Free Republic

In the first six weeks of 2023 alone, they have found the Frankenstein opioid 34 times in the Sunshine State. They are often, as their name suggests, used in combination with fentanyl, cocaine and heroin. ......The drugs have reportedly been found everywhere from San Francisco to areas of the mid-Atlantic, as Virginia Att. Gen. Jason Miyares confirmed finding them in his state.

A new drug that is making its way across America is literally rotting the skin of users. Xylazine, which has been approved for veterinary use but not for use in humans, acts as a sedative and is a non-opioid drug that does not respond to Narcon. The drug, which is rotting the skin of drug users, is currently most prevalent in major Democrat-controlled cities is also referred to as “tranq dope.” The zombie drug is most prevalent currently most prevalent in Democrat-controlled major cities like Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, San Fransisco, and Los Angeles, where Dr. Gary Tsai, the director...

A wonderful set of photographs taken in China and Japan which gave the Western world one of its first glimpses of the Far East is going for auction. And one particular image of Chinese corpses at North Fort in Peiho in 1860 has presented a stark reminder of the Second Opium War. The North Fort was one of several Taku Forts - strategically-placed defences in China that guarded the mouth of the Peiho River. The fort, which was located near modern-day Tianjin, was breached on August 20, 1860 and its garrison surrendered after a fierce fight.

Anyone who takes even a cursory look at the news – regardless the source – has to be aware of fentanyl – the latest of the killer drugs assaulting our society. It wasn't too long ago that virtually no one had ever heard of it. Now, it seems to be everywhere, and from what we are told, it is a killer of staggering proportions. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is said to be 50 times more potent than heroin. While the drug is found in all states, California is particularly hard hit, and the source, it appears, is movement...

On the ropes and with no message about rising crime or the struggling economy to appeal to voters, President Joe Biden has gone to pot. Literally. The president’s election-eve marijuana decriminalization order has him yet again putting politics over people’s lives and health. In a shameless attempt to buy the votes of young people and lower-income minority communities, Mr. Biden is waving his pen around again to dig himself out of the political cellar. The American Left, and some on the Right, along with the Big Tobacco companies already responsible for millions of deaths from their products, have spent heavily...

Gary Webb, reporter who exposed CIA, dies THE ASSOCIATED PRESS SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Gary Webb, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter who wrote a controversial series of stories linking the CIA to crack cocaine trafficking in Los Angeles, has died at age 49. Webb was found Friday morning at his home in Sacramento County, dead of an apparent suicide. Moving-company workers called authorities after discovering a note posted on his front door that read, "Please do not enter. Call 911 and ask for an ambulance." Webb died of a gunshot wound to the head, according to the Sacramento County coroner's office....

Violent crime continues to rise across the United States, and Democratic politicians are struggling to defend their anti-law enforcement policies that have in some cases resulted in preventable deaths. This alarming crime wave has coincided with a marked increase in the number of Democratic donors, operatives, and elected officials (and other left-wing maniacs) arrested and charged with violent crimes. Here are a few of the most notable Democratic Party officials and associates to be charged, prosecuted, or sentenced for violent crimes in 2022: Sean Caddle, a longtime Democratic consultant in New Jersey, pleaded guilty in January to hiring two people...

the allegations Cawthorn had made during a podcast interview last week were "exaggerated," [cut] "In the interview, he claims he watched people do cocaine. Then when he comes in he tells me — he says he thinks he saw maybe a staffer in a parking garage from 100 yards away," McCarthy told reporters.

<p>In recent days, Taliban representatives began telling gatherings of villagers in the southern province of Kandahar, one of the country’s main opium-producing regions, that the crop—a crucial part of the local economy—would now be banned.</p><p>This followed a statement by Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid at an Aug. 18 news conference in Kabul that the country’s new rulers won’t permit the drug trade. Mr. Mujahid at the time didn’t offer details of how the Islamist group intends to enforce the ban.</p>

An American contractor held hostage in Afghanistan for more than two years has been released in exchange for a convicted Taliban drug lord jailed in the United States, the White House said Monday, announcing a rare success in U.S.-Taliban talks since the militant group took power a little more than a year ago Mark Frerichs, a Navy veteran who had spent more than a decade in Afghanistan as a civilian contractor, was abducted in January 2020 and is believed to have been held since then by the Taliban-linked Haqqani network. He was traded for Bashir Noorzai, a Taliban associate convicted...

The DEA has already seized brightly-colored fentanyl in 18 states so far this month, a a new trend the agency says drug traffickers are capitalizing on to drive young people to the deadly drug. Fentanyl, a powerful opioid up to 50 times stronger than heroin, was responsible for 71,238 of the record 107,000 fatal drug overdoses in the United States last year, according to the CDC. The new brightly-colored fentanyl – which can come in pills, powder, and blocks that look like sidewalk chalk – is not more potent than the traditional form, but could be more attractive to young...

When Oregon voters approved a ballot measure in 2020 to decriminalize hard drugs, they were promised the lives of everyone would be improved and funds would be diverted to addiction recovery centers for which $300 million was allotted. But after more than one year, the rate of overdoses has spiked, and few offenders have used the treatment centers, DailyMail.com reported. At a legislative hearing Thursday, Steve Allen, Oregon's behavioral health director, acknowledged a "dramatic" increase in overdoses and overdose deaths statewide. One Republican state lawmaker said that her Southern Oregon community of Grants Pass has suffered a 700% increase in...

Bill Maher has argued Republicans could easily 'steal' the issue of federal marijuana legalization by making it an issue about freedom after Democrats inserted 'too much stuff' about racial 'equity' in the House-passed measure aimed to decriminalize pot. The comedian, argued Friday night that legalization of marijuana swings in the favor of Republicans and is 'something we ought to do.' 'Republicans are gonna steal the issue. I think eventually,' Maher told former Attorney General Eric Holder after being asked why President Joe Biden hadn't yet pushed for federal legalization of pot. 'I mean, it could be one of those freedom...

Florida authorities this week said LGBTQ+ dating apps have helped them make upwards of 60 drug-related arrests. In a six-month sting operation which officers called “Swipe Left for Meth,” undercover detectives used dating apps like Grindr and Scruff – targeted toward men who have sex with men – to locate a number of people suspected of buying and selling drugs online. The operation produced more than 60 arrests, according to a news release, and detectives have obtained warrants for at least eight other suspects. Detectives during the investigation filed 159 total felony charges and 72 misdemeanor charges against the suspects,...

The first sign of trouble for Empyreal came on May 17, when a sheriff's deputy in Dickinson County, Kan., pulled over one of its vans' drivers on I-70 for an alleged traffic violation and questioned her. She told the deputy she was on her way to pick up cash at medical pot dispensaries in Kansas City, Mo., then planned to drive the money back through Kansas the next morning to deposit it at a credit union in Colorado, according to the DEA. Medical marijuana is legal in Missouri but not in Kansas. The next morning, the DEA put the driver...

Congressional Democrats are gearing up for a sweeping set of initiatives aimed at decriminalizing marijuana that they plan to take action on this spring. The federal proposals seek to establish 21st century banking services for the nearly $18 billion industry and purge the criminal records of thousands of marijuana offenders. “The growing bipartisan momentum for cannabis reform shows that Congress is primed for progress in 2022, and we are closer than ever to bringing our cannabis policies and laws in line with the American people,” Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) and Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) wrote in a memo to the Congressional...

@RepMattGaetz Today I voted YES on the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act to remove marijuana from the list of Schedule 1 drugs, decriminalizing the substance at the federal level and enabling states to set their own policy. (1/2) Though not perfect (bad tax and spending provisions) the MORE Act is a step in the right direction as science has already proven the substance has healing properties in many chronic ailments. (2/2)

STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich (FOX 2) - Sterling Heights police are investigating after a garbage truck crashed into a marijuana grow operation Wednesday morning. The truck was traveling south on Mound Road approaching 15 Mile Road around 5:30 a.m. when a vehicle turned south onto Mound from a turnaround just north of 15 Mile while the light was red, cutting off the truck. The garbage truck driver swerved but still hit the turning vehicle, police said. The garbage truck drove through the northbound lanes of Mound. No other vehicles were hit, but the truck struck a building at 35100 Mound. The...

Bombardier Chelsea Cogswell of Base Gagetown faces maximum of 5 years in prison New Brunswick soldier accused of giving cannabis-laced cupcakes to troops on a live-fire training exercise has been found guilty of nine charges. Bombardier Chelsea Cogswell was convicted Wednesday of eight counts of administering a noxious substance to soldiers without their consent and one count of behaving in a disgraceful manner, a charge under the National Defence Act, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, according to the prosecution. A 10th charge of committing an act to the prejudice of good order and discipline, which...

Too much/not enough: Pulling into a gas station in the 3900 block of Northlake Boulevard, a motorist’s vehicle drew the attention of several employees. In addition to make strange noises, the wounded SUV was missing a tire and riding on the rim. Stopping by a pump, the driver entered the station, paid for some fuel, then when out and pumped it into the vehicle. He then pulled into a parking space and appeared to pass out. Next, for reasons unknown, he regained consciousness, put the car in reverse and ran over the parking block before slamming into a concrete structure....