Agents arrested 23 people in relation to a cartel-linked drug operation in Texas that dealt in cocaine, fentanyl, heroin and meth.
The arrests came after a five-year investigation that started in 2019. Prosecutors said the drug ring operated in the Houston and Galveston areas and was under the control of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).
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It’s not often a mid-morning interview starts with such a stern warning.
“Didn’t you tell her to be careful?” Jon Loidolt asked.
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A Nashville man has been sentenced to nearly 14 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to a four-count Indictment charging him with distributing and possessing with the intent to distribute, fentanyl, methamphetamine, and heroin, according to the Middle District of Tennessee U.S. Attorney’s Office.
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Synthetic opioids estimated to be 10 times more potent than fentanyl are creeping into the illicit drug market in the U.S., according to new research.
“Synthetic opioids, such as the fentanyl analog and nitazene drug class, are among the fastest growing types of opioids being detected in patients in the emergency department with illicit opioid overdose,” researchers warned in a paper published Tuesday in JAMA Network Open.
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Pennsylvania’s House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday passed a resolution calling on the federal government to remove marijuana from the top section of its controlled-substances list.
Called House Resolution 420 — an allusion to 4/20, a day of celebration for many pot smokers — the measure sponsored by state Representative Chris Rabb (D-Philadelphia) asks federal officials to move cannabinoid products off of Schedule I. The topmost of five illicit drug categories, Schedule I includes substances the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) characterizes as having “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.”
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A Pennsylvania state legislator is spearheading a bill to more stringently regulate the sale of the painkiller kratom.
The Kratom Consumer Protection Act, sponsored by state Senator Tracy Pennycuick (R-Red Hill), would ban the substance’s purveyance to anyone aged 21 or younger. The legislation would also limit the product’s potency, bar its combination with controlled chemicals and require its display of “adequate labeling directions for… safe and effective use….”
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Pennsylvania’s Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday passed legislation banning supervised injection sites anywhere in the Keystone State.
Under the bill sponsored by Senator Christine Tartaglione (D-Philadelphia), no locality in Pennsylvania could permit the operation of a center wherein people could take illegal substances without risking prosecution. Such locations which are also called “safe injection sites,” “safe consumption spaces” or “overdose prevention sites” aim to avert opioid overdoses and drug-related disease transmission. Opponents like Tartaglione say the sites more effectively worsen opioid addiction and the carnage it creates.
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Border Patrol agents in California on Monday seized enough fentanyl to kill over 2 million people. The population of San Diego is an estimated 1.4 million.
Agents in the El Centro border sector searched the vehicle at a highway checkpoint, where they found six black packages wrapped in cellophane hidden inside the car’s dashboard and air vents, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said Wednesday. The male driver, 53, and the female passenger, 27, in the car were both from Mexico and didn’t have the proper documents to be in the U.S.
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A Pennsylvania Senate panel this week passed a measure sponsored by Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Gettysburg) to strengthen the commonwealth’s tracking of overdoses.
All Republican and Democratic members of the Senate Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee supported the bill. It awaits consideration of the state House of Representatives.
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Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Gettysburg) on Thursday announced he will soon introduce legislation to strengthen penalties for fentanyl pushers whose sales result in deadly overdoses.
The senator is naming his measure “Tyler’s Law” after Tyler Shanafelter, an 18-year-old constituent who bought what he believed was Percocet but turned out to have acquired a fentanyl-laced product. The young man fatally overdosed.
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Fentanyl dominates Pennsylvania and has surpassed heroin as the major opioid in the commonwealth, posing greater health risks to those who use it and creating a bigger problem for law enforcement.
That’s according to a new report from the Pennsylvania attorney general’s office warning the public of rising overdose deaths and the threat opioids pose to public health.
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According to recently-released city data from the Overdose Response Program, Nashville saw a massive increase in drug overdose rate in 2021.
“In 2021, there were 712 suspected drug overdose deaths, representing a 15% increase compared to 2020, where 621 overdose deaths were reported,” according to the report.
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Customs and Border Protection’s Air and Marine Operations interdicted 62 tons (124,000 pounds) of illicit drugs in the first three months of this year, CBP reports, working with international, federal, state and local partners.
“Collaboration keeps us all safer,” CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus said of their efforts. “CBP AMO works with U.S. and international partners to stem the flow of illicit narcotics. Through the end of March, AMO has contributed to the seizure of over 124,000 lbs of narcotics by partner agencies.”
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FBI data currently indicate that Pennsylvania’s violent crime rate exceeds any other northeastern state’s, and a county prosecutor told state senators this week he attributes much of that reality to difficulty recruiting and retaining police officers.
Cambria County District Attorney Gregory Neugebauer testified before the Senate Republican Policy Committee alongside other law-enforcement professionals to illuminate what is driving up crime in the Keystone State and what can be done about it. The hearing, held at the Cambria County Courthouse in Ebensberg, was the first of several the panel is hosting this week to address crime prevention in conjunction with National Crime Victims’ Rights Week.
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A Pennsylvania Senate Majority Policy Committee hearing on crime and public safety dwelled on two issues: the need for more funding and officers to address crime, and the lack of mental health support for struggling people.
Two panels spoke to a number of Republican senators; one comprised local law enforcement officers and the other a state judge, public defender, and district attorney.
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In one year, Customs and Border Protection agents encountered triple the number of people entering the U.S. illegally compared to the previous year. From October 2020 to September 2021, 1,734,686 people were encountered at the U.S. southern border.
From October 2019 to September 2020, that number was 458,088.
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An Akron man whose son died of an overdose in 2015 is on a crusade to take fentanyl, a ultra-lethal drug manufactured mostly in China and by Mexican cartels, off the streets for good.
Motivated by his son’s tragic death, James Rauh founded an organization called Families Against Fentanyl, which is taking a unique approach to fighting the manufacture and import of that drug.
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A Nashville woman pleaded guilty to her involvement in an international drug distribution conspiracy, orchestrated from prison, that pumped a large volume of drugs into the Nashville area, according to a statement issued last week by federal prosecutors.
The defendant, Jennifer Montejo, 32, was charged in a criminal complaint on December 12, 2019, with possession with intent to distribute 100 grams or more of heroin and 400 grams or more of fentanyl, according to the statement by Don Cochran, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee.
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Oregon residents on Tuesday voted to decriminalize certain possession amounts of hard drugs.
Roughly 60% of Oregonian voters favored making it no longer a crime to possess a “non-commercial” amount of methamphetamine, heroin and cocaine, among others, according to The Hill. Those caught with the specified amount of narcotics face a $100 fine, but the penalty can be avoided by undergoing a health assessment, the Hill reported.
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by Amanda Hagstrom America’s heroin and cocaine addicts are turning to test strips in the search to combat the increasing rate fatal, fentanyl-induced overdoses. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid potent enough to kill an adult male with just two milligrams, or land someone in the hospital if a fan so much as blows it on them. If a heroin addict unknowingly purchases fentanyl-laced product, he will likely overdose. This reality has lead to massive increases in fatal overdose deaths across the country since 2016, but new test strips can allow addicts and doctors to verify easily that their drugs are free of fentanyl before using, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday. “This is an effective way to have people thinking about risks,” Louise Vincent, executive director of the Greensboro, N.C., chapter of the advocacy group Urban Survivors Union, told WSJ. “It’s so important to give people as many tools as we can.” States such as California and Rhode Island have been distributing the tests for nearly two years, with several cities in Ohio, Maryland and Pennsylvania following suit. The strips work much like pregnancy tests, requiring users to dip them in water mixed with tiny amounts of heroin or…
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On Friday’s Gill Report – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 1510 WLAC weekdays at 7:30 am – Star News National Political Editor Steve Gill talked about the recent liquor license revocation at a small lounge called Sharky’s in Harrison Township Ohio. He was perplexed about the Ohio Investigative Unit’s focus on a small two thousand dollar misuse of food stamps instead of perhaps bigger fish to fry. Gill said: Well some bad news for those who live in Harrison Township in Ohio, well maybe it’s not sad news for everybody just those who want to use their food stamps to go buy liquor, drugs, and well an occasional lap dance at a strip club. Sharky’s lounge is in Harrison Township in Ohio and they lost their liquor license yesterday. The Ohio liquor control commission revoked the adult entertainment clubs license, according to the Ohio Investigative Unit. Now they had begun investigating the club, known as Sharky’s back in May of 2017. So, it was a long investigation. It takes a lot to find out what these are up to sometimes. Anyway, during the investigation agents say they were able to buy drugs and lap dances from strippers by using food…
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A man from Mexico remains in custody after being arrested in Nashville Tuesday night when caught with more than half a pound of heroin that police say he intended to sell. Hugo Contreras-Gonzalez, 34, was driving a minivan along I-65 South near Trinity Lane when he was pulled over for speeding, according to a news release issued Wednesday by the Metro Nashville Police Department. Police dog Stryker detected a narcotic odor and in searching the minivan, police found heroin in two separate grease tubes in the rear passenger area. Contreras-Gonzalez was charged with possessing heroin for resale. He did not have a valid driver’s license and presented a passport, saying he had only been in the country for 15 days. His bond was set at $82,000 and he remained in jail Friday, police spokeswoman Kris Mumford told The Tennessee Star Friday afternoon. A court date is set for March 15. Contreras-Gonzalez had previous contact with local law enforcement in March 2011 when he was pulled over in Madison for not having headlights on during a rainstorm and was given a misdemeanor citation for not having a valid driver’s license, Mumford said.
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