War on Drugs

[Star]

Marijuana And Cancer: Scientists Find Cannabis Compound Stops Metastasis In Aggressive Cancers



Robin Wilkey
09/19/2012


A pair of scientists at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco has found that a compound derived from marijuana could stop metastasis in many kinds of aggressive cancer, potentially altering the fatality of the disease forever.

"It took us about 20 years of research to figure this out, but we are very excited," said Pierre Desprez, one of the scientists behind the discovery, to The Huffington Post. "We want to get started with trials as soon as possible."

The San Francisco Chronicle first reported on the finding, which has already undergone both laboratory and animal testing, and is awaiting permission for clinical trials in humans.

✄snip>

 

[SniperFire]

 

[waltky]

Aussie police make big cocaine haul...

Police seize 1,100kg in Australia's 'largest cocaine bust'
29 December 2016 - Fifteen men have been charged after police said they made the biggest cocaine bust in Australia's history.

The drugs, with an estimated street value of A$360m (£212m; $258m), were uncovered after a police investigation over more than two years. Police said they seized 500kg (1,100lb) of cocaine from a boat in Brooklyn, north of Sydney, on Christmas Day. It followed the confiscation of 600kg in drugs in Tahiti. Police believe they were destined for Australia. "The size of that seizure collectively makes it the largest cocaine seizure in Australian law enforcement history," Australian Federal Police acting assistant commissioner Chris Sheehan told reporters. "The criminal syndicate we have dismantled over the last few days was a robust, resilient and determined syndicate." The drugs are believed to have originated in South America.

Australian police seized 500kg (1,100lb) of cocaine on Christmas Day​

Local media reported one of the accused men was a former National Rugby League player. In early December, police and border officials began monitoring a vessel that was travelling between Sydney's popular fish markets and the central coast of New South Wales. On Christmas night, police said a small boat was launched from the vessel and later docked in Brooklyn. Authorities swooped on the boat and arrested three men. Another 12 men have been arrested over the past several days. The men, aged between 29 and 63, have been charged with conspiracy to import a commercial quantity of border-controlled drugs. If convicted, they face a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Mr Sheehan claimed the men were "well-connected" and part of a sophisticated crime group. "We've gone from the top to the bottom, the entire group has been taken out," he said. New South Wales Police assistant commissioner Mark Jenkins said officers spent thousands of hours on the operation. "This job started with a thread of information that was given to the New South Wales drugs squad over two-and-a-half years ago," he said. "I want to thank the community for that information."

Police seize 1,100kg in Australia's 'largest cocaine bust' - BBC News

See also:

Two Mexican Cities Hugging US Border Among the Country’s Most Dangerous
December 28, 2016 – Experts are blaming drug cartel violence and the increased use of guns by criminals for a surge in homicides in the Mexican cities of Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez on the U.S. border.

Tijuana sits opposite San Diego, while Ciudad Juarez hugs the border with El Paso. The Mexican cities each have more than one million inhabitants. The 2016 murder rate in Ciudad Juarez is the highest in four years, said Francisco Rivas, director of the citizens’ group Observatorio Nacional Ciudadano which monitors federal crime statistics. The homicide rate in Tijuana, Rivas said, is the highest seen in a decade. According to statistics released by the group, homicide investigations in the state of Chihuahua, where Ciudad Juarez is located, increased by 80.4 percent in October, compared to the average of the previous 12 months. They increased by 14.8 percent in Baja California, home to Tijuana.

Comparable claims have been made by the online publication Animal Politico. Citing federal and local crime statistics, it reported that there were 386 homicides in Ciudad Juarez from January to October of this year, the highest rate seen since 2012. The publication also said the homicide rate in Tijuana was the highest in a decade, with 671 homicides during the past 10 months – the highest of any city in the country. In its latest Mexico travel advisory, the State Department cited “an increase in homicide rates from January to July, 2016” in the state of Baja California. “While most of these homicides appeared to be targeted criminal organization assassinations, turf battles between criminal groups have resulted in violent crime in areas frequented by U.S. citizens,” the advisory said. It also recommended that Americans “exercise caution in all areas” of Ciudad Juarez.

The majority of homicides investigated nationally in Mexico, 1,195 out of 1,860, were committed with a firearm. Organized crime is “undoubtedly a factor” in the rising violence, Rivas said, but the high availability of guns has also made previously non-lethal crimes, like robbery, deadly for victims. The incidence of violence and killings in Mexico has soared since former President Felipe Calderon became the first to expand the use of federal troops to fight organized crime, a decade ago. Rivas said the strategy has not worked. He compared it to cold remedies that treat symptoms but do not cure the underlying illness. Rivas also blamed the proximity to the U.S. border for higher levels of violence, saying that organized crime groups vie for power in border areas where they can then control the activities of other criminal groups.

The government needs to combat the huge profits and resources used by organized crime networks to fund their operations, he said. Last February, a study published by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean found that proximity to the U.S. border was a “key factor” in understanding violence and its relation to organized crime in Mexico. The study also found a high correlation between the number of uninhabited homes and the homicide rate. In 2010, Ciudad Juarez had the highest percentage of uninhabited homes. The head of security in the State of Tijuana, Daniel de la Rosa Anaya, blamed the rising homicide rate there on recidivism among convicted criminals who after release from prison, rejoin criminal gangs. Individuals rising through the ranks of organized crime had set off a “wave of violence,” he was quoted as saying.

MORE

 

[yiostheoy]

There is no link or citation that I can find on this, but today's news reported that ER physicians in Colorado are seeing more patients with severe respiratory and allergy reactions who regularly use cannabis.

This may be a sign that cannabis is not meant to be consumed on a daily basis.

The featured patient in the news piece has had to give up all use of cannabis completely to get over the symptoms of overuse.

 

[yiostheoy]

Looks like there are pro's and con's to cannabis use then.

 

[owebo]

Marijuana And Cancer: Scientists Find Cannabis Compound Stops Metastasis In Aggressive Cancers



Robin Wilkey
09/19/2012


A pair of scientists at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco has found that a compound derived from marijuana could stop metastasis in many kinds of aggressive cancer, potentially altering the fatality of the disease forever.

"It took us about 20 years of research to figure this out, but we are very excited," said Pierre Desprez, one of the scientists behind the discovery, to The Huffington Post. "We want to get started with trials as soon as possible."

The San Francisco Chronicle first reported on the finding, which has already undergone both laboratory and animal testing, and is awaiting permission for clinical trials in humans.

✄snip>

What is your point?

 

[waltky]

Heroin burned, cartel member extradited to the U.S....

Six heroin labs destroyed in Afghanistan raid
Jan. 30, 2017 -- Afghanistan forces destroyed six heroin labs in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan, the Ministry of Interior announced Monday.

Afghan National Defense and Security Forces destroyed the labs during a special military operation late Saturday night in the village of Bando in the Nowzad district of southern Helmand province. The ministry said 2,403 pounds of morphine, 33,455 pounds of ammonium chloride and 528 gallons of liquid opium, which is used in making heroin, were destroyed.

Also, six armed militants were killed, the ministry said. "The Ministry of Interior is committed to the fight against narcotics and Afghan National Counter-narcotics Police are having major success in fighting against smugglers and narcotics, which will continue," the ministry said in a statement. Afghanistan's potential opium production in 2016 rose to 5,300 tons, a 43 percent increase compared with the previous year, according a report published in October by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

Afghanistan grows about 80 percent of the world's opium, which is used to produce highly addictive heroin, according to the report. "There are powerful drug warlords who are running these laboratories, and the truth is, our government is too weak to confront them," Laila Haidari, an Afghan activist known as "Mother" to hundreds of former drug addicts, told Al Jazeera. "Afghanistan is the safest place for terrorism and illegal drugs."

She said that rather than "destroying a few labs," authorities should change the mindset about drug use. "They are not honest, they lie about numbers and release reports like these to prove that they are doing their job, whereas, nothing is being done about drug addicts in Afghanistan," she said.

Six heroin labs destroyed in Afghanistan raid

See also:

La Familia Michoacana cartel member 'La Minsa' extradited to U.S.
Jan. 30, 2017 -- Arnoldo "La Minsa" Rueda-Medina, an accused member of the Sinaloa Cartel-allied La Familia Michoacana cartel, was extradited from Mexico to the United States.

Rueda-Medina, 47, is charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, distribution of methamphetamine and cocaine and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, the Justice Department's U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas said in a statement. "The indictment alleges that from approximately September 2008 to October 21, 2009 ... Rueda-Medina and 13 co-conspirators arranged for the acquisition of cocaine and methamphetamine from supply sources affiliated with the 'La Familia Michoacan' Mexican drug cartel, arranged to transport these multi-kilogram quantities of cocaine and methamphetamine from Michoacan, Mexico, and other locations to north Texas and elsewhere, and transported U.S. currency representing drug proceeds to Michoacan ... to pay for these cocaine and methamphetamine shipments," the Justice Department agency wrote.

Rueda-Medina, who was extradited on Friday and later made his first court appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge David L. Horan, is also accused, along with his co-conspirators, of using drug funds to rent homes in north Texas used to store drugs and drug funds used to expand their illicit business.

Rueda-Medina, who was arrested in 2009, faces a minimum 10-year sentence and a $4 million fine if convicted of drug conspiracy. If convicted of money laundering conspiracy, Rueda-Medina faces up to 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $500,000. "This case and others like it around the country demonstrate that, when we work together with our law enforcement partners both here and in Mexico, we can bring cartel leadership to justice," said U.S. Attorney John Parker in the statement.

La Familia Michoacana cartel member 'La Minsa' extradited to U.S.

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right - the Donald a law an' order President...

Trump on Drug War: 'We're Going to be Ruthless ... We Have No Choice'
February 10, 2017 | Speaking before a prominent group of police chiefs and sheriffs from across the nation, President Donald Trump said his administration will fight a "ruthless" war against illegal drugs and assist state and local officials in stopping gang members, "many of whom are not even legally in our country."

"I've been here two weeks," President Trump said of his administration before a gathering of the Major Cities Chiefs Association (MCCA) in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 8. "I've met a lot of law enforcement officials." "Yesterday, I brought them into the Oval Office," he said. "I asked a group, what impact do drugs have in terms of a percentage on crime? They said, 75 to 80 percent. That's pretty sad." "We're going to stop the drugs from pouring in," said the president. "We're going to stop those drugs from poisoning our youth, from poisoning our people. We're going to be ruthless in that fight. We have no choice."

As for the drug cartels that have operatives throughout the United States, President Trump said "we're going to take that fight to the drug cartels and work to liberate our communities from their terrible grip of violence. You have the power and knowledge to tell General [John] Kelly -- now Secretary Kelly -- who the illegal immigrant gang members are." "Now, you have that power because you know them, you're there, you're local," said Trump. "You know the illegals, you know them by their first name, you know them by their nicknames. You have that power. The federal government can never be that precise. But you're in the neighborhoods -- you know the bad ones, you know the good ones."

He continued, "I want you to turn in the bad ones. Call Secretary Kelly's representatives and we'll get them out of our country and bring them back where they came from, and we'll do it fast. You have to call up the federal government, Homeland Security, because so much of the problems -- you look at Chicago and you look at other places." "So many of the problems are caused by gang members, many of whom are not even legally in our country," said Trump. "And we will work with you on the frontlines to keep America safe from terrorism, which is what I began this with."

Trump on Drug War: 'We're Going to be Ruthless ... We Have No Choice'

See also:

Trump: 'Zero Tolerance Policy For Acts of Violence Against Law Enforcement'
February 10, 2017 -- As part of his plan to fight crime and violence in the United States, President Donald Trump stressed that the wall along the southern border "will be a big help," and he added that he is implmenting a "zero tolerance police for acts of violence against law enforcement."

"The wall is getting designed right now," said Trump in a Feb. 8 speech before sheriffs and police chiefs of the Major Cities Chiefs Association (MCCA) in Washington, D.C. "A lot of people say, oh, oh, Trump was only kidding with the wall. I wasn’t kidding." "No, we will have a wall," he said. "It will be a great wall, and it will do a lot of -- will be a big help. Just ask Israel about walls. Do walls work? Just ask Israel. They work -- if it’s properly done."

As for further protecting the people in law enforcment, Trump said, "You have asked for the resources, tools and support you need to get the job done. We will do whatever we can to help you meet those demands." "That includes a zero tolerance policy for acts of violence against law enforcement," he said. "We all see what happens. We all see what happens and what’s been happening to you. It’s not fair." "We must protect those who protect us," said the president. "The number of officers shot and killed in the line of duty last year increased by 56 percent from the year before."

He continued, "Last year, in Dallas, police officers were targeted for execution –- think of this. Who ever heard of this? They were targeted for execution. Twelve were shot and five were killed. These heroic officers died as they lived -– protecting the innocent, rushing into danger, risking their lives for people they did not even know, but for people that they were determined to save. Hats off to you people." "These slain officers are an eternal monument to all of the men and women who protect our streets and serve our public," said Trump. "We will not forget them, and we will not forget all of the others who made that final sacrifice in the line of duty. God has blessed our nation to put these heroes among us."

Trump: 'Zero Tolerance Policy For Acts of Violence Against Law Enforcement'

 

[waltky]

Dindu Nuffin gonna have to face the music now...

Tanzania approves extradition to US of alleged drug kingpin
Apr 12,`17 -- A Tanzanian court on Wednesday approved the extradition to the United States the alleged leader of a global drug trafficking ring who was arrested after a two-year manhunt.

The court in Dar es Salaam approved the Tanzanian government's plan to extradite Ali Khatib Haji Hassan, or "Shkuba," to face drug trafficking charges. He is accused of leading a drug trafficking ring based in East Africa but with operations in Asia, Europe and North America. He was arrested in 2014 in Tanzania, two years after more than 200 kilograms (440 pounds) of heroin was seized there and a manhunt for him began. The U.S. Treasury Department last year sanctioned Hassan and his organization, calling him "a major international drug kingpin who smuggles multi-ton shipments of heroin and cocaine."

Tanzanian Ali Khatib Haji Hassan alias "Shkuba" who is accused of being a drug trafficker arrives in court under prison warden escort in Dar es Salaam, Wednesday April 12, 2017. A Tanzania court has granted the U.S government extradition request for suspected drug kingpin Ali Khatib Haji Hassan and two other suspects to face drug trafficking charges​

The U.S. has accused Hassan of obtaining tons of heroin from sources in Pakistan and Iran and tons of cocaine from sources in South America. His organization has been accused of shipping the drugs to China, the U.S. and Europe since as early as 2006. "Hassan has frequently attempted to bribe African government officials to avoid arrest and prosecution for his drug trafficking activities," the Treasury Department said in announcing sanctions. The Tanzanian court on Wednesday also approved the extradition of Idd Mafuru and Emmanuel Adam to the U.S. on drug trafficking charges.

News from The Associated Press

 

[oreo]

Marijuana And Cancer: Scientists Find Cannabis Compound Stops Metastasis In Aggressive Cancers



Robin Wilkey
09/19/2012


A pair of scientists at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco has found that a compound derived from marijuana could stop metastasis in many kinds of aggressive cancer, potentially altering the fatality of the disease forever.

"It took us about 20 years of research to figure this out, but we are very excited," said Pierre Desprez, one of the scientists behind the discovery, to The Huffington Post. "We want to get started with trials as soon as possible."

The San Francisco Chronicle first reported on the finding, which has already undergone both laboratory and animal testing, and is awaiting permission for clinical trials in humans.

✄snip>

One of the reasons marijuana has never thoroughly been studied is because the Federal Government has classified it has a schedule 1 substance, right up with there with Meth, Cocaine & Heroin. It's ridiculous--

We know that Marijuana has a lot of medical benefits for people with chronic pain, crone's disease, those on chemotherapy, and many other chronic diseases. But it's the states that have legalized it, and those states with medical marijuana legislation that have really been doing the studies.

 

[EvilCat Breath]

Stories of miraculous cancer cures with marijuana continue with no one actually cured.

 

[oreo]

Stories of miraculous cancer cures with marijuana continue with no one actually cured.

That's my point it's never been studied by the Federal Government because it's classified a schedule 1 substance. It's the states that have legalised it, or those with medical marijuana legislation that have been doing the studies.

Right now the number one drug addiction and killer are prescription pain pills. Marijuana is used for chronic pain, and it's never sent anyone into an emergency room that's died from an overdose of it.

The number two lobbyist against medical marijuana in this country is BIG Pharma. For good reason. Something natural that could be grown in your back yard could wipe out half of your medicine cabinet.

 

[waltky]

Pot bust by British, Spanish police nabs 24 traffickers...

Spain, Britain arrest 24 over marijuana trafficking
May 21, 2017 -- Spanish and British police arrested 24 people in connection to a plot to traffic marijuana to Liverpool hidden within packs marble tiles.

When authorities in Spain opened what was meant to be marble tiles headed to Liverpool, they did not find what was advertised. "Bricks and marijuana instead of marble. Twenty-four detainees who hid the drug in trucks bound for Liverpool," Spain's National Police said in a statement.

Spain arrested 21 people while the Merseyside County Police in Britain arrested three others. Spain's police also said officers found five marijuana production centers housing 1,600 cannabis plants. Spanish police released a video of raids related to the arrests.

Spain, Britain arrest 24 over marijuana trafficking

 

[BlindBoo]

There's big money in that war on American citizens who choose to use non-government approved recreational substances.

Guess who pays for it.

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right - Sao Paulo runnin' alla crackheads outta town...

Brazil police clear new 'Crackland' in Sao Paulo
Mon, 12 Jun 2017 : Sao Paulo crack addicts and homeless people fled a similar operation nearby nearly a month ago.

The city's mayor, Joao Doria, said he did not want to see an "open-air shopping mall for drugs". He said he wanted to move the addicts on and provide them with medical services and housing. Critics say his policies are pushing the problem to other parts of the city. At the end of May, 500 armed police officers were deployed to clear the main streets in the area of Sao Paulo known as "Cracolandia" or "Crackland". Nearly 40 people were arrested during the operation for drug-trafficking and many of the addicts fled into neighbouring streets.

Police said they arrested two drug traffickers and removed all the shacks built by the drug users in Princess Isabel Square​

The biggest concentration went to Princess Isabel square around 300 metres (330 yds) from the main Crackland area. During the second operation on Sunday police brought in bulldozers to clear the shacks and tents set up by the addicts in the square. The mayor said: "We wont be turning back. The idea is not to move them elsewhere, we intend to provide the addicts with support and try to guarantee their survival." He has promised to restore and renovate the area providing social housing, schools, kindergartens and hospitals using private and public investments.

Drug users carried their possessions out of the square as the police raid continued​

Although many people agree in Sao Paulo over the need for intensive policing in the area, Mr Doria has divided opinion over his suggestion that the addicts should receive compulsory rehabilitation treatment. But workers say many addicts are fearful and hostile to them now and that Mr Doria's policies are destroying years of work building relationships with the addicts. Social workers also point to the need to provide jobs and housing.

The Sao Paulo city hall says since the original operation in May social workers have registered over 12,687 people living on the streets.​

The Doria administration ended a programme introduced by the previous left-wing mayor of Sao Paulo, Fernando Haddad, which had offered hotel rooms in Crackland for a small daily sum to drug addicts who worked in jobs like road-sweeping or gardening. The mayor has instead recently announced an offer of 100 jobs by a fast food chain to homeless people in general, of which there are around 20,000 in Sao Paulo.

Brazil police clear new 'Crackland' in Sao Paulo - BBC News

 

[SuperDemocrat]

These studies are bias but I still think the war on drugs should be stopped because it has lead to more removal of our civil rights than any other thing the government has done.

 

[waltky]

Haitian ex-coup leader sentenced to 9 years for laundering drug money...

Haitian ex-coup leader gets nine years in US prison
Fri, Jun 23, 2017 - A former Haitian coup leader and elected senator on Wednesday was sentenced to nine years in a US federal prison after pleading guilty to conspiring to launder drug money.

Guy Philippe, a 49-year-old former senior police officer convicted of taking bribes from drug traffickers, had in April entered his guilty plea in exchange for a reduced sentence. He had evaded law enforcement for nearly a decade and was arrested in Haiti on Jan. 5, just days before he was to be sworn in as a senator — which would have given him immunity. Philippe was elected to the Haitian parliament in November last year and had close ties to Haitian President Jovenel Moise. In 2004, he helped lead an armed rebellion against then- Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was forced to flee the country. The US drug charges had been hanging over him since 2005.

In his guilty plea, Philippe said he had abused his position as a high-ranking police officer to protect narcotics shipments headed to the US between 1999 and 2003. He did so in exchange for bribes from drug traffickers that totaled between US$1.5 million and US$3.5 million, knowing the proceeds came from cocaine sales in Miami and other places in the US, prosecutors said. Philippe gave some of the bribe money to other Haitian police and security personnel to ensure their cooperation, the US Department of Justice said. His cut was used to buy a house in Florida, it added.

In one instance, Philippe was said to have wired US$376,000 in drug proceeds to his joint bank account in Miami from banks in Haiti and Ecuador using others’ names. He also said he organized US$70,000 in drug money to be deposited into his account in amounts under the US$10,000 level that triggers US reporting requirements.

Haitian ex-coup leader gets nine years in US prison - Taipei Times

See also:

Mexico arrests Knights Templar Cartel leader 'El Cenizo' after shootout
June 22, 2017 -- Mexico's security authorities said Knights Templar Cartel leader Ignacio "El Cenizo" Rentería Andrade was arrested after a shootout in which two soldiers were injured.

In a joint statement, Mexico's Secretariat of National Defense, Navy, National Security Commission and Attorney General's Office said the shootout occurred early Wednesday in the state of Michoacán's Parácuaro municipality.

Mexico's security authorities said a Knights Templar Cartel leader was arrested early Wednesday after a shootout in the state of Michoacán, where the cartel mainly operates​

The security authorities said Rentería Andrade's bodyguard Daniel "El Cabezón" Rubio was also arrested. Rentería Andrade sustained a gunshot wound in the arm and was taken to a hospital. Mexico's attorney general had a $550,000 reward out for Rentería Andrade, who was wanted on crimes ranging from drug trafficking to murder.

The Knights Templar Cartel, which is made up of remnants of the splintered La Familia Michoacana drug cartel, mainly operates in the state of Michoacán on Mexico's Pacific coast, south of Guadalajara.

Mexico arrests Knights Templar Cartel leader 'El Cenizo' after shootout

 

[waltky]

Confiscated Golden Triangle drugs burned...

Three nations torch US$1bn in narcotics
Tue, Jun 27, 2017 - UN ANTI-DRUG DAY: About US$385 million worth of drugs were burned in Myanmar, about US$589 million worth in Thailand and US$4 million worth in Cambodia

Myanmar, Thailand and Cambodia yesterday torched nearly US$1 billion worth of seized narcotics in a defiant show of force as police struggle to stem the rising flow of drugs in the region. The burnings, to mark the UN’s International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, follow another year of record seizures of narcotics from the remote borderlands of Myanmar, Laos, southern China and northern Thailand. Myanmar in particular remains one of the world’s great drug-producing nations, a dark legacy of decades of civil war in its frontier regions where troops and ethnic rebel forces have vied for control of the lucrative trade. Armed gangs churn out vast quantities of opium, heroin and cannabis and millions of caffeine-laced methamphetamine pills known as “yaba” which are then smuggled out across Southeast Asia.

An estimated US$385 million was burned yesterday in three official ceremonies around Myanmar, according to a senior police officer in the capital, Naypyidaw. At the biggest bonfire in Yangon, huge clouds of smoke filled the sky as authorities set fire to stacks of opium, heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine tablets worth almost US$230 million. “We burned a record amount of drugs today ... because police have seized more in recent years,” drug enforcement officer Myo Kyi said. On an industrial estate on the outskirts of Bangkok, Thai authorities incinerated about US$589 million worth of drugs, including 7,800kg of yaba pills and 1,185kg of crystal methamphetamine. In Cambodia, officials burned 130kg of drugs estimated to be worth about US$4 million.

A firefighter yesterday prepares to distinguish flames after seized drugs were torched an event outside of Yangon, Myanmar, to mark the UN International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.​

The huge seizures are often touted as proof these countries are making inroads into the vast regional drug trade, but law enforcement agents say they are just the tip of the iceberg as producers ramp up production to meet growing demand across Southeast Asia and increasingly in Bangladesh and India. Unlike their Latin American counterparts, cartel leaders in the Golden Triangle are rarely ever arrested or killed. The senior officer in Naypyidaw said almost all of the drugs burned at Myanmar’s official ceremonies originated in the eastern state of Shan in areas controlled by ethnic armed groups. The kingpins are the United Wa State Army, a 25,000-strong militia known as Asia’s most heavily armed drug dealers who boast their own autonomous territories on the border with China and have close links with Beijing.

Despite their reputation, the Wa deny producing drugs and even staged their own burning session yesterday in the village of Ponpakyin. Myanmar has also been struggling to stem a growing tide of drug addiction inside its borders. Experts say yaba use has exploded in Myanmar as ethnic armed gangs switched from exporting all the pills abroad to increasingly targeting domestic users. Buddhist monks and military officers were among 13,500 people prosecuted for drugs crimes last year, up 50 percent from the previous year, according to data seen by reporters. Drug production has increased every year since 2006,” Yangon police chief Win Naing told crowds gathered for yesterday’s ceremony on the outskirts of the city.

Three nations torch US$1bn in narcotics - Taipei Times

 

[Reasonable]

Marijuana And Cancer: Scientists Find Cannabis Compound Stops Metastasis In Aggressive Cancers



Robin Wilkey
09/19/2012


A pair of scientists at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco has found that a compound derived from marijuana could stop metastasis in many kinds of aggressive cancer, potentially altering the fatality of the disease forever.

"It took us about 20 years of research to figure this out, but we are very excited," said Pierre Desprez, one of the scientists behind the discovery, to The Huffington Post. "We want to get started with trials as soon as possible."

The San Francisco Chronicle first reported on the finding, which has already undergone both laboratory and animal testing, and is awaiting permission for clinical trials in humans.

✄snip>

Yet the racist garden gnome is ratcheting up the war on drugs.
Bringing back the failed policies of the last 40 years.

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right - dat's the ticket...

Foreign drug traffickers who resist arrest in Indonesia will now face certain death
Sunday 23rd July, 2017 - Claiming that Indonesia is facing a drug emergency, the country’s president Joko Widodo has reportedly instructed law enforcement officers to shoot drug traffickers who resist arrest.

The president said the country is facing a "narcotics emergency" while addressing the national working meeting of the United Development Party (PPP) in Jakarta. He added, "Just be firm, especially with foreign drug dealers who enter the country and resist upon arrest. Gun them down. Give no mercy because we indeed are in a narcotics emergency position now." Widodo has previously faced criticism for ordering executions against convicted drug traffickers given death penalties in the country's courts.

Indonesia already has tough laws against drugs and previously in 2015, two convicted Australian drug smugglers, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, were executed in the country despite pleas for a stay of execution from the Australian Government. Widodo's remarks were widely seen to resonate with the approach taken by the Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, who launched a brutal war against drugs a year back after assuming presidency. Since he came to power, the country has witnessed several thousand deaths of alleged drug dealers.

The bloody campaign in the Philippines has drawn international condemnation, from the U.S., the United Nations and even the Pope. Widodo’s orders have come a week after the Indonesian police shot dead a Taiwanese man who was involved in a drug smuggling operation near the capital Jakarta. According to local reports, the group was trying to smuggle one tonne of crystal methamphetamine into the country.

Police said the man was killed for resisting arrest. The operation led to the largest ever seizure of crystal methamphetamine, locally known as shabu-shabu, in Indonesia's history. Following the incident, Indonesian National Police chief Tito Karnavian told the media that he had ordered officers not to hesitate shooting drug dealers who resist arrest.

Foreign drug traffickers who resist arrest in Indonesia will now face certain death