Dozens of individuals allegedly linked to the most powerful cartel in Mexico were arrested and charged by federal agents in California and elsewhere in the western United States, the Department of Justice announced this week. 

The DOJ said that 14 “indictments were unsealed [on Wednesday] charging 47 alleged members of an Imperial Valley, California-based, Sinaloa Cartel-linked fentanyl-and-methamphetamine distribution network with drug trafficking, firearms, and money laundering offenses.”

The Sinaloa Cartel is one of the biggest crime syndicates in the world, and has increasingly been the focus of law enforcement in the U.S. It is perhaps best known as the cartel that had long been run by Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, who is currently serving a lifetime sentence at a maximum security prison in Colorao.

Describing it as a “coordinated takedown” executed on Wednesday morning, the Justice Department said that “more than 400 federal, state, and local law enforcement officials arrested 36 defendants and executed 25 search warrants in Imperial County; San Diego; Fresno, California; Los Angeles; Phoenix; and Salem, Oregon.” The agency said that, as of Wednesday afternoon, the search remained ongoing for 11 fugitives.

Court records show that, in June of 2021, “agents seized two pounds of methamphetamine and a cache of ghost guns and ammunition, including: 15 lower receivers, three upper receivers, multiple barrels and stocks, 18 magazines, 40 Luger 9mm rounds, and approximately 400 rounds of .223 Red Army ammunition, which are made in Russia,” the Justice Department said in the announcement on Wednesday.“

None of the firearms or firearm parts had any identifying serial numbers or markings. They were all ghost guns. Wiretap intercepts showed that defendant Cory Gershen supplied other members of the organization with ghost guns in exchange for methamphetamine. The investigation also revealed the assault rifles (depicted below) were destined for the organization’s source of supply in Mexico,” the announcement said.

On that same day in June of 2021, “agents seized additional ghost guns, ammunition, and methamphetamine from another member of the same drug trafficking organization,” according to the Justice Department, which added that “agents seized two AR-style ghost guns and a Colt .380 semiautomatic handgun, and additional Russian rifle ammunition from defendant Guadalupe Molina-Flores, one of the alleged members of the trafficking organization.” 

“According to a search warrant, after seizing the firearms, agents searched Molina-Flores’ residence and found 309.4 grams (0.68 pounds) of methamphetamine,” Wednesday’s announcement said.

The DOJ also noted that its investigation “revealed that the price per fentanyl pill has plummeted.” 

“For example, in June 2021, targets of the investigation were obtaining fentanyl pills in Imperial Valley at approximately $1.65 to $1.75 per pill. By December 2021, the prices being discussed had dropped to approximately $1.25 per pill. By May, the same pills were being sold at only 45 cents per pill — less than one-third of the price three years earlier. The precipitous drop in price reflects the increased supply and availability of fentanyl being smuggled into the United States and the close ties between targets of this investigation and their Sinaloa Cartel supplier of fentanyl pills,” the announcement said.

More from the DOJ’s announcement:

“Including seizures today and throughout the long-term investigation, authorities have confiscated more than four kilograms of fentanyl, which amounts to about two million potentially fatal doses; more than 324 kilograms (over 714 pounds) of methamphetamine; significant quantities of cocaine and heroin; and 52 firearms, including handguns and rifles. The investigation also resulted in the arrest of Alexander Grindley for alleged methamphetamine trafficking while employed as a U.S. Border Patrol agent and multiple spin-off investigations in this district and others. Crimes charged in the indictments include drug trafficking, money laundering, and gun-related offenses. Court documents indicated the defendants were operating throughout the Imperial Valley — in Brawley, El Centro, Westmoreland, Imperial, Calexico, Niland, Holtville, Calipatria — and in Mexicali, Mexico.”

Attorney General Merrick Garland said that the takedown means the Justice Department has “dealt yet another blow to the Sinaloa Cartel and its associates.”

“I am grateful to the more than 400 law enforcement officers whose work in this operation resulted in dozens of arrests, charges against 47 defendants, and the seizure of firearms, meth, cocaine, heroin, and two million potentially lethal doses of fentanyl. We will continue to be relentless in our fight to protect American communities from the cartels,” Garland said in a statement on Wednesday.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas said that his department “and our federal, state, and local partners are unrelenting in our work to keep deadly fentanyl off our streets and bring those who traffic in it to justice.” 

“The indictments unsealed today are the direct result of our multipronged and coordinated law enforcement approach — one that utilizes all of our government’s resources and capabilities. Together, we are preventing fentanyl and other deadly drugs from being produced, distributed, or consumed, and saving countless lives,” Mayorkas said.

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In an interview with Taste of Country published on May 24, Grammy Award-nominated country artist Jason “Jelly Roll” DeFord said that he smokes weed to stay away from hard drugs that he’s used in the past—namely opioids and benzodiazepines.

Given his past as an addict and his role in speaking against the use of fentanyl sweeping the country, the interview quickly shifted on the topic of drugs. But Jelly Roll doesn’t see weed the same way as hard drugs which can tear families apart and lead to deadly overdoses.

“I get in trouble for this, all the time, but my stance on marijuana will always be the same: I believe marijuana has helped me in so many regards, with my anxiety,” Jelly Roll told Taste of Country. “This is a hot button topic, but, truly, marijuana has kept me sober.”

The country superstar paused for a moment, then added, “I think a world without weed, Jelly Roll’s drinking codeine and popping Xanax and snorting cocaine again, but a world with weed, I’ll be alright.”

Jelly Roll abandoned hip-hop for a career in country music—which turned out to be a wise and lucrative decision. Jelly Roll’s album Whitsitt Chapel hit number 1 on the Billboard Top Rock Albums chart and number 2 on the Billboard Top Country Albums in 2023. In November 2023, he won the award for New Artist of the Year at the 57th Annual Country Music Association Awards. He’s won three CMT Music Awards and several other accolades.

TMZ reports that Jelly Roll has been a huge voice against fentanyl use and an example for people dealing with drug addiction. Last January, he appeared in front of Congress to back anti-fentanyl legislation called the Fentanyl Eradication and Narcotics Deterrence (FEND) Off Fentanyl Act.

Jelly Roll gave an opening statement at a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee hearing about fentanyl awareness and legislative solutions to stop illegal smuggling of fentanyl. “Fentanyl transcends partisanship and ideology…this is a totally different problem,” he started the hearing with in a speech that was described by many as “powerful.”

‘The sad news is that narrative is changing, too, because the statistics say that in all likelihood almost every person in this room has lost a friend, family member of colleague to the disease known as addiction,’ DeFord told the committee chaired by Cleveland Democrat Sherrod Brown. ‘I could sit here and cry for days about the caskets I’ve carried of people I love dearly.’”

His messages about fentanyl and hard drug use, and the potential of replacing them with a less dangerous substance such as pot, have made a lasting impact.

Cannabis for Addiction

Cannabis has been explored for its potential role in fighting addiction of hard drugs. Some studies have focused on CBD for treating addiction disorders, some of which are caused by compulsive cravings, while others focused on THC as well.

While many studies have focused on cannabis to curb opioid use with some looking more broadly at stimulants, new research suggests that it could prove useful for those with crack use disorder (CUD). In fact, the popular non-psychoactive CBD, or cannabidiol, seems to be the key element.

The study, published recently in the International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, utilized a double-blind randomized clinical trial comparing CBD to three drugs commonly used to treat CUD: fluoxetine, valproic acid and clonazepam. Authors represent a number of Brazilian academic and official institutions, comprising various departments at the University of Brasília, the Brazilian Federal District’s secretary of health and forensic institute and the Federal University of São Paulo.

The research ultimately found that participants who took CBD had better health outcomes and fewer adverse effects compared to those who underwent traditional pharmaceutical options.

In another study published in the journal Addictive Behaviors, researchers found that cannabis is not only widely used to manage stimulant cravings but that it may be an effective strategy to reduce stimulant use.

To further analyze how cannabis use may affect people using stimulant drugs, researchers collected data from three cohorts in Vancouver, Canada: the At-Risk Youth Study (ARYS), the Vancouver Injection Drug Users Study (VIDUS) and the AIDS Care Cohort to Evaluate Exposure to Survival Services (ACCESS).

Researchers used a cross-sectional questionnaire alongside logistic regression models to analyze the relationship between cannabis use to manage stimulant cravings as well as self-reported changes in the frequency of stimulant use. 

Many others say cannabis replaced their daily alcohol use.

The studies seem to back up some of the claims about cannabis and sobriety. Jelly Roll, like country outlaw Willie Nelson, are helping to spread the good word on cannabis to the country music world.

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A man who used Snapchat to sell fake oxycodone pills that actually contained fentanyl—leading to the death of a teenage girl as well as several other overdoses—faces 20 years in prison.

Jeremial Lee Leach, 20, of Evansville, Indiana, has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, after pleading guilty to one count of Distribution of Fentanyl Resulting in Death, one count of distribution of fentanyl, and one count of distribution of fentanyl resulting in serious bodily injury.

Michael Gannon, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration-Indianapolis, and U.S. Attorney Zachary A. Myers for the Southern District of Indiana released an announcement on May 17 describing the ordeal and the consequences.

Leach sold fentanyl on Snapchat as “Mel,” resulting in at least three overdoses, one of which resulted in the death of a 19-year-old woman. “Mel” sold small blue pills marked with M 30 which is supposed to indicate they contain oxycodone hydrochloride—i.e. sold as Oxycontin, Reltebon, Zomestine, etc. Researchers call fake M 30 pills as “Dirty 30s,” and they’re highly dangerous—the slightest miscalculation of fentanyl can easily stop breathing.

“This young woman should be alive today. Mr. Leach pushed deadly poison over social media, ending a teenager’s life far too early, and risking many more,” said U.S. Attorney Myers. “Fentanyl traffickers commit their crimes with utter disregard for the lives of our friends and neighbors or the harm they cause to families in our community. I commend the outstanding work of the DEA, the Evansville Police Department, the Evansville-Vanderburgh County Drug Task Force, and our federal prosecutors to secure some measure of justice for the victims of this fentanyl dealer. The sentence imposed here should serve as a warning: these poisons kill—and selling them will earn you decades in federal prison.”

On June 25, 2022, in the late hours of the night, officers with the Evansville Police Department (EPD) responded to a call about an overdose from a residence on Wedeking Avenue. The first woman was lucky—and responders were able to revive her with naloxone. 

But within hours, at approximately 10:55 a.m. the next morning, EPD officers responded to the same residence for the overdose of another woman, who was only 19 years old, who subsequently died. The coroner found a fake oxycodone pill containing fentanyl when examining the body. The cause of both overdoses was determined to be fentanyl intoxication.

But “Mel” on Snapchat wasn’t done dealing his fake oxycodone pills.

On Aug. 20, 2022, EPD officers were dispatched to a restaurant located on Hirschland Road concerning an overdose. There, the officers found a woman hunched over, falling out of consciousness. But she was also lucky and was revived with naloxone and the woman regained consciousness. The woman told police that she thought she had simply taken a 30 mg tablet of oxycodone, which would not have caused an overdose. The woman’s companion, identified as “Leach,” supplied the pill at a residence on Shanklin Avenue. It was again traced to “Mel” after officers with the Evansville-Vanderburgh County Drug Task Force set up two more drug deals a few months later.

Police then executed a search warrant at Leach’s residence on Shanklin Avenue, where officers found 33 blue pills marked “30,” a digital scale, two 9mm pistols, and approximately $1,843 in cash.

“The sentence imposed on Mr. Leach is righteous and justified. Mr. Leach utilized social media platforms to advertise the sale of fentanyl and continued distributing the poisonous fentanyl even though it had already caused fatal and near fatal overdoses. The DEA would like to extend their deepest condolences to the Duncan family and all families who have lost a loved one to a fentanyl poising,” said DEA ASAC Gannon. “DEA remains committed to working hand in hand with our state, local and federal partners in order to keep our communities safe.  DEA commends the outstanding work by the Evansville Police Department, The Evansville-Vanderburgh County Drug Task Force and the United States Attorney’s Office.”

‘Hit Me Up’ for Weed on Snapchat

A much lesser “threat” on Snapchat is the sale of weed. A woman was busted in 2018 for setting up her weed business on Snapchat (which is admittedly much safer than selling fentanyl.)

The Beatrice Daily Sun reported in 2018 that Nebraska authorities were tipped off about a Snapchat video made by a woman named Madison D. Carlson. In the video, she held a large bag of cannabis, with a corresponding caption reading “Hit me up.”

Following the post, someone snitched, and authorities went to Carlson’s residence around 9:30 p.m. and immediately noticed two cars in a nearby alley with their lights on. In one vehicle, police found Carson with one female minor. According to police documents, the car reeked of weed. In the other, a male juvenile, who, upon further inspection, was carrying a concealed bag of marijuana in his waistband.

The two female accomplices told police they had just gotten rid of the pot until Carlson was removed from the vehicle, and eventually forked over an additional 32 grams and $80 in cash. Since minors were involved, Carlson also faced serious charges, even though cannabis is not capable of causing bodily injury in the same way that fentanyl is.

Plugs can be found on just about any social media platform, but especially when it comes to pills, buyer beware, as deadly counterfeit pills abound.

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After a series of controversial remarks about alleged drug trade on reservations, three more Native American tribes in South Dakota banned Gov. Kristi Noem from setting foot on their reservations, bringing the total number of tribal reservations to ban her to seven. 

The Associated Press reports that tribes are reacting to remarks from the governor, essentially saying that their reservations are havens for drug dealers selling fentanyl and other drugs, and that tribal leaders are allegedly not doing anything about it.

“We’ve got some tribal leaders that I believe are personally benefiting from the cartels being there, and that’s why they attack me every day,” Noem said at a forum. “But I’m going to fight for the people who actually live in those situations, who call me and text me every day and say, ’Please, dear governor, please come help us in Pine Ridge. We are scared.’ ”

The rift between Noem and tribes in her state continues to divide the two.

Noem posted on X a video of Chris Hansen from TruBlu investigating the trade of fentanyl, which includes some footage from Native American reservations in South Dakota. “Tribal leaders should take action to ban the cartels from their lands and accept my offer to help them restore law and order to their communities while protecting their sovereignty,” she posted. “We can only do this through partnerships because the Biden Administration is failing to do their job.”

The Oglala, Rosebud, Cheyenne River, and Standing Rock Sioux tribes already took action to ban her off their reservations. Last week, the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate (SWO) tribe banned Noem from their lands, and when the SWO tribe banned her, the 13,057 square-miles of South Dakota land held by tribal nations that have already banned here amounted to nearly 17% of the state’s total area. 

The Pine Ridge Reservation (Oglala Lakota) makes up 3,469 square-miles, while the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota comprises 4,267 square-miles, and a portion of the Standing Rock Reservation in South Dakota comprises 2,530 square-miles. The portion of the Lake Traverse Reservation (Sisseton Wahpeton) in South Dakota is about 1,400-square-miles, and the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota comprises 1,391-square-miles.

The Yankton Sioux Tribe voted Friday to ban Noem from their land in southeastern South Dakota just a few days later. Since there are nine tribal reservations in the state, just a few other remaining Native American tribes in the state haven’t banned her yet.

It’s not the first time the tribes have been at odds with Noem. In 2016, the Dakota Access Pipeline protests at Standing Rock took place and again during the COVID-19 pandemic when state leaders set up coronavirus checkpoints at reservation borders to keep out unnecessary visitors. She was temporarily banned from the Oglala Sioux reservation in 2019 after the protest dispute.

Things in general haven’t fared well between South Dakota’s Native Americans when it comes to European contact. In 1890, soldiers from the United States Army shot and killed hundreds of Lakota men, women, and children at the Wounded Knee massacre—simply to stop a religious practice known as the Ghost Dance.

Noem as a Vice Presidential Running Mate

Noem was eyed as a potential Vice President running mate for Donald Trump, but her controversial comments could change that. Dallas-based political observer Cal Jillson said this tribal dispute hits different because Noem appears to be “stoking it actively, which suggests that she sees a political benefit.”

“I’m sure that Gov. Noem doesn’t mind a focus on tensions with the Native Americans in South Dakota because if we’re not talking about that, we’re talking about her shooting the dog,” Jillson told the Associated Press.

Last month, a clip from her new book No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward revealed that the governor gunned down her puppy dog when it proved incapable of being trained.

“Cricket was a wirehair pointer, about 14 months old,” the South Dakota governor wrote in her new book, adding that the female dog had an “aggressive personality” and needed to be trained to be used for hunting pheasant. This particular passage sparked outrage. Noem wrote about making “hard choices” like shooting Cricket, as well as a goat on her property.

“We love animals, but tough decisions like this happen all the time on a farm,” Noem posted on X in response. “Sadly, we just had to put down 3 horses a few weeks ago that had been in our family for 25 years.”

Noem’s new controversy with nearly every Native American reservation in the state is putting the public eye back on her remarks once again.

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A new article published in the Federal Register in February, which prefaced a digital Drug Testing Advisory Board (DTAB) meeting that was held on March 5. The topic of the article and the meeting covered the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) drug testing panels and considered adding fentanyl, while also removing MDMA.

Section 8105 from the Fighting Opioid Abuse in Transportation Act (which is included in the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act) requires the Secretary to justify whether or not to include fentanyl or other Schedule I or II substances in the Mandatory Guidelines for Federal Workplace Drug Testing Programs.

The focus on fentanyl is driven by the high number of overdose deaths in the U.S., as well as the fact that fentanyl can be used on its own and not paired with heroin or other substances. “According to the National Forensic Laboratory Information System (NFLIS) 2022 report, fentanyl was the third most frequently identified drug and accounted for 13.81% of all drugs reported by forensic laboratories,” the article stated.

According to the proposal, both fentanyl and norfentanyl (a metabolite of fentanyl) would be tested at 1 nanogram per milliliter of blood.

The article also mentioned removing MDA and MDMA from the list of drugs tested in the panel “because the number of positive specimens reported by HHS-certified laboratories does not support testing all specimens for MDA and MDMA in Federal workplace drug testing programs.”

The National Laboratory Certification Program (NLCP) shows that in 2021-2022, the positive rates of MDMA sat between 0.001%-0.003%, with less than 25% of “positive specimens are likely agency blind samples.”

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services (SAMHSA), which manages the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention’s (CSAP) DTAB, also considered removing PCP from the drug testing panel. However, decided not to pursue that change. “While PCP has an overall positivity rate nearly as low as MDMA, there are regional differences in positivity, with some areas of the country having much higher rates, so PCP remains a regulated test analyte,” the article stated.

During the March 5 digital meeting, SAMHSA led a public presentation covering “Regulatory Program Updates and Mandatory Guidelines.” The goal of the meeting was to discuss a review of the current Federal Drug Testing Program, as well as the state of the Drug-Free Workplace Program.

The National Laboratory Certification Program (NLCP) also presented an analysis of the cost and benefits of testing for fentanyl and MDMA. The most prevalent substances tested by the NFLIS in 2022 according to most frequently identified drugs in seized drug exhibits, meth was ranked at number one, followed by cocaine at number two, fentanyl at three, cannabis/THC at four, heroin at five. The ranking substance skip slightly to oxycodone at seven, followed by amphetamine at 13, hydrocodone at 15, and finally MDMA at rank 19.

The NLCP also explained that fentanyl testing in urine samples costs $0.23 to $5.00 per specimen for initial testing and $8.00 to $25.00 per specimen for confirmation testing, while oral samples costs $0.80 to $1.00 per specimen for initial testing and $22.00 to $25.00 per specimen for confirmation testing. The total cost estimate to add fentanyl to the drug testing panel could cost anywhere between $ $9,139 to $192,850 per year.

However, removing MDMA from the panel would save an estimated $3,800 and $38,000 per year (based on initial testing between $0.10 to $1.00 per specimen, and confirmation testing between $8.00 to $25.00 per specimen). MDMA is ranked as the 19th most frequently identified drug, the NLCP said the cost was negligible.

The meeting also invited the public to submit comments regarding the proposed changes, with 115 commenters agreeing with the adding fentanyl to the drug panel and 20 agreed with the addition of norfentanyl. Only 3 disagreed with the addition of fentanyl, citing the expense, the fact that it’s a time consuming process, and also the ongoing truck driver shortages.

Many commenters supported removing MDMA and MDA because of the low positivity rate, and how the removal wouldn’t “affect workplace and public safety.” However, many commenters also disagreed with MDMA/MDA removal proposal, claiming that even with a low positivity rate “not testing for it could lead to higher abuse.”

SAMHSA provided a graph that showed the drug specimens reported between January 2013-December 2023. During the 10-year period, confirmed tests for 6-acetylmorphine (referred to as 6-am), PCP, and MDMA, all remained low.

These potential changes are not yet official, as the DTAB is set to review and publish responses to the public comments. After that, a federal review process will proceed, possibly with revisions, and eventually a formal federal register article will announce the finalization of the changes.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration released a report that show year-end data from 2023 regarding the annual decrease of truck drivers. Overall, the number of truck drivers has decreased significantly every year since 2020, with the 2023 number sitting at 858,000. More truck drivers tested positive in drug tests in 2023 than ever before, and a high number of drivers refused to be screened in 2023 as well.

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Researchers in the United Kingdom have detected the presence of the powerful sedative xylazine in cannabis vapes and illicit pills taken to treat pain, insomnia and anxiety, putting people who use the tainted drugs at risk of overdose or other serious health consequences. The prevalence of xylazine has been growing since 2022, according to researchers at Kings College London, when the first overdose death from the drug in the U.K. was identified.

 Xylazine, a powerful non-opioid sedative commonly used as a veterinary tranquilizer, has been found in the drug supply in the United States for years. It is frequently mixed with heroin or fentanyl and has been implicated in thousands of overdose deaths nationwide, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although it is commonly found in the illicit drug supply, xylazine has not been approved for use in humans by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The drug is a powerful sedative that can cause overdose and death, often when mixed with other drugs. Additionally, injecting the drug can cause skin ulcers and resulting complications including infections that sometimes necessitate amputation.

Xylazine Found in Vapes and Illicit Pills

In the U.K., researchers have found xylazine in THC vapes and counterfeit prescription drugs including codeine, alprazolam (Xanax) and diazepam (Valium) tablets, according to a study published on Wednesday. The research identified xylazine in samples collected from 16 people in the U.K., including 11 who had died.

“Xylazine has already penetrated the U.K. illicit drug market and is not limited to heroin supplies. Urgent action is needed to protect both people who use heroin and the wider population of people who use drugs from its acute and chronic health harms,” the researchers wrote.

In nine of the 11 confirmed deaths, xylazine was found in combination with an opioid such as heroin or fentanyl. Researchers say the lack of such a combination in the remaining two deaths suggests that xylazine may have been part of an illicit tablet or vape.

“This is cause for alarm as a much wider population of people who use drugs beyond heroin users will be exposed to its harms,” said Dr. Caroline Copeland, senior author of the study, told The Guardian.

“We also know that most people who buy heroin will not intend to buy xylazine and this combination increases the risk of overdose,” Copeland added. “Xylazine was designated an ‘emerging threat’ to the United States and this public health threat is a growing concern for the U.K.”

Copeland added that the total number of deaths in the U.K. is probably even higher because xylazine stays in the body for only a short time. Since August 2023, the last death covered by the research, “we’ve had several more deaths so it is only continuing and increasing,” the researcher said.

Dr. Benjamin Caplan, M.D., the chief medical officer at cannabis consultations provider CED Clinic and the author of The Doctor-Approved Cannabis Handbook, says that the “discovery of xylazine in counterfeit codeine, diazepam (Valium) tablets, and recently within THC vapes — particularly those sourced from home-grown suppliers — is particularly troubling.”

“These counterfeit products, often look like products sold from reputable sources, and so they may appear safe, but in fact may pose a grave threat to unsuspecting consumers,” Caplan, who was not involved in the U.K. study, wrote in an email to High Times. “My professional experience includes dealing with the aftermath of such substances, including patients who have suffered or even lost loved ones to adulterated products that they purchased outside of regulated dispensaries, which are closely monitored to avoid any such contamination.”

A U.K. government spokesperson said that officials “are aware of the threat from xylazine and are determined to protect people from the threat posed by this drug and other illicit synthetic drugs.”

“We will not hesitate to act to keep the public safe,” the spokesperson said. “Following advice from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, we intend to make xylazine a class C drug meaning anyone supplying this substance will face up to 14 years in prison, a fine or both.”

But study co-author Dr. Adam Holland, a co-chair of the drugs special interest group at the University of Bristol, said the increase in drug contamination and overdose deaths is a clear sign that punitive drug laws are not working.

“We need to expand the range of harm reduction interventions available for people who use drugs, including drug checking and overdose prevention centers, to give them the opportunities they need to stay safe,” Holland said.

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At a conference last week, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Mexico’s president since 2018, said, “We are not going to act as policemen for any foreign government,” as quoted by the Associated Press. “Mexico First. Our home comes first.”

As the Associated Press noted, López Obrador has, in previous years, “laid out various justifications for his ‘hugs, not bullets’ policy of avoiding clashes with the cartels.” 

“In the past he has said ‘you cannot fight violence with violence,’ and on other occasions he has argued the government has to address ‘the causes’ of drug cartel violence, ascribing them to poverty or a lack of opportunities,” the AP reported, adding that “López Obrador’s view — like many of his policies — harkens back to the 1970s, a period when many officials believed that Mexican cartels selling drugs to gringos was a U.S. issue, not a Mexican one.”

On Friday, the president “basically argued that drugs were a U.S. problem, not a Mexican one,” and he “offered to help limit the flow of drugs into the United States, but only, he said, on humanitarian grounds,” according to the Associated Press.

“Of course we are going to cooperate in fighting drugs, above all because it has become a very sensitive, very sad humanitarian issue, because a lot of young people are dying in the United States because of fentanyl,” the president said. Over 70,000 Americans die annually because of synthetic opioids like fentanyl, which are mainly made in Mexico from precursor chemicals smuggled in from China,” López Obrador said.

In February, The New York Times reported that United States “law enforcement officials spent years looking into allegations that allies of” López Obrador “met with and took millions of dollars from drug cartels after he took office.”

The Times, citing U.S. records and three people familiar with the matter, said that the previously unreported inquiry “uncovered information pointing to potential links between powerful cartel operatives and Mexican advisers and officials close to the president while he governed the country.”

“But the United States never opened a formal investigation into Mr. López Obrador, and the officials involved ultimately shelved the inquiry. They concluded that the U.S. government had little appetite to pursue allegations against the leader of one of America’s top allies, said the three people familiar with the case, who were not authorized to speak publicly,” the Times reported at the time.

More from the Times’ report at the time:

“Much of the information collected by U.S. officials came from informants whose accounts can be difficult to corroborate and sometimes end up being incorrect. The investigators obtained the information while looking into the activities of drug cartels, and it was not clear how much of what the informants told them was independently confirmed. For example, records show that the investigators were told by an informant that one of Mr. López Obrador’s closest confidants met with Ismael Zambada García, a top leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel, before his victory in the 2018 presidential election. A different source told them that after the president was elected, a founder of the notoriously violent Zetas cartel paid $4 million to two of Mr. López Obrador’s allies in the hope of being released from prison. Investigators obtained information from a third source suggesting that drug cartels were in possession of videos of the president’s sons picking up drug money, records show.”

López Obrador, responding to The New York Times’ reporting, vehemently denied the allegations and called on the United States to clear up the matter.

“It’s all completely false,” López Obrador said in February. “The U.S. government is going to have to address this.”

He even suggested that the report could damage Mexico’s relationship with the U.S.

“Does this diminish the trust the Mexican government has in the United States?” Mr. López Obrador said, as quoted by the Times. “Time will tell.”

A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Justice said there was no investigation into the Mexican president at the time.

The Associated Press, in its report on Lopez Obrador’s latest comments, has a rundown on his relatively lax view toward the cartels:

“López Obrador has argued before against ‘demonizing’ the drug cartels, and has encouraged leaders of the Catholic church to try to negotiate peace pacts between warring gangs. Explaining why he has ordered the army not to attack cartel gunmen, López Obrador said in 2022 ‘we also take care of the lives of the gang members, they are human beings.’ He has also sometimes appeared not to take the violence issue seriously. In June 2023, he said of one drug gang that had abducted 14 police officers: ‘I’m going to tell on you to your fathers and grandfathers,’ suggesting they should get a good spanking. Asked about those comments at the time, residents of one town in the western Mexico state of Michoacan who have lived under drug cartel control for years reacted with disgust and disbelief.”

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A lawsuit has accused an Oregon nurse of replacing a patient’s fentanyl IV with tap water, leading to a bacterial infection that killed him.

Horace Wilson, known to his family and friends as “Buddy” was a founding member of an award-winning Oregon cannabis company called Decibel Farms. He fell off a ladder in January of 2022, which ruptured his spleen causing him to be hospitalized. He underwent several surgeries after which he started experiencing complications, including sepsis. A blood test revealed a bacterial growth later identified as Staphylococcus epidermidis, according to the Oregonian. Wilson died on February 25 from treatment-resistant sepsis related to this infection.

At the time of Wilson’s death, his family and business partner passed it off as basic incompetence on the hospital’s part mixed with bad luck, but two years after Wilson’s death, some shocking new developments began to unfold implicating that a nurse working for Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center where Wilson was receiving care may have been siphoning fentanyl out of IV bags and replacing it with tap water, leading to the bacterial infection that ultimately killed him. His estate filed a lawsuit against the nurse in question this past Monday. The Medford Police Department released a statement about the matter on January 3.

“In early December 2023 the Medford Police Department was contacted by officials from Asante in regard to a former employee that they believe was involved in the theft of controlled substances prescribed to patients. Additionally, there was concern that this behavior resulted in adverse patient care, though the extent of the impact on those patients is yet to be determined. MPD is actively working on investigating these claims,” a Medford Police Department Facebook post said. “MPD has received numerous calls from individuals asking if they or a family member have been impacted by the suspected actions of the former Asante employee. Asante has informed MPD that they have identified the involved patients and have notified or are in the process of notifying them or their families.

It is unclear exactly how many patients may have been affected by the nurse’s alleged actions but a lawyer representing the estate of Horace Wilson told the Oregonian he has at least nine clients whose medications may have been swapped out for tap water. The nurse in question was named in the $11.5 million lawsuit as Dani Marie Schofield, though Medford police have not confirmed that she is a suspect nor has Asante released a statement about her. 

Shaun Bishop of Decibel Farms and Horace Wilson’s business partner before he passed told High Times that his friend Buddy has been dearly missed, and the recent news about the possibility that his death may have been avoidable has “added insult to injury.”

“When it came to the time of his death, we all just kind of threw our hands up and we’re like, yeah, hospitals suck, you know. That’s a good place to go if you want if you wanna die,” Bishop said. “We just saw through it and figured it was incompetence just from modern medicine and hospitals and the way they operate. But finding out that it was from criminal activity brings a whole ‘nother source of pain to the situation for me and primarily his children.”

Bishop stressed that Wilson was a great business partner, great friend, lover of cannabis and loved his kids more than anything else in the world. He left behind five children, one of whom, Bishop told High Times, was at his side the entire time he was in the hospital. To Bishop’s knowledge, that same child wrote a letter of complaint to Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center regarding Schofield and her perceived incompetence at the time, though none of them necessarily suspected criminal activity at the time.

“[Wilson’s daughter] spent the month he was in the hospital. She was there primarily by herself for most of that time except when the other kids or I would come visit. So she was the closest to the nurse,” Bishop said. “She knew that nurse on a daily basis and had really weird feelings about her since the beginning. She voiced it early, early on that there’s something wrong with that nurse. We were like, yeah, we know, [name redacted] It’s frustrating being in the hospital, but we didn’t know it was a criminal vibe she was picking up.”

The child in question whose name I’ve left out of this out of an abundance of respect for the privacy of the family declined to comment for this article because it could affect the integrity of the lawsuit. No criminal charges have yet been announced against Schofield. The business Wilson left behind is a multiple award-winning cannabis producer that helped pioneer the very early days of Oregon’s legal market. Bishop told High Times that Wilson dying was incredibly hard on the company but also that he helped lay down a solid framework so Decibel Farms could continue on without him.

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The DEA issued a letter Monday directed at online retailers selling pill presses, informing them that they are required to report sales of these presses to the DEA.

According to the DEA, pill presses are commonly used to disguise the deadly opioid fentanyl by replicating existing prescription medications. These replicated pills are then sold to people who are typically unaware they’re buying fentanyl. These pill presses are incredibly easy to find online and sell for as little as 40 dollars. This, in part, has fueled a scourge of overdoses in the last several years, 110,757 in 2022 alone by the DEA’s count.

“With these tools, criminal actors are able to produce pills that look like legitimate prescription medication—like oxycodone, Xanax, and Adderall—but are not,” the DEA said. “Those pills actually contain fentanyl and other deadly drugs.  Criminals then sell those pills on social media and in our communities, often to people who do not know that the pills are not real or that they contain deadly drugs.”

The DEA implicitly stated that pursuant to the Controlled Substances Act, e-commerce retailers responsible for selling these pill presses are required to keep records of everybody who buys and sells a press, and also required to report this information to the DEA.

“DEA has found that pill presses and stamps that can be used to make fentanyl pills are being offered for sale on various e-commerce platforms.  E-commerce entities selling pill press machines are generally ‘regulated persons’ under the Controlled Substances Act, 21 U.S.C. § 802(38), and therefore, subject to the recordkeeping, identification, and reporting requirements of 21 U.S.C. § 830,” the DEA said. “As regulated entities, e-commerce platforms are required to comply with CSA recordkeeping and reporting requirements on the distribution, importation, and exportation of pill press machines.  This means that they must collect information on the buyer and seller and provide notice to the DEA of any sale, import, export, or transfer.”

The DEA said that the vast majority of these fake pills are produced by two particular Mexican cartels. The United States government has put increasing pressure on Mexico in recent years to curb the flow of fentanyl, including fentanyl disguised in these fake pills, from crossing over the United States Mexico border. Even after signs were posted all over Sinaloa appearing to ban the production and sale of fentanyl by the authority of the cartels, fentanyl overdoses and seizures have not slowed down at all.

“The drug cartels primarily responsible for manufacturing fentanyl and smuggling it into the United States are the Sinaloa Cartel and Jalisco Cartel.  These cartels, their members and associates, and other drug traffickers are using pill presses to shape fentanyl powder into pills, and they are using stamps to imprint markings and logos onto those pills as they are pressed,” the DEA said.

According to the DEA, over 79 million fake fentanyl-containing pills were seized in 2023, which marked a 33% increase over pill seizures in 2022. DEA lab tests have shown that 70% of seized pills are pressed and contain fentanyl. Seventy percent of all drug overdoses in 2022 were also due to ingestion of fentanyl.

“Drug traffickers are killing Americans by selling fentanyl hidden in fake pills made to look like real prescription medicines. This is possible because drug traffickers are able to buy the tools they need, like pill presses and stamps, online,” said DEA Administrator Anne Milgram. “E-commerce platforms cannot turn a blind eye to the fentanyl crisis and to the sale of pill presses on their platforms.  They must do their part to protect the public, and when they do not, DEA will hold them accountable.”

The DEA said that they launched the Industry Liaison Project in 2019, in which they communicated with over two dozen of the largest online retailers about pill press sales on their websites. They said that several, including Amazon and Etsy, banned the sale of pill presses on their platforms outright. However, as the hyperlink I included at the top of this article proves, dozens and dozens of pill presses are very much still for sale on Amazon. I also found several pill presses for sale on Etsy with about five seconds of effort on Google.

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A higher dose version of naloxone, the nasal spray used to reverse opioid-induced overdoses, did not lead to more saved lives, according to a new study published earlier this month.

The findings, published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, indicated that “no significant differences were found in the survival of aided persons” in the new eight-milligram naloxone.

According to the study, there were likewise no significant differences in “the number of doses administered by law enforcement by formulation, suggesting that, in this field test, the increased dosage did not provide added benefit, even in light of the increased prevalence of synthetic opioids, including fentanyl, in the drug supply.”

“Other studies have also found that [the] number of naloxone doses administered in response to overdose has not changed over time, even with 4-mg and other lower-potency formulations,” the study said. 

“In this study, persons who received the 8-mg product were more than twice as likely to experience postnaloxone opioid withdrawal signs and symptoms including vomiting, compared with those who received the 4-mg intranasal naloxone product. When vomiting was analyzed as an isolated sign, no significant differences between formulations were found. However, the high prevalence of vomiting as an isolated sign in both groups is concerning because of the risk of aspiration in sedated persons.”

Dr. Michael Dailey, one of the authors of the study, told the Associated Press that what “was really remarkable was the survival was the same, but the amount of withdrawal symptoms was significantly larger in the people that got the 8-milligram dose.”

The study was conducted between March 2022–August 2023, when the  “New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) supplied some New York State Police (NYSP) troops with 8-mg intranasal naloxone” and “other troops continued to receive 4-mg intranasal naloxone to treat suspected opioid overdose,” the authors explained in the study’s abstract. 

“NYSP submitted detailed reports to NYSDOH when naloxone was administered. No significant differences were observed in survival, mean number of naloxone doses administered, prevalence of most postnaloxone signs and symptoms, postnaloxone anger or combativeness, or hospital transport refusal among 4-mg and 8-mg intranasal naloxone recipients; however, persons who received the 8-mg intranasal naloxone product had 2.51 times the risk for opioid withdrawal signs and symptoms, including vomiting, than did those who received the 4-mg intranasal naloxone product (95% CI = 1.51–4.18),” they explained. 

“This initial study suggests no benefits to law enforcement administration of higher-dose naloxone were identified; more research is needed to guide public health agencies in considering whether 8-mg intranasal naloxone confers additional benefits for community organizations.”

The authors noted that although the 8-mg naloxone was first approved by the Food and Drug Administration for emergency use in 2021, “no real-world data on use of the 8-mg product are available.”

“Harm reduction advocates and medical professionals have noted potential harms of higher-dose naloxone, including severe withdrawal signs and symptoms, which can result in refusal of medical care, rapid reuse of opioids, reluctance to use naloxone if witnessing an overdose, and respiratory complications, including pulmonary edema and consequences of aspiration of vomitus,” they said. 

“To evaluate this potential risk, in 2022, NYSDOH partnered with NYSP to field test 8-mg intranasal naloxone use by some NYSP troops. The aims of the study were to conduct real-world comparisons of survival, the average number of doses administered, presence of postnaloxone signs and symptoms, and hospital transport refusal among persons receiving the 8-mg or the 4-mg intranasal naloxone products.”

According to the Associated Press, “Dailey said the study did not lead him to endorse one product over another,” but he added that it is “important for us to recognize that the potential for increased side effects is real.”

The authors of the study also pointed out that their research was “subject to at least four limitations.” 

“First, responding law enforcement personnel are not medical providers, and inconsistencies in their classification of postnaloxone symptoms or behaviors might have occurred. However, NYSP personnel have been reporting using a similar form for several years and are experienced in assessing symptoms and behaviors. Second, the number of 8-mg intranasal naloxone administration reports included was limited because only three of 11 NYSP troops received this formulation. With an increased sample size, additional differences in outcomes between groups might have been observed,” they explained. “Third, no information could be compared about differences between groups on the type or dose of substance used before suspected overdose, vital signs, or demographics. Finally, because the data were gathered from New York State only, the opioid potency might not reflect that in other areas.”

Although the “study suggests that there are no benefits to law enforcement administration of higher-dose naloxone,” the authors said that “additional data are needed to guide public health agencies in considering whether the 8-mg intranasal naloxone product provides benefits compared with the usual 4-mg intranasal naloxone product among community organizations, including law enforcement, given the lack of difference in survival rates or number of naloxone doses administered and the increased prevalence of opioid withdrawal signs and symptoms, including vomiting, in 8-mg recipients, when compared with recipients of 4-mg intranasal naloxone.”

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