Thousands Demand Firing Of DEA Chief After He Calls Medical Marijuana A ‘Joke’

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/thousands-demand-firing-of-dea-chief-after-he-calls-medical-marijuana-a-joke/ar-BBmWl48

A petition calling for President Barack Obama to fire acting Drug Enforcement Administration chief Chuck Rosenberg over his remarks on medical marijuana had gathered over 28,000 signatures, by Thursday afternoon. 

Rosenberg, a former FBI official who was tapped to lead the DEA in May, has come under fire for denying that smoking marijuana can help some medical conditions.

“What really bothers me is the notion that marijuana is also medicinal — because it’s not,” Rosenberg told reporters last week. “We can have an intellectually honest debate about whether we should legalize something that is bad and dangerous, but don’t call it medicine — that is a joke.

“There are pieces of marijuana — extracts or constituents or component parts — that have great promise,” he continued. “But if you talk about smoking the leaf of marijuana, which is what people are talking about when they talk about medicinal marijuana, it has never been shown to be safe or effective as medicine.”  

Pro-legalization group Marijuana Majority launched the Change.org petition last Friday, calling Rosenberg’s comments “highly offensive.”

“President Obama should fire Chuck Rosenberg and appoint a new DEA administrator who will respect science, medicine, patients and voters,” the petition reads.

As of Thursday afternoon at 4 p.m. EST, 28,343 individuals had signed it, including musician and breast cancer survivor Melissa Etheridge. 

“My mom uses medical marijuana to find some relief when the pain in her legs caused by multiple sclerosis becomes too much to bear. So this medicine is no joke to my family, or to the millions of other families who have seen the benefits of doctor-recommended cannabis for themselves,” said Tom Angell, the chairman of Marijuana Majority. “And numerous scientific studies back up these experiences with data. It’s unacceptable for the Obama administration’s top drug official to be so ignorant of what science says about drugs.”

In a Thursday statement, the DEA defended Rosenberg’s remarks:

“To clarify, Acting Administrator Rosenberg indicated that marijuana should be subject to the same levels of approval and scrutiny as any other substance intended for use as a medicine. DEA supports efforts to research potential medical uses of marijuana. To this end, DEA has never denied a registration request from anyone conducting marijuana research using FDA approved protocols. Acting Administrator Rosenberg was also clear to point out there are a number of marijuana components and/or extracts which appear to show promise as medicines, but have not yet been approved as safe and effective. His comments reflected the fact that FDA has not approved any medicinal uses for smoked marijuana.”

Rosenberg’s remarks run contrary to studies that have shown smoked cannabis is safe and effective for medical use, including in treating chronic pain associated with HIV-related neuropathy and helping control spasticity in multiple sclerosis patients. Research has also shown that cannabidiol, a non-psychoactive compound extracted from marijuana plants, can help treat children suffering from severe epilepsy. 

However, the comments do line up with the DEA’s official stance on marijuana. The agency considers cannabis a Schedule I drug, the most dangerous of five substance categories in the Controlled Substances Act. Schedule I drugs, which also include heroin, LSD and ecstasy, have “no currently accepted medical use” according to federal classification.

Last week, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called for marijuana to be reclassified as a less dangerous substance, which would allow federally-funded research on cannabis’ medical properties. 

Medical pot got another boost Wednesday when New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed two bills allowing patients with serious medical need to gain access to the drug before a statewide program goes into effect next year. 

“I deeply sympathize with New Yorkers suffering from serious illness and I appreciate that medical marijuana may alleviate their chronic pain and debilitating symptoms,” Cuomo said in a statement.

Medical marijuana is legal in 23 states and the District of Columbia, while an additional 17 states have approved the use of cannabidiol. 

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DEA: Mexican cartels are taking over

https://personalliberty.com/dea-mexican-cartels-are-taking-over/

As the Obama administration continues with its weak border policies, the Drug Enforcement Administration is warning that one of the biggest criminal threats Americans face is Mexican traffickers moving freely across the southern border.

That Mexican cartels are moving huge amounts of drugs across the southern border certainly isn’t news.

As we noted back in 2013:

Selling marijuana to U.S. citizens is grossing cartels anywhere from $2 billion to $20 billion annually, depending on whose estimates you believe. And a growing market for the purer variety of methamphetamine that the cartels are able to produce in industrial-style “superlabs” in Mexico is also driving profits.

And as we noted in 2014:

National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd told members of Congress that laws requiring special treatment for young people coming into the United States illegally have tied up roughly 40 percent of Border Patrol manpower. The union president told lawmakers that the Barack Obama Administration’s “catch and release” immigration policies are largely to blame.

And as we noted on several other occasions.

But what’s striking about the DEA’s 2015 National Drug Threat Assessment is the amount of ground Mexican drug cartels have been able to claim within U.S. territory, thanks to the Obama administration’s immigration policies.

Nearly every major Mexican cartel now has territory in the U.S., including:

• Los Cuinis
• Beltran-Leyva Organization (BLO)
• La Familia Michoacana
• Gulf Cartel
• Jalisco Cartel — New Generation (CJNG)
• Juarez Cartel
• The Knights Templar
• Sinaloa Cartel
• The Zetas

And that’s bad news for crime in major U.S. cities as well as more rural areas of the nation.

“These Mexican poly-drug organizations traffic heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine, and marijuana throughout the United States, using established transportation routes and distribution networks,” the DEA report said. “They control drug trafficking across the Southwest Border and are moving to expand their share of US illicit drug markets, particularly heroin markets. National-level gangs and neighborhood gangs continue to form relationships with Mexican TCOs to increase profits for the gangs through drug distribution and transportation, for the enforcement of drug payments, and for protection of drug transportation corridors from use by rival gangs.”

Here’s a DEA map that illustrates cartel influence throughout the nation:

According to the DEA, the cartels operate and grow thanks to “a supply chain system that functions on an as-needed basis” and taking on new members known via family ties and friendships.

“There are no other organizations at this time with the infrastructure and power to challenge Mexican TCOs for control of the US drug market,” the DEA report said. “Mexican TCOs will continue to serve primarily as wholesale suppliers of drugs to the United States to distance themselves from US law enforcement. Mexican TCOs will continue to rely on US-based gangs to distribute drugs at the retail level.”

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Feds allege doctor ran deadly ‘pain pill mill’

http://www.9news.com/story/local/2013/08/26/1874846/

CRAIG, Colo. – The 9Wants to Know investigators have learned the feds arrested a well-known doctor who they allege has been over prescribing prescription pain medication that resulted in two patient deaths and many other patients getting medication to feed their addictions.

A grand jury has handed up an 35-count indictment against Dr. Joel Miller charging him with a long list of crimes including heath care fraud, money laundering, dispensing a controlled substance and dispensing a controlled substance resulting in death.

In an exclusive interview, Dr. Joel Miller denies that he has done anything wrong or that he is responsible for any patient deaths.

“The question, ‘Did any of my patients die because of the medication I gave them,’ and the answer is, ‘No,'” Miller said in an interview taped weeks before his arrest.

Federal court documents containing the charges were made public Monday afternoon, a day earlier than originally expected.

Miller calls the investigation, being conducted by the Department of Justice’s Drug Enforcement Administration, a witch-hunt.

“I’m David and the Department of Justice is Goliath,” Miller said.

He believes federal agents are going after him to boost their drug-related arrest numbers. He says agents know small town doctors don’t have a lot of money for expensive attorneys.

Since the DEA took away Miller’s certification to prescribe powerful pain medication, more than a dozen of Miller’s patients have called 9NEWS to say they stand behind the doctor.

Former patients describe Miller as an excellent doctor who was well-liked and well respected in the Craig community.

Miller says he believes he will win his case against the government and plans to be back practicing medicine.

“That is where I belong. That’s the only place I’ve ever wanted to be since I started medical school, in a small town like Craig,” Miller said.

Have a comment or tip for investigative reporter Jace Larson? Call him at 303-871-1432 or e-mail him
jace.larson@9news.com

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DEA Wiretaps OF CA Drug Ring May Not Be Deemed Legal, DOJ Fears

http://www.thecrimereport.org/news/crime-and-justice-news/2015-11-fed-wiretaps-may-be-illegal

Federal drug agents built a massive wiretapping operation in the Los Angeles suburbs, secretly intercepting tens of thousands of phone calls and text messages to monitor drug traffickers across the U.S. despite objections from Justice Department lawyers who fear the practice may not be legal, USA Today reports. Nearly all of the surveillance was authorized by one state judge in Riverside County, who last year signed off on almost five times as many wiretaps as any other judge in the nation. The judge’s orders allowed investigators, most from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, to intercept more than 2 million conversations involving 44,000 people.

The eavesdropping is aimed at dismantling drug rings that have turned Los Angeles’ eastern suburbs into what DEA says is the busiest U.S. shipping corridor for heroin and methamphetamine. Riverside wiretaps are supposed to be tied to crime within the county, but investigators have relied on them to make arrests and seize shipments of cash and drugs as far away as New York and Virginia, sometimes concealing the surveillance in the process. The surveillance has raised concerns among hDOJ lawyers in Los Angeles, who have mostly refused to use the results in federal court because they believe the state court’s eavesdropping orders are unlikely to withstand a legal challenge. “It was made very clear to the agents that if you’re going to go the state route, then best wishes, good luck and all that, but that case isn’t coming to federal court,” a former Justice Department lawyer said. 

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Torture

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torture

In the healthcare system, the word TORTURE really doesn’t exist… in reality… it is normally labeled as irresponsible professional negligence and/or malpractice.  Needless to say, intentionally cause physical/mental “harm” to a patient can have its financial/professional/legal consequences for the healthcare provider.

Torture is the act of deliberately inflicting severe physical or psychological pain and possibly injury to an organism, usually to one who is physically restrained or otherwise under the torturer’s control or custody and unable to defend against what is being done to him or her. Torture has been carried out or sanctioned by individuals, groups, and states throughout history from ancient times to modern day, and forms of torture can vary greatly in duration from only a few minutes to several days or even longer. Reasons for torture can include punishment, revenge, political re-education, deterrence, interrogation or coercion of the victim or a third party, or simply the sadistic gratification of those carrying out or observing the torture. The need to torture another is thought to be the result of internal psychological pressure in the psyche of the torturer. The torturer may or may not intend to kill or injure the victim, but sometimes torture is deliberately fatal and can precede a murder or serve as a form of capital punishment. In other cases, the torturer may be indifferent to the condition of the victim. Alternatively, some forms of torture are designed to inflict psychological pain or leave as little physical injury or evidence as possible while achieving the same psychological devastation. Depending on the aim, even a form of torture that is intentionally fatal may be prolonged to allow the victim to suffer as long as possible (such as half-hanging).

Although torture was sanctioned by some states historically, it is prohibited under international law and the domestic laws of most countries, as developed in the mid-20th century. It is considered to be a violation of human rights, and is declared to be unacceptable by Article 5 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Signatories of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the Additional Protocols I and II of 8 June 1977 officially agree not to torture captured persons in armed conflicts, whether international or internal. Torture is also prohibited by the United Nations Convention Against Torture, which has been ratified by 158 countries.^[1] Although torture is universally condemned by all democratic nations, there have been many suspected or known instances of its sanctioned use – regardless of its legality. An example of this is the use of euphemistically-named enhanced interrogation techniques including waterboarding, known to have been used by the United States after the September 11 attacks.

National and international legal prohibitions on torture derive from a consensus that torture and similar ill-treatment are immoral, as well as impractical.^[2] Despite these international conventions, organizations that monitor abuses of human rights (e.g., Amnesty International, the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims, etc.) report widespread use condoned by states in many regions of the world.^[3] Amnesty International estimates that at least 81 world governments currently practice torture, some of them openly.^[4] Historically, in those countries where torture was legally supported and officially condoned, wealthy patrons sponsored the creation of extraordinarily ingenious devices and techniques of torture.

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Hate Crimes Against Individuals with Disabilities

http://www.civilrights.org/publications/hatecrimes/disabilities.html

In 2007, 79 hate crimes were reported against individuals with disabilities, one percent of the total reported. This represents a significant increase from the 44 hate crimes (0.44 percent of the total) reported in 2003.

Through much of our country’s history and well into the twentieth century, people with disabilities — including those with developmental delays, epilepsy, cerebral palsy, and other physical and mental impairments — were seen as useless and dependent, hidden and excluded from society, either in their own homes or in institutions. Now, this history of isolation is gradually giving way to inclusion in all aspects of society, and people with disabilities everywhere are living and working in communities alongside family and friends. But this has not been a painless process. People with disabilities often seem “different” in the eyes of people without disabilities. They may look different or speak differently. They may require the assistance of a wheelchair, a cane, or other assistive technologies. They may have seizures or difficulty understanding seemingly simple directions. These perceived differences evoke a range of emotions in others, from misunderstanding and apprehension to feelings of superiority and hatred.

Bias against people with disabilities takes many forms, often resulting in discriminatory actions in employment, housing, and public accommodations. Disability bias can also manifest itself in the form of violence — and it is imperative that a message be sent to our country that these acts of bias motivated hatred are not acceptable in our society.

Numerous disability and criminology studies, over many years, indicate a high crime rate against people with disabilities. However, the U.S. Office on Crime Statistics reported in 2002 that in many cases, crime victims with disabilities have never participated in the criminal justice process, “even if they have been repeatedly and brutally victimized.” There are a number of challenges for disability-based hate crime reporting. For instance, hate crimes against people with disabilities are often never reported to law enforcement agencies. The victim may be ashamed, afraid of retaliation, or afraid of not being believed. The victim may be reliant on a caregiver or other third party to report the crime, who fails to do so. Or, the crime may be reported, but there may be no reporting of the victim’s disability, especially in cases where the victim has an invisible disability that they themselves do not divulge.

Perhaps the biggest reason for underreporting of disability-based hate crimes is that disability-based bias crimes are all too frequently mislabeled as “abuse” and never directed from the social service or education systems to the criminal justice system. Even very serious crimes — including rape, assault, and vandalism — are too-frequently labeled “abuse.” We have to find lawyers for drug crimes & must ensure justice for victims & proper sentence for the accused.

In one of the few disability-bias cases successfully prosecuted, in 1999, Eric Krochmaluk, a man with cognitive disabilities from Middletown, N.J., was kidnapped, choked, beaten, burned with cigarettes, taped to a chair, his eyebrows shaved, and ultimately abandoned in a forest. Eight people were subsequently indicted for this hate crime — making this one of the first prosecutions of a disability-based hate crime in America. Make sure you have a look at this content here to seek a lawyer’s help.

The special problems associated with investigating and prosecuting hate violence against someone with a disability makes the availability of federal resources for state and local authorities all that much more important to ensure that justice prevails. To address this need, the pending Local Law Enforcement Hate Crime Prevention Act (LLEHCPA), discussed below, will expand existing federal criminal civil rights protections to include disability-based hate crimes.

It is critical that people with disabilities are covered in the federal hate crimes statute in order to bring the full protection of the law to those targeted for violent, bias-motivated crimes simply because they have a disability.

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Epidural Epidemic: Treatment For Painful Backs Might Cause More Harm Than Good

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/video/3316122-epidural-epidemic-treatment-for-painful-backs-might-cause-more-harm-than-good/
according to CBS2 Health Reporter Lisa Sigell, they say their suffering was caused by treatment itself: routine epidurals they received either for back pain or during childbirth.

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No charges filed after woman with fibromyalgia dies in jail

http://diseasestreatment.info/no-charges-filed-after-woman-with-fibromyalgia-dies-in-jail/

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SENATORS APPLAUD CDC FOR NEW PRESCRIBING GUIDELINES

http://www.markey.senate.gov/news/press-releases/senators-applaud-cdc-for-new-prescribing-guidelines

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

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Shifting Patterns of Prescription Opioid and Heroin Abuse in the United States

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc1505541

From 2010 through 2013, there was a notable downturn in abuse of prescription opioids and a coincident increase in abuse of heroin in the United States.1 Given that there is some evidence of a relationship between the two trends (e.g., some persons who abuse prescription opioids switch to heroin for a number of reasons and drug interchangeability has been observed),2-4 we sought to examine this relationship more closely, including the validity of reports suggesting regional differences in the balance between prescription opioid and heroin abuse.5

Data on opioid abuse in the previous month were collected quarterly from January 1, 2008, through September 31, 2014, with the use of self-administered surveys that were completed anonymously by independent cohorts of 15,227 patients with opioid dependence, as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition, who were entering nonmethadone-maintenance treatment programs throughout the United States. Of these patients, 267 agreed to online interviews to gather qualitative information in order to amplify and interpret findings from the structured national survey.

Figure 1Figure 1National Rates of Abuse of Opioids in the Previous Month among 15,227 Respondents. shows the unadjusted rates of abuse of prescription opioids only, abuse of prescription opioids and heroin, or abuse of heroin only among respondents who reported such abuse in the previous month from 2008 through 2014. Rates of exclusive prescription opioid abuse remained stable from 2008 through 2010, at 70%, but then decreased steadily, with an average annual reduction of 6.1%, to less than 50% in 2014. Conversely, concurrent abuse of both heroin and prescription opioids in the previous month increased, with an average annual increase of 10.3%, from 23.6% in 2008 to 41.8% in 2014. Although the exclusive use of heroin was low in this population, it more than doubled from 2008 through 2014 (from 4.3% to 9.0%).

The national data obscure important regional differences (Fig. S1 in the Supplementary Appendix, available with the full text of this letter at NEJM.org). The Northeast showed the most striking shifts in patterns of abuse. The West followed closely behind, with concurrent heroin and prescription opioid abuse surpassing exclusive prescription opioid abuse in 2014. The Midwest and South followed similar trends, with the latter showing exclusive prescription opioid abuse to be more prevalent than in any other region.

These findings suggest that as prescription opioid use has waned, concurrent heroin abuse has increased, with important, distinct regional variations. The factors contributing to these evolving changes are not well established. However, in our exploratory qualitative online survey of a subgroup of 267 patients, among the 129 respondents who reported abusing prescription opioids prior to heroin use, 73.0% (92 of 126 respondents) primarily cited practical factors, such as accessibility and cost, when explaining their transition to heroin. Three of the 129 respondents did not provide an explanation for their transition to heroin.

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