How will this affect the war on drugs?

[Ravi]

The Obama administration will require insurers to cover mental health and addiction just as they cover physical illnesses.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius made the announcement at a mental health conference Friday morning at the Carter Center in Atlanta with former first lady Rosalynn Carter.


http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/11/08/21366585-us-to-require-insurers-to-cover-mental-health-addiction-same-as-physical-illness

I hope it will end it. After all, can you be jailed for a medical problem if you aren't harming anyone aside from yourself?

[The Wash]

It's part of insurance plans. Most drugs addicts don't have money for the deductible. How do you think it will effect the war on drugs?

[Ravi]

It's part of insurance plans. Most drugs addicts don't have money for the deductible. How do you think it will effect the war on drugs?
Because it defines addiction as a health issue. What other health issue lands you in jail if you aren't harming anyone?

[The Wash]

Because it defines addiction as a health issue. What other health issue lands you in jail if you aren't harming anyone?

None, but the AMA has labeled it a chronic disease for years now and most major insurance companies already had addiction treatment as a requirement and we still had a drug war. The US government under HHS and the CDC called it a disease. There is also "drug court" currently for addicts where if they can stay off drugs they don't see jail time.

Nothing's changed at any level other than if you can come up with $7k instead of $30 you can go hang out with Lindsay Lohan for awhile in Malibu.

[Chris]

None, but the AMA has labeled it a chronic disease for years now and most major insurance companies already had addiction treatment as a requirement and we still had a drug war. The US government under HHS and the CDC called it a disease. There is also "drug court" currently for addicts where if they can stay off drugs they don't see jail time.

Nothing's changed at any level other than if you can come up with $7k instead of $30 you can go hang out with Lindsay Lohan for awhile in Malibu.

Exactly, it's always been a health issue, though the War on Drugs treated as a criminal issue.

The ACA isn't about healthcare, it's about insurance.

[Ravi]

None, but the AMA has labeled it a chronic disease for years now and most major insurance companies already had addiction treatment as a requirement and we still had a drug war. The US government under HHS and the CDC called it a disease. There is also "drug court" currently for addicts where if they can stay off drugs they don't see jail time.

Nothing's changed at any level other than if you can come up with $7k instead of $30 you can go hang out with Lindsay Lohan for awhile in Malibu.
You could be right but I'm hoping it is something else.

[Codename Section]

Everyone hopes the drug war will end except all of the people who make trillions of dollars off of its existence and the people who make millions in kickbacks to keep it going.

[Chris]

Everyone hopes the drug war will end except all of the people who make trillions of dollars off of its existence and the people who make millions in kickbacks to keep it going.

And smuggling guns to drug cartels.

[waltky]

Filipinos stand behind Duerte in anti-drug policy...
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Filipinos seen backing Duterte despite rising drug killings
Aug 27,`16 -- On the day he was sworn into office, President Rodrigo Duterte went to a Manila slum and exhorted residents who knew any drug addicts to "go ahead and kill them yourself as getting their parents to do it would be too painful."


Two months later, nearly 2,000 suspected drug pushers and users lay dead as morgues continue to fill up. Faced with criticism of his actions by rights activists, international bodies and outspoken Filipinos, including the top judge, Duterte has stuck to his guns and threatened to declare martial law if the Supreme Court meddles in his work. According to a survey early last month, he has the support of nearly 91 percent of Filipinos. The independent poll was done during his first week in office, and no new surveys have come out since then. National police chief Ronald dela Rosa told a Senate hearing this week that police have recorded more than 1,900 dead, including 756 suspected drug dealers and users who were gunned down after they resisted arrest. More than 1,000 other deaths are under investigation, and some of them may not be drug-related, he said.

Jayeel Cornelio, a doctor of sociology and director of Ateneo de Manila University's Development Studies Program, said he suspects only a few of Duterte's supporters are disillusioned by the killings and his rhetoric because voters trust his campaign promise to crush drug criminals. They also find resonance in his cursing and no-holds-barred comments. Duterte's death threats against criminals, his promise to battle corruption, his anti-establishment rhetoric and gutter humor have enamored Filipinos living on the margins of society. He overwhelmingly won the election, mirroring public exasperation over the social ills he condemns. Economic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia has said the killings "may be a necessary evil in the pursuit of a greater good," a sentiment echoed by a deluge of comments by Duterte supporters in social media deriding his critics and defending the brutal war on drugs. "The killings are OK so there will be less criminals, drug pushers and drug addicts in our society," said Rex Alisoso, a 25-year-old cleaner in Manila. He said people have gotten used to the way Duterte talks and voted for him knowing his ways.

Kim Labasan, a Manila shopkeeper, said she does not like Duterte's constant swearing, his "stepping on too many toes," and his decision to allow late dictator Ferdinand Marcos to be buried in the Heroes' Cemetery. But she supports the anti-drug war despite the rising death toll because, she said, she has personally seen the effects of drugs. Addicts in her hometown north of Manila have ended up with "poisoned brains" and even robbed her family's home. "A battle of moralities is being waged right now by this administration - before, if you were a human rights advocate you are a hero of the country, now you are seen as someone who can destroy the country," Cornelio said. He said that Duterte fosters "penal populism" - identifying a particular enemy, a criminal, and then hunting him down to death. Because the results are visible, tangible and people feel it, "it becomes more important than many other things to the ordinary person."

MORE (http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_PHILIPPINES_DUTERTE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-08-27-02-54-15)

[waltky]

Philippine senator allowed drug deals in prison Convicted Drug Lord Says...
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Duterte Foe Allowed Drug Deals in Prison, Convicted Drug Lord Says
Sept. 20, 2016 - Sen. Leila De Lima derides allegation as effort ‘to fit the president’s narrative that I am a drug coddler’


A convicted drug lord told Philippine lawmakers Tuesday he had bribed Sen. Leila De Lima to allow him to continue his narcotics business behind bars—escalating a political battle between the senator and President Rodrigo Duterte over the president’s war on drugs. Herbert Colanggo, who is serving a life sentence, testified before the House of Representatives’ justice committee that during Ms. De Lima’s time as justice secretary, he had paid her 3 million pesos ($62,700) over several months. Ms. De Lima, who was justice secretary from 2010 to 2015, denied the allegation in a Senate speech, saying that criminals are being used to implicate her “to fit the president’s narrative that I am a drug coddler.” Mr. Colanggo was presented by current Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre, who was appointed by Mr. Duterte.

Mr. Colanggo’s testimony came a day after Senate allies of Mr. Duterte removed Ms. De Lima as chairwoman of a committee investigating police and vigilante killings since the president took office in June, saying she isn’t impartial. Ms. De Lima answered that she isn’t the problem—the extrajudicial killings are. A witness presented last week by Ms. De Lima testified he had been part of a “death squad” Mr. Duterte formed to eliminate criminals, including drug pushers and users, during his time as mayor of Davao City in the southern Philippines. The president has denied the allegations. Mr. Duterte said on Monday that the war on drugs he launched in July—in which more than 3,000 people have been killed, according to police—would last longer than the six months he originally planned, as the drug problem is worse than he had thought.


https://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/BN-PX209_0920ph_P_20160920085901.jpg
Sen. Leila De Lima during a press conference at the Philippine Senate

In his testimony Tuesday, Mr. Colanggo said his payments to Ms. De Lima and prison officials had enabled him to continue his drug business and other ventures while imprisoned at the New Bilibid Prison in a Manila suburb. The 550-hectare (1,360-acre) penitentiary, built after World War II for 6,000 prisoners, now houses in excess of 16,000, more than a quarter of them convicted of drug-related crimes. “I am a businessman,” said Mr. Colanggo, describing how he smuggled prostitutes into the prison’s maximum-security compound. Mr. Colanggo, who called the compound “Las Vegas,” also recorded hit songs from prison, mostly romantic ballads.

Mr. Duterte’s drug crackdown has including the prisons, but Rolando Asuncion, officer-in-charge of the Justice Department’s Bureau of Corrections, testified that efforts to eliminate drug dealing—such as by replacing guards with police special forces—haven’t ended the practice. “I think there are still drug transactions happening,” he said.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/duterte-foe-allowed-drug-deals-in-prison-convicted-drug-lord-says-1474378133

See also:

Duterte's drug war kills more than pushers, users...

Philippines: When drug war goes beyond killings of users, pushers
Sep 20, 2016 - In 80 days, the death toll to President Rodrigo Duterte's war against drug has reached to over 3,000 people.


He gained his fame through his strong stance against illegal drugs. But his goal in ending the menace was put in question as President Rodrigo Duterte failed to issue any definite framework on his campaign against illegal drugs. Apart from his almost daily verbal tirades against drugs, Duterte has not signed any official document detailing his agenda on drug campaign even after 80 days in office. In the words of Malou Mangahas of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), "Duterte's war on drugs is one largely verbalized but not codified by any form of official issuance, or parameters in law and jurisprudence."


http://images.hngn.com/data/thumbs/full/231375/650/0/0/0/death-toll-climbs-over-dutertes-drug-war.jpg
Anguished families await the fate of their loved one which was the subject of a police operation on August 3, 2016 in Manila, Philippines. The alleged drug suspect was later found to have died in an alleged shootout with police. The death toll from the Philippines' war on drugs initiated by President Rodrigo Duterte has spiked to nearly 1,800 since he took office in June, a figure much higher than the 900 deaths previously cited by officials. International human rights advocates have condemned the killings as out of control and are calling on the government to end the nightly drug raids and investigate extrajudicial killings, although the president has lashed out at critics and threatened to withdraw from the United Nations. According to reports, investigations are still ongoing for 1,067 drug-related killings, reportedly carried out by vigilantes but it was unclear how many were directly related to the illegal drug trade

Since the first day when Duterte assumed office, the body counts for fatalities continue to rise. Philippine police operations yielded a daily average of 38 person killed in drug-related operations. In the last 80 days, over 3,000 people were killed. Duterte's unrestrained marching orders to police operatives and military personnel is to "Do your work and I will protect." Without any executive order or memorandum but the President's word, the body files increases. Suspected drug personalities were hunted like dogs, butchered like animals irrespective of who will be destroyed in the crossfire, including children.


http://images.hngn.com/data/images/full/231379/gettyimages-594362092-jpg.jpg?w=650
Two alleged drug suspects lie dead after an alleged shootout with police on August 10, 2016 in Manila, Philippines. The death toll from the Philippines' war on drugs initiated by President Rodrigo Duterte has spiked to nearly 1,800 since he took office in June, a figure much higher than the 900 deaths previously cited by officials. International human rights advocates have condemned the killings as out of control and are calling on the government to end the nightly drug raids and investigate extrajudicial killings, although the president has lashed out at critics and threatened to withdraw from the United Nations. According to reports, investigations are still ongoing for 1,067 drug-related killings, reportedly carried out by vigilantes but it was unclear how many were directly related to the illegal drug trade.

While the Philippine police claimed that the supplies of drugs in the country have decreased by over 50 percent, cases of the so called extra-judicial killings rose of record high. The fatalities in Duterte's 80 days in power almost equal to the 3,240 recorded deaths during the 14-year martial law period of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Police blamed the vigilante groups as responsible to half of these killings. But if indeed they were, law enforcers failed to consider that these groups resurrected at the onset of the President's war against drugs. With no single case being solved since these killings occurred, the Philippines seems to become a country of hoodlums, where killers can slaughter anyone they want in the name of the President's war against drugs.

Duterte's anti-drug campaign has caught the attention of the international communities with no less than the United Nations assailing that the campaign violated the framework of the individual's human rights. US President Barrack Obama, while favoring the campaign against illegal drugs, pointed out that it must be done within the paradigm of respect to human rights. But neither the UN nor Obama escaped from the tirades of Duterte, who insisted to spare the Philippines from the lectures of human rights and to respect the independent foreign policy of the country.

MORE (http://www.hngn.com/articles/206916/20160920/philippines-when-drug-war-goes-beyond-killings-users-pushers.htm)

[waltky]

Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide...
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Philippines' drug addicts find they have nowhere to turn
Friday, September 23, 2016 — For two decades, Jerry Gonzaga was addicted to drugs. Like many of his neighbors and friends in Parañaque, a city south of Manila, Gonzaga would take shabu, an inexpensive amphetamine, to keep him focused on fixing cars, selling umbrellas, and doing other odd jobs to feed his wife and eight children.


Then, on June 30, Rodrigo Duterte assumed the presidency on promises to kill scores of drug users — and Gonzaga, a wiry 43-year-old, tried to turn himself in to police. At the station, officers made him sign a form pledging to stay off drugs. “It said, ‘If you’re caught the first, second and third time, there are warnings and conditions,’” he said. ‘If you're caught a fourth time, we'll have nothing to do with whatever happens to you.’”

Duterte’s antidrug campaign, conducted in flagrant disregard of international standards of human rights or due process, has strained the country’s already-overburdened corrections system. Its courts are notoriously slow and corrupt; its jails are bursting; and its rehabilitation centers are scarce, numbering 50 nationwide. Experts say that drug dealers are at risk of falling back on their old habits as soon as the climate of fear subsides.


http://ww3.hdnux.com/photos/51/67/10/10973746/3/920x920.jpg
A SWAT member stands guard as police operatives examine the scene where two bodies lay on a road after being killed in a police drug “buy-bust” operation 16 in Pasig city, east of Manila.

The president estimates that 3.7 million of the country’s 100 million people are drug users, and many are like Gonzaga — poor, terrified of the spike in extrajudicial violence, and struggling to navigate a society that lacks the resources to help them. “People are living in absolute fear,” said Clarke Jones, a researcher at the Australian National University who studies the Philippine prison system and its relationship with the drug trade. Duterte, 71, has repeatedly reaffirmed his commitment to a violent, hard-line drug policy — “shoot [the drug dealer] and I'll give you a medal,” he said on national television in June — and the country’s addicts have cause to take him seriously.

On Thursday, a witness at a senate investigation testified that Duterte himself ordered extrajudicial executions during his 22-year tenure as mayor of the southern city of Davao. Edgar Matobato said that he belonged to a group of vigilante killers nicknamed the Davao Death Squad, which assassinated more than 1,000 people in the city. Gonzaga, the Parañaque drug addict, says that he’s been off drugs for months, but he’s bracing for an uncertain future. “The government should consider that these people are also human — they have families, people who care about them,” he said. “They should be given a second chance.”

http://www.sfgate.com/world/article/Philippines-drug-addicts-find-they-have-9242897.php

[waltky]

Philippines tells world hands off Duterte's war on drugs policy...
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Philippines tells world not to interfere in Duterte drugs war
Sat Sep 24, 2016 | Philippines Foreign Minister Perfecto Yasay told the United Nations on Saturday his country's new president, Rodrigo Duterte, had an "unprecedented" mandate and the world should not interfere in his crackdown on crime.


Addressing the annual U.N. General Assembly, Yasay said the Duterte government was "determined to free the Philippines from corrupt and other stagnating practices, including the manufacture, distribution and use of illicit drugs. "Our actions, however, have grabbed both the national headlines and international attention for all the wrong reasons," he said. "We urge everyone to allow us to deal with our domestic challenges in order to achieve our national goals without undue interference."

Duterte won a landslide election victory on May 9 after vowing to wipe out drugs and crime. Police said this week that in the past 11 weeks, nearly 3,000 people had been killed in Duterte's war on drugs, a figure adjusted from the 3,800 they cited last week. The killings have drawn widespread international criticism, including from the United Nations, drawing angry responses from Duterte.On Thursday, the Philippine leader hurled insults at U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the European Union, then invited them to come to investigate his crackdown. Yasay said Duterte had won "an unprecedented and resounding electoral mandate" and now enjoyed a 92 percent approval rating. As such, he had to deliver on a "sacred" call for change. "To him, this trust is sacrosanct," Yasay said. "It cannot be breached, under no circumstance must it be compromised."


http://s4.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20160924&t=2&i=1154832938&w=780&fh=&fw=&ll=&pl=&sq=&r=LYNXNPEC8N0J8
Residents involved with illegal drugs wait for fellow surrenderees before taking a pledge that they will not use or sell ''Shabu'' (Meth) again after surrendering to police and government officials in Makati, metro Manila, Philippines

Duterte's defiance of high-profile organizations and his insults of anyone from U.S. President Barack Obama to the pope have amused many Filipinos, but worried foreign governments - not the least the United States, which sees Manila as a vital partner in Asia in the face of a rising China. Some analysts predict Duterte will seek to diversify foreign relations beyond Washington, including by seeking better ties with erstwhile maritime foe China. Yasay said core values enshrined in the Philippine constitution included the mandate "to pursue an independent foreign policy, to promote the national interest."

At the same time, he said Manila would remain "a responsible partner of the international community," committed to the rule of law - including an international court ruling this year in favor of the Philippines and against China over competing claims in the South China Sea. In spite of Duterte's criticisms of the world body, Yasay said the United Nations had demonstrated "continuing resilience and relevance" and added in apparent reference to the U.S. alliance: "Our domestic concerns compel us to partner with like-minded countries in the areas of maritime security, counter-terrorism, disaster response, and transnational crime."

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-un-assembly-philippines-idUSKCN11U0QT

[waltky]

He gonna have people afraid to do drugs...

Philippines' Duterte likens himself to Hitler, wants to kill millions of drug users
Fri Sep 30, 2016 | Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte appeared to liken himself to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler on Friday and said he would "be happy" to exterminate 3 million drug users and peddlers in the country.


Although the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama played down the remark, Duterte's comments triggered shock and anger among Jewish groups in the United States, which could create pressure on the U.S. government to take a tougher line with the Philippines leader. U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter told a news conference following a meeting Southeast Asian defense chiefs in Hawaii that he personally found Duterte's comments "deeply troubling", though the matter wasn't discussed at the meeting. State Department spokesman Mark Toner had earlier described Duterte's remarks, made in a rambling speech in Davao City, as "a significant departure" from America's partnership with the Philippines "and we find them troubling."

Duterte told reporters that he had been "portrayed to be a cousin of Hitler" by critics. Noting that Hitler had murdered millions of Jews, Duterte said, "There are 3 million drug addicts (in the Philippines). I'd be happy to slaughter them. "If Germany had Hitler, the Philippines would have ...," he said, pausing and pointing to himself. "You know my victims. I would like (them) to be all criminals to finish the problem of my country and save the next generation from perdition." U.N. special adviser on the prevention of genocide, Adama Dieng, expressed alarm and urged the Philippines leader to exercise restraint in his use of language, a U.N. statement said.

Dieng also called on Duterte to support an investigation into the reported rise in killings resulting from his anti-drug campaign, the statement said. In August, Duterte threatened to withdraw the Philippines from the United Nations after it called for an end to the killings. In Washington, a State Department spokeswoman, Anna Richey-Allen, had repeated concerns about reports of extrajudicial killings but offered no response to Duterte's comment referring to Hitler. A White House official on Friday stuck to a strategy of stressing Washington's long-standing ties with Manila, saying, "We continue to focus on our broad relationship with the Philippines and will work together in the many areas of mutual interest."

How relations between the U.S. and the Philippines evolve will depend more on what Duterte does than on what he says, administration officials have said. U.S. officials had said they would use the defense chiefs meeting in Hawaii to clarify comments by Duterte that throw into doubt his commitment to military ties with the United States, including joint exercises and patrols. While expressing his own unease with Duterte's comments, Carter described Washington's partnership with Manila as "an alliance of independent and strong nations.” “And like all alliances it depends on the continuation of a sense of shared interests. So far in US-Philippine history we have had that. We would look forward to continuing that but that’s something that we continue to discuss with the Philippine government,” he said.

'TONE-DEAFNESS' (http://www.reuters.com/article/us-philippines-duterte-hitler-idUSKCN1200B9)

[waltky]

Army gonna lend border patrol a hand...
http://www.politicalforum.com/images/smilies/salute.gif
Army Training May Help Thwart Drug Flow in Southwest US
Oct 05, 2016 | The Department of Homeland Security seeks to combat any number of threats, from lone wolf terrorism and installation defense to infectious disease and cyber intrusions. But the threat most discussed during a panel at this week's Association of the United States Army annual conference in Washington, D.C., was the war on drugs.


Col. Mike Adams, director of operations, plans and training for Joint Task Force-North at U.S. Northern Command, said officials are looking at ways to leverage military training along the U.S.-Mexico border to help stem the narcotics flow. A memo signed by former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel encourages the services to conduct "training along the southwest border and provides incidental support to law enforcement," Adams said. Despite an associated funding stream, the many authorities involved created "very detailed challenges associated with that," he added. Adams was one of several officials who participated in the forum. Others included Brig. Gen. James Blackburn Jr., deputy commanding general of operations, U.S. Army North; Col. Celestino Perez Jr., deputy chief of staff for plans for U.S. Army North; Chief E. Erik Moncayo, operations section, Joint Task Force-West, Department of Homeland Security; Chief Jesse Shaw, U.S. Border Patrol; and retired Navy Rear Adm. Donald Loren, former deputy assistant secretary of defense, Homeland Security Integration.

While the task force already complements federal law enforcement agencies in counter-drug and countering transnational criminal organizations' activities, it's considering ways to train multiple agencies together, similar to what the Air Force is doing in Southern Command. Last month, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said the service is looking for ways to use more assets in the Southern Command region that would be "of training benefit to our forces, but also contributing to counter drug and counter transnational crime commission." For some, the training boost can't some soon enough.


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A U.S. Border Patrol Field Operations Supervisor, coordinates with Capt. Scott Young, commander from the 1st Armored Division, Fort Bliss, Texas

Some audience members expressed concern for the increase in drug use across the U.S., especially the rising heroin epidemic. "What we've learned is … you can't force your way on an issue like drugs," Moncayo said. "There's only so much you can do when it comes to seizure, and seizures and interdictions. You have to address the root cause, and sometimes it's a socioeconomic issue, other times it's organizations embedded in foreign countries. And that's where we need those partnerships." Moncayo said once drug smugglers hit the border, it's pretty much too late. "We have to degrade [the drug] networks in order to make a genuine impact." Blackburn added, "We don't have a clue how much is coming across the border, how much is coming North, South, East, West. Which makes those seizures, while important, a meaningless major effectiveness because you don't know of what."

The general said the price of some drugs, such as heroin, is going down, "and the quantity is going up." Blackburn earlier in the panel joked that the problems the U.S. faces at the border will soon be put to bed once there is "a wall" -- a dig at Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's aspiration to build a wall along the border to keep out illegal immigrants. But his comments sparked a question from an audience member, a retired Army colonel who didn't disclose his name, but said he served as a mayor of a small town of 16,000 residents in a country struggling to cope with rising heroin overdoses and illegal immigration. "We don't have the money to pay for" these problems, he said, so my plea "to you is whatever it takes: Stop it. We can argue about whether it's demand-driven, but we know where it comes from."

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/10/05/army-training-may-help-thwart-drug-flow-in-southwest-us.html

[waltky]

Argentina extradites Colombian drug lord to US... Alleged Colombian drug kingpin extradited to the U.S. from Argentina Nov. 17, 2016 -- Henry de Jesus Lopez Londono, an alleged Colombian drug lord known as Mi Sangre or My Blood, was extradited from Argentina to the United States on Thursday.
Lopez Londono, 45, is the suspected head of the notorious Urabenos gang, which operates in northern Colombia. He is wanted on drug-trafficking charges in Florida. The BBC quoted Argentinian officials as saying Lopez Londono was surrounded by members of law enforcement when he was transported by helicopter from a prison near Buenos Aires -- where he has been since 2012 -- to an airport where he was put on a plane and flown to the United States.
http://cdnph.upi.com/sv/b/i/UPI-6631479409881/2016/1/14794123411629/Alleged-Colombian-drug-kingpin-extradited-to-the-US-from-Argentina.jpg Granny says, "Dat's right - he looks guilty as sin. Federal prosecutors claim Lopez Londono and his gang brought "huge amounts of cocaine" on boats from Colombia to Panama, Costa Rica, Mexico and the United States, La Prensa de Honduras reported. The defendant's attorneys argued against extradition on the grounds that Londono's life would be in danger because he is a former member of a right-wing, paramilitary group. http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2016/11/17/Alleged-Colombian-drug-kingpin-extradited-to-the-US-from-Argentina/6631479409881/?spt=sec&or=tn

[waltky]

China denies, Duterte belies...
http://www.politicalforum.com/images/smilies/icon_rolleyes.gif
Beijing denies US claim that China is synthetic drug king
Dec 19,`16 -- U.S. assertions that China is the top source of the synthetic opioids that have killed thousands of drug users in the U.S. and Canada are unsubstantiated, Chinese officials told The Associated Press.


Both the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy point to China as North America's main source of fentanyl, related drugs and the chemicals used to make them. Such statements "lack the support of sufficient numbers of actual, confirmed cases," China's National Narcotics Control Commission told DEA's Beijing office in a fax dated Friday. In its letter, which the commission also sent to AP, Chinese officials urged the U.S. to provide more evidence about China's role as a source country. DEA officials said their casework and investigations consistently lead back to China. DEA data also shows that when China regulates synthetic drugs, U.S. seizures plunge. "China is not the only source of the problem, but they are the dominant source for fentanyls along with precursor chemicals and pill presses that are being exported from China to the U.S., Canada and Mexico," said Russell Baer, a DEA special agent in Washington.

Beijing is concerned enough about international perceptions of China's role in the opioid trade that after AP published investigations highlighting the easy availability of fentanyls online from Chinese suppliers, the narcotics commission made a rare invitation to a team of AP journalists to discuss the issue at the powerful Ministry of Public Security, a leafy complex just off Tiananmen Square at the historic and political heart of Beijing. U.S.-China cooperation is essential for mounting an effective global response to an epidemic of opioid abuse that has killed more than 300,000 Americans since 2000. The presence of fentanyl, a prescription painkiller up to 50 times stronger than heroin, and related compounds in the U.S. drug supply began to rise in 2013, after dealers learned they could multiply profits by cutting the potent chemicals into heroin, cocaine and counterfeit prescription pills.

Even as the U.S. Congress considers legislation to punish opioid source countries, no government agency has produced comprehensive data on seizures of fentanyl-related substances by country of origin. The national database on drug seizures overseen by DEA does not require reporting by source country and may not accurately reflect seizures of all fentanyl-related compounds. Baer said it didn't even have a "fentanyl" category until around two years ago. It also takes time for chemists to identify seized drugs, which means fentanyl-related samples may get incorrectly logged as other drugs. The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy declined to comment. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it had data by country of origin only for 2015: Nearly two-thirds of the 61 kilograms (134 pounds) of fentanyl seized last year came from Mexico. The rest came from China.


http://hosted.ap.org/photos/E/e34d2129a3bb4258af5ff05eef160076_0-big.jpg
A man drinks tea near a computer screen displaying websites of companies selling carfentanil online on a train leaving Beijing. U.S. assertions that China is the top source of the synthetic opioids that have killed thousands of drug users in the U.S. and Canada are unsubstantiated

DEA officials say Mexican cartels are key bulk suppliers of fentanyl to the U.S., but portray Mexico as a transshipment point. Mexican officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to be quoted, said fentanyl and its precursors were coming from China. Only two labs trying to produce fentanyl from scratch have been located in Mexico in recent years, with others apparently taking simpler steps to turn precursors into fentanyl, the officials said. Mexican authorities did not immediately respond to requests for seizure data by country of origin. There is plenty of anecdotal evidence indicating that China plays an important role in the fentanyls trade, and despite disagreements, Chinese authorities have been proactive in trying to stop fentanyl manufacture and export.

Chinese companies offering to export synthetic opioids are easy to find, the AP found in investigations published in October and November. China's narcotics commission said it was scrutinizing 12 opioid vendors the AP identified, along with others that advertise fentanyl analogs. In some cases, China has enacted faster, more comprehensive changes to its drug control laws than much of the rest of the world. Beijing already regulates fentanyl and 18 related compounds and is considering designating four more: carfentanil, furanyl fentanyl, acryl fentanyl and valeryl fentanyl, the narcotics commission told AP. In the meantime, the commission told AP it warned Chinese vendors and websites that carfentanil and other analogs are harmful and should not be sold. The resulting ripple of anxiety prompted some companies to recommend alternative opioids, like U-47700, the AP found in conversations with a dozen vendors. "Friend, fent is illegal in China," wrote one. "It is dangerous for us."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_CHINA_DRUGS_DISPUTE_ABRIDGED?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-12-19-10-52-32

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Duterte: Unfair to blame Beijing for the Philippines' drug problem
December 20, 2016 Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's office, responding to a Reuters report, came to China's defense on Monday, saying it was unfair to hold Beijing responsible for the drug problem in the Philippines.


"Many of those running the drug trade are Chinese triads, which are criminal syndicates. These are not government officials," the statement said, in response to a Reuters article published on Dec. 16 that focused on China's role as the main source of the drug methamphetamine and the precursor chemicals used to produce "meth" that are smuggled into the Philippines. "China has strict anti-drug laws, which carries even the penalty of execution when caught," the statement from the Presidential Communications Office said. Even as he wages a brutal drug crackdown at home, Duterte is warming to China, the main source of the methamphetamine consumed in his country. At the same time, he is distancing himself from the United States, the main source of foreign aid to the Philippines in fighting drugs. In October, during a trip to Beijing, Duterte announced his "separation" from the United States and his country's realignment with China.

Philippine drug control officials say that Chinese nationals play a pivotal role in the drug trade in their country. According to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, almost two-thirds of the 77 foreign nationals arrested for meth-related drug offences between January 2015 and mid-August 2016 were Chinese. And almost all the clandestine meth laboratories uncovered by police in the Philippines over the past 20 years have been run by, or at least involved, Chinese nationals, drug enforcement officials and prosecutors say. But the Duterte administration deflected blame from China, saying in the statement that it was a mistake to connect the drug traffickers with "their countries of origin." "It is not fair to blame all of China and her people for the drug problem perpetuated by some of its nationals," the statement said. "Not all Chinese are related to drugs."

Philippine drug enforcement officials say that China has done little over the years to staunch the flow of meth and its precursors. In the Dec. 16 report, the national police spokesman told Reuters he was not aware of "any high-profile drug cooperation between China and the Philippines" since the visit by Duterte to Beijing in October. The statement from the communications office noted that an agreement to collaborate on drug control was signed by Duterte and Chinese President Xi Jinping in October and some 50 Philippine police officers had attended a drug control and law enforcement training program in Yunnan province in October. More than 2,000 people have been killed in police raids since Duterte took office on June 30, and a further 3,000 deaths are currently under investigation by the police. The killings have drawn international criticism, with some countries, including the United States, expressing concern about reports of extrajudicial executions. The United States recently acted on those concerns, saying it was shifting $5 million (587 million yen) in funding for Philippines law enforcement away from police drug-control programs.

Duterte seems unperturbed. "Efforts to eliminate drugs in the country will not stop even if the United States shifts its funding," the statement said. "Several countries have backed the President's war on drugs. These include China, Japan and Indonesia. They have offered us assistance, support and cooperation without any political strings attached." The statement also rejected criticism of Duterte's crackdown for focusing almost exclusively on drug users and small-time pushers, rather than the drug barons who supply them. It said that dozens of government officials linked to the drug trade had been arrested, and that local politicians and drug lords had surrendered to the authorities. The president, it said, "has a list of drug personalities with narcopoliticians and Chinese businessmen, and the authorities are doing their best to investigate and validate this list to catch the big fish."

http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201612200026.html

[waltky]

Aussie police make big cocaine haul...
:cool2:
Police seize 1,100kg in Australia's 'largest cocaine bust'
29 December 2016 - Fifteen men have been charged after police said they made the biggest cocaine bust in Australia's history.


The drugs, with an estimated street value of A$360m (£212m; $258m), were uncovered after a police investigation over more than two years. Police said they seized 500kg (1,100lb) of cocaine from a boat in Brooklyn, north of Sydney, on Christmas Day. It followed the confiscation of 600kg in drugs in Tahiti. Police believe they were destined for Australia. "The size of that seizure collectively makes it the largest cocaine seizure in Australian law enforcement history," Australian Federal Police acting assistant commissioner Chris Sheehan told reporters. "The criminal syndicate we have dismantled over the last few days was a robust, resilient and determined syndicate." The drugs are believed to have originated in South America.


http://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/1AB4/production/_93163860_251216opokesi_008drugs.jpg
Australian police seized 500kg (1,100lb) of cocaine on Christmas Day

Local media reported one of the accused men was a former National Rugby League player. In early December, police and border officials began monitoring a vessel that was travelling between Sydney's popular fish markets and the central coast of New South Wales. On Christmas night, police said a small boat was launched from the vessel and later docked in Brooklyn. Authorities swooped on the boat and arrested three men. Another 12 men have been arrested over the past several days. The men, aged between 29 and 63, have been charged with conspiracy to import a commercial quantity of border-controlled drugs. If convicted, they face a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Mr Sheehan claimed the men were "well-connected" and part of a sophisticated crime group. "We've gone from the top to the bottom, the entire group has been taken out," he said. New South Wales Police assistant commissioner Mark Jenkins said officers spent thousands of hours on the operation. "This job started with a thread of information that was given to the New South Wales drugs squad over two-and-a-half years ago," he said. "I want to thank the community for that information."

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-38456013

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Two Mexican Cities Hugging US Border Among the Country’s Most Dangerous
December 28, 2016 – Experts are blaming drug cartel violence and the increased use of guns by criminals for a surge in homicides in the Mexican cities of Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez on the U.S. border.


Tijuana sits opposite San Diego, while Ciudad Juarez hugs the border with El Paso. The Mexican cities each have more than one million inhabitants. The 2016 murder rate in Ciudad Juarez is the highest in four years, said Francisco Rivas, director of the citizens’ group Observatorio Nacional Ciudadano which monitors federal crime statistics. The homicide rate in Tijuana, Rivas said, is the highest seen in a decade. According to statistics released by the group, homicide investigations in the state of Chihuahua, where Ciudad Juarez is located, increased by 80.4 percent in October, compared to the average of the previous 12 months. They increased by 14.8 percent in Baja California, home to Tijuana.

Comparable claims have been made by the online publication Animal Politico. Citing federal and local crime statistics, it reported that there were 386 homicides in Ciudad Juarez from January to October of this year, the highest rate seen since 2012. The publication also said the homicide rate in Tijuana was the highest in a decade, with 671 homicides during the past 10 months – the highest of any city in the country. In its latest Mexico travel advisory, the State Department cited “an increase in homicide rates from January to July, 2016” in the state of Baja California. “While most of these homicides appeared to be targeted criminal organization assassinations, turf battles between criminal groups have resulted in violent crime in areas frequented by U.S. citizens,” the advisory said. It also recommended that Americans “exercise caution in all areas” of Ciudad Juarez.

The majority of homicides investigated nationally in Mexico, 1,195 out of 1,860, were committed with a firearm. Organized crime is “undoubtedly a factor” in the rising violence, Rivas said, but the high availability of guns has also made previously non-lethal crimes, like robbery, deadly for victims. The incidence of violence and killings in Mexico has soared since former President Felipe Calderon became the first to expand the use of federal troops to fight organized crime, a decade ago. Rivas said the strategy has not worked. He compared it to cold remedies that treat symptoms but do not cure the underlying illness. Rivas also blamed the proximity to the U.S. border for higher levels of violence, saying that organized crime groups vie for power in border areas where they can then control the activities of other criminal groups.

The government needs to combat the huge profits and resources used by organized crime networks to fund their operations, he said. Last February, a study published by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean found that proximity to the U.S. border was a “key factor” in understanding violence and its relation to organized crime in Mexico. The study also found a high correlation between the number of uninhabited homes and the homicide rate. In 2010, Ciudad Juarez had the highest percentage of uninhabited homes. The head of security in the State of Tijuana, Daniel de la Rosa Anaya, blamed the rising homicide rate there on recidivism among convicted criminals who after release from prison, rejoin criminal gangs. Individuals rising through the ranks of organized crime had set off a “wave of violence,” he was quoted as saying.

MORE (http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/mark-browne/two-mexican-cities-hugging-us-border-among-countrys-most-dangerous)

[patrickt]

This has more to do with the War on Insurance companies and on the push to a tyrant instead of a president.

I doubt it will have any effect on the War on Drugs. And for those of you who enjoy doing drugs, I'm sure you'd like to think it effects no one but you.

[Standing Wolf]

Waltky, seriously - why do you keep reviving three- and four-year-old threads to tack new stories onto? It would be one thing if the stories were directly related - like updates - but they're mostly not. You're obviously free to do it, but why do you?

[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right - Sao Paulo runnin' alla crackheads outta town...
http://www.politicalwrinkles.com/images/smilies/thumbsup.gif
Brazil police clear new 'Crackland' in Sao Paulo
Mon, 12 Jun 2017 : Sao Paulo crack addicts and homeless people fled a similar operation nearby nearly a month ago.


The city's mayor, Joao Doria, said he did not want to see an "open-air shopping mall for drugs". He said he wanted to move the addicts on and provide them with medical services and housing. Critics say his policies are pushing the problem to other parts of the city. At the end of May, 500 armed police officers were deployed to clear the main streets in the area of Sao Paulo known as "Cracolandia" or "Crackland". Nearly 40 people were arrested during the operation for drug-trafficking and many of the addicts fled into neighbouring streets.


https://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/660/cpsprodpb/1A44/production/_96442760_3b2b2f74-72aa-42f6-9aa8-f00dd682b837.jpg
Police said they arrested two drug traffickers and removed all the shacks built by the drug users in Princess Isabel Square

The biggest concentration went to Princess Isabel square around 300 metres (330 yds) from the main Crackland area. During the second operation on Sunday police brought in bulldozers to clear the shacks and tents set up by the addicts in the square. The mayor said: "We wont be turning back. The idea is not to move them elsewhere, we intend to provide the addicts with support and try to guarantee their survival." He has promised to restore and renovate the area providing social housing, schools, kindergartens and hospitals using private and public investments.


https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/6864/production/_96442762_fbd0a9fa-4242-47bc-bea9-1e6a02ef9792.jpg
Drug users carried their possessions out of the square as the police raid continued

Although many people agree in Sao Paulo over the need for intensive policing in the area, Mr Doria has divided opinion over his suggestion that the addicts should receive compulsory rehabilitation treatment. But workers say many addicts are fearful and hostile to them now and that Mr Doria's policies are destroying years of work building relationships with the addicts. Social workers also point to the need to provide jobs and housing.


https://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/12BB4/production/_96442767_3b70b844-22e7-4f7c-9681-ff183372e492.jpg
The Sao Paulo city hall says since the original operation in May social workers have registered over 12,687 people living on the streets.

The Doria administration ended a programme introduced by the previous left-wing mayor of Sao Paulo, Fernando Haddad, which had offered hotel rooms in Crackland for a small daily sum to drug addicts who worked in jobs like road-sweeping or gardening. The mayor has instead recently announced an offer of 100 jobs by a fast food chain to homeless people in general, of which there are around 20,000 in Sao Paulo.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-40243389

[waltky]

Haitian ex-coup leader sentenced to 9 years for laundering drug money...
http://www.politicalwrinkles.com/images/smilies/thumbsup.gif
Haitian ex-coup leader gets nine years in US prison
Fri, Jun 23, 2017 - A former Haitian coup leader and elected senator on Wednesday was sentenced to nine years in a US federal prison after pleading guilty to conspiring to launder drug money.


Guy Philippe, a 49-year-old former senior police officer convicted of taking bribes from drug traffickers, had in April entered his guilty plea in exchange for a reduced sentence. He had evaded law enforcement for nearly a decade and was arrested in Haiti on Jan. 5, just days before he was to be sworn in as a senator — which would have given him immunity. Philippe was elected to the Haitian parliament in November last year and had close ties to Haitian President Jovenel Moise. In 2004, he helped lead an armed rebellion against then- Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was forced to flee the country. The US drug charges had been hanging over him since 2005.

In his guilty plea, Philippe said he had abused his position as a high-ranking police officer to protect narcotics shipments headed to the US between 1999 and 2003. He did so in exchange for bribes from drug traffickers that totaled between US$1.5 million and US$3.5 million, knowing the proceeds came from cocaine sales in Miami and other places in the US, prosecutors said. Philippe gave some of the bribe money to other Haitian police and security personnel to ensure their cooperation, the US Department of Justice said. His cut was used to buy a house in Florida, it added.

In one instance, Philippe was said to have wired US$376,000 in drug proceeds to his joint bank account in Miami from banks in Haiti and Ecuador using others’ names. He also said he organized US$70,000 in drug money to be deposited into his account in amounts under the US$10,000 level that triggers US reporting requirements.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2017/06/23/2003673144

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Mexico arrests Knights Templar Cartel leader 'El Cenizo' after shootout
June 22, 2017 -- Mexico's security authorities said Knights Templar Cartel leader Ignacio "El Cenizo" Rentería Andrade was arrested after a shootout in which two soldiers were injured.


In a joint statement, Mexico's Secretariat of National Defense, Navy, National Security Commission and Attorney General's Office said the shootout occurred early Wednesday in the state of Michoacán's Parácuaro municipality.


https://cdnph.upi.com/svc/sv/upi_com/1171498141510/2017/1/824b79492143f1bc75140b929128a1b6/Mexico-arrests-Knights-Templar-Cartel-leader-El-Cenizo-after-shootout.jpg
Mexico's security authorities said a Knights Templar Cartel leader was arrested early Wednesday after a shootout in the state of Michoacán, where the cartel mainly operates

The security authorities said Rentería Andrade's bodyguard Daniel "El Cabezón" Rubio was also arrested. Rentería Andrade sustained a gunshot wound in the arm and was taken to a hospital. Mexico's attorney general had a $550,000 reward out for Rentería Andrade, who was wanted on crimes ranging from drug trafficking to murder.

The Knights Templar Cartel, which is made up of remnants of the splintered La Familia Michoacana drug cartel, mainly operates in the state of Michoacán on Mexico's Pacific coast, south of Guadalajara.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2017/06/22/Mexico-arrests-Knights-Templar-Cartel-leader-El-Cenizo-after-shootout/1171498141510/?utm_source=sec&utm_campaign=sl&utm_medium=7