Tag Archives: illegal drugs

Stopping The Drugs Entering America

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On March 20th, The Gateway Pundit reported that the Coast Guard intercepted more than 45,000 pounds of illegal drugs valued at over $500 million at Port Everglades in Florida.

The article reports:

Noem (Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem) said during remarks to reporters, “In the first 100 days of President Trump’s administration, he has already delivered on his campaign promises of making America safe again and to help the American people to be more secure as well.”

…“Today is a historic day. Here at Port Everglades, over 22.5 tons, or 45,000 pounds of cocaine and 50 pounds of marijuana, are valued at over a half a billion dollars, are going to be offloaded and taken out of circulation.”

“This is an unprecedented seizure of illicit drugs that is the result of 14 different interdictions of drug smuggling vessels off the coasts of Mexico, Central, and South America, by the crews of the Coast Guard Cutter Stone and Coast Guard Cutter Mohawk. They’ve done incredible work here with their crews to remove these drugs out of the system so they can be destroyed.”

“These efforts were coordinated with the helicopter tactical squadron aircrews that you see with us today as well as Tactical Team Pacific, law enforcement detachments that were involved, and partner agencies that are operating in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.”

We won’t really end drug trafficking until we end the demand, but this is definitely a step in the right direction. We need to find ways to help addicts recover and reduce the demand for illicit drugs in this country.

Medical Marijuana: Benefit or Slippery Slope?

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Author:  R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D

Well, here we go again. The N.C. General Assembly may be considering making marijuana legal for medical use, which they declined to approve in the last session. Apparently enough people in North Carolina (or at least in the General Assembly) are pushing this idea so that it keeps coming up. Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of medical marijuana. It should be noted that medical marijuana is legal in 38 states and the District of Columbia.

There is surprisingly little valid scientific research on the health benefits of marijuana. Most of what is claimed is based on anecdotal reports or small studies on short term benefits. Some of the claims are that it relieves nausea caused by some cancer treatments, relief of chronic pain, although not severe pain such as from surgery or broken bones, epilepsy and seizures, Alzheimer disease symptoms, HIV/Aids, and Crohn’s disease. Marijuana has over 100 different chemicals, so it is difficult to isolate the beneficial elements for each disorder. CBD is alleged to have positive effects on health while THC produces the euphoria or high that people experience. It should also be noted that marijuana is used to treat the symptoms of a medical condition, not the cause of that condition. Another important issue is whether there already exist legal drugs or treatments that patients can readily access that address these symptoms.

There are also negative effects. Because marijuana is a mind altering substance, changed perception and reaction times can negatively affect things like driving, leading to more injuries and deaths. Children can be especially harmed if they access marijuana, particularly ingestible forms such as gummy bears, cookies, brownies, etc. Although the long term impacts are not clearly understood, cognitive thinking ability and memory declines are documented for all ages. Confusion, poor muscle coordination, and dizziness are common. Motivation to lead a rewarding traditional life of work, family, and associated rewards often deteriorates, leading to nonproductive citizens. No society can flourish with large numbers of citizens addicted to drugs. Of course, the euphoria induced by marijuana is strongly related to its addictive potential and especially to its role as a gateway drug that leads the user to more potent drugs such as meth or heroin. Having worked in the N.C. Department of Correction as the Mental Health Services Director, I can testify to the numerous cases of criminal behavior in pursuit of illegal drugs that started with smoking marijuana. Interestingly, the FDA has not approved marijuana for general medical use except lab produced Epidiolex, Marinol and Cesamet to treat nausea and vomiting from chemotherapy, and low appetite for HIV patients.

Recent reports of the dramatic increase of China’s role in the marijuana trade adds another risk that should concern us all. There is increasing evidence that Chinese invaders are controlling the production and distribution of marijuana from California to Maine. They grow it and distribute it throughout the country, relying on the increased flow of illegal Chinese over our southern border for laborers. The Chinese are also the originators of the fentanyl crisis that is killing somewhere near 100,000 Americans each year. Now what could possibly go wrong with our biggest adversary, China, controlling marijuana and fentanyl production which can produce a deadly combination? Are we on a path of self-destruction? It makes one wonder. Twenty four states that started with medical marijuana have now legalized its recreational use. Result: 20% of the US population now report using marijuana. So if you think using marijuana is a good thing, then support medical marijuana since that is what is most likely to occur. Personally, I do not.

Bidenomics Works For Some People

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On Wednesday, Red State posted an article about Bidenomics. Unfortunately it doesn’t work for the average American.

The article reports:

It’s a given that running drugs (and smuggling people) is a lucrative business — else the cartels wouldn’t be in the mix, to begin with. But the amount involved is utterly mind-boggling. While many Americans struggle under the weight of crushing inflation, Bidenomics may have found its champion in the cartels.

According to CBP estimates, the cartels are taking in a cool $32 million…per week. And that’s just in the Del Rio, Texas, sector.

Good to know Biden administration policies are benefiting someone’s pocketbooks, I suppose. 

How many families have been impacted by the illegal drugs coming across our southern border? How many Americans have lost their jobs because illegal aliens are working ‘under the table’ for lower wages?

I was aware of a situation at one point where an illegal alien was taken advantage of by a person from their own country. They were working at a restaurant ‘under the table’ at a very low wage, and when they were fired, the person they were working for refused to pay them for their last two weeks of work. Being in America as an illegal alien does not mean that you will have the opportunity to get rich. Because you are here illegally, you do not have the protections that an American citizen is supposed to have. Admittedly, we are paying illegal aliens money at the border and giving them free tickets to wherever they want to go, but there is no guarantee that when they arrive at their destination there will be a place to work or to stay.  Meanwhile, how many homeless Americans are living on the street?

The number of illegal aliens coming into our country every day is a heath risk, a terrorism risk, a human trafficking risk, and an economic risk (see Cloward-Pivan). We need to redo our immigration system to make it easier to come here legally, but for the time being we need to limit immigration so that the people who are here can assimilate. We should also deport any illegals that have accepted welfare benefits. American taxpayers should not be paying for the mess we have created at our southern border.

What Happens At The Border Effects All Of Us

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On Wednesday, Townhall posted an article that illustrates how the crisis at America’s southern border effects all of us.

The article reports:

Think you live too far from the Mexican border to be hurt by the chaos there?

Bloomfield is a picturesque village in central Connecticut, 3,500 miles from the Mexican border. But illegal drugs flowing across that border nearly killed a 16-year-old student at Bloomfield High School two weeks ago. He tried marijuana, not knowing it was laced with fentanyl. Police rushed to the school nurse’s office and administered two doses of Narcan just in time to save him.

Responding to the surge in teen overdoses, Connecticut’s Gov. Ned Lamont is asking, “How did this happen? How is there more fentanyl on the streets than ever before?” Look south, Governor.

Hidalgo County, Texas, Sheriff J.E. Guerra, who operates on the frontlines of the border war, explained that he’s not worried drugs will impact his community. “The drugs go further north,” he said.

Drug thugs cross the border disguised as needy migrants or even unaccompanied minors. Once across, they’re provided bus and airplane tickets to destinations across the U.S. In some cases, charities — largely taxpayer-funded — pay for the tickets, and hand the border crossers cellphones and other items as they start their journeys north.

Other times, “Biden Air” flies migrants stealthily at night into places like Westchester County airport, close to the Connecticut border.

Once far north of the border, drug thugs are invading middle schools and high schools and killing our teens.

Unfortunately we are in a place where every child and every young adult needs to be told, “Don’t take any drug or any pill that is not from a bottle that has your name and a doctor’s prescription number on it!” Fentanyl is coming into America in record amounts because of the lack of security at our southern border. Recreational drug use is now Russian Roulette with your life.

The Cost Of The Open Border

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On Saturday, The Epoch Times posted an article about the amount of fentanyl coming across our southern border.

The article reports:

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has reported a 1,066 percent increase in fentanyl seized in south Texas ports during fiscal year 2021.

Border agents at eight ports of entry extending from Brownsville to Del Rio said that between Oct. 1, 2020, and Sept. 30, 2021, they seized 87,652 pounds of narcotics that would have commanded a combined estimated street value of $786 million, CBP reported on Jan. 5.

Of this, 41,713 pounds was marijuana, 8,592 pounds was cocaine, 33,777 pounds was methamphetamine, 1,215 pounds was heroin, and 588 pounds was fentanyl. That’s a 1,066 percent increase in fentanyl seizures, as well as a 98 percent increase in cocaine seizures, from the year prior.

They also reported having seized $10.4 million in unreported currency, 463 weapons—up 21 percent from FY 2020—and 84,863 rounds of ammunition.

The eight ports of entry comprise the Laredo Field Office. The CBP officers at these ports of entry also noted that in FY 2021, more than 20,701 non-U.S. citizens were inadmissible to the United States due to violations of immigration law.

Randy J. Howe, the Laredo Field Office’s director of field operations, said in a statement that despite significantly less traffic due to travel restrictions amid the COVID-19 pandemic, “the drug and contraband threat remained the same.”

“Our significant gains in fentanyl and cocaine seizures underscore the deadly nature of the contraband we encounter, the need to utilize Personal Protective Equipment to protect our officers and our continued resolve to carry out our vital border security mission,” he said.

An unsecured southern border is a national security threat because we have no idea who is crossing the border and a national health issue–because of the coronavirus and because of the Americans who have died because of fentanyl use.

The article concludes:

China is “the primary source of fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances trafficked through international mail and express consignment operations, as well as the main source for all fentanyl-related substances trafficked into the United States,” the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) said in its 2020 National Drug Threat Assessment report (pdf).

A record number of Americans—more than 100,000—died of drug overdoses in the 12-month period ending in April, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and fentanyl was involved in almost two-thirds of those deaths, making it the largest cause of overdose deaths in the United States.

Overall, during fiscal year 2021, CBP confiscated a total of 11,200 pounds of fentanyl—up from 2,150 pounds the year prior, signifying a 521 percent increase.

It should also be noted that some of the deaths from fentanyl have been because someone took a pill they believed to be Oxycontin or some other pain killer that had been laced with fentanyl. The lesson to all Americans should be that you should never take a pill unless it is from a pharmacist and in a bottle that has your name on it.