Drugs Kill More Americans Die Than Guns, Cars And AIDS

Argus Leader/USA Today: Drugs kill more Americans than guns, cars and AIDS. How we got here.

Dr. Bill Fannin found his son unconscious in his bedroom. Medical training and a father’s love told him what to do.

Give him breath. Start his heart.

The Pikeville, Kentucky, physician cupped his son’s face and tried to resuscitate him on this October evening in 2011. He pushed down on his son’s chest.

Sean Fannin laid there, still unmoving.

“It was,” Fannin recalled, his voice fading as he spoke, “too late.”

He soon learned Sean had overdosed on a drug derived from the opium poppy.

It was a drug the doctor knew all too well, one he had prescribed to many patients to ease their pain.

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WNU Editor: This opoid epidemic is killing America.

Mexico's Drug Cartels Are Making Their Presence Felt On The U.S. Side Of The Border

Scary: A mannequin wearing a suit and tie was seen hanging from a noose from the El Paso billboard

A Chilling Message From The Cartels: Billboards With Hanging Mannequins Warning Cops To Choose 'Silver Over Lead' Appear In Texas -- Daily Mail

* Two billboards along highways in El Paso, Texas were vandalized and had mannequins hanging off of them
* One reads 'silver or lead' in Spanish which is taken to mean that police and business owners can either take drug cartels' bribes or die
* Worries spreading that cartels that have ruled Mexican border towns with violence may be headed north

Two frightening incidents of vandalism in El Paso near the Mexican border in Texas have been interpreted as warnings from drug cartels.

In both instances, a mannequin wearing a suit and tie was tied to a billboard with a noose and messages were scrawled over the placards.

Local station KHOU reports that one of the signs reads 'Plata o Plombo' which translates to 'silver or lead', a threat used commonly against police officers effectively warning that if they do not accept the cartel's bribes then they will be shot.

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My Comment:  Mexico's drug cartels have been operating in the U.S. for years .... but it looks they are now getting cockier and more confident in how they operate.

Mexican Cartels In U.S. Are A "Time Bomb"

Drug Trafficker To CBS News: Mexican Cartels In U.S. Are A "Time Bomb" -- CBS News

CHICAGO - Last year, CBS News correspondent Armen Keteyian interviewed a Chicago drug trafficker who worked closely with Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's Sinaloa cartel. The man, who we will call "Señor X," knows the methods, operations, and cruelty of the Sinaloa cartel, first hand. Only part of Keteyian's interview with Señor X was aired on 48 Hours "War in Chicago" program in May 2013. Señor X had more to say about the Sinaloa cartel.

After his capture last Saturday by Mexican Marines, Guzman is now at the Altiplano maximum security prison about 40 miles west of Mexico City. This is not the first time Guzman has been in a Mexican maximum security prison. He spent six years in the Puente Grande lockup until he bribed his way out in 2001. Guzman then spent 13 years on the run.

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My Comment: America's addiction to drugs is an ongoing crisis .... one that has been going on for over a century. The Mexican drug cartels are just the latest group involved in this business.

US Soldiers Are Being Hired By Mexican Cartels As Hit Men

Former Army Pfc. Michael Apodaca (l.) and ex-Lt. Kevin Corley both pleaded guilty to murder-for-hire charges, crimes committed while they were on active duty.

Mexican Cartels Hiring US Soldiers As Hit Men -- FOX News

Mexican cartels are recruiting hit men from the U.S. military, offering big money to highly-trained soldiers to carry out contract killings and potentially share their skills with gangsters south of the border, according to law enforcement experts.

The involvement of three American soldiers in separate incidents, including a 2009 murder that led to last week’s life sentence for a former Army private, underscore a problem the U.S. military has fought hard to address.

"We have seen examples over the past few years where American servicemen are becoming involved in this type of activity," said Fred Burton, vice president for STRATFOR Global Intelligence. "It is quite worrisome to have individuals with specialized military training and combat experience being associated with the cartels."

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My Comment: I hope that this is just an isolated case .... but I doubt it .... the drug cartels are everywhere and they are looking for help.

Is America's War Against Drugs About To End?

DEA

Marijuana Approved For Recreation Use In Colorado And Washington... But The Federal Government Still Says It's Illegal -- Daily Mail

* Measures allow adults over age 21 to buy up to an ounce of marijuana from heavily-regulated stores
* An even more liberal measure failed to pass in Oregon
* Fifteen other states an the District of Columbia allow medical use of drug
* Opponents say legalization will lead to more impaired driving and more children abusing marijuana

Voters in Colorado and Washington state legalized the recreational use of marijuana last night, placing the drug nearly on par with alcohol and cigarettes for the first time in U.S. history.

For the first time, residents of both states will soon be able to walk into dispensaries and purchase up to an ounce of marijuana for personal use -- no prescription required. Users only have to prove they are at least 21.

Fifteen other states and the District of Columbia have approved marijuana for medical use, but it requires a doctor's prescription and certification that it will be used to treat a chronic health condition.

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More News On America Voting To Legalize Marijuana

Voters May Have Won The Drug War On Election Night -- Business Insider
Three US states poised to legalise cannabis and defy 'war on drugs' -- The Guardian
Marijuana's Big Moment -- Rolling Stone
Colorado and Washington vote to become first US states to legalize marijuana -- RT
Colorado, Washington Pot Legalization Deals Drug War Major Blow -- Huffington Post
War on drugs: Beginning of the end? Two states legalize marijuana in defiance of federal prohibition -- Natasha Lennard, Slate

Mexico's Drug Cartel Wars Coming To An American City Near You

U.S. Cities Become Hubs For Mexican Drug Cartels’ Distribution Networks -- Washington Post

CHICAGO — A few miles west of downtown, past a terra-cotta-tiled gateway emblazoned with “Bienvenidos,” the smells and sights of Mexico spill onto 26th Street. The Mexican tricolor waves from brick storefronts. Vendors offer authentic churros, chorizo and tamales.

Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood is home to more than 500,000 residents of Mexican descent and is known for its Cinco de Mayo festival and bustling Mexican Independence Day parade. But federal authorities say that Little Village is also home to something else: an American branch of the Mexican Sinaloa drug cartel.

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My Comment: It is only a matter of time before Mexico's drug cartels bring their war for territory onto American soil .... with the same tactics and bloodshed.

U.S. Coast Guard Stops 30th Drug Sub In Six Years

A sinking self-propelled semi-submersible vessel was interdicted in the Western Caribbean Sea March 30, 2012 by the crews of the Coast Guard Cutter Decisive, Coast Guard Cutter Pea Island, Joint Interagency Task Force South (JIATF-S), and the Honduran Navy. (Source:. U.S. Coast Guard)

Coast Guard Stops 30th Drug Sub -- McClatchy News

MIAMI — When reports first surfaced in the 1990s of boat builders making submarines for cocaine smugglers in the jungles of Colombia, U.S. law enforcement regarded it as a comic curiosity. Today, with the disclosure that the U.S. Coast Guard has intercepted its 30th semi-submersible in less than six years, it's now a troubling tactic.

The Coast Guard said in a news release Wednesday that two of its cutters, the Decisive and Pea Island, chased down a sub on March 30 in the Western Caribbean. It credited collaboration with the Honduran Navy.

The Coast Guard also released an eerie photo - the bow of the sub, painted with shark's teeth - disappearing beneath the surface.

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More News On The U.S. Coast Guard Stopping It's 30th Drug Sub In Six Years

Coast guard sinks 30th drug sub -- UPI
Coast Guard Stops Caribbean “Drug Sub” -- CBS Local
Suspected drug sub caught in Caribbean -- FOX News

My Comment: The U.S. Coast Guard has been able to stop 30 subs in 6 years .... makes you wonder on how many were successful in getting to the U.S..

Dissent On U.S. Drug Laws May Come With A Loss Of Your Job

United States Customs and Border Protection agents waiting to inspect cars at Nogales, Ariz., an area where marijuana smuggling has been active. Tyler Hicks/The New York Times

Police Officers Find That Dissent on Drug Laws May Come With a Price -- New York Times

PHOENIX — Border Patrol agents pursue smugglers one moment and sit around in boredom the next. It was during one of the lulls that Bryan Gonzalez, a young agent, made some comments to a colleague that cost him his career.

Stationed in Deming, N.M., Mr. Gonzalez was in his green-and-white Border Patrol vehicle just a few feet from the international boundary when he pulled up next to a fellow agent to chat about the frustrations of the job. If marijuana were legalized, Mr. Gonzalez acknowledges saying, the drug-related violence across the border in Mexico would cease. He then brought up an organization called Law Enforcement Against Prohibition that favors ending the war on drugs.

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My Comment: The law IS the law. If you do not like the law, find another line of work or vote for someone who shares your point of view and will work to change the law.

Mexican Drug Gangs Now Control Parts Of Arizona

Mexican Gangs Maintain Permanent Lookout Bases In Hills Of Arizona -- FOX News

Mexican drug cartels have set up shop on American soil, maintaining lookout bases in strategic locations in the hills of southern Arizona from which their scouts can monitor every move made by law enforcement officials, federal agents tell Fox News.

The scouts are supplied by drivers who bring them food, water, batteries for radios -- all the items they need to stay in the wilderness for a long time.

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My Comment: The Border Patrol must be completely demoralized with the border enforcement policies that are coming out of Washington .... policies in which vast sections of U.S. territory are now becoming safe havens for drug gangs. Coupled this with the Justice Department and their political masters choosing to ignore or downplay the implications from these border enforcement trends, we now have a recipe for a massive influx of Mexican narco soldiers and the drugs that they carry.

On a side note, Mexico decides to sue Arizona for their immigration law.

Update: AZ Cops Threatened by Drug Cartel Snipers at Border -- Breitbart

Update #2: Mexican Drug Cartel Warns Police Officers in Arizona Border Town to 'Look the Other Way' -- FOX News

Mexico's Drug Cartel War Is Now Here

U.S. Arrests 2,200 In Mexico Drug Trafficking Sweep -- NPR

Law enforcement agencies have arrested more than 2,200 people in an investigation targeting Mexican drug trafficking organizations in the United States, the Justice Department announced Thursday.

The probe, called Project Deliverance, focused on the transportation networks that carry methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin and marijuana into the United States, with return trips of drug proceeds and weapons.

At a news conference Thursday, Attorney General Eric Holder said the extensive operation began nearly two years ago. He said federal agents targeting violent drug cartels have seized nearly 70 tons of marijuana and nearly 1,500 pounds of heroin. Authorities said some of the drugs were hidden inside buses that cross the Southwest border.

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More News On Today's Mass Arrests

Huge Drug Dragnet Arrests 2,200 -- L.A. Times
US-Mexico anti-drug effort nets 2,200 arrests: officials -- AFP
US arrests 2,200 in Mexican drug trafficking probe -- AP
US Arrests Over 2,000 in Probe of Mexican Drug Cartels -- Voice of America
U.S. Stages Major Drug Bust Amid Rising Tensions Over Border Shooting of Mexican Boy -- ABC News
US targets Mexican drug cartels in major sweep -- BBC
DEA's "Project Deliverance" Will Undoubtedly Fail to Deliver -- Stop The Drug War