The World Wide War on Drugs #10 - Dag ter Bestrijding van Drugs

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Mexico kidnap victim's wife: 'Your mother for my husband' - BBC News

Vigilantes in a Mexican village have seized the mother of a local gang leader and proposed swapping her for a kidnap victim taken on Monday.

After seizing alleged collaborators of the gang, including the mother of the leader "El Tequilero", the locals have recorded video messages for the gang.

"In return for my husband's life, I will deliver your mother," says the kidnap victim's wife in one video, which has been broadcast on local TV.

Police have been sent to the village.

"We have your mother here, mister known as El Tequilero," says Yadira Guillermo Garcia, whose husband, an engineer, was seized by the gang, addressing the gang leader.

"I request an exchange.... I want him safe and sound."

In another video, residents of San Miguel Totolapan, carrying guns, explain that they have suffered for too long from the violence and intimidation meted out by El Tequilero and his gang, which is feared for carrying out mass kidnappings.

"They have humiliated us, they have killed our families and we won't let it happen again," one of them says.

Police have been trying to track down El Tequilero, whose real name is Raybel Jacobo de Almonte, for weeks now.

At the end of November, police used helicopters to search the mountainous area in Guerrero state where he is believed to be hiding but failed to catch him.

The governor of Guerrero state, Arturo Astudillo, said more than 200 police officers and soldiers had been sent to San Miguel Totolapan to defuse the stand-off.

He said the villagers had released five of the people they were holding but that El Tequilero's mother was not among them.

Guerrero state officials said that a team had been set up to negotiate between the vigilantes and the gang.

"The goal of the team is to ensure that no injury is done to the missing person, nor to the mother of the head of the Tequileros gang, who has apparently been taken by the self-defence forces," a statement read.

Guerrero state is a hotbed of gangs and violent crime, where local gangs fight for control of the opium trade, and disappearances and kidnapping for ransom are common.

In a number of towns and villages, residents have created vigilante groups in response, but human rights groups say these have only further contributed to the spiral of violence.

Bron: www.bbc.com

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Honderden kilo's cocaïne gevonden in Rotterdamse haven | NOS

In de haven van Rotterdam zijn in de afgelopen dagen meerdere drugsvangsten gedaan. Het zou om honderden kilo's cocaïne gaan. Ook zijn er minstens tien mensen aangehouden. Dat gebeurde na de grote drugsactie en extra controles van 150 containers met fruit, meldt RTV Rijnmond.

Er is onder andere een auto met 300 kilo cocaïne gevonden. De drie inzittenden zijn aangehouden.

Volgens het OM in Rotterdam zijn er bij een bedrijf zeker honderd containers doorzocht. Bij andere bedrijven zouden nog eens vijftig containers zijn bekeken. In totaal werd 25 kilo cocaïne gevonden.

Truckers hebben vanochtend en de afgelopen dagen douaniers met kogelwerende vesten en drugshonden gezien. De truckers moesten langer wachten door de controles van de politie en de douane.

De extra controles werden gedaan nadat er bij containers insluipers waren gesignaleerd. Daarop zijn de containers apart gezet en onderzocht met drugshonden.

Bron: nos.nl

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Philippines: Duterte confirms he personally killed three men

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He said: "I killed about three of them... I don't know how many bullets from my gun went inside their bodies. It happened and I cannot lie about it."

His statement came hours after his spokesman denied that Mr Duterte had personally killed anyone.

The recent controversy began on Wednesday at the president's palace.

He told a group of business leaders gathered there: "In Davao I used to do it [kill] personally. Just to show to the guys [police] that if I can do it why can't you.

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Mr Duterte denied that he was a drug addict himself, despite using the powerful pain killer Fentanyl.

"I'm not an addict," he said. "Only when it is prescribed. Addiction is only with regularity, my friend."

Mr Duterte has admitted to using the drug, saying he had migraines and issues with his spine.

Mr Andanar dismissed claims that the president was suffering from the side effects of Fentanyl, which can cause confusion, anxiety and even hallucinations.

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Senator's Solution To The Opioid Crisis Is To 'Declare A War On Drugs' -- Seriously | The Huffington Post

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) says that a new “war on drugs” is needed to combat the opioid crisis ravaging his home state ― a reference to a policy boondoggle that has spanned four decades and cost the U.S. more than $1 trillion, while destroying millions of lives and cementing America’s position as the world’s leading jailer.

“We need to declare a war on drugs, on illicit drugs,” Manchin told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “The Lead” when asked what President-elect Donald Trump should do to address the opioid epidemic.

West Virginia has been hit especially hard by substance abuse and addiction. A recent report by West Virginia’s Charleston Gazette-Mail detailed how drug companies have poured 780 million opioid painkillers into the state and cashed in while ignoring warning signs that the opioid epidemic was spreading as overdoses spiked.

But the drug war, first declared by President Richard Nixon in 1971 when he characterized illicit substance use as “public enemy number one,” has in recent years become widely derided as a public policy failure.

The U.S. spends about $51 billion a year enforcing the war on drugs, and arrests nearly 1.5 million people for drug violations, according to Drug Policy Alliance, a drug policy reform group. The U.S. is now home to nearly 25 percent of the world’s prisoners, despite having less than 5 percent of its population. Harsh and lengthy sentences for nonviolent drug possession or distribution crimes have helped bolster that figure. Meanwhile, as drug control spending has ballooned over the decades, addiction rates have remained relatively steady.

The public’s attitude has also shifted dramatically on drug policy since the drug war’s inception. About two-thirds of Americans believe illegal drug use should be met with treatment instead of incarceration, according to a 2014 Pew study.

In an attempt to explain how drug users in his state got addicted to opioids, Manchin told Tapper that they “started out as a kid, smoking what we call recreational marijuana. Then from there that led to prescriptions ... and before you know it ... they were just hooked. Then heroin comes on. Now we have fentanyl coming on. It’s just been unbelievable.”

Manchin is discussing what’s known as the “gateway” theory, a widely debunked criticism of marijuana use that suggests drug users begin with marijuana before graduating to harder drugs over time. The Gazette story also suggests that Manchin is drastically oversimplifying the causes of the epidemic. This catastrophe was driven in large part by corporate greed. (Manchin’s daughter, Heather Bresch, is chief executive of Mylan, a large pharmaceutical company that makes generic versions of off-patent opioids, as well as other drugs.)

With the opioid crisis devastating communities across the nation, leading to a drastic increase in overdose deaths in recent years, the U.S. needs real solutions, multiple drug policy experts told HuffPost. But it shouldn’t consider doubling down on failed drug policy, they said.

“A drug war is not the answer,” said John Hudak, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who writes extensively on drug policy. “Empty rhetoric that is insensitive to historical drug policy realities is not the answer. Comprehensive, thoughtful, public health-driven national reforms are the answer.”

Lindsay LaSalle, senior staff attorney for Drug Policy Alliance said a new drug war would only “doom the residents” Manchin represents to further death and despair.

“Indeed, criminalization actually amplifies the risk of fatal overdoses and diseases, increases stigma and marginalization, and drives people away from needed treatment, health, and harm reduction services,” LaSalle said. “Forty years of failed prohibitionist policies have taught us this much.”

LaSalle said that what West Virginians struggling with opioid addiction really need is increased access to the opioid overdose reversal drug naloxone, medication-assisted treatment to help with recovery, and syringe exchange programs to prevent the spread of intravenous disease.

“Focusing on arrests and incarceration has made the U.S. the world’s leading incarcerator, and it didn’t stop what’s happened with opioids,” said David Borden, executive director of StoptheDrugWar.org. “Instead, Sen. Manchin should call for a public health approach.”

Bron: www.huffingtonpost.com

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Tien jaar cel voor drugsbestrijder die hasj smokkelde | NOS

Een oud-chef van de drugspolitie in de Finse hoofdstad Helsinki moet tien jaar de gevangenis in. De man heeft 900 kilo hasj uit Nederland zijn land binnengesmokkeld.

Volgens de rechtbank heeft de vroegere politiebaas zijn positie misbruikt en het vertrouwen in de politie ondermijnd. De man werd twee jaar geleden gearresteerd, maar hij ontkent dat hij drugs heeft geïmporteerd.

De zaak is uniek, want Finland is een van de landen met de minste corruptie.

Bron: nos.nl

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Philippines Duterte: I threw suspect from helicopter

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Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has threatened to throw corrupt officials from helicopters mid-air, saying he has done it before.


"If you are corrupt, I will fetch you using a helicopter to Manila and I will throw you out," said Mr Duterte, who is waging war on corruption and drugs.

It's the latest claim by the president that he has personally carried out extra-judicial killings.

His spokesman played down the remarks, which he described as "urban legend".

Earlier this month another spokesman Martin Andanar said his blunt-speaking boss should be taken "seriously but not literally" when he said he had shot dead three men while mayor of Davao.

Mr Duterte made his latest comments in a speech to victims of a typhoon in the central Philippines on Tuesday. A video clip of his remarks was posted by his office.

He threatened the helicopter punishment for anyone who might steal the financial aid he was promising.

"I have done this before, why would I not do it again?" he said to applause.

He suggested his victim or victims were kidnappers who had murdered a hostage. It is not clear when or where the incident took place.

On Thursday, the president appeared to distance himself from his earlier remarks.

"Helicopter to throw a person? And if that is true, I will not admit it," he said in an interview with ABS-CBN news.

The president has made a similar claims in the past - and has a history of contradicting himself.

On 16 December he told the BBC he had shot dead three criminal suspects while he was mayor of Davao.

"I killed about three of them... I don't know how many bullets from my gun went inside their bodies. It happened and I cannot lie about it."

He made a similar claim to business leaders in Manila a few days earlier, when he said he used to cruise Davao on a motorbike "looking for a confrontation so I could kill."

Mr Duterte was mayor of the southern city of Davao for two decades, presiding over a big fall in crime but also being accused of sponsoring death squads.

As president he has pledged to root out drugs and corruption in the Philippines, at the cost of millions of lives if necessary.

Nearly 6,000 people are said to have been killed by police, vigilantes and mercenaries in the Philippines since Mr Duterte launched a war on drugs after being elected in May.

Opposition politicians and human rights groups have called for his impeachment, but he remains very popular with voters who want him to clean up the country.

Last week the Philippines independent human rights watchdog said it would investigate President Duterte's claims that he personally killed drug suspects.

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The Enemy Within: Bribes Bore a Hole in the U.S. Border

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It was not an isolated case. A review by The New York Times of thousands of court records and internal agency documents showed that over the last 10 years almost 200 employees and contract workers of the Department of Homeland Security have taken nearly $15 million in bribes while being paid to protect the nation’s borders and enforce immigration laws.

These employees have looked the other way as tons of drugs and thousands of undocumented immigrants were smuggled into the United States, the records show. They have illegally sold green cards and other immigration documents, have entered law enforcement databases and given sensitive information to drug cartels. In one case, the information was used to arrange the attempted murder of an informant.

The Times’s findings most likely undercount the amount of bribes because in many cases court records do not give a tally. The findings also do not include gifts, trips or money stolen by Homeland Security employees.

Throughout his campaign, President-elect Donald J. Trump said border security would be one of his highest priorities. As he prepares to take office, he will find that many of the problems seem to come from within.

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The Answer to the 2016 Spike in Cop Deaths is Ending the Drug War

Police officers across the country are on high alert following the latest disturbing report from the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund which showed that 136 officers tragically lost their lives in the line of duty this year. The figures also show the number grew 10 percent from 2015’s figure of 123. Not a huge spike, but enough to grab the attention of the nation’s cops.

Contrary to what some readers of The Free Thought Project have expressed in comments and messages, TFTP is not anti-cop, anti-police, or anti-law-and-order. On the contrary, while we focus on police corruption, police brutality, badge abuse, and policies which enable such actions and behaviors, we grieve with the families of those who’ve lost their lives in the line of duty. At the same time, we realize our work is to highlight the reasons we believe police officers’ lives are in jeopardy on a daily basis, and why the system works against their safety.

As Matt Agorist of TFTP explained reflecting on the summer of 2016’s killing of eight police officers by domestic terrorists, “these attacks do nothing to stop police violence against citizens. In fact, it has the exact opposite effect. Now, when cops needlessly kill someone, their actions will be under less scrutiny from the public. All the police have to say now is ‘Dallas’ or ‘Baton Rouge.'”

Tragically, while 136 souls perished in the line of duty in 2016, it could be worse, and historically speaking, has been much worse. In 1930, the population of the United States was a third of what it is today. In that year, 324 police officers lost their lives in the line of duty. To put it into perspective, if the same percentage of police officers who lost their lives in 1930, had lost their lives in the line of duty in 2016, the number of police officers killed would have exceeded 850. One might be tempted to ask why so many officers of the law perished in 1930. The answer is found in one simple word; prohibition.

According to History, “The ratification of the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution–which banned the manufacture, transportation and sale of intoxicating liquors–ushered in a period in American history known as Prohibition,” a time in U.S. history when alcohol was completely banned. The reasons for prohibition were many.

According to PBS, after the civil war, the country had experienced an influx of immigration, many of whom brought their hard-drinking customs with them. “The brewing business boomed as German-American entrepreneurs scaled up production to provide the new immigrants with millions of gallons of beer.” Heavy drinking gave way to, “distraught wives and mothers whose lives had been ruined by the excesses of the saloon.” Those wives and mothers then joined hand in hand to fight the evil they believed alcohol represented. “Thousands of women began to protest and organize politically for the cause of temperance. Their organization, the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), became a force to be reckoned with.”

The birth of the “widespread temperance movement during the first decade of the 20th century” enabled lobbyists to demand that the federal government outlaw alcohol. But soon, problems emerged. “Prohibition was difficult to enforce,” yet lawmen were undaunted by threats against their lives from those who profited from the illegal production, distribution, and sale of booze. “The increase

“The increase of the illegal production and sale of liquor (known as ‘bootlegging’), the proliferation of speakeasies (illegal drinking spots) and the accompanying rise in gang violence,” all flourished under prohibition. But by the end of the roaring 20’s and at the start of the 1930’s, Americans had enough of prohibition and in 1933, “Congress adopted a resolution proposing a 21st Amendment to the Constitution that would repeal the 18th. It was ratified by the end of that year, bringing the Prohibition era to a close.”

The loss of police officer lives was inextricably connected with the prohibition of alcohol. In fact, the percentage of police officers killed in the line of duty was greater during prohibition than at any other time in U.S. history. All of which brings this current discussion to the failed War on Drugs. The

The number of Americans being held in prison has skyrocketed since President Richard Nixon declared an official War on Drugs — which not coincidentally was the second deadliest year for police in American during which 200 cops lost their lives at the onset of the drug war. In 1930, only 100 out of every 100,000 Americans were incarcerated. In 2016, after a forty-five-year war against drug users and dealers, that number now hovers around 1,000 per 100,000 citizens.

To put these numbers into perspective, nine out of every 100 Americans are incarcerated in the “prison industrial complex,” a new industry born out of mass incarcerations. And that may be the only reason why the number of police officer deaths are so low, compared to the percentage from 1930. These state-manufactured criminals who are most angry at the police are often behind bars, the casualties of the failed war on drugs.

Those who are comfortable with nearly 10 percent of their fellow citizens being behind bars may need to ask themselves if it could be better. The answer is that it has been better. Kidnapping, caging, and killing offenders does not appear to be the way forward. The United States represents only 5 percent of the world’s population but houses 25 percent of the world’s inmates.

Something has to change, and we at TFTP believe there’s a direct correlation between the growing number of prisons and prisoners with the prohibition of drugs like marijuana and police deaths. The United States cannot jail its way out of drug use and abuse. It cannot penalize enough people to end the nearly 50,000 deaths by opiates, heroin, and other drugs every year. Even while mortality statistics show that almost no one dies from using marijuana, the justice system in the United States continues to focus on marijuana users for punishment. As TFTP has reported on numerous occasions, “police made more arrests for simple marijuana possession than for all violent crimes combined.”

In 1930, police attempted to ban a substance. In 2016, police attempt (along with the substances) to ban a group of people, drug users. In 1930, prohibition resulted in violence, gang activity, and police officer murders. In 2016, drug prohibition has resulted in violence, gang activity, police officer murders and the mass incarceration of millions of Americans involved in the illegal drug trade — as well as a slew of innocent civilians caught in the middle of this deadly drug war.

It took a brave Congress to repeal prohibition. It will take a brave Congress to end the War on Drugs. Only after Congress repealed the 18th amendment was law and order restored. Only after Congress disbands the DEA, ends mandatory sentencing for drug possession and distribution, and allows states to decide how they will deal with drug abuse — will law and order be restored.

The eyes of millions Americans are being opened to the health benefits of natural medicine, which also includes marijuana, cbd, and kratom. Only when Americans are unafraid of law enforcement do fewer officers lose their lives in the line of duty. With that in mind, we are calling on President-elect Donald Trump, and his pick for Attorney General Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), following 28 U.S. States, to end marijuana prohibition at the federal level, decriminalize marijuana possession nationwide, release non-violent drug offenders system-wide, terminate the DEA, and focus the attention of the justice department on solving violent crimes, and crimes against children.

These actions, as proven in other countries who’ve already ended their drug wars, diminish the prison population, lead to fewer assaults on police officers, fewer officer-involved shootings, and reestablish trust between police and the public, and lead to a more tolerant society.

As Dionne Wilson, wife of slain California officer Nels “Dan” Niemi, bravely said, “I don’t think that anyone can tell me that had we invested in people over prisons, my husband wouldn’t be here today.”

Instead of focusing on why people “reenter” the prison system, Wilson advocates for the revolutionary policy of “no entry.” Wilson now pushes the radical but logical idea “that people never enter the system, that we stop feeding this system of mass incarceration. Stop punishing people for self-medicating trauma with drugs and alcohol, stop punishing people for mental illness. These policies don’t work. The promise of public safety has not helped.”

Bron: thefreethoughtproject.com

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Hollywood heel even 'Hollyweed' | NOS



Bewoners van Hollywood in Los Angeles waren vandaag heel even inwoners van Hollyweed. Onbekenden hebben vannacht de twee o's van het beroemde bord op de bergen ten noorden van het stadsdeel met doeken omgetoverd tot twee e's.

Volgens lokale media willen de mensen achter de actie de nieuwe legalisering van marihuana in Californië vieren. De politie beschouwt het als vandalisme en zoekt de daders.

De onbekenden hebben zich waarschijnlijk laten inspireren door eenzelfde soort grap in 1976. Toen werden de letters ook al veranderd in Hollyweed nadat de wet over het gebruik van cannabis in de staat was versoepeld.

De letters zien er inmiddels weer normaal uit.

Bron: nos.nl

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Meisjes in Zwanenburg ziek na opeten drugs die op straat lagen | NOS

In het Noord-Hollandse Zwanenburg zijn twee meisjes vanavond onwel geworden nadat ze drugs hadden geslikt die ze op straat zouden hebben gevonden. Het zijn meisjes van 11 en 12 jaar.

"Een van hen is er slecht aan toe en is naar het ziekenhuis gebracht", zegt een politiewoordvoerder. "Het andere meisje is wat warrig."

Welke soort drugs ze hebben gegeten, is nog niet bekend. De gekleurde pilletjes zaten in een zakje en lagen in de buurt van de Domineeslaan.

"Het lijken net snoepjes", zegt de politie. "We zoeken met politiemensen en honden of er meer van die rotzooi genotsmiddelen op straat ligt."

Bron: nos.nl

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Legal Weed is Killing Cartels and Corporate Media Is Trying to Say that’s a Bad Thing

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The legalization of recreational marijuana in Colorado has led to some interesting developments in the war on drugs. According to a video segment on Fox News, seizures of marijuana flowing out of Colorado into neighboring states has risen from 58 in 2008, to 394 in 2015. This indicates Colorado has unwittingly become an exporter of legal weed, found to be illegal in many adjoining states.

Sitting in for Fox News’ Shepherd Smith, Gregg Jarrett asked FNC reporter Alicia Acuna if neighboring states were fighting a losing battle. Acuna responded by saying 8 states already have recreational marijuana, and another couple dozen states have some form of medical marijuana at work. Mason Tvert, of the Marijuana Policy Project, told FNC, “If anything, what’s happening is no different than it was before. People are still using marijuana, it’s just that they’re more likely to be using marijuana that didn’t come from a Mexican drug cartel.”

According to FNC and University of San Diego professor David Shirk, that fact has now been confirmed. It seems, as marijuana proponents asserted, the Mexican cartels are getting out of the illegal marijuana trade. Shirk says the cartels are turning their backs on marijuana in favor of other “more predatory criminal activities” such as, “kidnapping, extortion, larceny…stealing petroleum from petroleum lines,” Shirk stated.

FNC reported what proponents have been saying for years. If you make marijuana legal, the illegal, criminal elements, such as Mexican drug cartels, will find other means to sustain their income. However, it is important to note that the reason these cartels exist in the first place is because of the drug war. Attempting to claim we need the war on drugs to keep the cartels from kidnapping people is like saying we need people to murder each other so police can have a job to do.

Had drugs not been illegal in the US, the cartels would have been extremely hard pressed to amass the money and power they now have. Rest assured, however, that kidnapping and larceny are not nearly as sustainable as the drug industry as it is much easier for politicians to look the other way on drug smuggling than it is for them to ignore children being stolen from parents. That's why, rather than kidnap people, the Mexican cartels are still capitalizing on the American drug war.

One such way the Mexican drug cartels have reportedly upped the ante is to produce a drug which is much more addictive than just heroin alone. They mix heroin with Carfentanil, which "is a synthetic opioid so strong that just a few granules the size of grains of table salt can be lethal. Since mid-August, roughly 300 people in at least four states have overdosed on heroin linked to Carfentanil and the less powerful compound fentanyl," Time reports.

If heroin were decriminalized in the US, overdoses would plummet and so would its use. This is not an assertion, it is fact.

One positive coming out of Colorado's legalization of marijuana is the fact that the drug task forces which were previously engaged in going after marijuana, can now turn their attentions to going after the organized criminal element such as the cartels, which have no regard for the patient seeking medicine for whatever ails them.

FNC concluded their marijuana segment by saying President-elect Donald Trump doesn't seem to have a problem with medicinal marijuana but added he does not approve of recreational marijuana. Whether or not Trump will allow the continuation of progress in the legalization of marijuana is yet to be seen. Certainly, Colorado will put up a fight if the newly named Attorney General Jeff Sessions seeks to overturn CO's legal weed business as it's now providing millions of dollars to help fund the educational system in that state.

The FNC segment confirms what TFTP has been saying for months now, legal weed does more to stop the cartels than the official war on drugs. As we reported to you in March, "in the past seven years (seizures of marijuana at the Mexican-American border have dropped) from 4 million pounds in 2009, to just 1.5 million pounds last year."

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Strijd tegen drugscriminaliteit in Zuid-Nederland 'logistieke nachtmerrie'

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Hij verwijt het Openbaar Ministerie en ook de politie een afwachtende houding. 'Het structurele karakter van dit probleem komt niet op tafel.

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Bos ervaart de privacywetgeving als een ramp. Ze zegt: 'Ik ben continu de mist in gegaan met die privacyregels.'

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Politici willen opheldering over informant 'Paul'

Tweede Kamerleden willen opheldering van de minister over de verklaringen van drugscrimineel ‘Paul’, afgelopen vrijdag in EenVandaag. De Amsterdamse crimineel zegt dat grote hoeveelheden cocaïne met medeweten van de politie het land in worden gesmokkeld.

'Paul' (een schuilnaam die hij kreeg van Team Criminele Inlichtingen, kortweg TCI) woont in Colombia. Daar is hij gelieerd aan een groot drugskartel in Medellin. Tegelijkertijd geeft hij al jaren gedetailleerde tips aan de geheime politie TCI over containers met coke die vanuit Zuid-Amerika naar Nederland worden vervoerd. Hoogleraar criminologie Toine Spapens reageert in EenVandaag op het dossier.

Kameraden Kees Verhoeven (D66), Gert-Jan Segers (ChristenUnie) en Michiel van Nispen (SP) willen opheldering van de minister en dienen kamervragen in. “Veel vragen zijn nog niet beantwoorden, maar zoals het er nu naar uitziet heeft de politie onrechtmatig gehandeld. Ik wil alle details boven water om zeker te weten dat de politie niet zijn boekje te buiten is gegaan,” aldus van Nispen.

Informant 'Paul' duikt in december op in het megaproces rond de corrupte douanier Gerrit G. en een aantal drugsbazen. Volgens Paul moeten de Rotterdamse smokkelaars die zaken hebben gedaan met de platte douanier nog schulden betalen aan het kartel in Colombia waar hij voor werkt. Het totale bedrag dat nog open staat is 21 miljoen euro.

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stonedsociety twitterde op dinsdag 10-01-2017 om 16:12:20 Trump on Drugs. From the @MiamiHerald, 1990. Source: https://t.co/dlGuqaMaOU via @DCMJ2014 #LegalizeIt #WarOnDrugs https://t.co/JkaqeDTsXc reageer retweet

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Canada vreest "Fentanyl-epidemie" | NOS

De Canadese autoriteiten bereiden zich voor op een flinke toename van het aantal doden door een overdosis Fentanyl. De minister van Gezondheid spreekt zelfs van een epidemie. Fentanyl is een pijnstiller die de ademhaling verzwakt of helemaal kan stilzetten.

In Canada zijn in 2015 bijna 700 mensen overleden na inname van de drug. Dat is 70 procent meer dan in 2014. De cijfers over vorig jaar zijn nog niet beschikbaar, maar vermoedelijk liggen die nog veel hoger.

In Vancouver rukken de hulpdiensten 20 tot 30 keer per avond uit voor gebruikers die buiten bewustzijn zijn geraakt. De belastingen zijn zelfs met een half procent omhoog gegaan om de hulp te bekostigen, volgens het radioprogramma Bureau Buitenland op NPO radio 1.

Ook in de VS is het gebruik van Fentanyl een groot probleem. Daar is het aantal doden onder gebruikers het afgelopen jaar verdubbeld. Ook zanger Prince overleed na inname van het middel.

De Canadese minister van Gezondheid overweegt om gebruikersplekken in te richten, waar medisch personeel de drug gecontroleerd kan toedienen. De politie is een campagne begonnen om te waarschuwen voor de gevaren.

Fentanyl wordt medisch gebruikt als pijnstiller, onder meer bij de behandeling van kanker en bij narcose. Dat gebeurt alleen in combinatie met een tegengif, waardoor de ademhaling geen gevaar loopt. In meerdere steden in Canada wordt het tegengif al gratis verstrekt op straat aan gebruikers van Fentanyl.

Het spul is vijftig tot tachtig keer sterker dan morfine en is net zo verslavend als heroïne. Het merendeel van de gebruikers is verslaafd geraakt na een medische behandeling of na inname als partydrug. In het illegale circuit is Fentanyl voornamelijk verkrijgbaar als pil en als poeder.

Bron: nos.nl

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Mismoedige rechercheur stopt onderzoek: het is water naar de zee dragen | NOS

Een rechercheur had het precies uitgevogeld: wie er achter hennepkwekerijen zat, hoe de criminele organisatie was opgebouwd, hoe de winst werd weggesluisd naar het buitenland. Toch werd er geen onderzoek opgestart. Te weinig mensen en de zaak had geen prioriteit. De rechercheur: "Uiteindelijk ben ik maar gestopt met het opmaken van dit soort rapportages. Het is water naar de zee dragen."

De anekdote staat in een vertrouwelijk rapport van de top van de politie en het Openbaar Ministerie, dat vandaag uitlekte. In het stuk wordt een beeld geschetst van onmachtige opsporingsautoriteiten, die de strijd tegen criminelen dreigen te verliezen.

Volgens officiële cijfers daalt de criminaliteit in Nederland. Maar de politie, het OM en gemeenten hebben een ander beeld. Volgens hen neemt de misdaad helemaal niet af. Zij zeggen dat er op een groot deel van de criminaliteit gewoon geen zicht is.

Vaak gaat het om kleine delicten, zoals vandalisme of een fietsendiefstal. De politie heeft er geen weet van omdat er geen aangifte van wordt gedaan. Dat geldt ook voor digitale criminaliteit, zoals phishing of oplichting via Marktplaats.

Maar ook zwaardere vormen van criminaliteit blijven buiten beeld, omdat niemand er naar zoekt. Daarbij valt te denken aan fraude, corruptie en drugshandel. De greep van de georganiseerde misdaad op bepaalde gemeenten is groot, bleek eerder deze week nog.

Toch hebben politie en justitie te weinig capaciteit en expertise om diepgravend onderzoek te doen naar netwerken en geldstromen. In plaats daarvan proberen ze vooral te 'scoren' in eenvoudiger onderzoeken.

Mogelijk miljoenen delicten. Het rapport stelt dat slechts een op de vijf misdrijven officieel geregistreerd wordt. In 2015 waren er bijna een miljoen aangiften. Dat verhoudt zich niet tot het aantal mensen dat zegt slachtoffer van criminaliteit te zijn geweest. Volgens het rapport ligt dat – omgerekend – op zo’n 4,5 miljoen mensen.

Dan zijn er ook nog zaken waar de politie wel van op de hoogte is, maar die niet worden opgepakt. Het kan gaan om vermoedens van het downloaden van kinderporno, sporenonderzoek naar een inbraak of het opnieuw nalopen van een cold case.

In de regel wel. Maar de politie heeft het razend druk gekregen. De afgelopen tijd waren agenten druk met de vluchtelingenstroom en de maatschappelijke onrust die daarmee gepaard ging. Spanningen waren er bijvoorbeeld ook na de coup in Turkije, waarbij de politie ook in Nederland demonstraties in goede banen moest leiden.

Verder slokten verwarde personen veel kostbare tijd op en was de politie volop bezig met jihadisten. Rechercheurs moesten soms letterlijk al hun andere zaken loslaten om zich acuut bezig te houden met onderzoeken naar mogelijk terrorisme.

Ook hier schetst de notitie geen rooskleurig beeld. Van alle aangiften wordt meer dan de helft meteen terzijde geschoven. De politie ziet geen reden voor nader onderzoek. Er is dan bijvoorbeeld geen enkel aanknopingspunt om de zaak op te lossen. Mogelijk is dat in enkele tienduizenden zaken ten onrechte, stelt het rapport.

Uiteindelijk leidt een op de vijf aangiften daadwerkelijk tot vervolging van een verdachte. Opvallend detail: vooral als het gaat om oplichting via internet worden bijna alle zaken direct afgewezen door het Openbaar Ministerie. Een verklaring geeft het rapport daarvoor niet.

Heel erg, volgens het rapport. Het risico is dat mensen hun vertrouwen verliezen in het strafrecht. Wat bij criminelen het gevoel versterkt dat ze ongestraft hun gang kunnen gaan.

De grotere boeven verschuilen zich ook nog eens achter ingewikkelde financiële constructies in het buitenland en doen hun duistere zaken online, ver buiten het bereik van de Nederlandse opsporingsdiensten. Worst case scenario: politie en OM verliezen definitief de strijd tegen de misdaad.

Bron: nos.nl

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Colombia Restarts Controversial Glyphosate Fumigation of Coca | News | teleSUR English

In 2015, Colombia became the last country in the world to suspend the fumigation of crops with glyphosate, after 15 years of use.

Colombia started fumigating crops with glyphosate again, the government announced Wednesday, after the technique was suspended in 2015 over health and environmental concerns.

The fumigations began on Jan. 2, said Defense Minister Luis Carlos Villegas at a press conference, adding the fumigation of the controversial Monsanto-produced herbicide was focused in the northern province of Catatumbo and the southeastern provinces of Nariño and Putumayo. Unlike previous fumigation, which was aerial, the new coca erradication plan consists of manual, land-based spraying.

Launched in 1994, the spraying program was long treated as sacrosanct by Colombian officials, who gladly accepted billions of dollars in funding from Washington to fumigate farmland throughout the countryside, often spraying all crops, leaving campesinos with no livelihood.

But after the World Health Organization warned in March 2015 that glyphosate was "probably carcinogenic," Santos' Cabinet suspended the air fumigations. Colombia became the last country in the world to suspend aerial fumigations of glyphosate, after 15 years of use.

But right-wing sectors, which are also opposed to peace with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, have been pressuring the government to renew the practice since it was suspended.

Critics of aerial fumigation argue that Monsanto's product is not only dangerous to the health of residents, contaminating sources of water and neighboring crops, but also useless to limit the expansion of coca crops in the long term.

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Colombia's Attorney General Nestor Humberto Martinez sparked a national controversy in September by urging the government to resume aerial fumigation of coca crops, arguing that the reemergence of illicit crops had doubled in the past four years.

But both the health and justice ministries rejected the measure at the time.

Justice Minister Jorge Londoño Ulloa told reporters that 2007 was the year with the largest amount of illicit coca crops, despite continuous aerial fumigations.

He also highlighted that it would be juridically impossible to implement the measure again, given that Colombia's constitutional court backed the government's decision in a historic ruling.

Moreover, the suspension of aerial fumigation was a central point of the peace negotiations between the FARC and the government, which also outlines crop susbstitution programs to help farmers move away from illicit crops to legal production.

Nevertheless, the Colombian government has resumed the fumigation, while the U.S. continues to apply pressure, being a strong supporter of aerial fumigation both for political and economic reasons.

Bron: www.telesurtv.net

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Met je gezin voor twee planten op straat gezet. En meer uitwassen van de strijd tegen wiet

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Er moeten veel meer slachtoffers vallen in de Nederlandse strijd tegen cannabis. De vijf verhalen die ik vond, laten heel duidelijk zien wat er mis is met de Nederlandse strijd tegen wiet.

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Hoe vaak mensen landelijk om minder dan vijf planten uit huis worden gezet, wordt niet bijgehouden. Wat wel bekend is, is dat tussen 2011 en 2013 - recentere cijfers zijn niet openbaar - de politie minimaal 581 keer een 'hennepplantage' heeft opgerold van vijf planten. Als het een huurhuis betrof, kreeg de verhuurder het te horen. Ging het om een woningcorporatie, dan is dat huishouden vrijwel zeker op straat gezet.

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Recordjaar drugsvangsten in Rotterdamse haven | NOS

In de Rotterdamse haven is vorig jaar een recordhoeveelheid van 13.312 kilo cocaïne onderschept. Het oude record uit 2013 stond op 9800 kilo cocaïne. Opvallend is dat het aantal drugsvangsten niet is toegenomen, maar de omvang ervan wel.

Het speciale HARC-team dat de drugssmokkel in de Rotterdamse haven bestrijdt, onderschepte in 2016 ook 720 kilo marihuana en 406 kilo heroïne. Er zijn veertig verdachten aangehouden.

De onderschepte partijen cocaïne variëren van anderhalf tot bijna vierduizend kilo. De laatste partij zat verstopt tussen ananassen uit Costa Rica. Volgens het OM zijn er aanwijzingen dat vanuit Zuid-Amerika grote partijen drugs worden gedumpt op de markt.

Hoeveel drugs de grenzen onontdekt passeert, blijft moeilijk in te schatten. Volgens bronnen in het criminele milieu wordt één op de vijf of zes partijen drugs onderschept. Dat zou betekenen dat vorig jaar tienduizenden kilo's cocaïne met succes het land in zijn gesmokkeld. Een indicatie dat er inderdaad grote partijen cocaïne Nederland inkomen, is de sterk gedaalde marktprijs van cocaïne.

Het OM, de politie en de gemeente Rotterdam luidden vorig jaar de alarmklok over de capaciteit bij de douane om de drugssmokkel in de haven aan te pakken. Ze reageerden daarmee op plannen van minister van Financiën Dijsselbloem om het aantal douaniers te verminderen.

Bron: nos.nl

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Waterzuivering Baarle-Nassau ontregeld door drugsafval | NOS

De rioolwaterzuivering in Baarle-Naussau in Brabant is de hele week ontregeld geweest omdat de toevoer was vervuild door drugsafval. Politieonderzoek leidde naar een drugslab in Baarle. De 42-jarige eigenaar van de schuur is aangehouden.

Waarschijnlijk zijn de chemicaliën direct in het riool geloosd. De vervuiling van het water werd maandag ontdekt. De zuurgraad van het water was zo hoog dat de bacteriën die gebruikt worden om het water te zuiveren dood gingen. De installatie werd stilgelegd omdat die moest worden gereinigd. Dat duurde een paar dagen.

Het rioolwater moest daarom even ergens anders worden gezuiverd. Tankwagens reden heen en weer naar een andere waterzuivering. De riolering functioneerde de afgelopen dagen normaal. Mensen konden gewoon douchen en hun wc gebruiken.

Bron: nos.nl

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Patiënten boos: 'Tegenstrijdig beleid' medicinale wiet

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Patiënten die al jarenlang medicinale wiet gebruiken zitten met de handen in het haar. Vanaf dit jaar vergoeden de meeste zorgverzekeraars de cannabis die ze via de apotheek krijgen niet meer.

Er zou onvoldoende wetenschappelijk bewijs zijn dat wiet als medicijn werkt. Terwijl patiënten met bijvoorbeeld MS, reuma, kanker of hiv zeggen er veel baat bij te hebben. De wiet vermindert hun klachten. Ze moeten het nu zelf betalen en dat kan oplopen tot honderden euro’s per maand.

Opvallend is dat het Zorginstituut Nederland - dat minister Schippers van Volksgezondheid adviseert over vergoedingen - zegt dat er geen wetenschappelijk bewijs is voor de werking van medicinale cannabis.

Dit is in tegenstelling tot wat het Bureau Medicinale Cannabis beweert. Dat is de overheidsorganisatie verantwoordelijk voor de productie van cannabis voor medische doeleinden. Dit bureau stelt in hun informatiefolder dat medicinale wiet wel degelijk werkt.

Daarnaast exporteert de Nederlandse overheid steeds meer medicinale wiet naar Duitsland. Bij de oosterburen is het zo populair dat het parlement daar afgelopen week het gebruik van medicinale wiet heeft gelegaliseerd en zorgverzekeraars het moeten vergoeden voor zwaar zieke patiënten.

Duitsland maakt zelf te weinig wiet om aan de grote vraag te voldoen. De Nederlandse overheid heeft als regel dat het maximaal 100 kilo wiet per jaar per land mag exporteren. Maar op verzoek van de Duitsers maakt minister Schippers nu een uitzondering: zij mogen de komende jaren 700 kilo wiet afnemen, zeven keer zoveel. Dat zegt ze in een Kamerbrief.

‘Tegenstrijdig beleid’ zeggen gedupeerde patiënten in Nederland. EenVandaag spreekt met Lilian Flanderijn, een MS-patiënt die aan het afbouwen is, omdat ze de wiet zelf niet kan betalen. Ook zijn we bij Marian Hutten en Serge de Bruijn van de patiëntenvereniging Medicinale Cannabis Gebruikers. Zij hebben het voordeel dat ze in Tilburg wonen, waar de burgemeester toestaat dat ze - onder voorwaarden - zelf wietplantjes voor medicinaal gebruik kweken.

Zorgverzekeraar ONVZ reageert ook op alle commotie.

Minister Schippers heeft in antwoord op vragen van EenVandaag laten weten dat ze het Zorginstituut zal vragen om opnieuw advies uit te brengen over medicinale cannabis op basis van nieuwe en internationale onderzoeken.