Free Republic

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) is calling for the U.S. to legalize currently illicit drugs. “If we take that step to legalize and regulate, then we're no longer treating people who are struggling with substance addiction and abuse as criminals and instead getting them the help that they need,” the 2020 presidential candidate said at a campaign stop in Merrimack, New Hampshire on Friday. She was responding to a voter who asked whether her plan to end the war on drugs centered on more harm reduction and treatment or if it involved moving to “legalize and regulate narcotics so that you're...

Researchers from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism analyzed the death certificates of Americans ages 16 and up between 1999 and 2017. And while 35,914 deaths were alcohol-related in 1999, that number doubled to reach 72,558 in 2017. The death rate spiked 50.9% from 16.9 to 25.5 per 100,000. In other words, alcohol was a factor in nearly 1 million deaths during that time period, with about half of these deaths resulting from liver disease, or a fatal overdose from alcohol or alcohol mixed with other drugs. In 2017 alone, 2.6% of roughly 2.8 million deaths in the...

Fentanyl, a highly addictive synthetic drug primarily manufactured and shipped from China, is now blamed for nearly half of all overdose deaths in the United States. Mexican criminal groups like the Sinaloa cartel and the Cartel Jalisco New Generation are now heavily involved in smuggling the drug into the United States, according to experts.

SOUTH FAYETTE TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A local man’s life savings of more than $82,000 was seized at Pittsburgh International Airport in August, and now he and his daughter are suing, Channel 11’s news exchange partners at TribLIVE reported. Rebecca Brown, 54, of Lowell, Mass., told TribLIVE her 79-year-old retired father, Terry Rolin, of South Fayette Township, asked her to help manage the cash he and his late parents had hidden in hiding spots throughout the family home. “It was late Saturday night after the banks closed when he gave me the money, and I had an early (Monday) morning flight...

Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick is taking time away from Congress after she said she had a "serious" fall, related to alcohol dependence. "I sincerely thank the many people who have reached out in support after my accident last week. The fall was serious, but with physical therapy I will fully recover," the Arizona Democrat said in a Wednesday statement. "I do, however, have another challenge I must face, which was the underlying cause of the fall. Beginning next week, I will receive treatment that I have struggled to ask for, to treat my alcohol dependence."

Occasionally, Elizabeth Bruenig unleashes a tweet for which she knows she’s sure to get dragged: She admits that she doesn’t drink. Bruenig, a columnist at The New York Times with a sizable social-media following, told me that it usually begins with her tweeting something mildly inflammatory and totally unrelated to alcohol—e.g., The Star Wars prequels are actually good. Someone will accuse her of being drunk. She, in turn, will clarify that she doesn’t drink, and that she’s never been drunk. Inevitably, people will criticize her. You’re really missing out, they might say. Why would you deny yourself? As Bruenig sees...

Caffeine and sugar are two well-known ingredients in Coca-Cola — but many soda drinkers may not realize the fizzy beverage also contains salt. But why add salt into a sugary drink? To make consumers thirsty and ready to buy more, says Dr. Robert Lustig, professor of pediatric endocrinology at the University of California, San Francisco. “They know what they're doing. Do you have to put salt in Coke?” he says. “The fact is, you don't have to put salt in soda. So this is by design.” This is part of what Lustig calls “the Coca-Cola conspiracy” and it’s contributing a...

Suspect didn’t want to pay 25 cents each for saucesA Florida woman who was upset when a McDonald’s employee told her that she needed to pay for dipping sauces yelled at restaurant workers and threatened to rob the fast food eatery, according to the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies said they found 19-year-old Maguire McLaughlin yelling profanities in her car in the drive-thru around 3:45 a.m. New Year’s Day. They said she was irate, smelled of alcohol, had glassy eyes and her speech was slurred. Employees said McLaughlin ordered a large amount of food and when she got...

Governor Phil Murphy today signed legislation (S1963) mandating comprehensive disclosure and transparency requirements for the system of civil asset forfeiture. “New Jersey law enforcement agencies currently have no permanent statutory requirement to disclose civil asset forfeitures,” said Governor Murphy. “This legislation would boost confidence in our justice system by requiring county prosecutors to track and report data on this practice. Allowing the public to understand how assets are being seized, where seized funds go, and where forfeited property is going is a huge step forward for transparency and accountability.” Under the bill, county prosecutors would submit quarterly reports to the...

Early one morning on May 5, 2006, Paul Allen Houser walked into a convenience store in Columbus, Miss., to purchase cold medicine, a copy of Tradewind magazine, lithium batteries and a 24-ounce bottle of Mountain Dew. Houser, then 43, had struggled with substance abuse for most of his adult life, after a work-related back injury at age 15 left him with a prescription-painkiller addiction. Houser was on his phone at the check-out counter when he noticed a police officer approaching the store. He rushed out after paying for his items and drove off in his truck. #Shortly afterward, the same...

Despite the drubbing that marijuana stocks took in 2019, it was still a year filled with cannabis firsts. We witnessed Canada become the first industrialized country to launch derivative pot products and watched Illinois do what New Jersey and New York failed to do -- legalize recreational weed while also passing an expungement clause for those people with previous cannabis possession or use convictions. The current year also looks as if it'll be filled with marijuana milestones. For instance, Mexico should become the third country in the world to give adult-use cannabis the green light by no later than the...

Department of JusticeOffice of Public Affairs FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEThursday, January 9, 2020Jorge Costilla-Sanchez pleaded guilty to an international drug trafficking conspiracy to distribute cocaine and marijuana into the United States.Costilla-Sanchez, 48, was an active member of the “Cartel Del Golfo” (CDG or Gulf Cartel). CDG is a violent Mexican criminal organization engaged in the manufacture, distribution, and importation of ton quantities of cocaine and marijuana into the United States. In the late 1990s, the Gulf Cartel recruited an elite group of former Mexican military personnel to join their ranks as security and enforcers who became known as Los Zetas. The...

Florida Highway Patrol troopers only meant to write a simple citation, but it quickly turned into a felony arrest after they found $1.2 million worth of cocaine. Troopers pulled over 27-year-old Elizabeth Espinoza on Tuesday afternoon after observing illegal window tint on her vehicle on Interstate 75 southbound. Troopers noticed she was acting exceedingly nervous, which stood out because of the innocuous nature of the stop.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo vowed on Wednesday to legalize marijuana in New York, prioritizing a push that fell apart last year amid tensions over who should be allowed to sell the drug and where the revenue should go. The governor described the effort as a long overdue criminal justice reform that could help salve wounds in communities affected by the decades-long war on drugs. “For decades, communities of color were disproportionately affected by the unequal enforcement of marijuana laws,” Mr. Cuomo said in his annual State of the State address. “Let’s legalize adult use of marijuana.” The effort comes as...

When police arrested Luis Melendez on drug charges, they found $2,928 in cash alongside drugs and weapons in his bedroom. The drugs and weapons became evidence in his criminal case, but prosecutors also went after the money in civil court using a common but little-understood practice called civil asset forfeiture. When Melendez fought to keep the money, they used his statements against him in his criminal case. New Jersey’s highest court on Wednesday declared this practice an abuse of power, though the ruling upheld Melendez’s conviction based on the other evidence against him. The decision places additional limits on New...

A handful of local police officers and the Honorable Mark C. Simmons, a General District Court Judge in Fairfax County, Virginia, pushed back on the progressive prosecutor backed by George Soros, who took office last week. The neoliberal Steve Descano has spent his first few days in office attempting to effectuate leftist political agenda with powers that he does not legally have. He declared that his lawyers will not prosecute simple marijuana possession crimes, essentially transforming Fairfax County into a marijuana sanctuary while possession continues to remain unlawful under Virginia state law. Virginia State Senator Mark Obenshain (R), who is also...

CANTON, Texas — Police say alcohol played a contributing factor when a man threatened to kill New Year's Eve partygoers in Canton, Texas, and was himself shot and killed by an armed guest. On January 1, 2020, at approximately 2:30 a.m., the Canton Police Department, Van Zandt County Sheriff's Office, and the Texas Department of Public Safety responded to a residence in the 500 block of Buffalo Street for a reported shooting. Upon arrival, police discovered 61-year-old Alan Bates of Plano, Texas, deceased of multiple apparent gunshot wounds. Bates, according to police, was an attendee at the New Year's Eve...

Gov. Ralph Northam said Friday that he would throw his weight behind the decriminalization of marijuana in Virginia this year but said he wants to study full legalization before going further. Northam announced legislation Friday that would make possession of small amounts of marijuana a civil offense carrying a $50 penalty, instead of a criminal misdemeanor. The proposal is part of a broader “criminal justice reform agenda” that includes changes to the state’s parole system, a higher threshold for theft to be considered a felony, and an increase to the age at which a young offender can be tried...

In 2019, Washington, D.C. had its highest number of homicides in a decade. The Washington Post, quoting unnamed city authorities, attributes the spike to “a proliferation of the use of firearms to resolve disputes.” This “proliferation” wasn’t confined to Washington. In neighboring Prince Georges County, Maryland, homicides increased by 20 percent. Nearby Baltimore, where murder has been on the upsurge since its police force was demonized by the left and the Obama Justice Department, set an all-time record for homicides per capita. New York City, where the homicide number hit a half-century low just six years ago, showed an increase...

Fairfax County, Virginia: The largest county in Virginia with a population of 1.2 million people, elected a George Soros-backed prosecutor for a leftist re-design of criminal prosecution. On January 1, 2020, the Soros plant, Steve Descano, took office. The very next day, he announced that Fairfax County is officially a marijuana possession sanctuary. Fairfax is already a sanctuary city for illegal aliens.  Descano declared this position during his campaign, saying, "I would not prosecute cases of marijuana possession." Descano called his approach to criminal justice reform "a holistic approach." He reaffirmed his position a few weeks ago on Twitter, stating that marijuana possession...