Customs and Border Patrol publicizes a brand new fentanyl crackdown, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and others file the SEEK HELP to guard folks administering naloxone, and extra.
The Rio Grande River marks the US-Mexico border in Texas. And fentanyl flows like water throughout that border. (Inventive Commons)
Marijuana Coverage
New Hampshire Home Approves Marijuana Legalization Invoice, However Not the One the Senate and Governor Need. The Home on Thursday authorized a invoice to legalize and regulate marijuana, however not one that features a state-controlled retail mannequin supported by Gov. Chris Sununu (R) and Senate leaders, leaving its prospects clouded.
The measure, Home Invoice 1633 from Rep. Erica Layton (R), would legalize the possession of as much as 4 ounces of marijuana however would solely enable medical marijuana sufferers to develop their very own. It could enable for 15 retail shops statewide with a ten % tax on leisure functions. Medical marijuana can be exempt from the tax.
Layton described her “company retailer” strategy as being “the place the state requires settlement and compliance from non-public companies granted restricted licenses by the Liquor Fee past the standard well being and security regulatory function of presidency.”
However the governor and the Senate need a mannequin akin the place pot outlets would function beneath state management equally to state liquor shops—the “franchise mannequin.”
Hurt Discount
Booker, Colleagues Introduce Bipartisan SEEK HELP Act to Save Lives Amidst Overdose Disaster. On Wednesday, Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ), John Kennedy (R-LA), Ed Markey (D-MA), and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) launched the Samaritan Efforts to Guarantee Key Well being Emergency and Life-saving Protections Act (SEEK HELP Act), a bipartisan invoice that would offer restricted authorized protections to people who administer naloxone or different FDA-approved opioid reversal medication to save lots of a life within the occasion of an overdose. The invoice additionally directs federal authorities assets towards elevating public consciousness about these life-saving protections.
“Drug overdose deaths in our nation have continued to soar to unprecedented ranges, exceeding 112,000 for the primary time inside a 12-month span in 2023,” Booker stated in a press launch. “Analysis has proven worry of police involvement and the potential of dealing with prison fees is cited as one of the widespread causes folks keep away from calling 9-1-1 to get help once they expertise or witness a drug overdose. To deal with this downside, over 40 states have enacted Good Samaritan legal guidelines to supply restricted prison immunity to those that name emergency help to save lots of an overdose sufferer. In keeping with the Authorities Accountability Workplace (GAO), these legal guidelines have been efficient in curbing overdose deaths, however their impression is restricted attributable to lack of public consciousness. There may be at the moment no federal Good Samaritan statute or substantial authorities funding in elevating consciousness about these legal guidelines.
“The SEEK HELP Act would fill this void and convey our nation one step nearer to making sure that no American dies just because they or their family members are afraid to hunt assist.
The SEEK HELP Act would:
Grant protections in opposition to federal prosecution for easy drug possession and violations of supervised launch to people who search emergency help throughout a drug overdose;Present protections in opposition to civil legal responsibility for people who administer an FDA-approved opioid reversal medication throughout a drug overdose;Permit DOJ Byrne JAG funds for use to coach regulation enforcement personnel in aiding people throughout drug overdoses;Require the Secretary of HHS to conduct a public consciousness marketing campaign on Good Samaritan Legal guidelines;Allow present federal block grants for use by states to advertise consciousness of their respective Good Samaritan Legal guidelines; andRequire a complete GAO examine on the impression of Good Samaritan Legal guidelines and the implementation of the SEEK HELP Act.
The SEEK HELP Act is endorsed by the next organizations: People for Prosperity, Affiliation of Prosecution Attorneys, Due Course of Institute, Regulation Enforcement Motion Partnership, Nationwide District Attorneys Affiliation, R Avenue Institute, and Vera Institute.
California Invoice Would Ease Methadone Entry. Assemblymember Matt Haney (D-San Francisco) has filed a invoice that may ease entry to the opioid habit remedy methadone, Meeting Invoice 2115. The invoice comes after the federal authorities up to date its methadone laws this yr, permitting folks to take residence their drugs. Haney says his invoice would align state regulation with the brand new federal laws.
“It’s infuriating and mind-boggling that in the course of the worst drug disaster in historical past, as 1000’s of Californians die yearly, that we might maintain one of the efficient remedies for habit locked away the place folks can’t entry it,” Haney stated.
Dr. Leslie Suen, an habit drugs doctor at UCSF, stated the state has among the most restrictive methadone practices on the planet. Neither habit specialists nor household physicians can prescribe take-home doses beneath state regulation.
“In different nations like Canada, the UK, and Australia, methadone is broadly accessible in major care settings,” she stated. “So anyone strolling into their major care physician’s workplace is ready to enroll into methadone therapy.”
Haney’s invoice expands entry to methadone within the following methods:
It permits docs in a hospital to prescribe sufferers as much as 72 hours value of take-home doses of methadone.It will increase the quantity of methadone a affected person can take residence from a specialised clinic.Expedites entry right into a therapy program.Sufferers now not want to point out at the very least one yr of recorded opioid utilization earlier than receiving therapy or taking part in frequent counseling companies.Permits physicians better discretion to find out the suitable dosage of methadone to manage for a affected person.
The invoice has been referred to the Enterprise and Professions Committee and the Committee on Well being. Each committees have postponed hearings on the invoice.
The Border
Customs and Border Patrol Declares Subsequent Part in Battle Concentrating on Criminals Funneling Fentanyl into American Communities. Failing to be taught any classes from many years of failed drug interdiction insurance policies, Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) is asserting a brand new crackdown on the fentanyl visitors. In keeping with its press launch:
“US Customs and Border Safety (CBP) at this time introduced that it’ll lead an expanded, multi-agency effort to focus on the transnational criminals funneling fentanyl from Mexico into American communities. Operation Plaza Spike targets the cartels that facilitate the circulate of lethal fentanyl, in addition to its analogs and precursors, and instruments to make the medication. It’s designed to disrupt operations within the “plazas,” cartel territories positioned instantly south of the US which might be pure logistical chokepoints inside the cartels’ operations. That is the following part in CBP’s Technique to Fight Fentanyl and Different Artificial Medicine, a whole-of-government and worldwide effort to anticipate, establish, mitigate, and disrupt illicit artificial drug producers, suppliers, and traffickers.
“Operation Plaza Spike will make use of a number of ways, together with seizing illicit proceeds and scrutinizing associated cross-border enterprise entities and cross-border commerce. Operation Plaza Spike consists of releasing the identify of the plazas’ senior rating cartel officers, the “plaza bosses,” to extend public and regulation enforcement strain on them. Plaza bosses management and revenue from all illicit exercise via the plaza – extortion, kidnapping, in addition to the smuggling of people, harmful medication, and firearms. CBP will leverage partnerships, authorities, and assets of different authorities companies in our efforts to assemble intelligence, disrupt and degrade illicit operations, and ship authorized penalties.”
“As long as fentanyl and different illicit opioids wreak tragedy throughout American communities, the women and men of the Division of Homeland Safety will stay unrelenting of their work stopping these lethal medication from hitting our streets and taking lives,” stated Secretary of Homeland Safety Alejandro N. Mayorkas. “Operation Plaza Spike is a vital step in our ongoing whole-of-Division marketing campaign to instantly assault the transnational prison organizations that peddle narcotics, loss of life, and destruction for revenue. We’re sparing no effort to dismantle cartels and guarantee everybody from kingpins to plaza bosses are delivered to justice.”
“Operation Plaza Spike is simply the most recent effort by CBP, an company of the Division of Homeland Safety (DHS), as a part of this Administration’s efforts to stem the circulate of illicit opioids, together with fentanyl, and cracking down on the Transnational Legal Organizations (TCOs) that visitors them. By a whole-of-government effort, the Division has stopped extra illicit fentanyl and arrested extra people for fentanyl-related crimes within the final two fiscal years than within the earlier 5 years mixed.
“CBP can also be within the midst of Operation Apollo, and introduced at this time that it’ll broaden into Arizona to proceed gathering and using intelligence, and specializing in state and native partnerships to interdict fentanyl. Operation Apollo was launched by CBP in Southern California in October 2023 as a counter-fentanyl joint operation. CBP has evaluated the successes and classes discovered from Operation Apollo, and Operation Apollo – Arizona is now replicating it inside the Arizona hall, integrating all native regulation enforcement assets in Arizona to interdict completed fentanyl merchandise, illicit precursor chemical compounds, adulterants, tablet press gear, illicit proceeds, and weapons.
“Along with CBP’s efforts to focus on operations that transfer fentanyl north, in addition to weapons south, CBP will probably be leveraging partnerships, authorities, and assets of different authorities companies.
“In 2023, DEA seized a document 79.5 million fentanyl drugs and practically 12,000 kilos of fentanyl powder. All through Arizona, the DEA Phoenix Area Division seized greater than 42 million fentanyl drugs final yr.”
