Mexican Cartels Are Abandoning The Smuggling Of Marijuana In Favor Of Heroin

Parker McMillan looks over products at MedMen in West Hollywood, Calif., on Jan. 1, 2018, when it became legal in to sell recreational marijuana. Laws allowing marijuana in states like Colorado, Washington and California are causing shifts in the Mexican underworld that have also led to increased violence as the cartels move away from its cash cow of marijuana to traffic more heroin and methamphetamines. (Photo: ROBERT HANASHIRO/USA TODAY)

USA Today: Mexican cartels pushing more heroin after U.S. states relax marijuana laws

CHIHUAHUA, Mexico — As more U.S. states legalize the use of marijuana, Mexico's violent drug cartels are turning to the basic law of supply and demand.

That means small farmers, or campesinos, in this border state's rugged Sierra Madre who long planted marijuana to be smuggled into the United States are switching to opium poppies, which bring a higher price. The opium gum harvested is processed into heroin to feed the ravaging U.S. opioid crisis.

“Marijuana isn’t as valuable, so they switched to a more profitable product,” said Javier Ávila, a Jesuit priest in this region rife with drug cartel activities.

Laws allowing marijuana in states like Colorado, Washington and California are causing shifts in the Mexican underworld that have also led to increased violence as the cartels move away from its cash cow of marijuana to traffic more heroin and methamphetamines.

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WNU editor: Mexico has a history of growing opium. But the plant with its distinctive flower is easy to spot, and the onus will be on Mexico's law enforcement to stop it.

Beijing Aays U.S. And Canadian Legalization Of Marijuana Is A 'Threat To China'

Liu Yuejin, deputy director of the China National Narcotics Control Commission, at a press conference on Monday June 17.

CNN: Beijing says US legalization of marijuana is a 'threat to China'

Beijing (CNN)Beijing's leading drug enforcement body has blamed the legalization of marijuana in Canada and parts of the United States for a spike in the amount of drugs smuggled into the country, describing it as a "new threat to China."

At a press conference in Beijing Monday, Liu Yuejin, deputy director of the China National Narcotics Control Commission, said that the number of cannabis users in China had grown by more than 25% in 2018, rising to about 24,000 people.

"In two years, we have found increasing cannabis trafficked from North America to China," he said, though he conceded there were "few cannabis abusers in China" relative to the total population.

According to Liu, China intercepted 115 packages sent through international postal parcels, containing a total of "55 kilograms (1940 ounces) of cannabis and cannabis products" in 2018.

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Update: China blames legalization of marijuana in US, Canada for increase in smuggling (The Hill)

WNU Editor: China's panic over intercepting 55 kilograms of marijuana in 2018 is laughable when compared to China's export of opioids to the U.S. and the deaths of tens of thousands of addicts .... China To Close Loophole On Fentanyl After U.S. Calls For Opioid Action (NPR).

Marijuana (Pot) Possession Is Now Legal In Canada

Daily Mail: High times! Canadians celebrate the first day of legal recreational marijuana by smoking in the streets as they wait in massive lines outside the 111 stores across the country

* Canada officially became the first industrialized nation to legalize recreational marijuana on Wednesday
* Hundreds of cannabis-craving Canadians lined up at the 111 licensed stores now open across the country
* Toronto police launched a snarky public awareness campaign to remind people to stop calling 911 on smokers
* Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government has been working to legalize marijuana for the past two years
* Trudeau's hope is that a federally-regulated marijuana market will replace the black market
* Experts say that it will take a while for the government to catch up with the demand, and that most of the weed smoked during Wednesday's celebrations will have been purchased on the black market

Hundreds of Canadians have taken to the streets to celebrate the legalization of recreational marijuana following a nearly century-long ban.

Canada officially became the first industrialized nation to legalize the drug on Wednesday following a two-year push by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government, which hopes to bring dealers out of the black market and into a regulated system.

Cannabis connoisseurs appear to have embraced the new system as massive queues formed outside many of the 111 legal pot shops now open around the country.

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WNU Editor: No. I do not smoke pot.

More News On Marijuana (Pot) Possession Now Being Legal In Canada

Canadians welcome legal pot sales, put up with supply issues on opening day -- CBC
Jubilant customers light up as pot sales begin in Canada -- AP
Canada becomes second country to legalise recreational marijuana -- BBC
Sober start as recreational marijuana becomes legal in Canada -- Reuters
Canada becomes second country to legalise Cannabis -- The Guardian
On a high: Canada celebrates cannabis being legalised -- The Guardian
Canada legalises marijuana sale as hundreds line for opening of stores -- ABC News Online
UN drugs board slams Canada cannabis legalization -- DW
'It's an awesome day': Canada legalises recreational cannabis -- Al Jazeera
What Canada's legalization of marijuana means for travelers -- CNN
'Canada shows the way': World reacts to legal pot -- CTV
How much will cannabis cost you? Here’s a breakdown by province -- Toronto Star
Cannabis breakdown: The recreational pot rules for each province in Canada -- CTV
Marijuana legalization, explained: the key facts about Canada's new laws -- The Guardian
Cannabis is legal in Canada — here's what you need to know -- CBC

How Speed, Steroids, And Painkillers Became 'Standard Gear' For U.S. Soldiers

US Army, Wikipedia

Lukasz Kamienski, The Atlantic: The Drugs That Built a Super Soldier

During the Vietnam War, the U.S. military plied its servicemen with speed, steroids, and painkillers to help them handle extended combat.

Some historians call Vietnam the “last modern war,” others the “first postmodern war.” Either way, it was irregular: Vietnam was not a conventional war with the frontlines, rears, enemy mobilizing its forces for an attack, or a territory to be conquered and occupied. Instead, it was a formless conflict in which former strategic and tactical principles did not apply. The Vietcong were fighting in an unexpected, surprising, and deceptive way to negate Americans’ strengths and exploit their weaknesses, making the Vietnam War perhaps the best example of asymmetrical warfare of the 20th century.

The conflict was distinct in another way, too—over time, it came to be known as the first “pharmacological war,” so called because the level of consumption of psychoactive substances by military personnel was unprecedented in American history. The British philosopher Nick Land aptly described the Vietnam War as “a decisive point of intersection between pharmacology and the technology of violence.”

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WNU Editor: There is still little if any research on the long term impacts from such drug use .... and my gut is telling me that this a ticking bomb scenario for some former soldiers.

Both Sides In The Syrian Conflict Are Using Massive Amounts Of Amphetamines

Jeff Neumann, Newsweek: Amphetamines Fuel Both Sides of the Syrian War

Lebanon has long been a playground for wealthy citizens of austere Arab countries, but even the worldly Lebanese were taken aback on October 26 when security officials arrested a 29-year-old Saudi prince, Abdel Mohsen bin Walid bin Abdel Aziz al-Saud, on suspicion of trying to take 2 tons of amphetamines with him on a private jet bound for the Saudi capital, Riyadh. Lebanese police also arrested four other Saudi men at Beirut International Airport in what the state news agency described as the biggest bust in the airport’s history.

The prince’s arrest has focused attention on Lebanon's notorious drug-trafficking networks and their ability to cross the Middle East's political and sectarian divides. Combatants in Syria’s civil war, civilians in the battle-weary region and the wealthy citizens of the Gulf countries all have a growing appetite for hard drugs. That demand has, in turn, generated fresh revenues for drug barons and militias, who, as they did in previous wars in Colombia, Afghanistan and elsewhere, have become allies of convenience in many cases.

WNU Editor: Amphetamines has been an important factor for all sides in Syria's civil war since the beginning .... How The Amphetamine Known As Captagon Is Fueling Syria's Civil War. More here .... 'Captagon' Is Now The 'Jihad Meth' Of Choice For Islamic State Fighters. The above RT video is from last year.

Is The U.S. Becoming A Drug Dependent Country?

70 Million Americans Taking Mind-Altering Drugs -- WND

Exclusive: David Kupelian tells untold story of nation's rapidly escalating drug dependence

The heroin-overdose death of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman has caused the media to focus, however fleetingly, on America’s drug problem.

News accounts of the Oscar-winner’s tragic demise typically reference the startling increase in heroin-related deaths in the last four to five years. The problem, reporters explain, is the vast number of Americans addicted to prescription pain meds like OxyContin, many of whom discover heroin to be both cheaper and easier to obtain than the prescription opioid drugs to which they initially became addicted.

That’s accurate as far as it goes. But by following the trail further, we arrive at a place far more shocking and consequential. We discover that not only has the traditional distinction between illegal “street drugs” and legal “therapeutic prescription drugs” become so blurred as to be almost nonexistent, but between America’s twin drug epidemics – one illegal, the other legal – well over 70 million Americans are using mind-altering drugs. And that number doesn’t include abusers of alcohol, which adds an additional 60 million Americans. So we’re really talking about 130 million strung-out Americans. How is this possible?

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My Comment: 130 million Americans abuse drugs and alcohol ?!?!?!?! A part of me says that such a number is not possible .... but when I reflect on the people that I know ..... hmmmm .....

Update: With such stats I guess one should also not be surprised when some are openly wondering if President Obama is one of them.

America's Growing Heroin Epidemic

Philip Seymour Hoffman Dies Amid Major Comeback Of Heroin In The U.S. -- L.A. Times

NEW YORK -- Sometimes the traffickers inject liquid heroin into jeans so they can ship the drug where it needs to go. Sometimes it's a fake coconut or bananas.

In a few cases, according to federal officials, heroin is injected into the bellies of dogs.

However it arrives, hundreds of thousands Americans have been turning to heroin more and more in recent years, and officials across the country are sounding the alarm as fatal heroin overdoses have more than doubled in some states over the last decade.

Although the autopsy results for Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman are not yet known, packets of the drug were found Sunday in his New York apartment where he died, a needle sticking in his arm.

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More News On America's Growing Heroin Epidemic

Before Philip Seymour Hoffman's Death, Feds Saw 'Soaring' Heroin Addiction, Deaths -- ABC News
Heroin: America’s Silent Assassin -- Daily Beast
Ready access, low cost, pill-like high: Heroin's rise and fatal draw -- CNN
Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Deadly ‘Ace of Spades' Heroin -- Marlow Stern, Daily Beast
Why Heroin Is So Deadly -- Bahar Gholipour, Huffington Post
What’s in “Bad Heroin”? -- Brian Palmer, Slate

How The Amphetamine Known As Captagon Is Fueling Syria's Civil War

Sitting at a crossroads in the Middle East, Syria has long been a transit point for drugs coming from Europe, Turkey and Lebanon and destined for Jordan, Iraq and the Gulf. (File photo: Reuters)

Captagon: The Amphetamine Fueling Syria's Civil War -- The Guardian

The drug, widely used in the Middle East but unknown elsewhere, is keeping fighters on their feet during gruelling battles and generating money for more weapons

As Syria sinks ever deeper into civil war, evidence is starting to emerge that a brutal and bloody conflict that has left more than 100,000 people dead and displaced as many as two million is now also being fuelled by both the export and consumption of rapidly increasing quantities of illegal drugs.

Separate investigations by the news agency Reuters and Time magazine have found that the growing trade in Syrian-made Captagon – an amphetamine widely consumed in the Middle East but almost unknown elsewhere – generated revenues of millions of dollars inside the country last year, some of which was almost certainly used to fund weapons, while combatants on both sides are reportedly turning to the stimulant to help them keep fighting.

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More News On The Use Of Amphetamines In Syria's Civil War

Insight - War turns Syria into major amphetamines producer, consumer -- Reuters
Syria's civil war being fought with fighters high on drugs -- The Telegraph
Stimulant drug fuels fighters -- New Zealand Herald
Syria Becomes "Major Amphetamines Exporter and Consumer" Amid Civil War -- Reason

UN Report: World Faces New Designer Drug Threat

Designer Drugs On The Rise As Demand For Traditional Drugs Levels Off, UN Reports On World Drug Day -- UN News Centre

While the use of traditional drugs is largely stable, demand is soaring for untested concoctions of psychoactive substances that threaten to be more dangerous, the head of the United Nations drug and crime agency said, marking the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

The popularity of traditional drugs, such as cannabis – still the most widely used illicit substance – heroin and cocaine seems to be declining in some parts of the world, while the abuse of prescription drugs and new psychoactive substances (NPS) is on the rise, according to the 2013 World Drug Report launched today in Vienna, Austria.

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More News On The World Facing A New Designer Drug Threat

Lure, variety of designer drugs is alarming, U.N. agency says -- Reuters
UN drug control agency sounds alarm on designer drug use, global drug use stable -- Washington Post/AP
New designer drugs multiplying, testing authorities -- Global Post/AFP
Mushrooming legal highs leave drug control system floundering, UN warns -- The Guardian
UN: 'Legal Highs' Swamp Global Drug Market -- Voice of America
UN: Designer drug abuse a growing global problem -- CBS
UN report finds new designer drugs multiplying -- Deutsche Welle
UN raises alarm on spread of 'designer drugs' -- Al Jazeera
World Faces New Designer Drug Threat - UN Report -- RIA Novosti
Growth Of Designer Drugs Outpaces Legal Controls, Says UN Report -- Red Orbit

U.S. Navy Issues Warning On A Synthetic Drug Called 'Bath Salts'

Watch: U.S. Navy PSA Shows Demonic Dangers of Bath Salts -- Time

Yes, bath salts are well-publicized as a horrible drug. After all, it was the first substance to be blamed by Miami authorities after a naked man chewed up a homeless man’s face last May. (The perpetrator, Rudy Eugene, turned out not to have any of the synthetic drug in his system.) But now, the U.S. Navy, which has been battling a problem with the designer drug, has launched its own crusade aimed at curbing its use among sailors. Their dramatic new anti-drug video is filled with all the trappings of a horror film — or a horrible dream: zombie-like demons, bare-knuckled assault and late-night bowling are all invoked to show exactly how bad the synthetic drug can be. The campaign’s tagline says, “Bath salts: It’s not a fad…It’s a nightmare.”

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More News On A Graphic PSA That Targets Bath Salts Use In The US Navy

Navy releases warning video on bath salts featuring demons -- FOX News
Military Warns of Bath Salts Threat -- Forbes
Graphic US Navy Video Warns About Dangers of 'Bath Salts' -- RIA Novosti
Disturbing Navy PSA depicts horrors of 'bath salts' -- Today News
Bath salts PSA released by U.S. Navy aims to frighten -- CBS News
Nightmarish U.S. Navy PSA warns against dangers of bath salts (VIDEO) -- New York Daily News
Navy publishes disturbing PSA: Dangers of abusing bath salts -- Examiner
The Navy's Anti-Bath Salts Video Is Even More Ridiculous Than You'd Think -- The Atlantic

U.S. And Colombian Agents Have Just Busted The World's Biggest Drug "Super Cartel"

Watch CBS News Videos Online

World's Biggest Drugs 'Super Cartel' Smashed By US Authorities In Colombia -- The Telegraph

The world’s biggest drugs and money laundering "super cartel" in Colombia has been smashed by the American government, officials said.

Anti-drug agents arrested and charged dozens of members of the powerful Colombian cartel, including two major kingpins, after a series of raids across South America.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE, estimated the cartel made an estimated $5 billion (£3.37bn) profit from their trade over the past few years.

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Update: U.S. Targets Powerful, Profitable "Super Cartel" -- CBS News

My Comment: This bust will impact the world's cocaine market. From the drug cartel wars in Mexico to the price of cocaine on the street in the U.S. and Europe .... everyone is going to be impacted.