certainly the case for the nearly 3,000 cannabis prisoners who remain incarcerated federally for activity that has been widely legalized.”

Biden over the weekend pardoned his son, who had been convicted on felony gun and tax charges earlier this year. Three of those convictions were related to lying on a federal form about drug use when buying a gun in 2018, a time when he was using crack cocaine.

In a statement, the president said his pardon reflected the belief that his son was “being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted,” noting that “people are almost never brought to trial on felony charges solely for how they filled out a gun form.”

That’s a claim that even some Republicans have echoed. Following the convictions, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) said Hunter Biden “might deserve to be in jail for something, but purchasing a gun is not it.”

“There are millions of marijuana users who own guns in this country, and none of them should be in jail for purchasing or possessing a firearm against current laws,” the congressman said.

Then-Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), a supporter of cannabis reform, said at the time that the “Hunter Biden gun conviction is kinda dumb.”

Nevertheless, advocates point out that thousands of people are still behind bars for cannabis-related offenses.

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Legal Plunder: Indiana Police Prey On Packages Transiting Huge FedEx Hub

From a federal government operating far beyond the bounds of the Constitution to law enforcement agencies routinely entering private property without warrants, tyranny takes many forms in the United States. However, few are as shocking to the sensibilities as civil asset forfeiture, the controversial practice that empowers police to seize money, cars, trucks, houses or anything else they merely accuse of having a link to criminal activity — regardless of whether the property owner is charged with a crime.

Civil asset forfeiture is an affront to anyone who’s sincerely committed to the American justice system’s cornerstone presumption of innocence. With law enforcement typically keeping some or all of the assets that are seized, the practice has rightly been called “policing for profit.”

I’ve previously examined the raw tyranny of civil asset forfeiture, spotlighting the story of a Mississippi man who took $42,300 in cash to Houston with the intent of buying a second semi truck for his fledgling trucking business, only to have it seized — or, in legal jargon, “forfeited” — by Harris County police, who pulled him over for allegedly following the vehicle in front of him too closely.

Now I’m compelled to share a new example of this legalized theft — the most brazenly unjust and opportunistic one I’ve encountered yet: In an ongoing, multi-million-dollar racket in Indianapolis, police are routinely seizing cash they find in FedEx packages that happen to be routed through that company’s second-largest hub.

Like bears wading into a river teeming with salmon, state and local Indiana police officers routinely stride up to the conveyer belts at FedEx’s sprawling Indianapolis facility, where tens of thousands of packages flow by every hour, pouncing when they see a package with traits that meet their absurdly broad definition of “suspicious.”

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Nebraska Judge Dismisses Legal Challenges To Voter-Approved Medical Marijuana Measures

A Lancaster County District Court judge has dismissed major legal challenges against Nebraska’s two medical cannabis petitions, although the ruling is likely to be appealed.

District Judge Susan Strong, in a 57-page order Tuesday afternoon, said the “case was about numbers.” However, the lawsuit brought by John Kuehn, a former Republican state senator and former State Board of Health member, and aided by Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen (R) and the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office fell “well short” of invalidating enough petition signatures secured for ballot access by this summer, Strong concluded.

The Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana campaign had two measures on the ballot, one to legalize medical cannabis and the other to regulate it. The campaign needed 86,499 valid signatures on each petition.

When Evnen certified the measures for the November ballot, he said they both exceeded that number by almost 3,500.

Strong ruled Tuesday that the “presumption of validity” was lost for 711 signatures on the legalization petition and 826 on the regulatory petition.

“In a record of this size, it is likely, perhaps inevitable, that the Court has made some mathematical errors,” Strong wrote. “It is also possible that the Court missed a few petitions that should lose their presumption of validity under this Court’s reasoning.”

Strong cautioned that the judgment wasn’t based on the inclusion or exclusion of a few petitions and that, either way, Evnen and Kuehn “would still fall short” of challenged signatures.

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Trump Announces 25% Tariff on All Products From Mexico and Canada Until Illegal Alien Invasion is Stopped, Will Impose Additional Tariff on China Over Fentanyl

President Trump on Monday evening announced a 25% tariff on all products from Mexico and Canada until the illegal alien invasion is stopped.

More than 15 million illegal aliens – mostly military-age males – poured over the border since Joe Biden was installed in January 2021.

Biden’s “border czar” Kamala Harris did absolutely nothing to stop the invasion of illegals so President Trump is ready to stop the invasion on day one of his second term.

Trump said that Mexico and Canada have all the power to stop the illegal alien invasion and the tariff will remain in place until the flow of Fentanyl and illegals stops.

“As everyone is aware, thousands of people are pouring through Mexico and Canada, bringing Crime and Drugs at levels never seen before. Right now a Caravan coming from Mexico, composed of thousands of people, seems to be unstoppable in its quest to come through our currently Open Border. On January 20th, as one of my many first Executive Orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States, and its ridiculous Open Borders. This Tariff will remain in effect until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country! Both Mexico and Canada have the absolute right and power to easily solve this long simmering problem. We hereby demand that they use this power, and until such time that they do, it is time for them to pay a very big price!” Trump said on Truth Social on Monday evening.

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New York’s Legal Marijuana Market Set To Pass $1 Billion In Sales By End Of 2024

New York’s legal marijuana market is expected to hit a major milestone in the next month as retailers pass $1 billion in products sold since stores opened two years ago.

As of last week, the total sales figure stood at $863.9 million—up from $500 million in August, according to data from the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM). The state is set to surpass the billion-dollar sales mark by the end of December, officials predict.

“These numbers clearly indicate that New York is open for business,” John Kagia, OCM’s policy director, told the New York Post, which first reported the impending $1 billion milestone. “There’s strong momentum behind the market right now.”

After a slow rollout in its first year marked by lawsuits and other delays, legal marijuana sales in New York have picked up significantly in the past several months. Regulators say that’s the result of more licensed businesses opening as well as what they describe as a successful crackdown on unlicensed shops.

This spring, for example, officials in New York City launched Operation Padlock, an enforcement initiative meant to shutter illegal storefronts. Since then, licensed shops that were open before the operation began have since seen sales climb 105 percent, according to an OCM survey.

A spokesperson for Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) told the Post that enforcement actions statewide shut down more than 1,000 illegal dispensaries.

“Her policies have helped transform the industry, increase revenues for local businesses and spur reinvestments in the communities most harmed by historical wrongs—all while building the most equitable cannabis market in the nation,” the spokesperson said.

Hochul argued in June that there’s a direct correlation between the stepped-up enforcement and “dramatically” increased legal sales.

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Trump’s FDA Pick Thinks Marijuana Is A ‘Gateway Drug’ That Causes Heart And Mental Health Problems

President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to run the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is a medical marijuana skeptic, promoting claims that cannabis use is linked to cardiovascular issues and mental health problems for youth. He has also suggested that marijuana is a gateway drug.

Marty Makary, a surgeon and medical commentator, has been selected to serve as FDA commissioner in the incoming Trump administration—a critical role as far as federal cannabis policy is concerned.

While the Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the president-elect’s choice for secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that oversees FDA supports ending marijuana prohibition and legalizing certain psychedelics for therapeutic purposes, Makary has been critical of cannabis use.

In September, he said that “people think marijuana today is the marijuana of hippies and that it’s entirely safe—but marijuana today is roughly 20 times more potent.”

“Even though it may have lower health complications in adults, that may not be true for adolescents where their mind is still developing,” he said on the mindbodygreen podcast. “The drug may have a different impact on young, healthy teenagers.”

“Some studies have found that among teenagers who use marijuana the risk of a psychosis diagnosis later in life goes way up—as many as 25 percent of people who consume it,” Makary said in the comments, which were first flagged by Cultivated Media, adding that he’s “not making a statement about the legalization or non-legalization,” but “to suggest that it is entirely safe is not consistent with the real scientific literature.”

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New York City’s Push to Ban Mail at Rikers Was Based on Drug Test Kits With an 85 Percent Error Rate

In 2022, former New York City Department of Corrections Commissioner Louis Molina testified before the city council about the flood of fentanyl coming into Rikers Island, the city’s infamous jail complex.

“How does fentanyl get into our jails?” he asked. “The short answer is that most of it enters in letters and packages laced with fentanyl, literally soaked in the drug, and mailed to people in custody.”

To illustrate the problem, Molina had a powerful prop: A child’s drawing of a reindeer that had been mailed to a Rikers Island inmate and tested positive for fentanyl. It was because of letters like this, Molina explained, that his department was proposing ending delivery of physical letters to jail inmates and instead sending them scanned and digitized copies.

There was only one problem: The field test used on that reindeer drawing wasn’t reliable, and a drug lab would later invalidate the results. Rudolph was clean.

In fact, a report released Wednesday by the New York City Department of Investigation (DOI) found that, when it sent 71 pieces of mail that tested presumptive positive for fentanyl to a drug lab for verification, 85 percent of the items came back negative, including the reindeer drawing.

The DOI concluded that “field tests are not reliable, particularly with respect to the identification of fentanyl in items such as books, clothing, greeting cards and other materials sent through the mail.”

The basis for the DOC’s proposed policy ending physical mail delivery to inmates was a falsehood, and not a particularly good one. The problems with these drug field tests are well known: They’ve resulted in hundreds of documented cases of wrongful arrests around the country, and several state prison systems, including New York’s, have suspended their use.

The test kits use instant color reactions to indicate the presence of certain compounds found in illegal drugs, but those same compounds are also found in dozens of known licit substances. Over the years, police officers have arrested and jailed innocent people after drug field kits returned presumptive positive results on bird poop, donut glaze, cotton candy, and sand from inside a stress ball. 

A study published earlier this year by the Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice at the University of Pennsylvania estimated that these tests may result in up to 30,000 wrongful arrests a year.

The DOI says reliance on these field tests led officials to incorrectly focus on mail instead of other, more obvious, vectors for contraband.

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FDA Approves Long-Awaited Clinical Trial Of Smoked Marijuana To Treat PTSD In Veterans

After years of delays, researchers are set to move forward on a landmark clinical trial meant to evaluate the efficacy of smoked medical marijuana to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in military veterans. The study is being funded with tax revenue from legal cannabis sales in Michigan.

The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, or MAPS, announced this week that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted approval for Phase 2 of the research, what MAPS described in a press release as “a randomized, placebo-controlled study of 320 Veterans suffering from moderate to severe PTSD who have previously used cannabis.”

The group said the study “is designed to investigate the inhalation of high THC dried cannabis flower, versus placebo cannabis, with the daily dose being self-titrated by participants.” It’s meant to reflect consumption patterns already happening across the country and study “the ‘real-world’ use of inhaled cannabis to understand its potential benefits and risks in treating PTSD.”

The project is years in the making, MAPS said, noting that it encountered numerous issues in clearing the research with FDA that only recently were resolved.

“After 3 years of negotiations with the FDA, this decision opens the door to future research into cannabis as a medical treatment, offering hope to millions,” the organization said.

“These data are critical to inform patients, medical providers, and adult-use consumers when considering cannabis in treatment plans for the management of PTSD, pain, and other serious health conditions,” the group’s press release said, “yet regulatory obstacles have historically made it difficult or impossible to conduct meaningful research on the safety and effectiveness of cannabis products typically consumed in regulated markets.”

MAPS said that over the years, it responded to five partial clinical hold letters from FDA that halted the study’s progress.

“On August 23, 2024, MAPS responded to the FDA’s fifth clinical hold letter by submitting a Formal Dispute Resolution Request (FDRR) to resolve the continued scientific and regulatory disagreement with the Division on four key issues,” according to the organization: “1) the proposed THC dose of the cannabis flower product, 2) smoking as a delivery method, 3) vaping as a delivery method, and 4) the enrollment of cannabis naïve participants.”

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Beer Lobby Wants Restrictions and Higher Taxes on Intoxicating Hemp Products

A trade group representing the American brewing industry released proposals on how Congress should regulate its competitors. Unsurprisingly, they recommend a heavy hand.

The Beer Institute is a trade organization that “represents the beer industry before Congress, state legislatures and public forums across the country…as the recognized and authoritative source of information on aspects of the industry.” Last week, it released a list of “guiding principles” calling for restrictions on intoxicating CBD products.

“The Beer Institute supports efforts underway by lawmakers to close an unintended federal loophole that is enabling the proliferation of unregulated intoxicating hemp products across the country, including those containing synthetically derived THC,” the statement said. “Intoxicating hemp and cannabis products are fundamentally different than beer and the taxation of them by government entities should reflect these stark differences just as governments at all levels in the United States have consistently reaffirmed the different tax treatment between beer, wine and hard liquor.”

While marijuana remains illegal at the federal level, Congress inserted a provision into the 2018 farm bill legalizing hemp by defining it as part of the cannabis plant containing “not more than 0.3 percent” delta-9 THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. Soon thereafter, chemists began to manufacture intoxicating products with CBD derived from hemp that contained delta-8, a milder form of THC not mentioned in the farm bill.

The industry for intoxicating hemp-derived products exploded, and state laws have struggled to catch up. “State regulations governing hemp products vary widely and are unevenly enforced, creating a patchwork of rules that can change dramatically from one state to the next,” according to a policy brief by Geoffrey Lawrence and Michelle Minton of the Reason Foundation, the nonprofit that publishes this magazine. There are currently no federal laws that specifically address these products, including their legality—they are simply assumed to be legal based on the phrasing of the farm bill, and Congress has struggled to pass an updated version for more than a year.

In its guidelines, the Beer Institute takes no position on marijuana’s legality, merely allowing that “the legalization of consumable cannabis products is for American voters, state legislatures and Congress to decide.” But if and when Congress does get around to addressing intoxicating hemp products, the group recommends it pull no punches.

“If legalized, the Beer Institute supports the establishment of a federal excise tax rate on intoxicating hemp and cannabis, with the tax rate set higher than the highest rate for any beverage alcohol product,” the guidelines stipulate. “Regulators at the federal, state, and local levels should prohibit co-location of the sale of alcohol beverages in the same retail venues as intoxicating hemp and cannabis products, if legalized, and further, to avoid consumer confusion, intoxicating hemp and cannabis products, if legalized, should only be sold in dispensaries.”

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DMSO has been proven to protect and heal the heart, lungs, liver, kidneys and prostate, and treat infertility

The therapeutic actions of DMSO, or dimethyl sulphoxide, make it well-suited to treat challenging conditions throughout the body, including many internal organs, such as the heart, liver, lungs, pancreas, kidneys and others.

DMSO has been proven to treat various diseases and conditions, including heart attacks, liver cirrhosis, gallstones, ARDS, lung damage from inhaling smoke, pulmonary fibrosis, pancreatitis, diabetes, nephritis, kidney stones, polycystic kidney disease, cystitis, epididymitis, genital pain, prostatitis, urethral syndrome, enlarged prostates, tubal infertility, endometrial inflammation and fibrosis.

In the article ‘How DMSO Protects and Heals the Internal Organs‘, A Midwestern Doctor (“AMD”) reviewed DMSO treatment protocols for conditions of our internal organs and provided general DMSO information for those looking to use it for their own health. 

The following is a summary of AMD’s article on protecting and healing our internal organs.  We encourage our readers to want to know more to refer to AMD’s article as in the summarising of it, details will get lost in translation. 

In a summary of another article in AMD’s DSMO series we previously published on strokes and neurological damage, we attached a PDF copy of AMD’s article because it is easier to search for specific terms in a PDF file.  We have done the same with this article, see the PDF below.

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