Free Republic

This is the untold story of America's first opioid crisis—and how Purdue Pharma copied the exact same playbook 120 years later. The corporate tactics, the targeting of women, the media manipulation, the blocked regulations. Every strategy that created the modern opioid epidemic was perfected in the Gilded Age, which was the period from about the late 1870s to the late 1890s, which occurred between the Reconstruction era and the Progressive Era. CHAPTERS: 0:00 - The Drug You Could Buy Next to Flour 4:08 - Part One: God's Own Medicine 9:44 - Part Two: The Soldier's Disease 15:12 - Part Three:...

HISTORIC LAUNCH TO LOWER DRUG PRICES FOR AMERICAN PATIENTS: Today, President Donald J. Trump announced the launch of TrumpRx.gov. Through the website, patients will be able to access large discounts on many of the most popular and highest-priced medicines in the country, paying prices in line with the lowest paid by other developed nations (known as the most-favored-nation, or MFN, price). Today’s launch features drugs made by the first five manufacturers to reach MFN pricing deals with the Trump Administration: AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, EMD Serono, Novo Nordisk, and Pfizer. Additional drugs from other companies that have signed MFN pricing deals...

ORIGINAL IS VIDEO CLIP TRANSCRIPTION ACCOMPANIES STORY AT LINK

LOS ANGELES — A former U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer was sentenced to 15 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to working with Mexican traffickers to bring drugs into the U.S., officials said Thursday. Diego Bonillo, 30, pleaded guilty in July to multiple charges, including conspiracy to import controlled substances such as cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin. As part of his plea deal, he admitted to using his position to allow drug-filled cars into the U.S. from Mexico without inspection. He allowed at least 75 kilograms of fentanyl, 11.7 kilograms of methamphetamine, and more than 1 kilogram of heroin...

The Trump administration is planning a new mission to target drug cartels in Mexico that could include U.S. troops on the ground, according to multiple officials familiar with the effort. NBC News' Courtney Kube has details on the plans and what actions could be taken.

While the shutdown is needless, the Democrats are rightly concerned about healthcare cost coverage. MEDICAID EXPANSION FAIRNESS What I’m thinking of is to slightly and generally increase the state Medicaid expansion share to 5% plus the highest rate of state income tax. Right now, California pays for Medicaid expansion at 10% and rakes in 13% income tax from doctors. That would make Medicaid expansion cheaper for no income tax red states like Florida and Texas. To help fund likely Medicaid expansion to states like Texas and Florida, the state Medicaid shares (traditional & expansion) would increase annually starting in 2028...

A Kentucky judge who was allegedly killed by a local sheriff didn’t have a relationship with the county’s top cop’s daughter, according to new grand jury testimony. Former Letcher County, Kentucky Sheriff Shawn “Mickey” Stines allegedly shot and killed former Kentucky 47th Judicial District Judge Kevin Mullins on Sept. 19, 2024. The shooting happened following a lunch outing that included Mullins and Stines, officials said. Video earlier obtained by Fox News Digital shows Stines entering Mullins’ chambers, where he asked everyone else to leave the room so he could speak with the judge privately. The pair talked for around seven...

The nearly 3,000-foot passage was equipped with lighting, ventilation systems and tracks to move narcotics ... U.S. Border Patrol agents recently discovered and disabled a nearly 3,000-foot-long narcotics smuggling tunnel sitting beneath the US-Mexico border. Agents found the tunnel — which linked Tijuana and San Diego — in early April while it was actively under construction. The underground passageway ran under part of the Otay Mesa Port of Entry and had a projected exit point near or inside a commercial warehouse space in San Diego ... Upon entering the "highly sophisticated" tunnel, authorities were met with barricades seemingly placed to...

On Monday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Jesse Watters Primetime,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) argued that imposing government price controls on prescription drugs will lead to shortages and this is what happens in Europe. Paul said, [relevant remarks begin around 5:25] “The thing is, is if you want prices to be low and you say the government should just make them fair or low, Venezuela’s got a great example of this, and there they’ve had price controls on everything. But you know what? They don’t have anything. Price controls lead to shortages. And so, in the European countries that...

Mexican authorities will investigate a housing complex in the state of Jalisco where mass graves, hundreds of personal belongings, and clandestine crematoriums were discovered by a collective searching for missing persons. Mexico’s Prosecutor’s Office will lead the investigation after President Claudia Sheinbaum announced on Wednesday that her administration requested the agency to take over the case. The Prosecutor’s Office is an autonomous constitutional body, independent from the executive branch. Jalisco Governor Pablo Lemus stated that the Mexican National Search Commission will also collaborate with state and national authorities to investigate the mass graves. The complex is also believed to have...

Germanic warrior taking stimulants imagined by Stanislav (Stanisław) Kontny, especially for the Praehistorische Zeitschrift. Credit: Stanisław Kontny for Praehistorische Zeitschrift Recent discoveries suggest that small spoon-shaped objects attached to the belts of ancient Northern European warriors might have been used to measure doses of stimulants before battle. These findings, uncovered through the combined efforts of archaeologists and biologists, propose a widespread use of natural stimulants among the Germanic peoples during the Roman period, challenging the notion that these groups primarily consumed alcohol. The use of such substances could have been crucial not only in warfare but also in medicinal and...

Dittany of Crete is an ancient Greek herb known for its “magical” healing properties which was mentioned in the world of Harry Potter. Dittany, known as Dictamo in Greek (Δίκταμο), is one of the symbols of Crete. It captivated ancient minds, with notable ancient Greek scholars praising its healing traits. Even to this day, it remains a part of Greek medical and culinary traditions. Dittany ancient Greek healing herb known since Minoan times Dittany of Crete is steeped in ancient legends, leading to the adoption of multiple names reflecting its use in Greek culture. Researchers suggest that this slender, small-leaved...

Physiological reactions to a plant called black henbane were well documented throughout the Ancient Mediterranean world. A bust of Emperor Trajan surrounded by black henbane seends and flowers and a femur discovered by archaeologists (edit Valentina Di Liscia/Hyperallergic) Two new archaeological finds suggest Roman subjects at the northern edge of the ancient empire used a hallucinogenic and poisonous plant called black henbane, the effects of which were described by Greek philosopher Plutarch as “not so properly called drunkenness” but rather “alienation of mind or madness.” Dutch zooarchaeologists Maaike Groot and Martijn van Haasteren and archaeobotanist Laura I. Kooistra published their...

ANCIENT BEVERAGE BREWED IN MILWAUKEE MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN — NPR reports that archaeologist Bettina Arnold of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and her research team worked with Lakefront Brewery to try to re-create an alcoholic beverage that had been placed in a bronze cauldron and buried in a grave sometime between 400 and 450 B.C. in what is now Germany. The recipe was based upon the research of paleobotanist Manfred Rösch, who analyzed the residues in the Iron Age cauldron. He found evidence of honey, meadowsweet, barley, and mint—ingredients in a type of beverage known as a braggot.

The importance of this technique becomes even clearer when considering the larger context. An astonishing 100 million Americans are affected by obesity and related cardiometabolic disorders, notes S. Thai Thayumanavan, a distinguished biomedical engineer and chemist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. "We were really excited about this work," he says. The brilliance of this method lies in the nanogel itself. These tiny carriers are packed with a synthetic thyroid hormone drug called a thyromimetic. While thyroid hormones are crucial for liver metabolism, they often prove ineffective and cause adverse side effects when taken systemically. "We came up with a...

A special agent with the Department of Homeland Security in Utah is facing a federal charge accusing him of providing drugs to an informant to sell on the side that were not part of any government investigation. A 27-page criminal complaint was filed Friday and unsealed Monday against David Cole for conspiracy to distribute and possess drugs with intent to distribute. The federal complaint also lists a "person A" as a possible co-defendant and states that Cole "conspired with person A and others." "Cole and person A have had their Homeland Security credentials suspended but have not been terminated," court...

A new class of potentially deadly synthetic opioids is suddenly appearing around the globe, including in the US, and scientists are rushing to figure out how to detect it in the drug supply. Within the last month, nitazenes were implicated in four overdose deaths in Manchester, England; they were detected in over 2,500 counterfeit oxycodone pills in Hamilton, Canada; and they were found for the first time in the Netherlands. The US Drug Enforcement Administration has warned about their appearance in Washington DC.

A pair of Tren de Aragua gangbangers tied to a wild Aurora, Colorado apartment invasion were arrested in a major NYC drug trafficking and credit card scam bust Wednesday that also netted an arsenal of deadly assault rifles, The Post has learned. Denyeer Aramillo Meneses, 23, and Edison Pena Angulo, 25, were picked up during an early-morning raid in the Bronx by a gang task force led by the NYPD and US Homeland Security Investigation, according to law enforcement sources. In total, 15 suspected members of the Venezuelan migrant gang were nabbed following a months-long investigation into narcotics trafficking and...

The Brief A father and son from the Phoenix area are accused of running a large drug trafficking organization. The two leaders are also charged with the rare "Kingpin" statute and a majority of the defendants indicted are from Arizona. Phoenix DEA Special Agent in Charge Cheri OZ says Arizona is ground zero for drug trafficking.

Oregon Governor Tina Kotek (D) announced her state has secured a new supply of the abortion pill mifepristone to last nearly through the entirety of the second Trump administration. In the announcement, Kotek’s office directly cited the “national results of the general election” as to why the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) and Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) updated their agreement to provide emergency mifepristone. State Watch Oregon stockpiling abortion drug, governor announces by Joseph Choi - 11/19/24 11:39 AM ET Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek speaks at the State Library of Oregon in Salem on Jan. 31, 2023. (AP Photo/Claire...