Category Archives: War On Drugs

How to Fix a Drug Scandal documents the riveting details about how a criminal justice travesty unfolded in Massachusetts, and how important a dogged defense attorney was in righting the wrongs that were done.

Two Massachusetts drug lab technicians Sonja Farak and Annie Dookhan were caught tainting evidence inseparate drug labs in different but equally shocking ways.Farak was getting high off the confiscated drugs police sent her way before replacing the evidence with fake drugs. Meanwhile, Dookhan wasnt even testing her drugs at all; she just claimed everything sent her way tested positive so that she could apparently be thought of as a prolific worker.

The two ultimately both went to prison for their tampering.

However, as the docuseries shows, their crimes were not self-contained. The drug testing the techniciansmishandled was used to convict tens of thousands of defendants on drug charges. While state prosecutors attempted to minimize what the two drug technicians did, several lawyers put up a fight for their convicted clients.

Luke Ryan is the main lawyer featured in the docuseries.He representedRolando Penate and Rafael Rodriguez, both who were sent to prison because of drug lab certificates that Farak signed. Ryan didnt think their drug convictions were fair nor the thousands of other convictionsbased on drug certificates from the two technicians and fought against the state of Massachusetts.

I really wanted this piece to show how important attorneys are, Erin Lee Carr, the filmmaker behind the docuseries, told Oxygen.com. Lawyers are incredibly crucial in maintaining any sort of levity inside the criminal justice system.

Justice runs in Ryans blood. He grew up in Massachusetts as thegrandson of a judge and also the son of a judge.

I think the air I breathed growing up, particularly due to my father, was kind of filled with this kind of sense of certain rights and wrongs, he told Oxgyen.com, adding that his father impressed upon him that the state can yield a lot of power against an individual.

Whenever I see a complaint and it says United States or Massachusetts versus, it feels like a miscommunication, like youre no longer a part of us, he said. I feel like my job is to bring them back into the community somehow and anytime anyone is accused of a crime theres a dark cloud gathers above them and itjust is there until the case is over.

Ryan didnt start off as a lawyer. Instead, he spent much of his younger years living the same lifestyle as many of his clients.

I took very few sober breaths in college, he told Rolling Stone in 2018. My best friend killed himself when I was 16. From that point on, I didnt have a drugs-and-alcohol problem as much as a drugs-and-alcohol solution.

By age 26, he cleaned up his act and got involved with a church-ministry group that was woke to racial justice. Through the group, he realized that white privilege kept him from becoming a convict a sentiment he still feels, he toldRolling Stone,

I'd like to say there but for the grace of God, go I' but Ithink it's morethere but for the grace of privileges I received due to my race and socioeconomic status, go I, he said. I was permitted to have this kind of sowing of wild oats stage in life that so many of my clients are not given so I think, in addition to having empathy, theres a debt that I feel.

I have an opportunity to live a certain kind of life and if I dont use it to advocate on behalf of people who are doing things similar to what Idid, that would be a misuse of a life experience, he said.

He enrolled in Western New England Law at age 30, and after graduating magna cum laude began working for a small firm where he could work for the underprivileged. His work led to him being named Lawyer of the Year by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly in 2017.

As the docuseries showed, Ryanwas not satisfied with the attorney general offices claimthat Farak only began using drugs six months before her 2013 arrest. He began digging around and made requests to the Massachusetts Attorney Generals office for more documents, which were initially blocked. He learned later that some in the officethought of him as a pest. When he finally got his hands on the documents, they described him as a nuisance who they should avoid giving evidence to.

Eventually, his relentless digging paid off. He discovered that Faraks drug use went as far back as 2005 and that the attorney generals office allegedly tried to bury that by withholding evidence.

He claimed that the offices former attorneys Kris Foster and Anne Kaczmarek engaged in prosecutorial misconduct and he took them to court. A Supreme Judicial Court decided in 2017 that both Foster and Kaczmarek committed "fraud upon the court, the Boston Herald reported at the time.

As a result of that finding, in 2017 more than20,000 of the convictions that were worked on by Dookhan were dismissed. In 2018, all of Fayaks cases were also dismissed including the convictions of Ryan's clients. In all, about 35,000 criminal convictions were thrown out. It became the largest dismissal in American history.

While Ryan was not the only person that helped the dismissal happen, Carr told Oxygen.com that she doesnt think it would have happened as fast as it did without his fighting.

I think it would have maybe eventually gotten there with the ACLU, she said. I just dont know if the Farak dismissals would have happened as well.

Ryan said he understands that a docuseries cannot include everything but told Oxygen.com he found it important to note that defense attorney Rebecca Jacobstein, who was included briefly in the docuseries, played a pivotal role in the dismissals.

Ryan called her an unsung hero who really framed what happened as a fraud on the court.

As the docuseries noted at its conclusion, he has filed a civil suit seeking damages for the wrongful conviction of Penate. He told Oxygen.com that while he filed the suit in 2017, it is still in the discovery phase.

Its been a slog, he said.

He said he continues to defend other clients as well.

As for the docuseries he said, I think it started a lot of important conversations about things that I care very deeply about so thats extremely gratifying and Ithink it was an extremely well made film. I hope it leads to some systemic change.

Ryan has no pending criminal cases with the attorney generals office and hasn't had to work with them since, he said.Rather than other prosecutors regarding him as a pest going forward, he said he hopes his work has served as a cautionary tale for prosecutors.

My hope is that people begin to see that there is real danger for withholding evidence, he told Oxygen.com.

Furthermore, Ryan said he hopes that the docuseries and other conversations will lead to the end of Americas war on drugs.

When we come out on the other side of this [coronavirus]pandemic, we are going to have to make some choices about how we dig ourselves out of this hole," he said. "This war on drugs is a luxury we are no longer going to be able to afford due to the incredible economic resources devoted to it and the human cost as well."

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Who Is Luke Ryan, The Persistent Defense Attorney In 'How To Fix A Drug Scandal'? - Oxygen

Police Chief of Sistan and Balouchestan province Brigadier General Mohammad Ghanbari said on Saturday that 2,390 kilograms of different drugs were seized when the police force busted a gang attempting to smuggle the drugs into the country through Saravan borders.

The smuggled cargo was carried by two cars commuting in Saravan-Khash road, he added.

1,927 kg of opium, 436 kg of hashish, and 53 kg of other types of drugs have been seized during the operation, in addition to confiscation of some amount of ammunition, he said.

According to the police chief, the smugglers fled to the highlands of the area using the darkness of the night.

Based on the United Nations reports, Afghanistan ranks first as the producer of opium and heroin in the world. Iran, being Afghanistan's neighbor, has always been the main route for smuggling narcotics to the Western world.

The Islamic Republic has been actively fighting drug-trafficking over the past three decades, despite its high economic and human costs. The war on drug trade originating from Afghanistan has claimed the lives of nearly 4,000 Iranian police officers over the past four decades. The country has spent more than hundreds of millions of dollars on sealing its borders and preventing the transit of narcotics destined for European, Arab and Central Asian countries.

MNA/IRN 83754969

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Over 2 tons of drugs confiscated in SE Iran - Mehr News Agency - English Version

The Philippine governments response was remarkable when reports circulated online that the Health Department had instructed a Manila hospital to stop counting Covid-19 deaths. As quick as lightning, it immediately announced that all hospitals and health centers are mandated to report on consultations and/or admissions of all Covid-related cases. Health reports are made on national television every day and include the number of Covid patients, recoveries and deaths caused by the virus. These reports have become important to the public. Everyone has become interested in the story behind the numbers. Who died? Where did the patient contract the virus? Who recovered? With 335 deaths so far, Filipinos have treated the coronavirus as the angel or bringer of death. In one day, I heard the expression death is just around the corner more than10 times. While it is understandable to arm oneself with facts during this pandemic, one must not forget the number of deaths in President Rodrigo Dutertes war on drugs. According to a Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency report, 4,948 suspected drug users and dealers died in police operations from July 1, 2016, to Sept. 30, 2018. The number does not include killings caused by unidentified gunmen. Before Covid-19 menaced the Philippines, figures were up by 10 percent in January 2020, according to the same report. Moreover, the Philippine National Police reported in 2019 that there had been 22,983 drug-related deaths since the war on drugs began. More than 90 percent of these deaths remain unresolved. There are complainants but no suspects have been arrested. The figures are jaw-dropping. Offhand, the 335 deaths caused by Covid-19 are no matchfor the drug wars casualty figures. Facts show that nature is not the primary killer of mankind. Man still poses a greater threat to his own kind than a virus. But what is interesting is that society seems to care more about Covid-19 deaths than extrajudicial killings. Is this because only the poor are being shot in cold blood while the rich are spared? Both the government and the public are now very keen on data gathering and reporting. But the same level of diligence with regard to reporting the exact number of deaths in the administrations drug war is lacking. There are certainly no televised reports and daily counting of whohas been killed in the drug war. There are also no public announcements nor a national clamor to investigate the killings. Perhaps nobody cares anymore. Or perhaps society has chosen not to care. Philippine society has become callous to reports about extrajudicial killings. The killings have become ordinary news, so ordinary newspapers do not print them on the front page anymore. What is worse is the bias the majority have developed. Many had jumped to conclude that the victims were killed because they were addicts and drug pushers. Death has become the very proof and indication of guiltin an alleged crime rather than evidence. The present pandemic brings out the best and the worst in humanity. While it may teach society to fight for survival, it can also cause societal amnesia. Yes, Philippine society is suffering from a societal amnesia the inability or intentional refusal to confront a dark past that needs resolution in the present. We, as a nation, have simply brushed the killings aside by pretending they have never existed. We have created what Philippine sociologist Randy David described as necessary fiction. David believed that it is possible for a people or individuals to remember something even if they have not experienced it. Or, alternatively, individuals can develop amnesia or experience psychological disorientation due to severe injury, David wrote in one of his columns. Has the war on drugs become a massacre too much for Philippine society to endure that it chooses to forget rather than to confront it? The coronavirus is indeed the great equalizer. But sadly, the governments war on drugs is not an equalizer at all. It chooses. It discriminates the rich from the poor. It knows borders. Thousands living below the poverty line have been killed. And the killings happen in dilapidated shanties, not in exclusive and rich villages or subdivisions. Thus, either in a pandemic like Covid-19 or in Dutertes drug war, the poor are always on the losing side. Joseph Peter Calleja is a lawyer and editor of Bayard Philippines. He is also a member of the Lay-Religious Alliance of the Assumptionists. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official editorial position of UCANews.

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The poor always on the losing side - UCAN

Theres no right way to quarantine. Some of you are spending your time looking at online museum tours while others are making it their life mission to make Carole Baskin killed her husband the new Epstein didnt kill himself.

We feel morally compelled to remind you, however, that our music scene is particularly hurting, so now would be a good time to pursue your dreams of learning to shred on guitar or to play bongos naked however you want to impress your friends.

There's never been a better time for you to take up the lessons you've been meaning to sign up for the last two decades;you dont have to clean your house or go anywhere,you have plenty of time to practice, and you have an opportunity to emerge from this dark period as an artist.

Some of Dallas greatest musicians are available. Most instruments can be ordered online, and once the world resumes, you can continue doing these classes on Skype or FaceTime, or at home, as some of the teachers travel to you. Here are our recommended classes.

Chelsey Danielle of Pearl Earl and Helium Queens teaches piano, percussion, drums, vocals and percussion. Contact: Chelseydaniellemusic@gmail.com.

Jeff Ryan, whos played with St. Vincent, Sarah Jaffe and The War on Drugs, teaches drums. Contact: Jeffryanmusic.com

Katie Parr, whos given vocal lessons to Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato in her 20 years as a teacher, is offering free online classes. Contact: Katieparrmusicacademy@gmail.com.

Sarah Ruth Alexander, whos been teaching voice and beginning and intermediate piano for 16 years, is known for her improvisational performances with acts like Yells at Eels. Contact: Sarahruthalexander.com.

Terence Bradford from the Free Loaders and the Congo Square, teaches trumpet. Contact: Tbradfordjazz@gmail.com

Savannah Low, who was nominated for a Dallas Observer Music Award for Best Pop Act in 2019, teaches voice, songwriting and artist branding. Contact: Savannahlowmusic@gmail.com.

Kenneth Everett Pritchard, whos been nominated for half a dozen DOMAs between his two bands, Dead Mockingbirds and Frances Heidy, owns the Pritchard School of Music, which offers classes in drums, bass, guitar, voice and others. Contact: Pritchardschoolofmusic.com.

Another DOMA nominee, Emsy Robinson, is teaching beginner guitar, bass and piano. Contact: Emsyrobinsonjr@gmail.com.

2019 DOMA nominee for best female singer, Kierra Gray, is teaching vocal performance, beginner piano, beginner guitar and lyrical composition. Contact: Kierratheking@gmail.com.

Patrick Smith whos in Nick Snyder and the Real Deal and Holy Roller Baby, teaches guitar, bass, banjo, ukulele, drums and piano. Contact: psmithmusic1@gmail.com.

Stephen Goodson, who plays guitar for BJ Stricker and the Kings and Ruff Wizard, teaches intermediate and advanced guitar and music theory. Contact: sgood83@yahoo.com. stephen-goodson.com.

Brianne Sargent from Skinny Cooks teaches cello and music theory. Contact: Briannesargent.com.

Ava Boehme from Starfruit teaches drums, piano, guitar and general composition. Contact: Avaw418@gmail.com.

Brigitte Mena Southern Methodist University graduate, teaches voice, piano, guitar and ukulele. Contact: Brigittemenamusic@gmail.com.

Robert Trusko, 2019 DOMA winner for Best Bassist, teaches bass and Ableton Live. Contact: Truskomusic.com.

Benjamin Holt from Song Dynasty is offering music appreciation and guitar classes through the Tarrant County College. Contact: Benholtjazz@gmail.com.

Aaron "AC" Capers, who plays in Loyal Sally and The Effinays, DOMA nominee for Best Drummer in 2019, gives drum lessons. Contact: aaroncapers@dynamicrhythm.net.

Jason Elmore, a multiple DOMA nominee as Best Blues Act, is teaching all levels and all styles of guitar. Contact: Jasonelmore.net.

Matt Tedder, from 2019 Best Blues act DOMA winner Polydogs and The Voice, teaches guitar. Contact: Mattteddergigs@gmail.com.

DOMA winner for Best Pianist/Keyboardist Poppy Xander from Helium Queens has been teaching for almost 20 years. Xander specializes in all ages and levels inpiano, song writing, composition, and voice lessons. Contact: poppyxander@gmail.com.

Jess Garland, who's played with Francine Thirteenand is currently in the Sunshine Village Band has been teaching for 13 years.Garland is available for guitar and harp lessons. Contact: Jessstrings.com.

Indie rocker Mark Cuthbertson has been teaching guitar for a decade. Contact: Mark@fantasticboom.com.

Eva Raggio is the Dallas Observer's music and arts editor, a job she took after several years of writing about local culture and music for the paper. Eva supports the arts by rarely asking to be put on "the list" and always replies to emails, unless the word "pimp" makes up part of the artist's name.

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There's No Better Time to Start Taking Music Lessons from Dallas' Best Musicians - Dallas Observer

I mean, obviously, you could logically say that if you had a process that was ongoing and you started mitigation earlier, you could have saved lives. Obviously, no one is going to deny that. But what goes into those kinds of decisions is complicated.

Dr. Anthony Fauci on whether early proactive measures could have reduced COVID-19 fatalities

The idea you could go 12 tweets on why Black folks & other POC suffer higher rates of #COVID19 & never use the word racism is malpractice.

W. Kamau Bell on tweets by Surgeon General Jerome Adams

Once again America is at war. In COVID-19, it has found a new enemy against which to marshal its not so vast resources. America needs its enemies, manufacturing them at will, just as it manufactures consent to combat them. But like most of Americas perpetual wars, the war on COVID-19 is actually a war of attrition on America itself, or more precisely on its communities of color.

War is a protracted affair that produces collateral damage. We are witnessing some of that damaging legacy today. Americas war on COVID-19 is fought on multiple fronts, for it is also a war on truth launched by a bone spurs wartime president who, flanked by an army of loyal Republican enablers and Fox News propagandists, has launched preemptive strikes against Asians, Asian Americans, and immigrants, targeting them for racist, xenophobic rage, while downplaying his own racist rhetoric and the deadly virulence of the viral enemy in our midst.

Of course, racism and xenophobia pre-date the coronavirus. Like Trump himself, the coronavirus has simply made explicit the implicit biases and blatant racism that have infected life in America since its inception. Today, in the pestilent shadow of COVID-19, Asian Americans, whom America has historically regarded as, to borrow sociologist Mia Tuans term, forever foreigners, are verbally vilified, spat on, and physically assaulted. The damned-if-you-do-damned if you dont implacability of racist (il)logic render escape from its cycle of hate impossible no matter what they do.

For Asian Americans, this means, says San Francisco State Universitys Russell Jeung, If youre wearing a mask, youre seen as a disease carrier. If youre not wearing a mask, youre seen as a disease carrier but negligent.

For African Americans, it means that donning a surgical mask carries its own unique risks.

Damon Young, the author of What Doesnt Kill You Makes You Blacker, writes,

Pre-rona, if Id decided to wear a bandanna and a ski mask on a trip to Giant Eagle,the police, the National Guard, at least three of the Avengers and a Wyatt Earp hologram might have been summoned to contain and neutralize me. But now, Im a menace to society if Imnotmasked up? As absurd as America can be, its just too much, man. Be consistent.

In fact, Americas racial extremism is consistent, and absurdly so. It is, quite literally, an extremism that recognizes people of color only when it places them at both extremes of dehumanizing stereotypes: Blacks are harmless buffoons and menacing brutes. If they fail it is because they are lazy; if they succeed it is because they are affirmative action hires. In the Disunited States of COVID America, if they dont don masks, they are irresponsible super spreaders; if they do, they are criminal thugs, virulent Trayvon Martins who have traded in their hoodies for surgical gauze and whose presence in white spaces is perceived as an existential threat to white property and white lives.

On March 18th, two black men wearing surgical masks were escorted out of an Illinois Walmart by a police officer who followed them a few steps behind (was he practicing social distancing?), hand on taser. To the ever-expanding list of black criminal offenses Driving While Black, Walking While Black, Eating While Black, Napping While Black, and Breathing While Black we can add another: Trying to Survive COVID-19 While Black, perhaps the greatest offense of them all, living proof that the title of Youngs book is remarkably on point and that the last thing white American can abide is a blacker America. But really, did anyone actually expect black lives to matter in pandemic-ravaged America when they never have?

For some, COVID-19 is a Social Darwinists wet dream. What better way to get rid of unwanted marginal populations. Death panels by triage. This is what our laissez-faire health care system has been doing all along, though less dramatically and with less potential spillover into elite communities. After all, this is a nation where prior to the pandemic 27.5 million Americans were without health insurance, a number that will grow as more Americans lose their jobs during lockdown. Meanwhile, Trump fecklessly equivocates over the danger of the outbreak, while his 2021 budget proposes massive cuts to social programs, suggesting that our warrior president prefers to wage war on Medicaid, welfare, food stamps, and other safety net programs.

Social Darwinists are not the only ones getting their rocks off, however. According to the Anti-Defamation League, white supremist groups are blaming the coronavirus on Jews, Asians, and immigrants and urging their members to attack minority and immigrant communities. The Department of Homeland Security reports that some groups have even encouraged their infected soldiers, armed with saliva-filled spray bottles and other IEDs (Improvised Expectoration Devices), the new weapons of choice among white nationalist terrorists, to intentionally spread the coronavirus.

It seems, however, that white supremacists have sorely underestimated the extent to which our nations systemic racism makes their own genocidal plotting appear amateurish in comparison. It is now widely reported that blacks are disproportionately affected by the virus. As of April 3rd, in Chicago, where blacks constitute 30% of the population, they represent 70% of COVID-19 deaths; in Michigan, with a black population of 15%, they account for 35% of cases and 40% of deaths; in Milwaukee County, where blacks are 26% of the population and make up half of COVID-19 cases, they account for 81% of deaths.

Still, prior to these reports, it didnt take a rocket scientist or a stable genius to figure out that Americas most vulnerable and marginal communities would be disproportionally affected by the coronavirus and that resources should be proactively directed toward averting a health crisis. After all, this is a disease whose risks increase among those with preexisting chronic health conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, asthma, and obesity, conditions that disproportionately affect black people and that are further exacerbated by a lack of adequate access to health insurance and a health care system whose providers suffer from the same implicit racial bias as the society at large. Nor does it help that black people are more likely to use public transportation and live in multigenerational households, socio-economic factors which make avoidance of the virus difficult.

Yet even now only a few states track coronavirus cases and deaths by race. Instead, frontline warriors like Surgeon General Jerome Adams blame the victim. While being crystal clear in assuring people of color that they are not biologically or genetically predisposed to get COVID-19 and that there is nothing inherent wrong with you, Adams singles out blacks and Latinos, cautioning them to avoid alcohol tobacco and drugs. In contrast, when he alludes without specificity to the burden of social ills that put them at risk, he is tellingly opaque and apparently indifferent to admonishing whites to avoid the same trio of risky substances, the last including opioids, the source of another racially disparate epidemic, but one that disproportionately affects whites.

Some white Americans, like recent Medal of Freedom recipient Rush Limbaugh, have dismissed these reports, dismissing them as racial Uno. For them, COVID-19 is an equal opportunity scourge, a shared enemy like Osama bin Laden, the Taliban, ISIS, and Fake News, something all Americans can rally against, presumably as they rally round the president. But, to paraphrase Animal Farm, We are all in this together, but some of us are more in it than others. And that is a social fact, quite frankly, that will continue to set us apart.

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Collateral Damage and the War on COVID-19 - CounterPunch

Politics. Marijuana. Science. COVID-19.

Lets start with the first. Bernie Sanders has dropped out of the presidential race. Though he plans to remain on the ballots of the remaining primary states, hes effectively suspended his campaign.

Joe Biden, in response, promptly extended an impassioned 800-word olive branch to Senator Sanders and his supporters, recognizing both for shaping important political dialogue. Issues which had been given little attention or little hope of ever passing are now at the center of the political debate, Biden wrote. Income inequality, universal health care, climate change, free college, relieving students from the crushing debt of student loans. These are just a few of the issues Bernie and his supporters have given life to.

Biden took it one step further and committing to include Bernie and his ideals as part of his administration stating, Ill be reaching out to you. You will be heard by me. As you say: Not me, Us.

At the same time, legions of devout Bernie supporters dubbed Bernie Bros remain doubtful any radical platform adoption will take form. All this has set the stage for what could be a powerfully unifying shift were Biden to reconsider his current stance on federal marijuana legalization, which remains an illicit drug at the federal level despite being medically legalized by 33 states, of which 11 also allowing for adult-use consumption.

Senator Bernie Sanders has pledged to use his power as president to legalize cannabis via executive order within his first 100 days on the job, should he be elected. His plan was unveiled at 4:20 PM EST last October, and includes plans to vacate and expunge all past marijuana-related convictions in his platform proposal by creating an independent clemency board removed from the Department of Justice and placed in the White House.

A big part of his marijuana plan includes reinvestment it into the marginalized, largely minority, communities hit hardest by the War on Drugs, provisioning that "federal funding will be provided to states and cities to partner with organizations that can help develop and operate the expungement determination process."

Sanders plan would allot $50 billion in tax revenue generated from the sale of legal marijuana and for these equalizing and reparation measures, $20 billion of which would be used to "provide grants to entrepreneurs of color who continue to face discrimination in access to capital." Three additional $10 billion sums would be apportioned to funds or grants that aid businesses or communities disproportionately impacted by the War on Drugs.

Keeping Big Pharma and Big Tobacco from dominating a newly opened marijuana market is another essential part of Bernies federal legal marijuana approach. Companies who have formerly created cancer-causing products or have been found guilty of deceptive marketing would be banned from the industry, as would tobacco and cigarette.

To prevent marijuana market oligopolies taking form as they have in some already legal states (most notably Florida and California), market share and franchise caps will be put in place to prevent profiteering and consolidation under the Senators plan. [A]s we move toward the legalization of marijuana, I dont want large corporations profiting, he said in an interview on Showtimes Desus & Mero.

Last November, the former vice president replied to a town hall question that although he supports allowing states to determine their own marijuana policies, he is unconvinced on the science recognizing the plants relationship to other drugs. "The truth of the matter is, there has not been nearly enough evidence acquired as to whether or not it's a gateway drug," he declared.

Though Biden opposes legalization on the federal level, he has declared that anyone incarcerated for marijuana should be released and have their criminal records expunged of any marijuana charges. Biden also supports removing marijuana from the list of Schedule I drugs where it sits out-of-place alongside a motley of drugs deemed to have zero medicinal value. He proposes moving it to the Schedule II category, making the plant more easily accessible to research.

See Also: Will COVID-19 Cause The US Government To Finally Treat Cannabis As A Medicine?

While thats not nearly full federal legalization, it would be significantly more progressive than the decades-old laws marijuana finds itself trapped by today. It also illustrates some semblance of reason; no one truly believes marijuana belongs in the same drug classification as heroin, and Biden would be the first president to acknowledge and enable the medicinal value of marijuana.

But he can go a step further, and more modern, well-studied marijuana advocates can lead him there. Research already exists that correlations between marijuana and other drug use have been weakened by studies that show quite the opposite. Cannabis access has been found to be associated with reduced rates of opioid use and abuse, opioid-related hospitalizations, opioid-related traffic fatalities, opioid-related drug treatment admissions, and opioid-related overdose deaths.

A 2020 study by the Journal of Palliative Medicine found that the addition of medical marijuana to cancer patients' palliative (pain reductive) care regimen withstood the development of tolerance and reduced the rate of opioid use, over a significantly longer follow-up period than patients solely utilizing opioids. Another 2020 study found a significant reduction in opioid consumption for pain following traumatic injury when supplemented with oral synthetic THC, while opioid consumption was unchanged for controls.

Gateway Drug, it can be reliably argued, is more dated political rallying cry than modern thoughtful analysis. The marijuana research is there, Joe Biden just needs credible exposure to it.

We have been terribly and systematically misled for nearly 70 years in the United States, and I apologize for my own role in that, CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta said of marijuana in a globally-broadcast confession nearly seven years ago. It was a 180-degree about-face from the op-ed he wrote for Time Magazine in 2009 entitled Why I Would Vote No On Pot.

For the first time, Dr. Gupta had been exposed to the medicinal properties of cannabis, and in what would become a timeless story with rippling effects, it was a little girl who got him there.

Charlotte Figi became the nations arguably greatest exposure to the benefits of CBD oil after using it to control the constant seizures experienced from her severe Dravet syndrome at age 5. The Colorado girl experienced up to 300 grand mal seizures per week and used a wheelchair, before using CBD drastically reduced her rate of seizures.

Dr. Guptas interviews with Charlottes family, cannabis researchers, and caretakers led him on an unchartered journey to more closely examine the possibilities of cannabis as a medicine. His findings were brought to a national and global audience in a way no other medical marijuana cases had been before, igniting a momentous push toward medical marijuana reform.

On March 26, 2020, her mother, Paige Figi, wrote on Facebook that all five family members were sick with "fevers, pains, coughs" and were "struggling to breathe," before taking Charlotte to the hospital. A COVID-19 test came back negative and Charlotte was discharged from the hospital after a few days.

Two days later, she suffered another seizure, resulting in respiratory failure and cardiac arrest. On April 7, 2020, Charlotte passed at age 13.

Her death was first announced by the group co-founded by her mother through the Realm of Caring Foundation, an organization she chartered to empowering individuals, medical professionals, and the community through research-based education on hemp, CBD, medical marijuana, and THC.

"Charlotte is no longer suffering. She is seizure-free forever, Paige Figi wrote on her Facebook page. Thank you so much for all of your love."

Charlottes story brings it all together: the imperative for scientific thought and consideration in political policy for both marijuana and COVID-19. The countrys partisan split regarding the relevance and dependence on science to make informed, data-driven health and wellness political decisions will play a key factor in Novembers presidential election.

Charlotte Figi exemplifies the importance of foundationally sound policymaking. By immersing himself more deeply into marijuana research, Biden can firmly demonstrate his commitment to leading a science-first presidency one very different than what exists today.

This is Dr. Sanjay Guptas tribute to the life of Charlotte Figi:

Weve already seen Joe Biden shift to the left before. Earlier this year he pivoted to include the Sanders-championed proposal of free college and university education in his platform, announcing a policy to make public colleges and universities tuition-free for all students whose family incomes are below $125,000.

See Also: Nothing Silly About Psilly From Mushrooms And Its Medicinal Properties

On April 9, 2020, the former vice president proposed lowering the age eligibility for Medicare from 65 to 60 and eliminating student debt for some lower-income families. Both are issues that make up the foundation of the Sanders platform.

A shift in his marijuana thinking would be much sharper, but perhaps even politically safer.

According to apoll from the Pew Research Center 78% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents say marijuana should be legal.At the same time, 66% of Americans favor legalization, and more than 90% support enabling physicians to prescribe medical cannabis to patients, according to an April 2018 poll from Quinnipiac University.

At the same time, a new survey conducted by IBD/TIPP, found just 34% of independent voters believe Trump is handling the COVID-19 pandemic well, surging support for Biden among those voters, 47 percent to 41 percent, respectively.

This kind of pivot could set the tone for enabling so many other things, as well, including:

Each of these will be desperately needed in the eventual wake of this COVID-19 crisis. If there were ever an ideal time for marijuana to help invigorate the U.S. economy its soon to come.

Most of all, federal marijuana legalization would be a unifying, bold move.

The desire for bold moves is what Bernie supporters are driven by, and this is one that cannabis scientists, cancer researchers, struggling farmers, poor municipalities, and tax-burdened cannabis businesses are all eager for as well.

Illustration: Andre Bourque / Image: Dreamstime.com

Andre Bourque is a cannabis industry connector, executive advisor to several cannabis companies, brand strategy advisor, and a cannabis industry analyst. In addition to Benzinga, Andres articles have been featured in Forbes, The Huffington Post,Entrepreneur.com, Yahoo Finance, CIO Magazine & ComputerWorld.

You can connect with him at @socialmktgfella onLinkedIn,Twitter, andInstagram.

The preceding article is from one of our external contributors. It does not represent the opinion of Benzinga and has not been edited.

2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

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From Charlotte To Science: Why Now Is Prime Time For Biden To Embrace Bernie's Marijuana Legalization Plan - Benzinga

We all have that one show we become evangelists for.

That show is must see TV for you, but youre incredulous that it somehow winds up in the Ill get to it when I get to it wing of so many other peoples queues.

Right now, that show for me is Black Monday.

When the show premiered last year on Showtime, critics were a bit torn. Season one currently has a 56% rating on Rotten Tomatoes with reviews basically calling it unfocused and not the cathartic takedown of Wall Street that they may have been expecting.

But thats exactly why I loved it.

With the very real stock market crash of 1987 (aka Black Monday) as its backdrop, the show paints a fictional story of the people and motives who caused it, namely Mo Monroe (Don Cheadle) and his trading firm the Jammer Group. What starts as a get-rich-quick scheme devolves into a shell game of figuring out whos screwing over whom.

Although the web of secret motives (and secret lives) can make season one seem a bit formless, half the fun of the show is watching how all the loose threads are eventually woven togetherand they do, indeed, come together. And no, this isnt a takedown of the people in power playing fast and loose with innocent lives, because these arent your typical people in power on Wall Street. The Jammer Group is run by Mo, a black man; Dawn (Regina Hall), a black woman; and Blair and Keith (Andrew Rannells and Paul Scheer), both closeted gay men.

To be sure, they all make terrible and morally bankrupt decisions. However, there are deeper motives to their actions that are intrinsically linked to their marginalization. Its not right, but its far more emotionally compelling than just greed is good.

Season one ended on a bit of a cliffhanger with Mo going on the run, and questions abound as to how the Jammer Group would benefit from the crash they purposefully caused that wouldve made me tune in regardless. However, now that were halfway through season two, I can confidently say this is my favorite show on television right now.

Heres why I think it should become yours, too.

Whether a pure artistic decision or a budgetary one, bottle episodes make great televisionif done correctly. With the action focused on a limited set of characters in a confined setting, the normal arc of the series has time to stretch, and what writers choose to fill that extra time can yield impactful results.

Case in point, season twos third episode: Idiot Inside.

The majority of the episode takes place in a bank where Mo and Keith are looking to make a deal with the top drug cartel in Miami. As the tension elevates in the back room where negotiations are taking place, theres also an increasing sense of dread in the lobby out front. Were introduced to several nonregular characters who, as the episode progresses, arent who or what they seem, in both good and terrible ways. The episode ends with a crucial turning point in Mo and Keiths relationshipnot to mention an epic shootout. Idiot Inside makes perfect use of the isolated setting to advance the principal story while simultaneously taking a break from it too. The whole episode was like a mashup of Black Monday, Scarface, and Dog Day Afternoon in the best possible way.

The best way to describe Black Monday is a dark farce. No matter how outlandish the scenario or dialogue might be, theres always moments of grounded clarity that balance out the overall tone of the show: the flashbacks to Mos days as a Black Panther (and the betrayal that set him on the path we see him on now), Mo and Dawns tumultuous relationship rooted in her being undervalued as a woman, Keith coming to terms with his sexuality, and so forth. Having laid that solid groundwork with its characters, season two earned the right to dial up the farce just a bit without going completely off the rails, as in that musical number in episode five, Violent Crooks and Cooks of Books.

After the bank deal goes south, Keith is hauled off to prison. The show couldve played it straight, a few fish-out-of-water jokes here, maybe a dropped-the-bar-of-soap joke there. But the writers took the opportunity to make a statement on white-collar crimes and the racial disparity in punishment with a barbershop-quartet-style number welcoming Keith to the white (collar) side of prison.

To me, this is camp and farce done right: It fits within the heightened world the show created for itself while drilling issues such as Ronald Reagans war on drugs and all the racial biases associated with it.

In season one, Black Monday solidly revolves around Mo. A compelling character, to be sure. But once he flees at the end of the finale, season two picks up with a renewed focus on Dawn, who is truly the heart (and brains) of the show. Her storyline best exemplifies what I mentioned earlier: Atypical power players playing the same crooked game as everyone else.

But unlike Mo and Blair, who basically turn into two more boys in the boys club, Dawn, for better or worse, was never blindsided by the excesses that access can bring. That gender and racial inequality is what keeps her grounded and focused enough to become the true architect of the plan that caused Black Monday in season one (even through Blair gets credit for it). In season two, we get a closer look at how that lack of valuation motivates her furthereven to the point of an ethical crisis within her own community.

Much like how The Leftovers became less about Kevin (Justin Theroux) and more about Nora (Carrie Coon)yet another show I have evangelized and will always evangelizeBlack Monday season two gives the much-deserved spotlight to the shows most empathic character as she claws and manipulates her way past the boys to get whats hers.

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Why 'Black Monday' is the show you need to be bingeing right now - Fast Company

This article is inThe Spectators May 2020 US edition.Subscribe here to get yours.

We are told that were in this together by people who can afford to wait out the epidemic in the way the aristocrats of old retreated to their estates when the plague arrived in the city. It is more accurate to say that we are, as this editions cover puts it, together, alone. The coronavirus has revealed that people today can live in connected solitude, as Sam Leith describes. It has never been easier to retreat from society if you have the money. But it has never been more vital to sustain real-world connections. We may feel atomized but the truth is we can no more insulate ourselves entirely from other people than we can from the economic effects of an unprecedented shutdown.

It is customary for politicians to declare war on poverty, on drugs, on terrorism but for once, this talk has been justified. The military responded with its customary professionalism and diligence. Almost overnight, the US Navys hospital ship Comfort appeared in New York Harbor and the US Army Corps of Engineers turned the Javits Center into a 3,000-bed field hospital. The federal system, however, has adapted less quickly and ably. Political grandstanding and bickering between governors have hampered a coordinated response and heightened public alarm.

Business has responded with an efficiency that would be more heartening were the boom in home delivery not accompanied by price hikes and the exploitation of those doing the delivering. The COVID-19 epidemic has exposed the ugly underbelly of globalization, as Christopher Caldwell describes. The creation of jobs at a time when unemployment has reached Depression levels almost overnight is imperative. But it will not excuse the existence of a permanent gig economy underclass.

The food supply chain has not broken, but the lines at food banks are growing. After the mass hoarding of toilet paper, our common symbol of the paper-thin layer between civilization and barbarism, the shelves are stocked. But more and more Americans are struggling to afford the basics. Even before COVID-19, nearly half of Americans held no savings at all. The Trump administrations $1,200 subvention to citizens is a drop in the swelling ocean of debt. Total lockdown is a luxury that we can no longer afford.

Some businesses have been sharp to adapt: Titos Vodka, for instance, is now producing hand sanitizer. But General Motors had to be shamed by the Defense Production Act before it would switch to producing ventilators. The president claimed that GM, a company bailed out by the Obama administration, had been stalling over cost. If so, GM was hardly alone. Only when the hospitals in New York City were at risk of overflowing did health insurers waive out-of-pocket costs for all COVID-19 treatment. Harvard University, insulated by its endowment, did not guarantee the wages of its sub-contracted cleaning, security and catering workers until pressured to do so. United Airlines waited for the stimulus bill to pass (with $50 billion for airlines) before telling workers to expect job cuts. Car manufacturers, health insurers, airlines and the Ivy League are habitual beneficiaries of direct and indirect government support. Their contempt for the common taxpayer has never been clearer.

No failure of commission was more shameful than that of the state and local administrators who failed to stock up on masks, gowns, gloves and other personal protective equipment (PPE). This, like the outsourcing of medical supply chains, reflects a disorder of domestic priorities. So does the failure of the Obama and Trump administrations to restock federal stores of masks after the H1N1 (swine flu) epidemic of 2009, and the Trump administrations disbanding of the NSCs global health unit.

Donald Trump campaigned in 2016 against globalization and its discontents: outsourcing, strategic dependency on China, the political classs abandonment of American workers and American security. Like George W. Bush and Barack Obama, Trump finds his presidency redefined by unforeseen disaster. COVID-19 is a reckoning for the United States, and for the Trump presidency in particular.

COVID-19 is a vindication of those who, like Trump, advocate for strong borders and economic independence. Perhaps less comfortably for the president and his supporters, the response to COVID-19 is also a repudiation of those who have demonized Hispanic immigrants as criminals and cultural fifth columnists. The public servants who have sustained hospitals and civic order, and the workers who have delivered luxuries to our doorsteps, are disproportionately migrants.

Trump was also elected to break up the cozy corporatism of Washington DC and private capital. The present danger has, however, forced the president to become the inadvertent sponsor of forces he once opposed and technologies he once distrusted. The Congressional stimulus was rushed through quickly and is in significant part an Obama-style bailout. The administration has turned to Google as a public information channel. The militarization of civilian life, a malign side effect of the war on terror, is being furthered by necessity, and so is the digital snooping and surveillance that accompanies it.

As Paul Wood says, the crisis will not be the last challenge of its kind. Though the symptoms of COVID-19 are beginning to lift, the body politic still requires urgent treatment. The lockdown must be lifted as far as possible, and the lessons learned as quickly as possible. It is imperative that Americans be allowed to work. But restoring the fabric of society also means restoring trust between institutions and the people they are supposed to serve.

This article is inThe Spectators May 2020 US edition.Subscribe here to get yours.

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EDITORIAL: After the lockdown, the breakdown - The Spectator USA

Pot farm owner Joy Hollingsworth is 100 percent behind the proposed law. courtesy of Hollingsworth Cannabis company

The United States has a cruel relationship with weed. When pot was illegal everywhere, African Americans were arrested for pot crimes at far higher rates than white people. Now white people are raking in billions of dollars in weed revenue while Black people are largely shut out of the legal pot system.

Nowhere is this cruel reality more true than in Washington State, where Black people were 280 percent more likely to get arrested for pot than a white person during the war on drugs. Black people currently own only 4 percent of the state's weed retailers and 1 percent of the state's pot farms, according to data from the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB).

Our state has never tried to tackle this disparity. Rick Garza, director of the WSLCB, recently told a legislative hearing that our state "missed an opportunity to focus on social equity" when we legalized pot.

Now Garza wants to change that. The WSLCB proposed a law that would allow the agency to give its unused retail pot licenses to people who were previously convicted of a misdemeanor pot offense or who come from neighborhoods that were over-policed during the war on drugs. (The agency would not confirm how many licenses are available but estimates range from 13 to less than 40.) The proposed law cannot rely only on the race of the applicants to allocate the retail licenses, because affirmative action is illegal in Washington State.

Garza explicitly said that he wants social equity to help repair some of the harm of the war on drugs.

"By social equity, I mean two things," Garza said. "One, that the new cannabis industry should reflect the diverse population of our state. Second, it challenges us to create economic opportunity in the cannabis industry for people in communities that have been disproportionately harmed by cannabis prohibition."

The proposed law would also fund a new grant program and create a new task force that can recommend further programs. The grant programfunded with $1 million of pot-tax revenue a yearwould provide money for social equity license holders to navigate the bureaucratic nightmare of keeping pot licenses in compliance.

The task force would be composed of 12 members drawn from various boards and commissions, including organizations representing the African American and Latinx communities, which would be charged with making further social equity recommendations by the end of this year. Those recommendations could include calls for more pot licenses.

Joy Hollingsworth, who is Black and owns the pot farm Hollingsworth Cannabis Company with her family, said the task force was one of the reasons she is "fully, 100 percent supporting the bill."

"I have trust that they have the best intentions for the minority community and trying to get more people of color in the industry," Hollingsworth said. "That's why I really like this bill, because it's not just narrowing it down to one thing."

But not everyone is happy. Aaron Bossett, of the Black Cannabis Commission, said that any attempt to fix the harm of the war on drugs needs to include more than just pot licenses.

"For me, it's still a no. It's just not broad enough," Bossett said. "There needs to be more programs outside of just cannabis, because cannabis was used as a weapon. At least allow some of that tax money to go into community development and other programs."

The proposed law passed the state house of representatives on February 16 and is now awaiting a vote in the senate. If it passes, all it will need is a signature from Governor Jay Inslee before the state can start at least trying to use pot legalization to repair the harm of the war on drugs.

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The Latest Move to Repair the Racist War on Drugs - TheStranger.com

Police practices and policies evolve throughout the years. When police leaders attended leadership schools, they often learned about the crack epidemic of the 1980s and how this era changed policing. The sudden influx of crack cocaine and the crime associated with it overwhelmed police resources and caused chaos in every community.

This era brought the war on drugs and the formation of specialized police drug task forcesthat made agencies on federal, state and local levels cooperate and organize investigations. These investigations worked drug cases from the street to the supplier across jurisdictions. After several years of working drug cases this new way, the changes proved effective and the crack epidemic started to subside.

The next generations of police leaders will learn about the current opioid epidemic we are now living and how it changed policing. I can remember when I started at the Cumberland Police Department we would occasionally get called to a drug overdose, and most of those ended up being intentional acts. Then in late 2015, the opioid crisis hit us hard with overdoses happening several times a week instead of being rare occurrences.

At the Cumberland Police Department, we first handled this new rash of overdoses as we had routinely done: If the patient was not breathing, perform CPR and call for the Cumberland Fire Department. Officers would then gather any evidence at the scene and file charges for any drug or drug paraphernalia of which there was evidence.

I can remember being on the scenes of these early overdoses and our officers explaining to family members that filing charges were for the best because a judge could potentially order drug treatment programs, which was often the only way to get some people the help they needed.

As the opioid drug crisis continued, police were showing up at some drug-related death investigation scenes and discovering that the victims may have survived if they had received the proper help; however, fear of being arrested kept people from calling 911 at the time.

Good Samaritan Law

Even in Cumberland, this was further evidenced by unconscious overdose patients occasionally being dumped on a street or outside the fire station or hospital. This brought about the Good Samaritan Law, which gave immunity for minor drug- and alcohol-related crimes to the victim and anyone else who summoned help for an overdose patient. This new law encouraged people to help those who overdosed and has undoubtedly saved lives.

The benefit of saving lives outweighed the ability of police to make arrests; however, it took away a tool that we had previously used to get people drug treatment. I can remember working with my squad through the changes brought about by the Good Samaritan Law as well as the frustration it brought. With no drug arrests for overdoses, officers and concerned family members could no longer hope for court-ordered drug treatment. All of my officers were being approached by concerned family members and even addicts wanting help with addiction, and as a department we were sometimes a bit lost as to what we could do.

Miracle drug

Fortunately, in Cumberland we have a professional fire department with a quick response time. These city paramedics carried what became known as the miracle drug, naloxone (Narcan), that reversed the effect of opioids and really brought people back from the dead. This gave them a second chance at life that the rescuers hoped would not be wasted.

Unfortunately, in the past, if a person was successfully revived through the use of naloxone and was oriented, they could refuse further treatment and walk away. Knowing the person had broken the law, needed help, could still possibly die and yet was free to go was devastating to first responders.

In later years, the Allegany County Health Department trained all of our officers in the use of naloxone and we started carrying it on duty. It soon became commonplace for our own officers to start administering naloxone and reviving patients in cooperation with the responding Cumberland Fire Department. Over the years we have been credited with saving many lives.

Traditionally, if there was an illegal drug issue, the police would handle it. People in this area thought that any illegal drug issue use, abuse, buying, selling, prevention all fell under the realm of the Cumberland Police Department. However, this latest era of drug abuse made us realize that we could not do this alone.

A social problem

The Cumberland Police Department knew we had to change our approach to the opioid epidemic. Fortunately, we were not alone in this thinking. Police departments and community groups along the eastern U.S. were also faced with this issue and were willing to work through it together. We started to realize that this was not a police problem, but a social problem, and started to form partnerships with other entities that could offer support and advice.

This hodgepodge of partnerships soon began to take shape into an organized system of referrals we could offer families for help. Some of our greatest assets were our very own Allegany County Health Department as well as the Western Maryland Health System who have graciously supported CPD in every way. Soon officers were carrying pamphlets and making phone calls to drug counselors while on the streets trying to get help for those who wanted it.

Also during this time, the public, as well as officers had to become educated about drug addiction. Many times, I heard people saying they didnt understand why people would keep taking heroin if it could kill them. ...why didnt they just stop? It was through educating ourselves about the science of addictions that we came to the realization that drug addiction was a mental health problem that crossed over into criminal behavior, not the other way around.

Mental health issue

Again, it was time to make an adjustment. We were no longer allowed to arrest overdose patients due to the Good Samaritan Law, however, we could now associate overdose patients with drug addiction, which is a mental health diagnosis.

If an overdose patient was near death we could articulate that they were a danger to themselves and suffered from a mental illness which fit the criteria for a police officer to force a person to have a mental health evaluation done. We didnt have to watch people walk away from near death experiences any longer. Instead we could make them go to the hospital where a counselor could begin to try to get them help. At first this was not accepted by all hospital medical staff, but supported by mental health staff and drug counselors. The Cumberland model soon became an accepted best practice and copied statewide.

D.A.R.T.

The Cumberland Police Department expanded on this model in later years by establishing a Drug Abatement Response Team or D.A.R.T, which was modeled after similar domestic violence teams. When an overdose patient is identified through some type of police response, such as the overdose patient requiring hospitalization, the team consisting of a police officer and a peer drug counselor track the patient in the days after their release from the hospital the time when they are most susceptible to relapse. Support is then offered by the team to help keep the person from using again. This is also a CPD original programthat has been adopted in other jurisdictions.

Although we had to adjust and move more toward non-traditional ways of policing, we also kept true to our duty. We adopted new drug crime information sharing and intelligence-gathering practices across agencies, and we increased drug enforcement efforts. We went after the dealers who were providing heroin, fentanyl and opioid pills. We conducted investigations into prescription fraud and doctors over-prescribing opioids.

We still continue to go after the criminals who are helping fuel these drug problems and all of the crime associated with it. Although we are quite proud of the work we have done at CPD we could not have been as successful without the help of our partners at the Allegany County Narcotics Task Force, C3I, Allegany County Sheriffs Office, Maryland State Police, Frostburg Police Department, Frostburg University Police, Natural Resources Police and the Allegany County States Attorneys Office all who have supported us in our various drug enforcement initiatives.

Opioid task force

As these programs were put in place, our partnerships continued to strengthen. We have united with a common goal of eliminating our areas drug abuse problem.

The Allegany County Opioid and Overdose Task Force was developed, as well as the Opioid Summits and similar boards. The successful Cumberland Police Department Safe Streets program was modified to focus on drug crime. The communitys successful Prescribe Change media campaign was developed. The health department started training citizens and other first responders on the administration of Naloxone. Many other private and faith-based organizations came forward and wanted to partner with the police to help in any way they could.

In all, since the opioid crisis started to first affect Cumberland, the police department has undergone a cultural change. We were forced to move away from the traditional policing of just locking up the bad guy and move toward more social intervention by helping in other ways to solve this problem.

We have had to continually react and adjust to find new ways to develop tools to combat drug abuse as well as all of the crimes that associate with it. I will tell you that this drug crisis did cause stress on the department.

Remember that not only drug crime increased, but all of the other crimes associated with it such as people intoxicated on the streets to addicts stealing to support their habit to shootings and robberies between drug dealers. This coupled with manpower and budget shortfalls over the years was tough on the officers, however, they persevered.

The city can be proud of the CPD officers. Each step we took addressing the opioid epidemic along the way saved lives. Sometimes only one at a time, but they add up. We now understand more about drug addiction and how hard it is to overcome. Occasionally we get those who walk up to us and thank us for teaching them a DARE lesson, referring them to a counselor, arresting them, causing them to go to jail, making them go to the hospital, or even bringing them back to life.

It was not one single action but a combination of all of these effortsthat have helped the city during this crisis. We are proud to say that for the first time in years overdoses and drug crime are down. Our city is looking better every day. We pray that it will continue to get better and we will continue our efforts to insure that happens. We thank everyone for their support.

Chuck Ternent, a 25-year veteran of the Cumberland Police Department, serves as its interim chief.

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CPD keeps pace with ever-changing drug culture - Cumberland Times-News