Free Republic

Biden claimed to regret how his drug warrior legacy led to mass incarceration. But the prohibition will lead to harsher policing in Black communities. It's like the president hasn't learned a thing from the failed and evil War on Drugs. This is an opinion column. The thoughts expressed are those of the author. Joe Biden clearly hasn't learned a thing from the failed and immoral War on Drugs - a disaster that he played a huge part in creating. The president on Thursday ordered the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ban menthol cigarettes, a plan first reported on Wednesday...

"Boarding teams from the cutter deployed in interceptor boats and stopped the suspected smuggling vessel just before midnight,"..."The boarding teams took control of the vessel before the four suspected smugglers aboard could sink the craft using installed scuttling valves."

The First Step Act, as Breitbart News has chronicled, released a former “Latin Kings” gang leader, Joel Francisco, who immediately returned to a life of drugs after being freed from federal prison. Now, Francisco has been arrested for murdering a man in Rhode Island...the First Step Act had successfully released about 240 sex offenders, nearly 60 convicted murderers and assailants, as well as almost 1,000 inmates convicted for drug crimes.

ANDERSON, Calif. — On Monday, the Anderson Police Department's (APD) Problem Oriented Policing Unit arrested 10 people after conducting an undercover enforcement operation at the Anderson Walmart to target retail theft and criminal activity. During the operation, 10 total arrests were made for theft, possession of stolen property, fraud, drug paraphernalia possession, illegal narcotic possession, and active warrants. The following is a summary of the arrests made by APD's Problem Oriented Policing Unit: Paige Poor, 27 of Oroville, was seen stealing pants from inside the store. Poor was found to be on searchable probation and in possession of stolen property...

Johnson & Johnson reaches tentative $20.4 million settlement in massive opioid case Health-care giant Johnson & Johnson announced Tuesday that it has reached a $20.4 settlement in principle with two Ohio counties on the eve of a massive federal trial to determine who is responsible for the nation’s opioid epidemic. Under the proposed settlement, Johnson & Johnson would pay Cuyahoga and Summit counties $10 million in cash, reimburse $5 million in legal fees and direct $5.4 million to nonprofits for opioid-related programs in those communities. “The settlement allows the company to avoid the resource demands and uncertainty of a trial...

Marijuana would not only be legalized under a plan proposed on Thursday by Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke, but cannabis tax revenue would be used to directly repay formerly incarcerated people through a new "Drug War Justice Grant" program. Unlike other contenders who have come around to supporting marijuana legalization in just the past couple of years, the former Texas congressman has long called for ending prohibition—and his new plan in many respects goes further than those rolled out by other campaigns. While rival candidates have proposed funding programs to begin repairing the harms of the war on drugs through...

Wrongful death case. Opioids and alcohol. “The motion hinged on the defendant's contention that law enforcement had failed to preserve bottles of alcohol, pill bottles and pills, and cash, and had failed to properly test F.E. for the presence of alcohol before determining the cause of his death.”

SINEAD O'Connor has accused Prince of trying to beat her up in a drug-fuelled attack at his Los Angeles home. The Irish singer claimed he chased her with a pillow "filled with something hard" to whack her with during a bizarre late-night bust-up. Appearing on Good Morning Britain today, Sinead said the pair clashed after her worldwide success with his song Nothing Compares 2U. When quizzed about their relationship on the show, she said: "We did meet once but we didn't get on very well, we tried to beat each other up. "Well, it was more he tried to beat...

The family that owns OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma used Swiss bank accounts to conceal the transfer of millions of dollars from the company to themselves, New York state’s attorney general contends in court papers filed Friday. New York — asking a judge to enforce subpoenas of companies, banks and advisers to Purdue and its owners, the Sackler family — said it has already documented $1 billion in transfers between those parties. Those transactions include millions shifted from a Purdue parent company to former board member Mortimer D.A. Sackler, prosecutors said in the papers. Prosecutors say Sackler then redirected substantial amounts...

Joe Biden once again took the germ of a good idea — and botched it by reductioing his own absurdum. ABC News correspondent Linsey Davis challenged Biden on his criminal justice reform plans to release inmates convicted of drug use, referring to criticisms from Cory Booker that Biden’s plan won’t go far enough. Oh yeah, Biden seemed to say? He began expanding his vision of reform until it reached the stage where “nobody should be in jail for a nonviolent crime.”

Los Angeles Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs died from a toxic mix of the powerful painkillers fentanyl and oxycodone along with alcohol in an accidental overdose, a medical examiner in Texas said in a report released Friday. The 27-year-old Skaggs was found dead in his hotel room in the Dallas area July 1 before the start of what was supposed to be a four-game series against the Texas Rangers. The first game was postponed before the teams played the final three games. The Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office issued a technical report that said Skaggs died as a result of "mixed...

SOMMA VESUVIANA, ITALY–When 19-year-old Finnegan Elder and 18-year-old Gabe Natale Hjorth were first met by two undercover police officers with Italy’s military Carabiniere police force on a dark street near the Vatican in Rome, they thought they were about to get jumped. According to a 14-page document from the investigating judge, which was reviewed by The Daily Beast, the two Americans had earlier approached Sergio Brugiatelli, a layabout who can always be found on Piazza Mastei in Rome's Trastevere district, for cocaine. Brugiatelli pointed them to a pusher. The Americans allegedly thought they were buying cocaine, but when their €100...

TAMPA (WFLA) - A man in Hillsborough County is facing drug charges after a deputy caught him playing Pokemon Go in a closed Tampa park. Jonathan Ortiz, 29, was found in Beacon Meadows Park after hours by a Hillsborough deputy. A Hillsborough deputy observed Ortiz had marijuana in plain view and also noted Ortiz was actively trying to catch a wild Pokemon. A search of Ortiz's vehicle yielded 3.5 grams of Cocaine, 5.5 pounds of THC Oil, and 1 pound of Marijuana.

PHILADELPHIA — U.S. authorities seized more than $1 billion worth of cocaine Tuesday from a ship at a Philadelphia port, calling it one of the largest drug busts in American history. The U.S. attorney’s office in Philadelphia announced the massive bust on Twitter on Tuesday afternoon, saying law enforcement agents seized about 33,000 pounds of cocaine from a large ship at the Packer Marine Terminal. Members of the crew were arrested and face federal charges.

The returns are in on Colorado’s decision to legalize marijuana: (1) Large amounts of money are being made thanks to legalization, privately and by the state; (2) “horrible things are happening to kids.” The quotation is from psychiatrist Libby Stuyt. She treats teens in southwestern Colorado and has studied the health effects of high-potency marijuana. Stuyt says: “I see increased problems with psychosis, with addiction, with suicide, with depression and anxiety” stemming from legalization in the state. Stuyt’s report won’t surprise anyone who has read Alex Berensen’s book Tell Your Children, which I discussed here. Berensen noted that over the...

The FBI is investigating anti-fascist activists for an alleged plot to buy guns from a Mexican cartel in order to “stage an armed rebellion” at the southern border, according to an unclassified document obtained by The Chicago Tribune. The FBI document, from December of 2018, warns of militant antifa activists planning to “disrupt security operations” at the U.S.-Mexico border. The group allegedly planned to buy guns from a Mexican cartel associate known as Cobra Commander, in order to “stage an armed rebellion at the border.” The source who provided it to the San Diego Tribune asked the outlet not to...

It’s not often I’m happy to see a bureaucrat leave their job. That’s not entirely true, I would like to see every bureaucrat leave their job and would cheer wildly if they did. But I’m cheering one specific bureaucrat leaving his job because he was particularly dangerous at it – Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb. Why would I, and why should you, care that the head of the FDA has given his notice? Because, if you’re like me, or care about anyone in the future who might be, his resignation might just save lives. Like too many people,...

New Jersey Democratic Sen. Cory Booker introduced legislation to end the federal prohibition of marijuana on Thursday, joined by a series of other announced and potential Democratic 2020 presidential hopefuls including Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand, Bernie Sanders, and Kamala Harris...Booker added: “But it’s not enough to simply decriminalize marijuana. We must also repair the damage caused by reinvesting in those communities that have been most harmed by the War on Drugs. And we must expunge the records of those who have served their time.

People cope with disappointment in all kinds of different ways, but what one Eagles fan reportedly did after Sunday’s playoff loss takes things to an entirely different level. According to court records, a 31-year-old Eagles fan became so enraged after Philadelphia’s loss to the Saints on Sunday, that she assaulted her girlfriend and put her dog in a microwave. The incident occurred at a Best Western motel in Hanover Township, Northampton County. As the Daily News reports, “Kirsten Gaskins of Philadelphia was charged with simple assault, harassment, cruelty to animals and possession of drug paraphernalia. She was arraigned by District...

Older people are the fastest-growing group of cannabis users, as stigma fades and some seek an alternative to prescription drugs As attitudes towards cannabis shift, the fastest-growing group of users is over 50 – and marijuana’s popularity among seniors is beginning to change the American experience of old age. Why are more seniors getting high? It might make more sense to ask: “Why not?” As adults reach retirement, they age out of drug tests and have far more time on their hands. Some feel liberated to abandon long-held proprieties. Elegant vape pens and other attractive, discreet products have helped de...