Free Republic

Confessed Highland Park shooter Robert Crimo III admitted to cops three years ago that he was a depressed teenage drug user when quizzed about threatening to “kill everyone” in his family, newly released documents show. A Highland Park police report details why the then-18-year-old alleged shooter was flagged as a “clear and present danger” in 2019 — just a few months before his dad helped him start amassing the arsenal he allegedly used to kill seven and injure dozens at his local Fourth of July parade.

Those who knew the 21-year-old suspect, Robert Crimo III, say he habitually smoked cannabis, a habit he appeared to share with young mass shooters, including at Uvalde, Dayton, Parkland and Aurora...At some point, his father moved out of the family home into a house two miles away in Highwood, while Crimo stayed with his mother and the Highland Park house fell into disrepair...But when Crimo turned 18, his personality changed, Pacileo told NBC News,..."Instead of therapy, he turned to drugs..."...Another former friend, Bennett Brizes, described the Crimo he knew from age 14 to 17 as "an isolated stoner who completely...

Doctors at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center say the coronavirus appears to be becoming less potent. Dr Donald Yealy, chair of emergency medicine at UPMC, explained at a press conference on Thursday that people seem to be contracting the virus less easily and cases appear to be less severe then when the pandemic first took hold in the US early this year. 'The virus may be changing,' Yealy said. 'Some patterns suggest the potency is diminished.' He noted that UPMC has successfully treated more than 500 coronavirus patients since March, and in recent weeks fewer patients are requiring ventilators...

Cannabis use in the United States has increased, with more people visiting hospital emergency departments over its use, a UN report says. The potency of the drug in the US appeared to have increased, making it more harmful, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime's World Drugs Report added. It said it was too early to tell if the legalisation of cannabis in two US states had had an impact on drug use. Global illegal opium poppy farming rose 26% between 2012 and 2013, it added. "In the United States, the lower perceived risk of cannabis use has led to...

New super-strength marijuana readily available on US streets is prompting the White House to change direction in its war against drugs. Research from the government-sponsored Marijuana Potency Project claims today's cannabis is more than twice as strong as in the mid-Eighties, leading to greater health risks for those smoking it at increasingly younger ages. Now President George Bush, who had already promised a more aggressive campaign against substance abuse, has ordered that resources be allocated to fighting so-called 'soft' drugs instead of concentrating on harder forms, such as heroin and cocaine. 'We are working hard on education, but unfortunately a...