What love means |… – Journal of the San Juan Islands

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One of my favorite definitions of love I discovered in RZAs book The Tao of Wu when I was a 20-year-old living in New York City. At the time, I felt about the Big City the way Toni Morrison wrote about it in Jazz: it was the paragon of love, and I looked to it for wisdom and guidance. Several years later, on an old, wooden, John Alden schooner, the definition developed even sharper meaning when my new partner read it aloud.

Love, like water, dissolves you then resolves you. It breaks down your ego and puts you back together again properly.

Love is surely boundless and limitless, but also irrational equal parts vulnerability and strength. Perhaps love really is the true philosophers stone a catalyst for transformation, turning anything to gold and whistling to you from the doorways of immortality. People who exude love are apt to give things away. They are, in every way, like rivers; in other words, they stream. Do you ever notice when you start giving things away you keep getting more? To give love is to receive it.

In the Greek language, there are six different words for love: eros, or sexual passion; philia, or deep friendship; ludus, or playful love; agape, or love for everyone; pragma, or longstanding love; and philautia, or love of the self. While the English language only has one, this Valentines Day, and/or Galentines Day, we asked islanders to share what love means to them.

And lets face it, whether you love it or hate it, Valentines Day just seems unavoidable.

Community responses:

I read this somewhere once and it really resonated, Everyone carries old baggage, love means helping your loved one repack.

Someone knowing your favorite flavor of Gatorade and getting it for you when you need it the most and without being asked.

My man is constantly willing to grow, boundless in his dedication, handsome obviously, tall (I love that) and he makes me laugh.

Acceptance, companionship and safety. Her intelligence.

Love is the essence of life, the means to our well being, and the key to happiness. Without love and the love of family we are empty vessels in a world that is desperate for it.

Love itself is infinite and has many forms. Love for my partner means honesty, knowledge of self, commitment, passion, respect, help me up when Im down, big dreams, someone to come home to, someone to laugh with, someone to wipe the tears away. All the challenges and woes of daily life in this world can be made bearable when met with some Love and Compassion.

In the simplest terms, love is acceptance (as opposed to fear which is rejection); it is attraction, not repulsion, inclusion, not exclusion, an open heart as opposed to a closed one. True love is unconditional. And it is a spectrum from the spiritual (the intuitive and intellectual knowledge that we are connected) to the physical (the arousal and euphoria one feels in every cell of the body, not merely the genitalia). Alan Watts has a great lecture on the Spectrum of Love, by the way.

Love is listening. To listen means to love, we listen to who or what we love, it entails being receptive and open, listening with an open heart not just hearing with your ears.

I think the English language does not have enough words to appropriately break out the different versions and levels and depth of love but to avoid being unnecessarily pretentious I believe love should be totally and completely Selfless, honest about everything and never afraid to be honest, non-proprietary and lacking any need to own or control. To me, its a friendship that you can share your entire soul and life with facing fear head-on and fighting jealousy and envy and living to let the person you love be all of themselves.

The thing about love is it can often feel elusive, but in my humble opinion, it is in fact the pulse of the universe. The English language is sorely lacking in vocabulary to describe the many facets of love but I think the attributes are the same regardless of the nature of the relationship. For me, its something like this: an acceptance of the other persons choices, dreams, and struggles; the ability and willingness to be vulnerable and truly seen by another; a fierce desire to protect each other in whatever capacity the other needs; nourishing each others inner lives with food, affection and a desire to deeply understand one another.

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What love means |... - Journal of the San Juan Islands

Near Dark Is a Better 1980s Vampire Movie Than The Lost Boys – Screen Rant

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1987 vampire movies Near Dark and The Lost Boys are both great in different ways, but the former tends to get brushed aside in favor of the latter. Outside of perhaps the ghost, demon, and zombie, vampires are the monster with the most movies and TV shows made about them. There's something naturally alluring about vampirism, with its ability for those turned to live forever, perform inhuman physical feats, and often possess supernatural powers that allow for easy mental manipulation. Some vampires can even shape-shift at will.

Of course, there are certain downsides to vampirism, with the most obvious being the need to consume blood to survive, presumably via the killing of humans. Immortality can also kind of be a drag, especially if one opts to fall in love with or become friends with a mortal person they will one day have to watch die. Being a vampire is a bit of a double-edged sword, and Near Dark and The Lost Boys both alternately represent opposite sides of that coin, displaying both the seductive power and freedom offered by the condition, and its not-so-pleasant side effects.

Related: Stephen King's Salems Lot Changed Vampire Movies

Since they came out in the same year, it's common for horror fans to end up discussing both Near Dark and The Lost Boys when talking about the vampire movies of the 1980s. Unfortunately, Near Dark doesn't seem to get nearly the level of respect as The Lost Boys, and that's not fair.

To be clear, Near Dark being better than The Lost Boys doesn't make the latter a bad film. It's a lot of fun, and has a rocking, 1980s party atmosphere. At the same time, the story is kind of superficial, and the movie is often more concerned with being visually arresting than delving into its characters. The vampire group in Lost Boys is also a bit too large, with everyone not played by Keifer Sutherland or Jami Gertz basically blending together. The makeshift vampire family in Near Dark is much more memorable on an individual basis, with the wild and unpredictable big brother Severen (Bill Paxton), the wise but vicious father figure Jesse Hooker (Lance Henriksen) and mother figure Diamondback (Jeanette Goldstein), the unwilling child Homer (Joshua John Miller), and the sweet but forlorn Mae (Jenny Wright).

There's also the protagonist that finds themselves becoming a vampire after falling for a beautiful female bloodsucker in both films. The Lost Boys' Michael, as played by Jason Patric, really isn't given much to do outside of brood and be scared. Near Dark's Caleb, as played by Adrian Pasdar, actually begins to care for and about his new family, and for a while, accepts that his new lot in life is to be part of their ranks.

Finally, as a horror film, Near Dark is much more effective. Lost Boys often diffuses its best horror bits with laughs, while Near Dark takes things quite seriously, and doesn't hesitate to get gory and harsh. The score by Tangerine Dream is also excellent, providing a moody, dreamlike feeling to the proceedings. Near Dark also features a novel cure for vampirism, involving a blood transfusion, while The Lost Boys mostly sticks to normal lore. The Lost Boys is and was a blast, but when it comes to the better 1980s vampire film, Near Dark wins.

More: Where Are They Now? The Cast Of The Lost Boys

Saw: Amanda Young Became The Main Killer In Dead By Daylight

Michael Kennedy is an avid movie and TV fan that's been working for Screen Rant in various capacities since 2014. In that time, Michael has written over 2000 articles for the site, first working solely as a news writer, then later as a senior writer and associate news editor. Most recently, Michael helped launch Screen Rant's new horror section, and is now the lead staff writer when it comes to all things frightening. A FL native, Michael is passionate about pop culture, and earned an AS degree in film production in 2012. He also loves both Marvel and DC movies, and wishes every superhero fan could just get along. When not writing, Michael enjoys going to concerts, taking in live professional wrestling, and debating pop culture. A long-term member of the Screen Rant family, Michael looks forward to continuing on creating new content for the site for many more years to come.

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Near Dark Is a Better 1980s Vampire Movie Than The Lost Boys - Screen Rant

Clean Buildings Expo To Offer Expanded Education Sessions – CleanLink

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The Baltimore Convention Center is set to host the annual Clean Buildings Expo (CBE), March 17 and 18. After a successful launch in 2019, the trade show for the commercial cleaning industry is set to deliver impactful education and showcase new products all for the enrichment and betterment of facility cleaning managers, executive housekeepers and environmental services executives, as well as building service contractors.

"We'll have even more educational conference sessions in year two of Clean Buildings Expo," says Amy Brown, director of education and events at Trade Press Media Group (the parent company of Facility Cleaning Decisions magazine and CleanLink.com). "Our expanded offerings include new tracks, along with pertinent and well-known leaders of the industry sharing their expertise."

CBE's dedicated 2020 tracks are: Cleaning Operations; Staffing and Management; and Trends and Technologies. The education conference portion of CBE includes almost 30 complimentary sessions within the three tracks. Speakers are carefully curated by CleanLink.com and ISSA, the co-owners of Clean Buildings Expo, providing attendees the opportunity to gain invaluable insight into the industry.

A bonus, attendees sitting in on education sessions can also earn continuing education units (CEUs) for every session they participate in at CBE. A sampling of session topics include: ADA Compliance in Restrooms; Creating Leaders Through Succession Planning; Germ Warfare A Focus On Influenza, Norovirus And Emerging Viral Diseases; and Where Did The Workers Go?

"I attended the inaugural Clean Buildings Expo along with two of my custodial supervisors with an eye to exposing them to the breadth of the industry," says Keith Webb, EFP, executive director of plant services at Newport News Public Schools, Newport News, Virginia. "I am a member of the Healthy Schools Campaign's Green Cleaning Steering Committee and an ISSA member, so I have become well acquainted with the state of our industry. I brought aspiring leaders from my school division because I knew they would benefit from this event. I was not disappointed. The variety and relevance of the breakout sessions was broad enough to 'leave them wanting more'. My supervisors were able to meet several of the breakout speakers over meals, as well as network with other industry leaders who do what they do. All this and a trade show, too!"

Following a morning of robust education, Clean Buildings Expo attendees will head down to the trade show expo hall, which will once again be bustling with activity, innovation and much more. Attendees can meet with manufacturers and leading suppliers of floor and carpet cleaning equipment, chemicals, restroom supplies, emerging technologies and green cleaning products during the two exhibit days. CleanLink.com and ISSA are projecting an even larger show floor than the inaugural event in 2019.

Show goers will want to stick around all day so they don't miss the unparalleled networking opportunities available at the opening night networking party. Here, Clean Buildings Expo attendees can mingle with fellow facility cleaning managers, BSCs, education speakers, manufacturers and facility executives from the co-located National Facilities Management and Technology (NFMT) event.

Entry into all facets of CBE remain free at the March event. To cap it off, registration also includes access into the aforementioned NFMT show floor and its more than 100 conference education sessions. For additional attendee information, including registration details and the full conference schedule, go to http://www.cleanbuildingsexpo.com.

POSTED ON: 2/12/2020

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Clean Buildings Expo To Offer Expanded Education Sessions - CleanLink

El Chapo’s Conviction Changed Everything and Nothing About the War on Drugs – VICE

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Bureau of Prisons Inmate No. 89914-053 spends his days alone inside a 75-square-foot cell in Florence, Colorado. His only furniture is a concrete slab with a flimsy mattress, and a stainless steel toilet and sink. His narrow slit of a window affords no view of the snow-capped Rocky Mountain peaks that stretch for miles in every direction.

This is the end of the road for Joaqun El Chapo Guzmn Loera: ADX Florence, a federal prison better known as the Alcatraz of the Rockies. Here he is surrounded by steel doors, concrete walls, maze-like corridors, hundreds of surveillance cameras, and layers of electrified fencing topped with razor wire. Nobody is going to push him out the front door in a laundry cart. There are ground sensors in place to detect tunneling. This time, theres no escaping.

February 12 marks one year since a dozen Brooklyn jurors handed down a unanimous guilty verdict against the worlds most infamous drug kingpin, condemning him to a life sentence with no chance for parole. Chapo is now effectively cut off from the world, but the chain reaction of events triggered by his capture and conviction is still unfolding far beyond the prison walls. In Mexico, his Sinaloa cartel remains a dominant force. And in the U.S., his former drug-trade associates are cycling in and out of federal custody.

Just last month Genaro Garca Luna, once Mexicos top law enforcement official, pleaded not guilty to federal charges that he accepted millions of dollars in bribes from the Sinaloa cartel. His indictment was the other shoe dropping on one of the many bombshell allegations that emerged from Chapos epic three-month trial, when one witness testified to hand-delivering suitcases full of cash to Garca Luna in exchange for protection and information. That accusation was soon eclipsed by testimony that former Mexican President Enrique Pea Nieto solicited a $250 million bribe from Chapo and his partner Ismael El Mayo Zambada.

Its hard to say the Sinaloa cartel is weaker its hard to put metrics to what that really means.

Perhaps Garca Luna, who was living a comfortable life in Miami when he was arrested and charged in the same Brooklyn court where Chapo was prosecuted, hoped his alleged corruption had simply gone overlooked. Now the question is whether Pea Nieto who has denied ever taking a bribe is the next target for the feds, or someone else.

Maybe it will be ex-president Felipe Caldern, the man who picked Garca Luna to oversee the military offensive against the cartels that began in 2006, leading to the arrests or deaths of many top traffickers but plunging Mexico into a downward spiral of violence that continues today. The approach, dubbed the kingpin strategy, has splintered the cartels into warring factions, fueling internecine conflicts and bloody turf wars. Each new year brings a record number of murders, with 34,582 officially tallied in 2019. The true death toll, obscured by forced disappearances and bodies hidden away in mass graves, is likely far worse.

Caldern has long been accused of favoring Chapos organization during his presidency, which ended in 2012 with the top leadership of the Sinaloa cartel suspiciously intact compared to rival groups. Caldern was indignant when I asked him about this in a 2018 interview, insisting he established a clear rule of no agreements with anyone. But Garca Luna apparently did have an agreement, a very lucrative one at that. His case is proof that the Mexican government isnt waging any sort of war on drugs. There is a war, but its for control over drug trafficking and the money it brings. Mexicos government has always been complicit in the drug trade. Chapos trial just cast a spotlight on that ugly truth for the first time in a U.S. courtroom.

Mexicos current president, Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador, campaigned on the slogan Abrazos no balazos or Hugs not bullets, promising to curb the ceaseless violence and root out corruption. Yet he, too, was implicated in bribery during Chapos trial, when an unsealed court filing referenced an alleged payoff from the Sinaloa cartel to his campaign manager during his failed 2006 presidential bid. Much like the allegation against Garca Luna, it quickly blew over amid the trials telenovela-like plot twists.

Lpez Obrador created a new military unit, the National Guard, to combat organized crime, but so far it has failed spectacularly. In October, soldiers detained one of Chapos sons, 29-year-old Ovidio Guzmn Lpez, in the Sinaloan capital Culiacn, but they were forced to release him after hundreds of heavily-armed cartel foot soldiers laid siege to the city and threatened to execute the families of the men involved in the capture operation. Eight people were killed in the standoff, which unfolded in real time on social media. It was a major embarrassment for Lpez Obrador, and a visceral indication that Chapos downfall apparently did nothing to diminish the power of his cartel. His sons including Ovidio and his brothers Ivn, Alfredo, and Joaqun, collectively known as Los Chapitos just picked up where Dad left off.

LISTEN: "Chapo: Kingpin on Trial" for free, exclusively on Spotify.

Ray Donovan, who oversaw the hunt for Chapo as the former chief of the DEAs Special Operations Division, told me the botched Ovidio arrest is indicative of the fact that the Sinaloa cartel is still there, and it is indicative of the fact that they still have millions of dollars at their disposal, and resources and men and manpower, and they are capable of continuing the drug trafficking business.

Now leading the DEAs New York division, where he keeps one of Chapos trademark black baseball caps on display like a trophy behind his desk, Donovan argued that Chapo was the Sinaloa cartels innovator and said taking him out changes how they have to continue to operate. Chapos conviction, he said, sent a message to every other cartel leader that they, too, could eventually face justice in the U.S., but its hard to say the Sinaloa cartel is weaker its hard to put metrics to what that really means.

Last month, U.S. authorities found a tunnel that stretched for three-quarters of a mile from Tijuana to San Diego, equipped with an elevator, ventilation, and a rail cart to ferry drugs under the border. It was the longest smuggling tunnel ever discovered, about 4,000 feet longer than the first one Chapo was credited with building. The day after the recent tunnel discovery, three Sinaloa cartel members escaped from a prison in Mexico City with suspected help from guards. Clearly, the innovations that Chapo left behind are still very much in use.

Is there futility in what we do? Are we playing whack-a-mole? I think its showing the strength of what our system does; there's a purpose for it. There's a need to hold these people accountable.

With Chapo out of the picture, American media and law enforcement have begun to hype a new Public Enemy No. 1, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, better known as El Mencho. His Jalisco New Generation Cartel is on the ascent, reportedly flooding U.S. cities with meth while his henchmen commit gruesome acts of violence as they battle rivals in Mexico. Donovan called Menchos gang the fast-growing cartel in Mexico, with global reach. And he emphasized that the U.S. and Mexico are still working together to catch and extradite him and others: When its all said and done, well continue to pursue these individuals with our counterparts down there.

READ: From 'the Alcatraz of the Rockies' to the streets.

Chapos trial was supposed to prove that the system works, to show that even the biggest, baddest kingpin can be captured, extradited, and convicted. But at what cost? And as a means to what ends? The actual taxpayer bill for the trial has never been calculated, but it surely runs into the millions. The ostensible purpose was to show that anyone can be brought to justice, but in some ways it revealed how warped our collective sense of justice has become.

There was never any real doubt about Chapos guilt. The absurdity of his defense that he was merely the fall guy for the real boss, El Mayo was laid bare by mountains of evidence, including thousands of incriminating BlackBerry messages that showed Chapo to be a micromanaging control freak, who obsessively monitored the status of even lowly marijuana shipments. But the case was truly made on the testimony of the cooperators, 14 people who were once among Chapos closest associates, who agreed to take the stand in exchange for leniency in their own cases.

Now that a year has passed, some of those cooperators are already reaping the benefits of their deals. Jorge Cifuentes-Villa was a major Colombian cocaine trafficker who testified about gifting Chapo a helicopter and sending his younger brother Alex to serve as Chapos lieutenant in the mountains of Sinaloa. Bureau of Prisons records indicate that Cifuentes-Villa was released from federal custody on Dec. 5, 2019, less than seven years after his extradition, even though he was eligible for a life sentence.

The list goes on. El Mayos son and heir apparent, Vicente Zambada-Niebla, is set for release in 2022. Court records indicate that Dmaso Lpez Nuez, aka El Licenciado, Chapos former right-hand man, may be getting his life sentence reduced, though the exact terms of his deal remain under seal. His son, known as Mini Lic, is also in U.S. custody and cooperating with the feds, though last month Mexican authorities issued an arrest warrant for him because hes suspected of the murder of a prominent Mexican journalist an allegation that directly contradicts his fathers testimony during the trial.

READ: The 10 wildest moments and stories from El Chapo's trial.

The U.S Attorneys Office in Brooklyn declined to comment when asked about the various deals given to the Chapo cooperators and their current whereabouts.

In her first interview since the Chapo trial, Andrea Goldbarg, the original prosecutor in the case, told me the investigation, extradition, and conviction would not have been possible without help from cooperators.

We can do wiretaps, but in order to understand the day-to-day workings, the power structure, how they organize that comes through people who were within the organization, she said. And when people make a decision that theyre going to plead guilty and accept responsibility and assist the U.S. government by cooperating, they do it at extreme risk to themselves and their families.

A career narcotics prosecutor with the Department of Justice, Goldbarg spent 10 years working on the Chapo case. It began with the prosecution of a Colombian cartel boss known as Chupeta, one of the Sinaloa cartels main cocaine suppliers, who later testified against Chapo. Goldbarg pointed to Colombia as proof that the kingpin strategy can work. The U.S.-led takedowns of Pablo Escobars Medelln cartel and his rivals in the Cali cartel are partly credited with making Colombia one of the more stable and prosperous countries in Latin America.

But after nearly 50 years of efforts to stamp out the drug trade, cocaine production in Colombia is currently at an all-time high. Goldbarg blames the resurgence on the Colombian governments decision to end aerial eradication of coca plants. But just like in Mexico corruption and impunity remain factors in allowing the drug trade to flourish.

There are degrees of corruption, Goldbarg said. There are just economic realities of Latin America. When you have someone who is a police officer who makes $250 a month, which is barely subsistence where hes living, and you have someone saying, Ill give you $2,500 to look the other way, and if you don't take it, Ill kill you, what are they going to do? That's the reality of corruption. But then you have the much higher levels that allow this system to perpetuate.

Goldbarg said the Chapo trial was very impactful because it allowed Latin Americans to understand the transparency of the system in the United States, though many records in Chapos case and others related to it remain under seal and shrouded in secrecy. When I pointed to the recent incident with Chapos son Ovidio in Culiacn and asked whether Mexico is really better off now that Chapo has been convicted, she defended the U.S. approach to the war on drugs, arguing that doing nothing letting cartel leaders like Chapo remain free would be an unacceptable alternative.

Is there futility in what we do? Are we playing whack-a-mole? she asked rhetorically. I think its showing the strength of what our system does; there's a purpose for it. There's a need to hold these people accountable. Thats what we need to do, and we should continue to do it until this issue is resolved.

On the eve of Chapos trial, I interviewed Olivia and Mia Flores, the wives of twin brothers from Chicago who became high-level traffickers in the Sinaloa cartel. Their husbands, Pedro and Margarito Flores, eventually had a change of heart and switched sides, agreeing to secretly record Chapo for the DEA before turning themselves in. When I caught up with Olivia again last month, she said both her husband and her brother-in-law, who testified at the trial, would be out of prison soon, within the year, after serving 14-year sentences.

I dont feel like there was a get out of jail free card, she said. Everybody knows that the government depends on cooperators. Without them, Chapo wouldn't be sitting in prison. He wouldn't be in the U.S. They wouldn't be extraditing all these cartel figures from Mexico. There would be no justice if it wasnt for cooperators.

Like Donovan, Olivia told me El Chapos conviction sent a message that nobody is above the law, but she also conceded theres always going to be another boogeyman. Right now its El Mencho. Tomorrow it will be somebody else. No one is invincible; the U.S. is going to make you pay, she said. Its never-ending, its like a never-ending cycle.

Olivia and Mia wrote a memoir about their lives in the Sinaloa cartel, and theyre now working to turn it into a movie. Olivia was a big fan of Hustlers, and hopes Jennifer Lopez will produce and star in their film, but shes quick to note that she doesnt want to glamorize the narco lifestyle, saying she initially shared her story to show people what it was like to be in that cartel world, the killings, the murders.

Its never been easy to separate the grim reality of Chapo from his portrayal in pop culture as a charming rogue, a self-made man who rose from abject poverty to a ranking on the Forbes billionaires list. To some in Sinaloa, he remains a modern-day Robin Hood, credited with building churches, paving roads, and pumping cash into the local economy while sticking it to the man. Hes the mastermind behind drug tunnels under the border. Hes the peoples outlaw, a real-life Tony Montana in Scarface a bad guy, sure, but at least he had the guts to be what he wanted to be.

Chapo understood the power of his mystique as well as anyone. Witnesses testified during the trial that he wanted to turn his life story into a Hollywood movie. He arranged to meet with actors Kate del Castillo and Sean Penn, a bit of hubris that contributed to his downfall. Even from behind bars, his legend continues to grow. Hell be a lead character on the new season of Narcos: Mexico. At least four books about him and his trial have either been published or are set for release in the coming year. His wife recently appeared aboard a yacht on a reality-TV show called Cartel Crew. His daughter is hawking Chapo-brand beer and clothing in Mexico.

I asked Chapos lead trial attorney, Jeffrey Lichtman, how Chapo is holding up in prison. His client is housed in a special part of ADX called H-Unit, alongside several convicted terrorists. Hes under tight restrictions called Special Administrative Measures, which prevent him from communicating with anyone other than his lawyers and a few close relatives. His family visits, mail, and limited phone calls are closely monitored. Anyone caught passing messages for Chapo faces prison themselves, so Lichtman was cagey.

Chapo mostly passes the time watching cable TV on a tiny 13-inch screen, Lichtman said. He writes letters to his mother, sisters, and twin daughters, the few family members hes allowed to contact. Hes still in good spirits, despite his fate.

READ: These were El Chapo's final words before going to supermax.

Hes a pretty tough dude, he said. He always kept his sense of humor, every time I was with Chapo from the moment I met him in February 2017 to speaking to him now, every single conversation we have, were laughing at some point. Thats not how most clients are.

Lichtman reminisced about how every day of Chapos trial felt historic. It was always a spectacle, with courtroom theater that was equal parts comedy, horror, thriller, and drama. It was its own news cycle. In the end, Lichtman argued Chapo didnt get a fair shake.

It was America trying to show the world how special and just our legal system is, he said. I really think it failed. I think at the end of the day, there was such great effort to make it appear he received a fair trial, and then we found out the jury was knee-deep in inflammatory press reports, lying about it to the judge.

Lichtman was referring to my interview with an anonymous member of Chapos jury. That person described various degrees of juror misconduct, including the claim that at least five jurors disobeyed the judges orders and read news coverage about the trial, including the child rape allegations against Chapo that were not presented as evidence.

The person I interviewed didnt think those allegations changed anyones mind about the verdict, but they did say several people were concerned that he would spend the rest of his life in solitary confinement, which is exactly where he ended up. Chapos judge, Brian Cogan, denied a request for a new trial because of the reported juror misconduct, and Lichtman is now pursuing an appeal in the Second Circuit. He says Chapo is helping, working on the paperwork from his cell in ADX.

Getting the verdict overturned is the longest of shots, but its Chapos last best hope. The outcome of a second trial would likely be another conviction. If not, he would simply be tried in another court. No matter what happens, the U.S. isnt sending him home to Mexico for a family reunion. Chapo is gone for good, but that doesnt mean his story is done being written.

Cover: Collage by Hunter French / Images via Getty and AP

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El Chapo's Conviction Changed Everything and Nothing About the War on Drugs - VICE

Dimond: We need a smarter war on drugs – The Winchester Star

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Did we learn nothing from the so-called crack-cocaine plague of the 80s and 90s?

For those with fuzzy memories, the media back then erroneously and breathlessly declared that crack use had reached epidemic proportions. Newsweek declared crack was the most addictive drug known to man. The full truth would eventually come out. Crack was only half the problem.

Crack is created when powder cocaine is mixed with baking soda and water and cooked down into rocklike nuggets to be smoked in a pipe. Its a relatively cheap high and favored by those in poorer neighborhoods. The more expensive powder cocaine was snorted primarily by higher-income Caucasians. What was happening in the 80s wasnt just a crack epidemic; it was also a cocaine epidemic and poor and rich alike were addicted.

Congress bought the fake news that crack was the real problem and passed the ill-conceived Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, which set a mandatory sentence of five years in federal prison for anyone convicted of possessing 5 grams of crack (equal to 1 teaspoon), even if it was their first offense. Thousands of mostly poor, young African American men were imprisoned, their families torn apart. Powder cocaine users were only sentenced to that mandatory five years in prison if they possessed 500 grams (or over a pound) of the drug. The racial disparity was painfully obvious.

The overcrowding of our prison system began. More importantly, the crime and drug problems in America did not lessen with these tough-on-crime sentences. Things got worse over the years, as addicts moved on to black tar heroin, meth, ketamine, ecstasy and more.

Today, the deadliest drug is reported to be fentanyl not the medically approved pharmaceutical fentanyl, an opioid that treats severe pain, but rather the illegally produced fentanyl, which is mostly smuggled into the U.S. via illicit laboratories in China and Mexico. Tens of thousands of Americans have died from fentanyl overdoses and other similar chemical compounds called analogues.

There are several bills pending in Congress now aimed at curbing distribution and use of fentanyl and its analogues. Some seek to label the addicting chemicals as highly regulated, Schedule I dangerous opioids, which opponents say could adversely affect future scientific research. But guess what is also being considered as a solution to this deadly problem? You guessed it mandatory prison sentences for drug addicts and street dealers in possession of drugs containing fentanyl and its close cousins.

Reality check: Street-level sellers and buyers have no way of knowing if their drugs include fentanyl. Its added in by criminal chemical cookers to give their drugs that extra punch that keeps customers coming back.

Attorney General William Barr hit the nail on the head at his confirmation hearing last year when he said, The head of the snake is outside the country, and the place to fight this aggressively is at the source more than on the street corner. Barr added, We could stack up generation after generation of people in prison and it will still keep on coming. Ironically, Barr has recently campaigned for passage of two bills that fail to focus on stopping fentanyl at the source.

When will lawmakers understand that locking up addicts and low-level dealers doesnt stop the problem? It just creates another fractured generation of ex-cons and ever-mounting incarceration costs for us to pay. Going after the source of the product that poisons so many is a much smarter long-term tactic.

Spend more money interdicting shipments of fentanyl (and all illegal opioids!) coming into this country via the U.S. Postal Service. Outfit agencies like the Customs and Border Protection and the Drug Enforcement Administration with more personnel and technology to stop drug shipments headed this way, whether theyre arriving via air, sea, land or border tunnels. Make foreign aid dependent on whether the receiving country helps stop the flow of drugs into the U.S. And how about focusing on job training for convicted dealers and truly meaningful treatment for addicts so that upon their release, they become taxpaying citizens with decent jobs?

We need a modern-day war on drugs one that is strong and focused on the source of the problem, not just on the addicted victims drugs create.

Diane Dimond writes for Creators.

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Dimond: We need a smarter war on drugs - The Winchester Star

Is America Ready to Decriminalize Meth and Heroin? – National Review

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Pete Buttigieg at a campaign event in Nashua, N.H., February 9, 2020. (Eric Thayer/Reuters)

In 1969, the height of the Sixties cultural revolution, Pew found that only 12 percent of Americans supported the legalization of pot. Fifty years later, 67 percent of voters support it. Virtually every candidate on the Democratic presidential slate backs some form of marijuana legalization. Even the Trump administration has left states to manage their own business on the matter. This year, at least one candidate supports going further and decriminalizing all drugs.

On Sunday, Fox News Chris Wallace pushed Iowa caucus winner Pete Buttigieg to explain his support for the decriminalization of all narcotics.

First, he asked Buttigieg whether laws act as a deterrent to those willing trying meth and heroin for the first time. Buttigieg dissembled, and never answered the question. One supposes, this is America, Chris, and if someone wants to freebase its none of my business, is still tad bit too libertarian for the average American voter.

That happens to be my philosophical position: Americans should be free to ingest whatever they choose cigarette smoke, trans fats, mega-sodas, and/or methamphetamine. Im skeptical that significant number of people will begin shooting heroin simply because possession of small amounts of the drug have been decriminalized. We already enforce our drug laws arbitrarily.

My rational self is forced to concede that on the margins, people already inclined to do hard narcotics will find it easier to obtain them if we decriminalize, and that may cost lives. Theres plenty of evidence that alcohol consumption fell during Prohibition and then increased again when it was overturned. In Seattle, where drug possession has been effectively legalized, the trend of rising overdoses hasnt changed.

Its a banal observation, no doubt, to say that there are no easy answers. There are, however, some obvious questions to consider: Is the War on Drugs worth the cost? Is it worth throwing non-violent criminals into prison rather than rehab? Is it worth spending billions on police-state efforts that do little to mitigate the problem rather than diverting those funds to figuring out other ways to combat addiction?

Yet when Wallace pushed Buttigieg to clarify what decriminalization might entail, he couldnt provide any specifics, declaring that we shouldnt worry about the legal niceties but rather about the failures of the drug war.

Well, the difference between a felony, a misdemeanor, or no punishment at all isnt a legal nicety, its the distinction between criminalization and decriminalization, as anyone with a criminal record will tell you.

Specifics are going to be important. Most Americans have had at last some interaction with pot, which, though it might make us useless or stupid, wont kill us. When you start talking about meth and heroin, average Americans probably start picturing drug supermarkets on Main Street, kids shooting up behind 7/11s, and resultant criminality.

To this point, Buttigieg, who is further to the left than is generally understood, seems unable to defend his position effectively or even fully. Itll be interesting to see how the issue plays out if he solidifies as a major contender though I suspect the majority of the electorate isnt ready for legal meth.

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Is America Ready to Decriminalize Meth and Heroin? - National Review

Crime and Courts: We need a smarter war on drugs – Muskogee Daily Phoenix

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Did we learn nothing from the so-called crack-cocaine plague of the '80s and '90s?

For those with fuzzy memories, the media back then erroneously and breathlessly declared that crack use had reached epidemic proportions. Newsweek declared crack was "the most addictive drug known to man." The full truth would eventually come out. Crack was only half the problem.

Crack is created when powder cocaine is mixed with baking soda and water and cooked down into rocklike nuggets to be smoked in a pipe. It's a relatively cheap high and favored by those in poorer neighborhoods. The more expensive powder cocaine was snorted primarily by higher-income Caucasians. What was happening in the '80s wasn't just a crack epidemic; it was also a cocaine epidemic and poor and rich alike were addicted.

Congress bought the fake news that crack was the real problem and passed the ill-conceived Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, which set a mandatory sentence of five years in federal prison for anyone convicted of possessing 5 grams of crack (equal to 1 teaspoon), even if it was their first offense. Thousands of mostly poor, young African American men were imprisoned, their families torn apart. Powder cocaine users were only sentenced to that mandatory five years in prison if they possessed 500 grams (or over a pound) of the drug. The racial disparity was painfully obvious.

The overcrowding of our prison system began. More importantly, the crime and drug problems in America did not lessen with these tough-on-crime sentences. Things got worse over the years, as addicts moved on to "black tar" heroin, meth, ketamine, ecstasy and more.

Today, the deadliest drug is reported to be fentanyl not the medically approved pharmaceutical fentanyl, an opioid that treats severe pain, but rather the illegally produced fentanyl, which is mostly smuggled into the U.S. via illicit laboratories in China and Mexico. Tens of thousands of Americans have died from fentanyl overdoses and other similar chemical compounds called analogues.

There are several bills pending in Congress now aimed at curbing distribution and use of fentanyl and its analogues. Some seek to label the addicting chemicals as highly regulated, Schedule I dangerous opioids, which opponents say could adversely affect future scientific research. But guess what is also being considered as a solution to this deadly problem? You guessed it mandatory prison sentences for drug addicts and street dealers in possession of drugs containing fentanyl and its close cousins.

Reality check: Street-level sellers and buyers have no way of knowing if their drugs include fentanyl. It's added in by criminal "chemical cookers" to give their drugs that extra punch that keeps customers coming back.

Attorney General William Barr hit the nail on the head at his confirmation hearing last year when he said, "The head of the snake is outside the country, and the place to fight this aggressively is at the source more than on the street corner." Barr added, "We could stack up generation after generation of people in prison and it will still keep on coming." Ironically, Barr has recently campaigned for passage of two bills that fail to focus on stopping fentanyl at the source.

When will lawmakers understand that locking up addicts and low-level dealers doesn't stop the problem? It just creates another fractured generation of ex-cons and ever-mounting incarceration costs for us to pay. Going after the source of the product that poisons so many is a much smarter long-term tactic.

Spend more money interdicting shipments of fentanyl (and all illegal opioids!) coming into this country via the U.S. Postal Service. Outfit agencies like the Customs and Border Protection and the Drug Enforcement Administration with more personnel and technology to stop drug shipments headed this way, whether they're arriving via air, sea, land or border tunnels. Make foreign aid dependent on whether the receiving country helps stop the flow of drugs into the U.S. And how about focusing on job training for convicted dealers and truly meaningful treatment for addicts so that upon their release, they become taxpaying citizens with decent jobs?

We need a modern-day war on drugs one that is strong and focused on the source of the problem, not just on the addicted victims drugs create.

Diane Dimond is a syndicated columnist and television reporter of high-profile court cases.

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Crime and Courts: We need a smarter war on drugs - Muskogee Daily Phoenix

Learn from the 80s, get a smart war on drugs – Albuquerque Journal

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The overcrowding of our prison system began. More importantly, the crime and drug problems in America did not lessen with these tough-on-crime sentences. Things got worse over the years as addicts moved on to black tar heroin, meth, Ketamine, Ecstasy and more.

Today, the deadliest drug is reported to be fentanyl. Not the medically approved pharmaceutical fentanyl, an opioid that treats severe pain, but rather illegally produced fentanyl mostly smuggled into the U.S. via illicit laboratories in China and Mexico. Tens of thousands of Americans have died from fentanyl overdoses and other similar chemical compounds called analogues.

There are several bills pending in Congress now aimed at curbing distribution and use of fentanyl and its analogues. Some seek to label the addicting chemicals as highly regulated Schedule 1 dangerous opioids, which opponents say could adversely affect future scientific research. But guess what is also being considered as a solution to this deadly problem? You guessed it mandatory prison sentences for drug addicts and street dealers in possession of drugs containing fentanyl and its close cousins.

Reality check: Street-level sellers and buyers have no way of knowing if their drugs include fentanyl. Its added in by criminal chemical cookers at the source to give their drugs that extra punch that keeps customers coming back. Attorney General William Barr hit the nail on the head at his confirmation hearing last year when he said, The head of the snake is outside the country, and the place to fight this aggressively is at the source more than on the street corner. Barr added, we could stack up generation after generation of people in prison, and it will still keep on coming. Yet ironically, Barr has recently campaigned for passage of two bills that fail to focus on stopping fentanyl at the source.

When will lawmakers understand that locking up addicts and low-level dealers doesnt stop the problem? It just creates another fractured generation of ex-cons and ever-mounting incarceration costs for us to pay. Going after the source of the product that poisons so many is a much smarter long-term tactic.

Spend more money interdicting shipments of fentanyl and all illegal drugs coming into this country via the U.S. Postal Service. Outfit agencies like Customs and Border Patrol and the Drug Enforcement Administration with more personnel and technology to stop drug shipments headed this way, be they arriving via air, sea, land or through border tunnels. Make foreign aid dependent on whether the receiving country helps stop the flow of drugs into the U.S. And how about focusing on job-training for convicted dealers and truly meaningful treatment for addicts so that upon their release they become tax-paying citizens with decent jobs?

We need a modern-day War on Drugs. One that is strong and focused on stopping both the source of the poison and the demand those drugs create.

http://www.DianeDimond.com; e-mail to Diane@DianeDimond.com.

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Learn from the 80s, get a smart war on drugs - Albuquerque Journal

How the police war on drugs is different from the public’s – Police News

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In 1971, President Nixon declared a War on Drugs. I became a participant as a police officer on January 1, 1974.

I fought the good fight for 33 years, but looking back at the countless drug searches, seizures and arrests, I dont know if we have ever waged a war on drugs, but drugs are definitely waging war on us.

In 2017 alone, 70,237 Americans died of drug-related overdoses. This eclipses, in one year, the 58,220 total American deaths during the entire Vietnam War. Drugs are waging war on us!

Some headway has been made recently as we are beginning to seeflat or declining drug overdosenumbers. Factors contributing to this positive development include:

Bravo! Keep up the good work!

I am observing, however, that some allies in our efforts seem to have become part of the problem instead of the solution. Here are a few questions I have for these allies.

To the people who believe police officers pursue a person because of their color rather than their criminality, I ask: What if you are wrong and police officers are truly motivated by a sincere desire to keep you and your children safe?

Believe it or not, the vast majority of police officers you paint with your wide brush pursue criminality, not color.

If you do not believe me, listen to the testimonies of people who have worked hard and succeeded in getting out of troubled areas describe what a challenge it was to survive in an environment dominated by drugs and gangs.

We will never solve the problem of illegal drugs and other criminality by giving criminals a pass while blaming the police and the courts for putting people in prison who have earned the price of admission by poisoning our children and committing many, many, many crimes.

To healthcare professionals, I ask: If drug addiction is a disease, why are you not clamoring for drug dealers to be quarantined indefinitely?

Medical experts have declared drug addiction to be a disease. Therefore, since the numbers bear out that this disease is more deadly than modern warfare, it follows that drug dealers, who are the carriers of this disease, should be quarantined from society immediately and indefinitely.

However, if you examine bonding and sentencing policies nationwide, you will see that painstaking efforts are made to release drug dealers quickly and often back into our communities after they are arrested and even after conviction. Signature bonds, ankle bracelets and urine tests dont prevent drug dealers from exposing young children to the potentially fatal disease of addiction.

To legislators, I ask: If drug addiction is a disease, why are there so few medical treatment centers available to treat an affliction that kills so many?

Police officers can attest to the fact that not only in the case of drug addicts but also the mentally ill, it is difficult to get a bed in a treatment facility for long-term treatment even when the afflicted are pleading for care. As it stands, the only treatment facility that makes room for them upon request by the police are jails. Legislators must provide for the construction of many more treatment facilities for addicts and the mentally ill.

Why in the midst of a drug abuse epidemic are you rushing to legalize marijuana?

It is puzzling that instead of comprehensively trying to solve a massive drug abuse problem we have in this nation, legislators opt instead to spend their time on efforts to legalize marijuana. These efforts continue unabated even as we have children and adults dying horrible deaths after vaping products containing THC.

Why do you continue to facilitate needle giveaway programs when they endanger communities?

This effort to facilitate addicts and keep them safe has clearly backfired and endangers the public. In many small towns and big cities, park and recreation employees carry around needle collection kits so that our children are not injured by discarded free needles while sliding off a slide or into second base.

To prosecutors, judges and mayors, I ask: Why are some of you choosing to serve as advocates to lawbreakers rather than your constituents?

Keeping a community safe within the law should be the goal of everyone in service to their community. Too many prosecutors, judges and mayors have become criminal advocates at the expense of the good citizens they serve. You have mayors of sanctuary cities ordering drug dealers and other criminals to not be turned over to federal authorities upon request, allowing the release of these criminals, which enables them to commit more crimes. With that in mind, here is one more serious question: Where does a law-abiding citizen find sanctuary in a sanctuary city?

Finally, here is a question for everyone to ponder: How can we help children make the right choice when that moment comes?

Experts say Just say no doesnt work. However, the moment comes in every childs life, when it is their turn to decide to either use illegal drugs or just say no!

Preparing kids for that moment is our best chance of keeping them from the sinister grip of drugs. We must discuss and decide how we can redouble our efforts through education, personal example, enforcement, treatment and other options not yet thought of, to convince every child that when their moment to decide comes its not, Just say no, it's, Must say no!

Pondering these questions reminded me of a long-ago shift when I had someone before me who could have given me some insight into solving this problem. As I looked down upon the young overdose victim looking back at me like a discarded mannequin wearing that eyes-wide-open stare, I asked, How could this have been prevented?

Sadly the question was asked too late for the answer was...silence.

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How the police war on drugs is different from the public's - Police News

Editorial: A better way to take on drug addiction – New Haven Register

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By Hearst Connecticut Media Editorial Board

Its easy to come up with arguments against a plan to distribute drug paraphernalia on the streets of one of Connecticuts largest cities, where drugs and crime have long plagued the life of residents. Using illegal drugs is supposed to be discouraged, so why would anyone in a position of authority do anything to make it easier?

New Haven, though, last week announced that it has started distributing free plastic bags that contain items including clean needles, sterile glass pipes and information about local rehabilitation services to people who have been released from the citys detention facility. Its part of an initiative to use harm reduction principles to curb addiction and a turn away from what are considered the failed policies of the long-running War on Drugs.

For now, part of the plan is on hold. The States Attorneys Office says the glass pipes in the packets could pose complications to future legal cases involving drug paraphernalia, and the city will wait for a clarification of state law before going ahead with that aspect. But the reasoning behind the plan is sound, and its one other communities should explore.

The focus of this program is harm reduction, New Haven Police Chief Otoniel Reyes said this week. As a department that traditionally has been on the side of enforcing and the accountability side of drug use, we recognize that our efforts have had very little, if no, impact in the reduction of people using drugs.

This is dispiriting to consider, but important. For all the millions of dollars spent on enforcement and thousands of people who have spent time behind bars, some serving extraordinarily long sentences, the tactics that police have used to fight drugs over recent decades have had little to no impact in reducing the numbers of addicts.

The harm reduction that New Haven seeks to encourage includes meeting people where they are, and creating opportunity for people that are on a destructive path, to hopefully give them a chance to find a way out, Reyes said. It doesnt mean law enforcement stands down, but it does mean that a rethink of proper strategies is necessary. New Haven is smart to lead the movement.

City and health officials have compared the distribution of glass pipes to needle exchange programs, which have been in effect for decades and have helped cut the spread of communicable diseases. A change in state law in the 1990s removed syringes from a statute defining drug paraphernalia, and the same should happen for glass pipes like those in the harm reduction kits.

The prevailing wisdom for too long in this country has been to treat drug addiction as a moral failing rather than as a health care issue. The result is a waste of police resources, thousands of people locked up for years on end and a lack of improvement in the states addiction statistics. It only makes sense to reconsider how we go about this fight.

The result, if other communities adopt similar policies, could be not just a drop in overdoses and spread of disease, but the decline in addiction rates that was supposed to be the goal all along.

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Editorial: A better way to take on drug addiction - New Haven Register

Philippines’ Duterte tells US he is scrapping troop agreement – The Guardian

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Rodrigo Duterte, the president of the Philippines, has given formal notice to the US of his decision to scrap a bilateral agreement covering visiting American troops, following through on repeated threats to downgrade the defence alliance.

The visiting forces agreement (VFA), signed in 1998, accords legal status to thousands of American troops rotated in the country for humanitarian assistance and military exercises, dozens of which take place annually.

Duterte, who has made no secret of his grudge with the US and his disdain for his countrys close military relationship, believed it was time to be more militarily independent, his spokesman said.

Its about time we rely on ourselves. We will strengthen our own defences and not rely on any other country, Salvador Panelo told a regular briefing, quoting Duterte.

Defence ties between the Philippines and its former colonial ruler go back to the early 1950s and are governed by a mutual defence treaty (MTD), which remains intact, along with an enhanced defence cooperation agreement made under the Obama administration.

Duterte made the decision after the top commander of his war on drugs, the former police chief Ronald dela Rosa, said his US visa had been rescinded over an issue related to the detention of a senator and critic of Duterte.

It is the first time Duterte has scrapped an agreement with the US, having throughout his more than three years in office denounced Washington for hypocrisy and for treating the Philippines like a dog on a leash.

Despite reassurances from his generals, Duterte has long accused US forces of conducting clandestine activities. In a speech on Monday he said US nuclear weapons were being stored in his country.

He has argued that the presence of US forces makes the Philippines a potential target for aggression.

Dutertes move follows a Senate hearing last week during which his defence and foreign ministers spoke in favour of the VFA, both noting its overall benefits.

He said even the US president wanted him to change his mind. Trump, and others are trying to save the [VFA]. I said I dont want, he said.

His foreign secretary, Teodoro Locsin, confirmed on Twitter that the US embassy in Manila had received notice. The termination will take effect after 180 days.

Duterte favours warmer ties with China and Russia than the US and has praised those countries and increased their military contributions and donations, which are dwarfed by the $1.3bn (1bn) spent provided by the US since 1998.

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Philippines' Duterte tells US he is scrapping troop agreement - The Guardian

More Than A Trip: Psychedelic Drugs Being Used To Help People Quit Smoking In Just One Dose – CBS Baltimore

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BALTIMORE (WJZ) When most people think of psychedelic drugs, they think of hippies in the sixties tripping on LSD or magic mushrooms. But at Johns Hopkins, fascinating research is being done using hallucinogens as medicine and the results are promising, particularly when using psilocybin to treat addiction.

Davi Peterson was a very heavy smoker for over 25 years. After years of struggling to quit, she volunteered for a study at Johns Hopkins Behavioral Biology Research Center using the hallucinogen psilocybin.

Davi Peterson

I tried everything and I was starting to think that I would never be able to stop, so I went for it, Peterson said.

So after some pre-counseling, Peterson got her first dose of psilocybin.

Psilocybin is a naturally occurring psychedelic compound found in more than 200 species of mushrooms. It and other hallucinogenic drugs target the brains serotonin 2A receptors.

It kind of sets off a cascade of activity in the brain thats very different than whats happening when were normal and awake, said Albert Garcia-Romeu, PhD.

For Peterson, the effect was immediate and lasted over five hours.

It started very quickly kinda like being launched out of a space shuttle or something hurling through space, she said. It was very dramatic and very quick.

Time and space changes completely, Peterson continued. [It was] one of the most intense experiences of my life and it probably always will be.

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A lot of time theyre describing something that can be both overwhelming, but also positive and potentially life-changing, Garcia-Romeu added.

In the fifties and sixties, much research was done with hallucinogenic drugs, studying their effects on the brain and behavior. But that all came to a halt, when in 1971, President Richard Nixon launched whats become known as the war on drugs.

But in 2000, restrictions on testing were lifted and now Johns Hopkins leads the world in research into the possible physical and mental benefits of psychedelic drugs such as psilocybin.

If you look at the two images below on the left is a brain without the drug and on the right, is a brain on psilocybin.

Simplified illustration of the connections tracked while receiving the placebo (a) and the psilocybin (b). Image credit: Petri et al., 2014.

Theres far more connectivity on the right that may allow for a brief period of plasticity or a period in which the brain can change the way its connected. In other words, it can interrupt old patterns, well-worn neuro pathways, or habits.

People will often come out of these sessions describing changes in their way of thinking, their way of relating to the people around them, said Garcia-Romeu.

Hallucinogenics were a part of the social fabric of the turbulent sixties, but this study is not about recreational drug use its controlled and scientific.

WJZ was not allowed to show you a real session, so Denise Koch went through a mock session with a researcher. Heres what happens: you take a psilocybin pill and lie on a couch. Theres music and the researcher will give you eyeshades, headphones and a blanket, while you go through the five- to six-hour trip.

They will make sure participants know they are safe, sometimes holding their hand or sitting with them, to help them move through the difficult experience.

Since Hopkins started its research, 700 people have gone through the process.

A pilot study saw that 80% of participants quit smoking after one dose of psilocybin and research on 51 cancer patients showed the drug decreased anxiety and depression in 80% of those tested.

They do challenge us to reexamine our preconceptions about the way the world works and what, really is our place in the world, Garcia-Romeu said.

Right now, the Behavioral Biology Center is recruiting for studies using psilocybin in people with early stages of Alzheimers, anorexia-nervosa or major depression.

If youre interested in participating, click hereto go to Hopkins website. Click the Research tab to apply.

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More Than A Trip: Psychedelic Drugs Being Used To Help People Quit Smoking In Just One Dose - CBS Baltimore

Help the Mendocino Cannabis Alliance get an Equity Grant This Saturday by Telling Your Prohibition Story – Redheaded Blackbelt

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Press release from the Mendocino Cannabis Alliance:

[Stock photo by Kym Kemp]

MCA is currently working with the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors to support the countys application for a state-funded Equity Grant. We invite ALL Mendocino County cannabis community members (permitted or not) to come and share their stories of suffering brought about by the War on Drugs and cannabis prohibition to aid in this effort.

MCA DECLARATION WRITING DAY

11AM 4PM on Saturday February 15th, 2020

475 S. Oak St., Ukiah, CA

We will help you tell your story.

Community members should be ready to answer questions like:

How did the War on Drugs hurt you?

Were you or someone close to you raided? Busted? Affected by the overflights?

Did you lose land, product, assets?

Has it kept you from going legal or keeping you in the legal market?

Did the lack of banking, access to loans or drop in prices affect your ability to go forward?

Could you use an Equity Grant to help you get through the hoops?

Guided by Attorney Hannah Nelson.

The Mendocino Cannabis Alliance serves and promotes Mendocino Countys world-renowned cannabis cultivators and businesses through sustainable economic development, education and public policy initiatives.

If you would like more information on this event, please email info@mendocannabis.com

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Help the Mendocino Cannabis Alliance get an Equity Grant This Saturday by Telling Your Prohibition Story - Redheaded Blackbelt

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard Wants to Legalize Drugs (As in All Drugs) – The National Interest Online

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The New Hampshire primary on Tuesday will prove a make or break moment for Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii. After having collected no popular support from the questionable Iowa caucus results, the congresswoman is relying on what has been a consistent 4-5% base of support in the Granite State.

Gabbard, whose key platform issue is an overhaul of the U.S. foreign policy establishment and opposition to regime change wars, has also staked herself out as the most progressive 2020 Democratic candidate when it comes to drug legalization.

When asked by a New Hampshire voter what she would about the unjust War on Drugs, Gabbard agreed with the voters suggestion to legalize and regulate narcotics. To justify that position, Gabbard mentioned the country of Portugal, which legalized all drugs in 2001.

I think that when you look at the statistics that come out of countries like Portugal that have taken that extreme stepthe fears, and the myths, and the stigma around taking that stuff should be set aside, she said. Because ultimately what you see is there are fewer and fewer people who are unnecessarily being incarcerated, and there are more people who need help who are actually getting the help that they need.

For Gabbard, drug policy is a question of personal autonomy and free choice. When it really comes right down to it, thats what this issue is about. Its about choice, she elaborated at the town hall. And each of us as individuals living with and dealing with the consequences of those choices whether they be on our own personal health or impacting us in other ways. However, Gabbard does not believe one of the consequences of drug use should be time in prison or a permanent criminal record.

The candidate further clarified that she was not advocating drug use, or that her views on personal liberty were reflective of her own decisions. For me, Ive never done drugs, and I wont. Thats my choice, she said.

This position, first announced publicly only three weeks ago, is a jump from Gabbards previous policies. Up until January, the congresswoman had promised to legalize marijuana at the federal level (having already introduced a bipartisan bill in the House), end the War on Drugs, and implement criminal justice reform. Her policy positions on her campaign website have not been altered to reflect her recent statements.

New Hampshire has so far only legalized marijuana for medical use, making it more restrictive than all three of its neighboring states and far from the policy Gabbard is prescribing. No matter what the primary results are, Tulsi Gabbard has pledged to take her campaign to the floor of the Democratic convention.

Hunter DeRensis is senior reporter at the National Interest. Follow him on Twitter @HunterDeRensis.

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Rep. Tulsi Gabbard Wants to Legalize Drugs (As in All Drugs) - The National Interest Online

Drugs – why is the ‘Just say no’ campaign failing? – Malaysiakini

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COMMENT| I attended an anti-drug campaign during high school. We were reminded again and again: Dont ever do drugs or your life will be ruined! There was a big screen in the hall. You could hear a pin drop when they first played the video. It was about a man who was flogged 24 times for committing a crime.

For many of us, it was the first time we saw the naked buttocks of a grownup man. Pieces of flesh were ripped from his body. Definitely not for the faint-hearted. But did the scare tactic work?

When the video ended, some of my schoolmates were traumatised. But some found it amusing and they cheered and clapped their hands. Despite the intended effect, our school wasnt drug-free that year.

The National Anti-Drug Agency (AADK) often brings different types of drugs to exhibit them in schools. The purpose? To show students how harmful drugs can be.

Last year, the director-general of the AADK told the media that two million students were at risk of drug use. Urine-testing was done in schools as an early preventive step to stop students from using drugs.

I am not saying we should turn a blind eye to children who use drugs. But the main reasons why kids use drugs are curiosity, broken families, trauma from abuse, mental illnesses, stress, boredom and peer pressure. Will random drug tests and harsh punitive action prevent all these?

True story on random urine testing - When I was in Form 4, nine of my friends smoked rokok daun in the school bus. The next day, the AADK did a urine test in our school. All of them were found positive for tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and jailed for weeks. After their release, the headmaster caned all of them publicly.

Some boys were suspended, some expelled. The majority ended up living a problematic life. But the one that did not attend school that fateful day was able to escape and now is a doctor.

This story reminds me of Barack Obama and Bill Clinton who had admitted to drug use in their younger days. Would they have been US presidents if they had been caught?

The Dangerous Drugs Act, which criminalises drug use, was enacted in 1952 when addiction was considered a security threat and not a medical condition. The law does not differentiate people who use drugs experimentally, recreationally, for self-medication or chronic use. Instead, it only provides a "one-size-fits-all" solution.

The punishment is either a fine, jail sentence or both. In any case, the criminal records will be a hurdle for pursuing higher education and deters future proper employment.

"Ahmad" scored 7As for his SPM. His father and sister were both in prison for minor drug offences. Feeling lonely and depressed, he mingled with the wrong crowd and became addicted to drugs. Does the war on drugs break the cycle of addiction or has it broken Ahmads family, making him vulnerable to drug addiction?

Addiction is defined as a chronic, relapsing disorder characterised by compulsive drug-seeking. Negative emotions, such as sadness, grief and shame, if left unaddressed, will create tremendous potential for relapse. Without evidence-based treatment and interventions, it is highly unlikely "Ahmad" will break the cycle of addiction in prison.

I met "Rahul" and his family in a children's court when I was a rookie in the legal system. "Rahul" was this mischievous boy who frequently appeared in courts for drug use and other petty crimes.

Please send him to prison, I dont know how to deal with him anymore, said Rahuls father. What he didnt understand was that prison is not the solution. You might even expect "Rahul" to learn something and end his addiction while in prison.

But the unpopular truth is that prison officers are not trained to handle drug addiction. Furthermore, overcrowding in prison can fan the spread of diseases.

Research conducted revealed a high prevalence of latent tuberculosis among prisoners (88.8 percent) and prison staff (81 percent) at the Kajang Prison. Instead of getting the needful intervention, "Rahul" was exposed to infectious diseases and other hardcore criminals.

The last time we met, Rahul was in the High Court, facing a drug trafficking charge.

Most drug education programmes are aimed solely at preventing drug use. After instructions to abstain, the lesson ends. Abstinence is treated as the sole measure of success. Although the abstinence-only mandate is well-intended, this approach is clearly not enough.

It is unrealistic to believe that, at a time in their lives when they are most prone to risk-taking, teenagers will completely refrain from trying alcohol and/or other drugs.

If we really want to minimise drug problems among young people, we need a "fall back" strategy that includes comprehensive education and puts the safety, welfare and future of our children at the forefront.

Drug prevention programmes should focus on enhancing the decision-making ability for a healthier lifestyle while providing active social support.

Perhaps it is wise to look at the Iceland drug prevention model, which was designed around the idea of giving youngsters better things to do. Technology and a high-level of social media use have changed the way children interact with others. What worked before might not work now, and definitely won't always work.

With the influx of information on how drugs can be delivered from door-to-door, it is high time for Malaysia to embrace a comprehensive drug policy that is evidence-based and encompasses prevention, supply reduction, treatment and harm reduction while working closely with the affected communities.

SAMANTHA CHONG is a former deputy public prosecutor and drug policy reform advocate.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.

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Drugs - why is the 'Just say no' campaign failing? - Malaysiakini

Are single childfree women the last of the hopeless romantics? – TheArticle

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It was the actor Timothy Dalton who ruined me for other men.

I was eight or nine years old, lying on the sofa, battling a fever and watching the afternoon matinee when it happened. The film was Wuthering Heights. Dalton was Heathcliff. And the die was cast.

Love was no longer heart-shaped sweets and posters of David Soul; it was a dirty-faced gypsy boy consumed by a girl called Catherine. Heathcliffs love was bitter, greedy and eternal, and I had no sympathy for Catherine when she died. She betrayed Heathcliff and she betrayed love. She settled for less and she got what she deserved. I would never have married Edgar Linton. Id have waited for Heathcliff.

Ive spent a lifetime waiting for him.

Four decades on, and while recognising that Heathcliff is possibly not the greatest ambassador for love, I cant shake the all or nothing ideal he represents. This probably explains why, at the age of 49, Im alone and childless and possibly destined to remain that way, certainly as far as children are concerned.

By rights, I should be beside myself. And yet, Im not. I consider myself a true romantic and if the latest research is to be believed, Im all the happier for it.

According to the experts, unmarried and childless women are the happiest subgroup in the population.

In his book, Happy Ever, Professor Paul Dolan from the London School of Economics, looked at evidence offered by the American Time Use Survey (ATUS), which compared levels of pleasure and misery in unmarried, married, divorced, separated and widowed individuals.

While men largely benefited from marriage, the same couldnt be said of women, with middle-aged married women being at a higher risk of physical and mental conditions than their single counterparts.

And yet, in spite of this evidence, there remains a common belief that unmarried, childless women are somehow less complete or in denial.

Although I cant say I have ever felt in any way stigmatised by my status as a single, childless woman, I have come across people who have found it difficult to understand, or even accept.

A couple of years ago I was pursued via messenger by a former schoolfriend who seemed to think we would be good together by virtue of us both liking to write. I tried to let him down gently, only to receive the plaintive cry Why are you scared of love? What to say? Single women in their forties are not scared of love; au contraire they are scared of nutjobs they once went to school with.

In truth, I have been in love on several occasions one of them deeply yet it has never been quite enough. Some might say, Im a childish idealist rather than a true romantic and I should wake up and join the real world. Maybe theyre right. But let me assure you, I am no stranger to reality. Over the years, I have seen it carved into mutilated bodies left to rot on the Afghan plains. I have seen it reflected in the tears of grown men struggling with memories of childhood abuse. I have seen it in the extended bellies of starving children.

I know reality. And thats why I wont barter with it in my personal life. There can be no compromise. Its the real deal or no deal.

Kate OConnor is an international journalist in her forties now living in London. Though she used to joke that her ideal man was a hunk with a hedge fund and a horse farm, coming over the horizon in a helicopter, she is actually very happy with her life the way it is.

I have a very full and rich life. I have men in my life. I have freedom. And I honestly say to myself, out loud, Thank God, I dont have children. Ive never wanted children although in the two serious relationships in my life I came close to making the compromise, but it just wasnt me. Ive never thought I had to conform to what society thinks I should be doing.

Kates longest relationship lasted ten years though she admits it should have been culled by six, but vanity, hubris and pity kept me going. She also believes that too many people stay in dead-end relationships because they dont know any better.

Its the frog-in-a-pan-of-cold-water theory, she explains. You put a flame under the pan and as the water heats up the frog doesnt realise its going to boil to death. If the frog did know, it would have jumped out of the pan and saved itself. Its the same if youre in a long-term relationship; it can deteriorate so slowly that you dont realise the point at which it deteriorates beyond repair. People stick around because this has become their normal.

Usually my relationships end because I make a commitment, I put everything into it, I focus on it, and then Im disappointed. When that disappointment hits me, there is no resurrection. Theres no saying this was the great love of my life. Its just over. If it really was the great love of my life, I wouldnt be single. For me, the great love of my life is the next one.

According to the most recent figures published by the Office for National Statistics, some 18 per cent of British women aged 45 are childless putting them close to the top of the world leader board in terms of childless women over forty. The expert opinion appears to be that women are increasingly delaying motherhood in order to pursue careers. While that might be partly correct, life is usually more complicated than that. For some, delaying motherhood wasnt a conscious decision, it was a repercussion of failing in our primary goal that of finding true love.

Sandra Khadhouri, 48, is a political communications adviser living in London. She has held down high-powered jobs with the UN, the EU and Nato, but has yet to attain the same success in her personal life.

People dont put the same effort into romantic relations as they do in other areas of their life so if theyre happy to be led by their career theyre happy to walk away from relationships. Personally, Id like to feel that within the relationships that I really thought there was something there, I did make the effort. I did try to make it work, but for whatever reasons those guys at those particular times couldnt commit to me in the way I wanted them to commit. Now, a couple of them have come back into my life, but its too late. I dont love them anymore.

I recently found a guide Id written when I was 12 years old about how to prepare for parties. I had to rinse my hair with rain water, put on body glitter and do my make-up. All the points were itemised and it made me feel quite sad because I used to care so much about getting it right and I can still remember those butterflies at the thought of meeting a guy I liked. I miss that in a way. I guess Im a romantic at heart, but my passion for other causes got in the way.

It is this very romantic notion of love that underlines many of the stories of women who have never truly settled. For some its an unattainable image of perfection; for others its a surprise still waiting to happen; for others its a moment that has been and gone and left them unable to move on.

Hels Laycock was 25 when her boyfriend Paul McGee was fatally stabbed after a night out in Lochwinnoch, Renfrewshire in 2009.

Paul, a Scots Guard who was awarded the Queens Commendation for Bravery after risking his life to save a fellow soldier in Iraq, was caught up in an altercation between two men and the taxi driver who was taking him and Hels home following a charity event.

Hels, a nurse, said: All this time, I think Ive been looking too hard to replace him. Ive had relationships since he died, but Ive probably compared them all to Paul. Now, Im conscious of getting older and all our friends have got married and had kids. Im the only one who hasnt. Paul and I might not have stayed together in the end, but the not knowing is what kills me, and when his captain revealed Paul had made plans for the two of us it made his loss even worse because I knew then he had been serious about us and all Ive ever wanted is to be loved.

While Hels admits she has gone from one bad relationship to another in pursuit of love, she has always managed to extricate herself before fully committing, knowing deep down that she hadnt found the one to replace the man who could have been the one.

Sandra and Kate have also had their fair share of happy-ever-after near misses and though they are both at ease with being single, they are still dating. For Sandra, she believes its a question of timing when it comes to finding Mr Right rather than Mr Right Now.

I do assume I will meet someone in the end, when the time is right, says Sandra. I feel that will happen when my life is more settled, and Ive achieved a few other life goals. I know I must make an effort to meet guys or else it wont happen. Still, Im hoping that just by being more open, I will meet someone naturally.

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Are single childfree women the last of the hopeless romantics? - TheArticle

Montauk Fishing Crew Overboard Off Fire Island – East Hampton Star

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New Age, a commercial fishing vessel, was taking on water and the crew jumped overboard. An HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Air Station Cape Cod responded and transported an injured crew member to the hospital.

Update: The owner of theNew Age, a commercial fishing vessel from Montauk that took on water Wednesday morning, forcingits crew to evacuate the boat 25 nautical miles south of Fire Island, raced to his boat and is now aboard, heading fora New Jersey port in an effort to save it.

Chris Winkler of Montauk, the boat's owner, had just landed at J.F.K. Airport after a two-week vacationwith his girlfriend, Tracy Stoloff, when he received a call from the Coast Guard that his crew had been forced overboard. "The first question out of Chris's mouth when he was talking to the Coast Guard is 'How is my crew? Where is my crew?' "

One crew member was injured and taken to the hospital.

Mr. Winklerwas told that it was too dangerous to try tosave the boat, though it had not yet sunk or capsized, Ms. Stoloff said Wednesday evening.

He called his brother-in-law,Matt Fabrizio, and they raced to Mr. Fabrizio'sboat in the Islip-Bay Shore area, while Ms. Skoloff retrieved some gear from his garage for their trip to the New Age. Mr. Winkler was able to get onto his boat, which was stillfloating and drifting, and use pumps he had brought to get enough water off it sohe could try to make the trip to Belford, N.J., the nearest and safest port, Ms. Stoloff said.

"He is steaming the boat right now," she said around 6 p.m. A Coast Guard cutter was trailing him. "They saved that boat," she said.

Ms. Stoloff received a call from a petty officer with the Coast Guard, who, alone on the boat,updated her. She said he should be at the port in three to four hours.

Mr. Winklerhas owned the New Agefor 30 years.

Originally: The captain and crew of New Age, a commercial fishing vessel out of Montauk, had to abandon ship with water washing over the deck while 25 nautical miles south of Fire Island Wednesday morning. One person was taken to the hospital.

Coast Guard Sector Long Island Sound first received a distress call from the 45-foot boat, operated by Capt. William Carman, at 4:35 a.m., according to Petty Officer John Hightower.

Chris Winkler of Montauk owns the New Age. He could not immediately be reached.

The dewatering pump was not working, and the three men on board told the Coast Guard they were preparing to deploy a life raft and were donning flotation devices.

A 45-foot response boat from Coast Guard Station Fire Island arrived at 6:44 a.m. and found the three men in the water. Though they had deployed the life raft, they were not in it, Officer Hightower said. All three were wearing survival suits, used in cold weather.

One of the men, whose name was not released, was injured when jumping overboard, the petty officer said. A medevac helicopter from Air Station Cape Cod flew him to Good Samaritan Hospital in West Islip. He is expected to recover.

The boat has not yet capsized, but it is flooded and drifting. The Coast Guard is monitoring the situation while a plan for what to do with the boat is formulated.

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Montauk Fishing Crew Overboard Off Fire Island - East Hampton Star

Grand Island moves forward with six-year road construction project plan – KSNB Local 4

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GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (KSNB) - The Grand Island city council has set in motion a big number of road projects that will have an impact on many drivers. Tuesday night they approved a six year plan and one of the biggest projects the city will have ever done can start as soon as this summer.

The intersection that is the source of the most car crashes in the entire city of Grand Island will be getting major improvements. Old Potash Highway and Highway 281 will have right turn lanes added in both directions. This means the road will be widened to accommodate.

So we have two through lanes in each direction along with turn lanes, Public Works Director John Collins said.

On the East side, there will be a roundabout added on Wilmar Avenue where many turn in to go to Hy Vee or Perkins. This is to deal with the projected population growth over the next ten years.

On the West side, since business along Old Potash will be impacted, Claude Road will be paved to give another point of access.

But this will become like a Webb Road in that one side will be highly commercial, the other side will probably be less used. Rather than people going up and down diers North-South they'll use claude, Collins said.

Diers Avenue will also be limited to right turns only since people turning left on to Old Potash cause a lot of backup. The road will be widened all the way to North Road where drivers will be met with another roundabout. The Old Potash project is projected to take until 2022 and will cost about $15 million.

Some of the money is coming from the gas tax revenue the city gets from the state each year and then to accelerate it the half cent tax is being used, Collins said.

With these improvements the city says old potash will become safer to drive on and save commuters a lot of time.

The bidding process for the Old Potash projects is set to begin in march. Collins said the first phases can begin as soon as this summer.

Other projects include:

-Asphalt resurfacing-Hwy 281 corridor signal timing optimization-Sycamore underpass - S Front St bridge deck replacement-Eddy St underpass and associated bridges-North Rd - 113th to Hwy 2 - Widen to 3-lane-North Rd - Old Potash to 13th - Widen to 3-lane-Capital Ave - Moores Creek to North Rd - Widen to 3-lane-Custer Ave - Forrest to Old Potash - Widen to 3-lane-Broadwell Ave/UPRR - Planning and Environmental-Locust St Reconstruction; Koeing St to Fonner Park Rd-Stolley Park Rd; State Fair Entrance to Stuhr Rd-Independence Ave; Capital Ave to Manchester/Macron

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Grand Island moves forward with six-year road construction project plan - KSNB Local 4

The Conventional Wisdom Still Stands: America Can Deal with China’s Artificial Island Bases – War on the Rocks

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What is the strategic value of Chinas Spratly outposts in the South China Sea? Are they a military asset or liability for Beijing? While they allow China to monitor air and naval traffic in the South China Sea, an emerging consensus in American military circles argues that Chinas artificial features are more of a headache for Beijing than for Washington. U.S. Navy and Air Force assets could neutralize the Chinese positions relatively quickly if required.

Gregory Poling disagrees with that assessment. In a recent War on the Rocks article, he concludes that Chinas man-made installations could pose a major problem for the U.S. military in the Western Pacific in war time, and could even be used to deny American forces access to the region. Poling argues that it would be prohibitively costly for the United States to neutralize those outposts during early stages of a conflict. He warns Washington that dismissing the strategic value of the Spratly outposts would be a mistake.

The arguments that Poling advances are plausible, but not convincing. The conventional wisdom about the Spratlys still holds true because the reach and capability of the U.S. military to fight its way through Chinas island defenses remains robust. The United States, not China, enjoys the benefit of multiple options in the event of a conflict. In contrast, Chinas ability to supply the far-flung outposts, amass significant air power on the three largest artificial islands the Fiery Cross Reef, Subi Reef, and Mischief Reef and generate and sustain combat air sorties could quickly dwindle in the face of concentrated cruise missile and air strikes against those outposts.

American Options in the South China Sea

Chinas outposts in the Spratlys would be difficult for Beijing to defend in a crisis. First, the man-made islands suffer from congestion. Much of the critical infrastructure, such as aircraft shelters and supporting supply and weapons storage, is erected in close proximity, as satellite pictures and aerial photographs clearly demonstrate. Moreover, the limited available real estate creates clear constraints for dispersing air defense systems, equipment, and troops. The tightly packed aircraft shelters offer valuable targets for American planners. Additionally, the very environment on the islands restricts burying critical infrastructure deep underground.

Striking these bases with cruise missiles remains the most plausible U.S. military strategy in the early hours of any conflict. The most realistic military objective for striking these bases would be to degrade their ability to generate air sorties and cut off the outposts logistical support from mainland China more than 600 nautical miles away. Another objective would be to keep the Spratlys out of operation until more air power could be mounted against them.

The U.S. Navy and Air Force would need 3050 cruise missiles per the three largest outposts (or 90150 cruise missiles total) to accomplish these objectives. This number of cruise missiles would be sufficient to cut each three-kilometer-long runway to roughly 400-meter sections, strike taxiways, quick-reaction alert shelters, and aircraft at open or otherwise known locations. It would also allow American forces to target command, control, and communication nodes, fuel and weapons storage facilities, known air defense sites, as well as logistical facilities and piers. The given number of cruise missiles is inclusive of required redundancy: Two to three missiles are required to ensure successful destruction of key targets like command and control or communication nodes, and three to four missiles may be needed to take out buried or hardened targets.

Air power would be at the forefront of an American approach to seriously degrade Chinas ability to mount a substantial defense from the military outposts against follow-on forces. B-2 (or the future B-21) and other stealth aircraft, as well as supporting electronic warfare/electronic attack platforms, would be utilized to penetrate air defenses. The aircraft would drop dozens of precision-guided munitions to take out the defenses that could hinder the Navys access to the South China Sea. Air Force and Navy aircraft would expend standoff weapons to crater runways, taxiways, and attack aircraft in shelters or at open. The bases supply and storage facilities, as well as the pier infrastructure, would come under heavy attack. American assets would make good use of stand-off jamming aircraft, such as the Growler, and stand-in decoys and jammers to blind and confuse integrated air defences on the bases. Notably, many of these actions would happen in sequence and almost simultaneously. Also, the penetrating munitions the United States would use could undermine or damage the integrity of the artificial islands foundation, which has already suffered from erosion.

Poling argues that cruise missile strikes would be ineffective against the Spratlys. He cites the large-scale cruise missile attack against al-Shayrat Air Base in Syria in 2017 in which the United States launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at the base but failed to stop the bases operations for any meaningful period of time as proof that this approach would not work. This argument is based on the fact that the runway [at al-Sharyat Air Base] was back in operation just a few hours later. However, none of the 59 Tomahawks launched at the air base targeted the runway. Rather, the United States intention was to degrade the Syrian Arab Air Forces ability to deliver deadly chemical weapons and to signal that such actions do not go without consequences. In line with its objective, Washington targeted aircraft in the open and in hardened aircraft shelters, as well as fuel and ammunition depots and air defenses. The military intention, therefore, was not to destroy the air base completely but to degrade it and convey a message.

The relative dispersion of targets on Chinas artificial islands remains well within the range of American cruise missiles. Precision-guided munitions are insensitive to even wide dispersion. If the United States knows of the geographic longitude and latitude of the given targets, it can direct American cruise missiles to those targets regardless of physical dispersion. However, a conventional air strike against an air base with widely dispersed targets would pose a greater challenge. Wide dispersion demands more strike aircraft and attack vectors to cover all intended targets. But this is not a significant problem at the Spratly outposts due to the limited real estate and congestion.

What if China is Able to Deny America Access to the South China Sea?

If America is unable to neutralize Chinas Spratly outposts at the outset of a conflict, it can turn to other alternatives. The U.S. Air Force could mount a response of strategic bombers, such as the B-1, B-52, and B-2, laden with sophisticated low-observable cruise missiles. These aircraft could be positioned at U.S. bases in Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, Darwin in Australia, or Guam in the Western Pacific Ocean, offering enough ramp-space for the large bombers (see Figure 1). These bases guarantee fast response from a relatively safe distance. By comparison, while U.S. bases in Korea and Japan offer closer proximity, they would likely be targeted by Chinese missile forces in the event of major confrontation. Hawaiis Hickham Air Force Base could serve as hub for amassing air power and logistics. In the past, the United States has carried out cruise missile strikes in the Middle East with B-52s or B-2s taking-off from the Barksdale AFB the home for U.S. Air Force Global Strike Command.

Conducting coordinated cruise missile strikes from these distant bases would allow the U.S. Air Force to effectively stop Chinese air operations from the three airfields in the Spratlys, seizing initiative to follow-up with more destructive air strikes or to put focus elsewhere. Carrying between 1220 advanced cruise missiles each, such as the Tomahawk air-launched cruise missiles (ALCM) or joint air-to-surface standoff missiles (JASSM-ER), U.S. strategic bombers alone have the sufficient range and capacity to degrade or cease adversary air operations in the island outposts.

Gaining access to basing in, for example, the Philippines, Thailand, and Singapore would further benefit the U.S. militarys ability to press in and ultimately destroy Chinese military potential in the Spratlys. Gaining access to basing in Southeast Asian littorals, however, remains an unreliable alternative. As Poling correctly points out, those countries may deny the United States access to their facilities. At the same time, a conflict in the South China Sea would likely involve some of the littoral states in hostilities, directly or indirectly. Against such odds, some of the weaker actors could choose to offer or accept U.S. forces as a concrete security guarantee against Chinese aggression. A shared threat generates alliances. This would open U.S. military access closer to the theatre and allow for greatly increased sortie generation.

Source: Map generated by the author.

To be sure, each U.S. military service has or is devising elaborate plans to ensure continued access to East Asian littorals. The U.S. Air Force, for example, has developed and tested innovative plans to fight its way in, involving rapid and dispersed deployment of multiple 5th-generation fighter elements, supported by a single C-17 or C-130, that stand a better chance to get access closer to the theatre and to challenge an adversarys air superiority. The Marines operational plans include full-length aviation deck amphibious landing ships with flights of F-35Bs, contributing to and supporting the U.S. Navys big deck carriers in bringing about dispersed operations and concentrated effects. Again, access to basing in the archipelagic Southeast Asia would make life much easier for the U.S. military, enabling better sustained air operations, but the absence of which would not mean losing the fight.

U.S. warships could be pushed out of the South China Sea by a combination of Chinas advanced anti-ship cruise and ballistic missiles, complicating the U.S. Navys role in providing the mass (capacity depth) for any cruise missile strike against the Chinese bases in the Spratlys. To maintain an adequate range for Tomahawk land attack missile (TLAM) strikes against the Spratly outposts, U.S. ships could operate from the Sulu or Celebes Seas, as Poling raised. But it is also likely that U.S. Navy ships could launch cruise missile strikes from the Java Sea, Flores Sea, Molucca Sea within the Indonesian archipelago, east of Luzon in the Philippines, or from waters northwest from the Malacca Strait, or east of Sumatra Island (see Figure 2). American submarines could be used to help manned aircraft in cutting Chinese supply efforts to the Spratlys. The more China can amass forces on its Spratly outposts, the more the outposts can rely upon supplies from mainland China.

Source: Map generated by the author.

Its Hard for China to Maintain a Large Military Footprint on the Spratlys

Chinas Peoples Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) would find it difficult to maintain air supremacy over the South China Sea. China has constructed enough aircraft shelters to base a full regiment (typically 24 aircraft) of fighter aircraft at each of its three largest outposts. PLAAF would need to operate these aircraft from a single runway before any American strike. This reality can easily turn into a serious operational bottleneck during increased flight operations. The RAND Corporations 2015 study, The U.S.-China Military Scorecard, highlight the PLAAFs problems in amassing air power over the Spratlys as well as the United States ability to bring in decisive air power. In addition, the large number of aircraft on the outposts would be very vulnerable to follow-on attacks due cratered runways. If in the air, however, the aircraft would need to try to make it to Hainan island for landing. Maintaining air superiority over the South China Sea from mainland China does not come easy.

A large military footprint on the Spratlys also creates massive demand for continuous flow of supplies, food, and fuel, virtually all of which would need to be transported by sea from the mainland. The three largest outposts have underground storage spaces for fuel and supplies, but that reserve can last only so long in the face of a U.S. attack. In addition, as casualties mount, repatriation to mainland or replacement of manpower becomes very difficult. Targeting the outposts electricity-generation would make matters worse. Based on aerial and satellite pictures, China has not added redundancy to its critical infrastructure on the islands.

To make matters worse for China, Beijing has to take into account possible U.S. submarine presence in the South China Sea when supplying its man-made islands. As some experts see the artificial islands defenses forming a bastion for Chinese SSBNs, the deep waters also give space for Chinas adversaries submarines to hide. China has made headway in developing anti-submarine warfare capabilities, but this area remains one of its burgeoning navys greatest weaknesses. Forming an undersea blockade to attrite Chinese supplies to the outposts thus poses a real and present danger to Chinese defense planners.

The true military value of the outposts, as Poling rightly alluded to, is in their ability to generate an unmatched situational awareness in air and sea in the South China Sea, enabling Chinas military to monitor all movement in and out the South China Sea. This can be further supported by innovative uses of Chinas maritime militia observing movements at sea where sensors cannot reach. It has also become clear that China has gained escalation dominance in the South China Sea in most situations short of war. This de facto control of the South China Sea gives China an important advantage over its neighbours in helping sustain and expand the reach and presence of its maritime forces in the region. The man-made features would be particularly useful for Beijing in any conflict between China and its smaller Southeast Asian neighbours that do not possess Americas military might.

The Big Picture

Chinas outposts in the Spratlys are a strategic liability for Beijing. They are hard to defend, and the United States has a number of options to attack them in a conflict. The American military retains its ability to degrade Chinese forces on the islands and to create a permissive environment for a further military push against Chinese assets in the South China Sea. There is no immediate military need to destroy the outposts completely, but rather to diminish their ability to bring about their intended military effects.

There is only so much that China can do to further bolster the man-made islands defenses. Any new addition of capabilities also creates further demands for supply and support. Ultimately, the offense in this case the United States should always have the advantage when it comes to the Spratlys. U.S. tested conventionally armed intermediate range ballistic missile over the Pacific in December 2019 once banned under the intermediate-range nuclear forces treaty (INF) a system that offer offensive advantages if deployed in the region. Additionally, Navy, Marines, Army, and Air Force are all working at breakneck speed to field a rapidly deployable hypersonic missile capability to frontline forces as early as 2021 or 2023. These new weapons will provide Washington with additional military options going forward. Any use of nuclear weapons against the Spratly outposts would not be advised and is an overkill. At the same time, nuclear weapons should deter a full-blown escalation between China and the United States. At the same time, as Sino-U.S. tensions intensify, Washington should not lose sight of simultaneous developments elsewhere in the vast Indo-Pacific. There is no space for complacency when it comes to the competition with China.

Olli Pekka Suorsa, Ph.D., is a research fellow at the Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Singapore.

Image: Air Force (Photo by Staff Sgt. Joshua Smoot)

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The Conventional Wisdom Still Stands: America Can Deal with China's Artificial Island Bases - War on the Rocks

ABC Act breaks down barriers to mental health care on-Island – Martha’s Vineyard Times

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An act titled Addressing Barriers to Care (ABC) recently unveiled by the state Senate seeks to provide easy access to mental health support services across the commonwealth.

According to a press release, the act will implement sweeping parity and insurance reforms, mental health workforce pipeline improvements, and will extend the access to care for psychiatric services.

Marthas Vineyard representative for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Cecilia Brennan told The Times everyone at NAMI is very excited to see where this act takes us in the future of accessibility to mental health services.

NAMI executive director Jackie Lane took part in five separate listening sessions for the bill, and her input was used in developing the legislation, according to Brennan.

Brennan said it will take a while to implement some of the conditions and requirements in the bill, but its one step in the right direction for improving access and continuum of care.

She said one issue on the Vineyard that the bill might address is the lack of an adequate workforce, and the integration of mental health services in primary care.

For the Vineyard, much of the issue is getting the right workforce and creating a better pipeline of candidates for these types of jobs, Brennan said. We want to encourage people to go into these fields.

Brennan also said ensuring capacity in the emergency department of Massachusetts hospitals will be another possible benefit to the legislation. We want to make sure there are enough beds and enough mental health clinicians available to meet the needs of our community, Brennan said.

State government officials wrote in the release that mental health issues are often not covered by insurance, and are often tough topics to broach.

Too many people in Massachusetts struggle to access the mental health services they desperately need and deserve, said Sen. Julian Cyr (D-Truro), co-chair of the Joint Committee on Mental Health, Substance Use and Recovery, in the release. The reasons are many and complicated: Mental health care is treated differently than physical health, it is often not covered by insurance, it is difficult to access, and it is hard to talk about.

The bill will effectively diminish the leverage insurance companies have in determining a patients course of treatment, and give health care providers and individual clinicians more say in the process as they consult with patients, the release states.

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ABC Act breaks down barriers to mental health care on-Island - Martha's Vineyard Times