China is Running an Operation to Get Americans Hooked on Illegal Drugs, Former DEA Boss Warns

Fentanyl

Police operations from California to Maine have busted Chinese nationals operating illegal marijuana growing sites. U.S. officials have clear evidence China is providing Mexican drug cartels the precursor chemicals to make the fentanyl flowing into America. The Drug Enforcement Administration has substantial evidence dating back a decade of Beijing’s role in flooding U.S. cities with a wide range of addictive and harmful drugs.

Experts say there is growing evidence that communist China has launched concerted operations to hook Americans on drugs as part of a larger effort to supplant the United States as the world’s No. 1 superpower. Adding to the problem, the insecure border of the Biden era has only accelerated operations that have killed tens of thousands of Americans from fentanyl poisoning alone. The National Center for Health Statistics reported that drug overdose death rates involving fentanyl increased by 279% from 5.7 per 100,000 in 2016 to 21.6 in 2021.

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Nogales Port Director Michael Humphries: More Fentanyl Seized in Three Months than 2022 Fiscal Year

Nogales Port of Entry Director Michael Humphries stated Monday that more fentanyl had been seized at his port in three months than in the entirety of the 2022 fiscal year (FY).

“In the first 3 months of FY23, the Nogales POE has already surpassed the total amount of fentanyl seized throughout all of FY22, which was already a record year,” tweeted Humphries.

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Arizona Patient Samples Show a 261 Percent Increase in Fentanyl Positivity Since 2019

A new study from the California-based Millennium Health (MH) showed that fentanyl positivity increased in Arizona by 261 percent between the first half of 2022 and 2019.

“We have already seen too many Arizona families lose loved ones to drugs. Our goal is to work hand-in-hand with public health and safety authorities, health care providers, and community organizations to proactively address drug exposures and help prevent drug overdose deaths,” said Angela Huskey, PharmD, CPE, Chief Clinical Officer at MH.

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DEA Phoenix Seizes over 8 Million Fentanyl Pills During Operation

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration announced Wednesday that an enforcement operation spanning from May to September seized millions of illicit fentanyl pills.

“On the frontline as we race to save lives, DEA Arizona continues to seize historic amounts of deadly fentanyl,” said Cheri Oz, the Phoenix DEA Special Agent in Charge of the operation. “It is terrifying that the drug cartels are mimicking candy to make fentanyl appear harmless. We need your help spreading the word about the dangers of fentanyl. It’s a matter of life and death.”

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Oregon’s Story a Cautionary Tale for States’ Efforts to Legalize Marijuana

When Oregon lawmakers created the state’s legal marijuana program, they had one goal in mind above all else: to persuade illicit pot growers to leave the black market. That meant low barriers to entry that also targeted long-standing medical marijuana growers, whose product is not taxed. As a result, weed production boomed — with a bitter consequence. Now, marijuana prices here are in free fall, and the craft cannabis farmers who put Oregon on the map decades before broad legalization say they are in peril of losing their now-legal businesses as the market adjusts. Oregon regulators on Wednesday announced they will stop processing new applications for marijuana licenses in two weeks to address a severe backlog and ask state lawmakers to take up the issue next year. California takes heed Experts say the dizzying evolution of Oregon’s marijuana industry may well be a cautionary tale for California, where a similar regulatory structure could mean an oversupply on a much larger scale. “For the way the program is set up, the state just wants to get as many people in as possible, and they make no bones about it,” Hilary Bricken, a Los Angeles-based attorney specializing in marijuana business law, said…

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Commentary: To Solve the U.S. Opioid Crisis, Start by Treating Cultural Disease First

by Jeffrey A. Rendall   Sometimes the solution to a crisis is so obvious that we feel foolish when failing to immediately recognize it. And sometimes it’s not so plain. Such is the case for the opioid epidemic in America. For those in need of explanation, “opioid” means “naturally occurring opium-containing substance” – any opium-containing substance that is produced naturally in the brain. It can also mean “similar to opium” – similar in effect or properties to opium but not derived from opium. A good many of us first learned about opioid dependency during the 2016 campaign when the issue was raised time and again with questions posed to candidates of both parties at virtually every stop – especially in New Hampshire. Drug addiction is hardly obscure but it’s not necessarily something you expect to concentrate on alongside tax proposals and foreign policy visions from stumping politicians. Both Carly Fiorina and Ted Cruz relayed stories about losing someone close to them because of addiction so they spoke from the heart as well as experience when discussing the necessity to help those who need it the most — but how to do it? The federal role in the so-called “War on…

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