A slew of reports finds a fresh reason for the chronic inability of American companies to fill skilled jobs: not a lack of skills, and hence a training-and-education crisis, but a surfeit of drug abuse, per the NYT’s Nelson Schwartz. Simply put, prime-working age Americans without a college diploma are often too drugged-out to get the best jobs. Opioids remain at high levels, but the surge in drug use is now heroin and the powerful contaminant fentanyl.
The reports suggest a circularity to the crisis in America’s rust and manufacturing belts: the loss of jobs and wage stagnation has led to widespread disaffection, alienation and drug abuse; and drug abuse has led to joblessness, hopelessness and disaffection . . .
What was evident, Kolko told Axios: A “clear, steady upward trend in illness/disability as reason for not working among prime-age adults. And even more striking, the level and trend are very similar for men and women, even though most of the attention on this issue is going to men.” (Read more from “Many Americans Are Too Drugged-Out to Work” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/drugs-1732332_960_720.jpg684960Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2017-07-31 20:17:472017-07-31 20:17:47Many Americans Are Too Drugged-Out to Work
In an effort to deter people from using synthetic marijuana, officials in New Zealand have released a video depicting the deadly effects of the drug.
The 33-second video, put out Friday by the Counties Manukau Police, illustrates “how human beings turn into zombies,” according to the New York Post.
The video shows footage from an incident in the New Zealand city of Auckland several months ago in which the police said “a male was violently ill and could barely stand after smoking synthetic cannabis.”
The potentially deadly drug has killed seven people in Auckland this month, prompting officials to issue a public warning about the effects of synthetic cannabis, which is illegal.
According to Chief Coroner Deborah Marshall, it is believed that each of the seven used synthetic marijuana recently before dying. Synthetic marijuana was found in several of the bodies.
“I’ve also been advised by St. John that there have been a significant number of non-fatal cases where people have been hospitalized after using the drug, which is known to cause potentially fatal seizures,” Marshall said.
Tony Smith, medical director at St. John, a New Zealand medical organization, said that on consecutive days last week, ambulance officers responded to at least 20 cannabis-related incidents.
“If we don’t do something about this, further people are going to die,” Detective Inspector Gary Lendrum said at a press conference Friday.
“It is a dangerous, illegal substance and we will arrest those who are selling this harmful drug and place them before the courts,” he added.
Lendrum said that his officers are coming across “people unable to walk, vomiting, they’re lying in their own vomit in the street, they’re taking off their clothes, it’s having a major effect on the chemicals in their brain.”
“We have grave concerns as users don’t know what poisonous chemicals they are potentially putting into their bodies when they’re smoking this drug.”
Devonte Pierce, 17, died after doing a “spot” of synthetic cannabis earlier in July, according to his best friend, 18-year-old Trey Patterson of West Auckland. Patterson said the drug is easier to buy than normal marijuana and can be purchased on the streets relatively easily.
“It makes me heartbroken and angry, I used to smoke that stuff,” Patterson said. “Knowing he died of it, I want to stop everybody selling it and stop it getting on the street.”
Dr. Paul Quigley, an emergency medicine specialist at Wellington Hospital, said that one drag of synthetic cannabis could have the equivalent effect of smoking 15 marijuana cigarettes.
“These drugs are insidious. Let the message be that the consequences of these drugs can be incredibly tragic,” Police Minister Paula Bennett said in a statement. (For more from the author of “After Seven Deaths Reported, New Zealand Officials Warn Public of Dangers of Synthetic Marijuana” please click HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/cannabis-sativa-plant.jpg12751920Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2017-07-24 18:44:342017-07-24 18:44:34After Seven Deaths Reported, New Zealand Officials Warn Public of Dangers of Synthetic Marijuana
Foster children in Missouri have been dangerously over-medicated with antipsychotic drugs — intended to treat conditions like bipolar disorder and schizophrenia — to manage behavioral disorders like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, according to a new civil rights lawsuit, which instead effectively puts them in “a chemical straightjacket.”
“The sedative properties of the drugs are employed to sedate and control the difficult behaviors of children,” says attorney Bill Grimm of the National Center for Youth Law, which — together with the Saint Louis University School of Law Legal Clinic and the legal advocacy group Children’s Rights — brought the lawsuit June 12.
“Whenever a state takes a child into custody, there are certain obligation that arise to that child from the state,” such as the government’s duty to protect children’s health and safety, the attorney asserts.
Missouri’s Children’s Division, “has failed to meet its critical obligations and presently subjects [foster children represented] to physical and psychological harm and the unreasonable risk of such harm in violation of their federal constitutional and statutory rights,” the class-action suit contends.
Grimm laments the issue compounding due to flimsy recordkeeping, adding, according to Reason, “The caregivers don’t know in some instances what the medications are, what conditions they’re supposed to address for the child, what benefits they are supposed to provide to the child … They are operating in the dark.”
Over-medicating could induce children into being pliable and compliant, but the effects of providing youth with medicine intended to treat serious conditions — for behaviors not deemed as grave — can have deleterious effects on their health.
Foster children arriving in custodial care for the first time have been documented bringing prescriptions in paper bags or wrapped in tissue paper, according to the suit, minus crucial information on dosages and side effects — leaving foster parents in the dark about how to properly medicate children.
Reason elaborates, “One child was hospitalized for six days after she received the wrong dose of several psychotropic medications. Another was prescribed seven different psychotropic drugs at once, including three antipsychotics; as a result, the suit says, he developed tremors and required institutionalization.”
Missouri at least theoretically attempted to bring the problem of mis- and over-prescribing psychotropic medications to foster kids under control. Beginning in 2013, a “second opinion” program — in which a board-certified child psychologist commenced review of ten different children’s prescriptions to determine popular use — effectively ceased three years in, when “obtaining complete records from prescribers and health care providers was a difficult task and the review did not render sufficient or meaningful data.”
A study by the Government Accountability Office in 2012 found nearly one-fifth of foster children, 18 percent, were prescribed psychotropic medications — with those in group homes or residential treatment receiving those drugs at higher rates than their counterparts in individual homes or formal kin care situations — a figure which elucidated the urgency to determine efficacy.
Multiple states then enacted controls to stem the free flow of potentially dangerous medications to foster youth, Reason continues, “Washington established a requirement that any prescription of psychotropic drugs should receive a second opinion from a child psychiatrist. Florida requires informed consent from the kids’ legal guardians before the drugs can be administered. Texas has implemented a training program for child welfare workers and foster parents on alternatives to medication.”
Last year, according to the court filing, Missouri’s Department of Social Services acknowledged “many foster care children are prescribed multiple psychotropic medications without clear evidence of benefit and with inadequate safety data. The use of multiple medications (psychotropic or otherwise) creates the potential for serious drug interactions.”
Parties to the lawsuit allege foster children have been deprived of civil rights through the prescription of psychotropic drugs as a method of behavioral control — rather than for psychiatric and psychological needs.
Due to lack of oversight and mismanagement, foster children continue to face unnecessary and harmful effects of powerful medications — often meant for treating conditions for which many foster children have not been properly diagnosed.
Plaintiffs seek an overhaul of the current poorly-managed system, including improvements to oversight, sufficient maintenance and tracking of children’s medical records, revamped second opinion procedures, and — most imperatively for health and safety — a halt in prescriptions of heavy psychotropics for behavior control.
Medicating children into oblivion because Missouri or any other state finds a program unmanageable eviscerates their human rights and — considering protection of children comprises the fundamental purpose — makes a mockery of the foster program.
If the State remains unprepared to care for children taken from birth parents and placed in foster care, the premise of removal for safety is farcical at best.
However, prescribing weighty and unnecessary medications to foster kids for off-label use certainly accomplishes one goal — indefensibly astronomical profits flow unabated into the pharmaceutical industry’s apparently bottomless pockets.
(For more from the author of “Lawsuit Exposes State in Taking Kids From Parents and Heavily Drugging Them With Psychotropics” please click HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/sad-child-portrait.jpg407615Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2017-06-27 01:22:112017-06-27 01:23:31Lawsuit Exposes State in Taking Kids From Parents and Heavily Drugging Them With Psychotropics
A trial is currently underway in Illinois as a widow seeks to hold pharmaceutical manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline accountable for improper labeling and minimizing a potentially serious side effect of a well-known antidepressant.
Paroxetine is a widely prescribed antidepressant and anti-anxiety drug under the class of drugs known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Paroxetine is most commonly known as the brand name of Paxil, manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).
Since 2012, Wendy Dolin has been engaged in a legal battle against GSK following the suicide of her husband, Stewart Dolin. Wendy says that in the summer of 2010, Stewart was prescribed a generic version of Paxil for anxiety issues related to work. According to Wendy, Stewart Dolin complained of becoming increasingly anxious and restless and was unable to sleep while taking the drug. On July 15, 2010, less than one week after beginning this medication, Stewart committed suicide by walking in front of a train. . .
The lawsuit alleges that GSK whitewashed the suicide risks of Paxil in its data given to the FDA. The complaint explains that in 1989, GSK”s “Integrated Summary of Safety Information,” required to gain approval from the FDA, included a presentation identifying the number of suicide and suicide attempts during clinical trials. The suit alleges that GSK’s summary “skewed the statistical analysis of the data presented and obscured the true risk” by including suicide attempts “of placebo patients that had taken place in the placebo run-in (or wash-out) phase” before the clinical trials began. “Run-in” or “wash-out” refers to a time period of removing any other drugs in a trial participant’s system; any “adverse events” that take place during those periods are not appropriate or generally accepted for inclusion in calculations during clinical trials, the suit claims. . .
The trial against GSK is in progress and is expected to last a few weeks. Bob Fiddaman, a blogger and author who has written extensively about his own experiences with paroxetine, has been covering the developments of the trial. Fiddaman wrote that a “startling revelation” was unveiled on March 22nd: “Attorneys representing widow Wendy Dolin showed the ratio of Paxil-induced suicidality in adults is a staggering 8.9. It is not 6.7, as previously claimed and reported by Glaxo. The 6.7 figure is astoundingly high in itself, but the 8.9 ratio is flabbergasting! Plaintiff witness, Dr. David Ross, said this figure is ‘astounding.’ What you should remember here is that GSK’s 1989 drug application for Paxil said the suicidality odds ratio was 2.6.” (For more from the author of “Trial Against Multi-Billion Dollar Psychotropic Drug Giant Reveals Almost 900% Suicide Increase With Antidepressant Use” please click HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/Prozac_pills-1.jpg19442592Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2017-03-27 20:55:132017-04-02 03:22:27Trial Against Multi-Billion Dollar Psychotropic Drug Giant Reveals Almost 900% Suicide Increase With Antidepressant Use
A majority of teens abusing opiate based painkillers began their addictions through legally prescribed medication from a doctor, according to a new study in the journal Pediatrics.
Researchers gathered data from 1976 through 2015 and found a correlation between painkiller abuse and previous prescriptions. Roughly eight percent of teens are currently abusing opioid medication, according to the researchers from the University of Michigan. The majority of those abusing the pills were found to have previously been prescribed opioids by a doctor, reports Live Science.
Hospitals are experiencing steep increases in the number of teens and children admitted for opioid poisoning and experts blame over-prescribed pain medications. The number of prescription pills saturating the U.S. market quadrupled since 2000, sparking the opioid epidemic and predisposing young individuals to severe addiction. Hospitalizations for opioid poisoning are up 176 percent among people ages 15 to 19 years old.
“Health professionals who prescribe opioid medications to adolescents can play an important role in reducing prescription opioid misuse,” Sean McCabe, study author and research professor at the University of Michigan, told Live Science. “We consider any rate of non-medical use of prescription opioids alarming, based on the known adverse consequences associated with this behavior.”
The majority of new heroin addicts begin with a dependence on prescription painkillers, before transitioning after building high tolerances that make the pills too expensive. Heroin use among U.S. teens more than doubled over the past 10 years. Officials with the Drug Enforcement Administration say four out of five heroin addicts started with painkillers. (Read more from “Teens Abusing Opioids Are Getting Their Painkillers Legally” HERE)
When a bank is found guilty of doing business in countries where they’re not supposed to be, and when the same bank is found guilty of helping drug cartels launder money, shouldn’t the public have a right to know about the bank’s efforts at correcting such actions? That’s the question being raised with respect to HSBC’s 1.92 billion dollar settlement with the U.S. and oral arguments are taking place in federal court this week on whether or not the compliance report should stay sealed.
The bank lost in court in 2012 when it was discovered they had business dealings in, “Cuba, Iran, Libya, Sudan and Burma, racking up violations of the Bank Secrecy Act, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Trading With the Enemy Act,” according to CNS. The bank’s executives, who knew full well what the bank was doing, were given deferred prosecution agreements, so long as the bank, going forward, would reform its business practices and comply with the law.
“HSBC admitted to violating U.S. sanctions laws and failing to stop Mexican and Colombian cartels from laundering hundreds of millions of dollars in drug proceeds through the bank,” but now is fighting to keep the contents of the compliance report a secret. And the bank is getting help from what should be considered the most unlikely of sources, the Department of Justice. Yes. That’s right. The same justice department which prosecuted HSBC and won, is now seeking to keep the progress, or lack thereof, in complying with the law, a secret.
One lone ranger, a mortgage holder with HSBC, is fighting to make the compliance report public. Hubert Dean Moore believes HSBC’s progress with complying with the law should be a matter of public record and is arguing his case this week in Manhattan, NY. The DOJ’s lawyer, Jenny Ellickson, argued for the government on Wednesday saying Gleeson shouldn’t’ be involved in the proceedings. She argued that releasing the report would make it harder for the federal government to enforce the deferred prosecution agreement adding that doing so would mean that HSBC would be less likely to cooperate going forward. “The importance of the monitor’s confidential sources is critical here,” she said according to the New York Post.
Yahoo News writes,
Circuit Judge Gerard Lynch, one of the judges on the panel, expressed skepticism of that argument, saying that sources were most likely to suffer retaliation from HSBC, which received the monitor’s reports anyway. Paul Clement, representing HSBC, said it would not be fair to the bank to have the report released, when the original agreement called for reports to be confidential. David Schulz, who represents Moore pro bono, said it was prosecutors, not Gleeson, who had overreached. When Lynch pressed him to explain what gave Gleeson the power to order the report’s release, Schulz cited his ‘inherent supervisory powers’ over the case.
For the moment the report will remain confidential, as judges continue to hear arguments both for and against releasing the compliance report’s findings. The federal government’s own lawyers are helping to keep it that way, and the bank is more than happy to keep their movements in complying or not complying with the settlement, a continued secret.
Discovering HSBC engaged in illegal business dealings is almost as shocking as the slap on the wrist settlement it was given. According to one estimate, the 1.92 billion dollar figure amounts to five days worth of business earnings by the bank. Even more surprising may be the fact that not one person has spent any time in jail or prison over dealing directly with drug cartels and rogue governments leading many to question what would happen to an individual caught doing the same things. Are banks who are “too big to fail” also too big to prosecute?
Moore’s attorney, David Schulz said, “The appellants in this case try to argue that this is judicial overreach into a realm that’s exclusively left to prosecutors, and the fact is, just the opposite is true…What is going on here is not judicial overreach. It’s prosecutorial, executive branch overreach.”
Schulz wrote in his legal brief to the court, “Disclosing the report serves the important interest of informing the public about any substantive reforms actually being made by HSBC, and is needed for meaningful analysis of the propriety of the government’s decision to enter into the DPA (Deferred Prosecution Agreement),” with HSBC.
In a nutshell, HSBC was found guilty of some pretty nasty business dealings. The good old boy Wall Street network and its cozy relationship with the federal government likely resulted in a drop in the bucket type of settlement with the government, and deferred prosecution (some might say immunity) was given to its executives. And now, precisely how HSBC has shaped up its dealings is being kept from the American people, by our own Justice Department. And we call this ‘justice’ in the land of the free. (For more from the author of “Megabank Caught Laundering for Terrorists and Drug Cartels and the Feds Are Fighting to Keep It Secret” please click HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/money.jpg10801920Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2017-03-04 00:12:442017-03-04 21:54:54Megabank Caught Laundering for Terrorists and Drug Cartels and the Feds Are Fighting to Keep It Secret
Authorities say 31 pounds of cocaine that was accidentally discovered stashed in the nose of an American Airlines aircraft in Tulsa is worth around $434,000.
Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Justin Green says the plane arrived in Miami from Bogota, Colombia, on Sunday. It was flagged for maintenance and sent later that day to Tulsa International Airport, where American Airlines has a maintenance base.
While working on the nose gear, an airline employee noticed what looked like a clump of insulation or a brick-like object and called the sheriff’s office to inspect the suspicious find. (Read more from “Cocaine Worth $434K Found in Nose Gear of American Airlines Plane” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/American.Airlines.Boeing.737-800.YUL_.2009.jpg8001200Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2017-01-31 15:45:012017-01-31 21:46:25Cocaine Worth $434K Found in Nose Gear of American Airlines Plane
This 2016 presidential race was a hard-fought campaign. President-elect Donald J. Trump campaigned on a bold and conservative platform of making our cities safe again. After decades of neglect, urban communities across America are in desperate need of repair.
With so many partisan political issues, there remain a select few issues that unite us rather than divide us. America is facing a tragic epidemic of drug-overdose deaths, and both Republicans and Democrats agree that it is time for action.
More than 21 million Americans above the age of 12 have been diagnosed with a substance abuse problem. In 2014, we saw watched 47,000 Americans die from drug overdoses, mostly due to abuse of heroin and other opiates. Ohio had the second-highest number of overdose-related deaths in the nation, with 79 people dying from opioid overdoses every day.
These tragic statistics do not include the many examples of people who hurt others while under the influence of drugs, the spread of diseases from shared needles, or the endless violence that is inherent to the criminal drug trade.
In rural, suburban and urban neighborhoods across Ohio, too many people suffering from chronic pain become addicted to prescribed drugs and turn to black market alternatives like heroin when obtaining new prescriptions becomes too difficult or costly. Heroin is cheap and available, despite the more than $500 the U.S. spends every second on the war on drugs. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has confirmed that Mexico is the primary supplier of heroin in the United States. These cartel traffickers are taking advantage of the Obama Administration’s failure to secure our Southern border.
And, if that wasn’t bad enough, outrageous federal loopholes currently allow manufacturers from China to shipping fentanyl, a deadly opioid which is stronger and cheaper than heroin, into our communities. Dealing with the opioid epidemic requires a diverse array of treatment strategies and options that must involve our criminal justice, law enforcement and public health systems. A multifaceted approach is required to address this issue, and it is imperative that we are making the right investments at every turn.
The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, sponsored by Ohio Senator Rob Portman recently passed with a bi-partisan vote of 92-2. The goal of this law is to shift focus away from fighting the drug war through mass incarceration, and built up America’s treatment capacity. It included, among other things, greater funding for law enforcement and treatment, and increased the patient cap on doctors prescribing buprenorphine, a bridge treatment which reduces withdrawal symptoms and cravings that too often drive addicts back to drug dealers.
Suboxone is Helpful, But Far From Ideal
In Ohio, a drug known as Suboxone is the state’s preferred buprenorphine treatment paid for by Medicaid. But it is far from an ideal medication. Suboxone comes in film strip form and is available in limited dosages, meaning physicians often have to prescribe higher doses than a patient actual needs. As a result, we are seeing patients to sell their excess strips on the black market for more than twice their value. Suboxone strips are also commonly smuggled into prisons and resold to inmates, compounding drug addiction problems in our prisons.
In Columbus, Suboxone smuggling into the Franklin County Jail became such a problem that the facility had to ban all outside deliveries of underwear and socks, which were easily used to conceal film strips. And in Southwest Ohio, officials at the Warren and Lebanon Correctional Institutions report that they are seeing an influx in Suboxone smuggling and abuse in those facilities. Law enforcement in Ohio is already overwhelmed trying to fight the drug epidemic in our communities, and now a purported solution to the opiate epidemic is exacerbating the problem.
Notably, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine and 35 other attorneys general have sued the makers of Suboxone. The bipartisan suit argues that an aggressive pricing scheme and monopolistic practices have delayed alternatives to keep prices artificially high. Not only have their actions been a burden on taxpayers, they have prevented other drug manufacturers from offering patients and Medicaid programs more efficient options with tailored dosage levels and larger barriers to diversion into prisons and black markets.
To be clear, ensuring access to MATs is important. When used properly, these treatments save lives. But in Ohio, almost all of Medicaid’s spending on these treatments is paying for Suboxone, when there are other effective options available. Limited taxpayer resources shouldn’t be paying for medications that are ultimately costing the state in other ways.
By adopting a multi-faceted approach to addressing the opioid epidemic — expanding access to treatments, stopping well-intentioned Medicaid policies that are making the drug epidemic worse, and stopping the trafficking of illegal drugs at the border and in our communities — Ohio and America can use these evidence-based policy changes to keep more people alive and stop the opioid crisis. (For more from the author of “Stopping America’s Drug Epidemic” please click HERE)
Shipping company FedEx is up against the U.S. government in court Monday for allegedly trafficking all sorts of prescription drugs to addicts through online pharmacies.
The Tennessee-based shipping firm is accused of knowingly doling out prescription drugs to users without prescriptions since 2000. FedEx shipped Valium and Xanax to sketchy public addresses like parking lots and abandoned homes.
A San Francisco grand jury indicted FedEx for its alleged drug trafficking back in July 2014. The delivery services company is said to have teamed up with Superior Drugs and Chhabra Smoley Organization, two online pharmacies, to sell drugs to desperate people.
At the time of the indictment, U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag said, “The advent of Internet pharmacies allowed the cheap and easy distribution of massive amounts of illegal prescription drugs to every corner of the United States, while allowing perpetrators to conceal their identities through the anonymity the Internet provides.” Haag went on to state, “This indictment highlights the importance of holding corporations that knowingly enable illegal activity responsible for their role in aiding criminal behavior.”
The judge presiding over the trial is Senior District Judge Charles R. Breyer of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Breyer is the brother of Associate Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.
Breyer has made his doubts clear with the case and questioned why prosecutors have not gone after the U.S. Postal Service for the same kind of illegally drug deliveries. The “essential ingredient,” to the prosecution’s case, or a smoking gun proving FedEx knew about its shady customers, seems to be lacking according Breyer.
If found guilty of money laundering and conspiracy, FedEx could be fined up to $1.6 billion. FedEx claims that the government should let them know if they are dealing with illegal retailers. It has been decided by both the prosecution and the defense that the trial will be decided by the judge’s ruling rather than a jury.
FedEx has stated since the indictment that the firm will gladly stop dealing with illegal businesses if the DEA would just give them a list of illegitimate recipients. Despite the firm’s willingness to stop any inadvertent illegal activity, the DEA has not told FedEx which of its clients is involved in illegal activities.
Top FedEx competitor UPS settled charges in a case much like this one back in 2013 to the tune of $40 million. Some of the lawyers representing FedEx, gave their legal counsel to retired baseball player Barry Bonds regarding steroids. (For more from the author of “FedEx Is in Court for Allegedly Being the World’s Most Efficient Drug Dealer” please click HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/Prozac_pills.jpg19442592Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-06-14 02:03:222016-06-14 02:03:22FedEx Is in Court for Allegedly Being the World’s Most Efficient Drug Dealer
By Penny Starr. An official with the Obama administration said on Tuesday that the “streets are flooded with heroin” in the United States and much of it “is coming from Mexico.”
Mary Lou Leary, deputy director of State, Local and Tribal Affairs for the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), spoke at the National League of Cities Conference in Washington, D.C. During a confence-workshop on heroin addiction and prevention, CNSNews.com asked Leary about the need to address border security and drug cartels to combat the opioid crisis.
“I think there’s another issue I’m sure that the chief really appreciates and that is, ‘Where is this heroin coming from?’” Leary said, noting fellow panelist, Pittsburgh Chief of Police Cameron McLay, who spoke about law enforcement’s role battling heroin.
Leary continued, “Our streets are flooded with heroin. It’s not domestically grown or produced. Much of this is coming from Mexico.”
“And so there’s another aspect to this, which is work that we do with ONDCP with our other federal partners, and that is working with federal law enforcement agencies that have jurisdiction beyond the U.S. borders, and also working with the government of Mexico,” Leary said. (Read more from “Obama Official: US Streets Flooded With Heroin From Mexico” HERE)
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Senate Advances Bill to Combat Prescription Opioid, Heroin Epidemic
By Tom Howell Jr. A Senate bill to address the prescription opioid and heroin epidemic advanced with bipartisan support Monday, clearing the way for final passage this week.
The chamber voted 86-3 to close off debate on the bill, which received wide support even after a funding dispute threatened to derail the effort.
The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act would help states monitor prescribing practices, expand the number of sites where parents can dispose of unneeded painkillers and distribute more naloxone — a treatment that can reverse the effects of an overdose — to law enforcement agencies and first responders, among other reforms.
It is particularly important to Sen. Rob Portman, an Ohio Republican who faces re-election this year and wrote the legislation with Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, Rhode Island Democrat.
Democrats fumed last week, however, when Republicans rejected their bid to attach $600 million in emergency funding to the bill. (Read more from “Senate Advances Bill to Combat Prescription Opioid, Heroin Epidemic” HERE)
00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-03-10 00:55:012016-04-11 10:51:46Obama Official: US Streets Flooded With Heroin From Mexico
