Oregon's Democrat governor signed a bill on Monday that restores criminal penalties for possessing small amounts of drugs as the problems of addiction and overdose plague residents across the state. Β
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"We don't want the gangsters anymore," said longtime Christiania resident Hulda Mader as the district shut down "Pusher Street".
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The investigation by the Select Committee on The CCPβs Role in the Fentanyl Crisis reveals that the CCP subsidizes PRC companies producing fentanyl precursor chemicals for export, thus knowingly exacerbating the US drug crisis.
In his State of the Union Address on March 7, 2024, President Biden acknowledged Fentanyl as one of the most significant threats confronting the United States. Β The presidentβs assertion aligns with the Department of Homeland Securityβs (DHS) Annual Threat Assessment for 2024, which identifies fentanyl as the second-largest threat, following terrorism. The report also states that DHS expects βillegal drugs produced in Mexico and sold in the United States will continue to kill more Americans than any other threat.β
According to a DHS Fact Sheet regarding the State of the Union Address, the fentanyl crisis βoriginates with China-based entities that manufacture and distribute the chemicals used to produce the fentanyl fueling American overdose deaths.β The CCP manufactures 98% of the global supply of precursor chemicals used to produce fentanyl. The select committee not only uncovered CCP subsidies for fentanyl but also for numerous other synthetic and illicit drugs.
The DHS Fact Sheet provides additional details, stating that βDHS participated in the development of a new Counternarcotics Working Group with China to disrupt the manufacture and flow of illicit synthetic drugs.β Given the emerging evidence of CCPβs direct involvement in the fentanyl crisis, this initiative appears ironic and likely ineffective in halting its spread.
In 2023, the US House of Representatives passed the bipartisan Stop Chinese Fentanyl Act, which amends the Fentanyl Sanctions Act. The latter calls for sanctions against Chinese entities as βforeign opioid traffickersβ if they produce, sell, finance, or transport synthetic opioids or precursors.β It is evident that numerous government agencies, along with Congress and the White House, recognize fentanyl as one of the most pressing issues facing the US, responsible for the most American fatalities. They all acknowledge China as the source. Despite this consensus, the president continues to pursue efforts to βwork withβ Beijing rather than directly holding the CCP accountable.
US law enforcement entities have reported informing their Chinese government contacts about the companies manufacturing and exporting fentanyl, yet the CCP has not taken any action. The Bill specifies that Chinese entities could face sanctions if they βfail to take credible steps to prevent opioid trafficking, including through cooperation with U.S. counternarcotics efforts and know-your-customer procedures.β It appears that the CCP is now subject to sanctions, given its lack of cooperation with US law enforcement and failure to halt the fentanyl flow.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee issued a warning in 2017-2018 through a report titled βTACKLING FENTANYL: THE CHINA CONNECTION,β identifying China as the source of the fentanyl crisis. However, to date, the White House has not held the CCP accountable.
The CCP denies any knowledge of or culpability in the problem. Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the PRC embassy in Washington D.C., stated in an email, βIt is very clear that there is no fentanyl problem in China, and the fentanyl crisis in the United States is not caused by the Chinese side, and blindly blaming China cannot solve the U.S. own problem.β These are not the words of a government willing to cooperate. It is astounding that this statement came from an official CCP source, just weeks after the Presidentβs State of the Union Address where he claimed his administration was working closely with the CCP on this issue.
The PRC Embassyβs statement underscores the folly of the Biden administrationβs continued belief that they can work with the CCP to stop fentanyl and to fix a number of other global issues caused by the CCP, everything from China trade cheating to threats against Taiwan and the Philippines, to Beijingβs support of Russia in Ukraine, and ongoing support for Iran and the legitimization of Hamas. Given the CCPβs active involvement in these activities, itβs evident that Xi Jinping is aware of and likely orchestrating them, suggesting they wonβt simply stop.
The CCP: An Enemy, Not a Competitor or Partner
The US Intelligence Community (IC), in its Annual Threat Assessment, and the Department of Defense (DoD) in its China Military Power report, both identify China as the primary threat to the US. Both reports from the IC and DoD elaborate on how the CCPβs strategy involves a whole-of-government approach known as Military Civil Fusion (MCF), which utilizes for-profit private entities across various industries and fields to further the stateβs policy objectives. Evidently, this strategy extends to the chemical industry, which is being exploited to harm Americans and undermine American society through the distribution of deadly and illicit drugs.
Given that US intelligence and defense authorities are unequivocal about the CCPβs intent to supplant the United States, it is illogical to believe that the two countries can cooperate or that the CCP will take steps to improve Americaβs position.
The manufacture and distribution of chemicals in China is regarded as a sensitive domain, tightly regulated by the CCP, requiring permits and government approval for manufacturing or exporting. This implies that the CCP was aware of the production and export of fentanyl precursor chemicals. Now that the Select Committee has uncovered not only the CCPβs awareness but also its subsidization of the manufacture and export of fentanyl precursors, it becomes evident that the CCP is endorsing this activity and actively contributing to the deaths of Americans. With two hundred Americans dying of fentanyl overdoses every day, the CCP is killing as many Americans as the 9/11 terrorists, every two weeks.
Up to this point, the Stop Chinese Fentanyl Act of 2023 has only cleared the House and has not been signed into law. Should it become law, it appears that the entire CCP would be deemed in violation. Regrettably, although the media, the public, and some congressional representatives express outrage over the recent revelations, it seems improbable that the Biden administration will undertake meaningful action against the CCP.
The post Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Subsidizing the Fentanyl Crisis appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
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Liberal drug laws and government-funded interventions to make drug use safer normalize drug use and fuel the drug crisis.
Last year, 112,000 Americans died of drug overdoses, and American taxpayers are funding the crisis. Millions of dollars in Bidenβs $1.9 Trillion pandemic Relief Bill went towards funding so-called βharm reductionβ programs, which help people use drugs more safely but do not encourage them to stop using. This year, Biden-Harris allocated $39.4 million toward the Presidentβs Unity Agenda, which includes harm reduction programs.
Meanwhile, a congressional committee discovered that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been subsidizing the companies that provide the precursor chemicals to Mexican drug cartels, who manufacture fentanyl, methamphetamine, and other drugs, which they smuggle through the Southern border. So, American taxpayers are not only funding the drug crisis but also funding China.
A backlash among liberals against the βwar on drugs,β which they consider a racist failure, has caused a number of jurisdictions to take the opposite approach, liberalizing or decriminalizing drug use. Some have intentionally increased access to alcohol by allowing to-go sales and lowering taxes. Tax revenue has been one of the arguments Democrats use when trying to convince Republicans to legalize and tax marijuana, which is now legal in at least 37 states. But now, even those taxes are being removed because they were preventing some people from obtaining drugs.
Rather than trying to convince people that sobriety is the better way, liberal drug and alcohol programs have shifted their focus toward βharm reduction,β which seeks to mitigate the public health risks of drug use without stigmatizing users or requiring them to stop. By definition, removing the stigma means normalizing. It also nullifies the deterrent effect for first-time users who will believe that they can use drugs and still be a productive member of society, despite the evidence to the contrary.
As part of harm reduction, there has been increased funding for the distribution of Narcan and other overdose reversal medications, as well as programs that provide sterile drug paraphernalia and teach people how to use drugs safely βwithout requiring them to stop or reduce their use.β
Narcan is now available without a prescription, and last year, approximately 22 million doses were distributed in the US and Canada, at taxpayer expense. Narcan and other interventions only decrease the number of deaths, not the number of overdoses, which is many times higher.
Overdosing has been made βsaferβ by these drugs. They do not resolve the drug crisis. Even worse, by decreasing the number of deaths, the interventions allow the problem to disappear from the front page. Deaths remain on peopleβs minds; addiction doesnβt. Removing the lethality also removes the deterrent for young people.
The Democrats are disinterested in stopping drug use, so by legalizing drugs, they can claim to have reduced crime. In many American cities, irrespective of the law, progressive prosecutors refuse to prosecute what they consider low-level drug crimes.
A good example is the state of Oregon, which voted in 2020 to liberalize drug laws, decriminalizing possession of small amounts of even hard drugs. The measures were passed by the Democrat-led legislature, and the police stopped arresting offenders. Instead, officers gave users a ticket and a slip of paper with a phone number they could call to get into a treatment program. Records show that Portland police handed out 7,000 of these slips, but only a few hundred users ever made the call.
Marijuana was already legal in Oregon, so tax money from marijuana was put towards treatment programs. Three years later, the drug crisis in Oregon was worse.
Advocates for liberal drug policies argue, βthe criminal justice system didnβt effectively treat addiction.β They also said it disproportionately harmed people of color. By ceasing drug arrests, they hoped to be able to decrease the racial disparity among prisoners. Decriminalization also brought down the crime rate by no longer counting drug offenses. However, other forms of crime increased, perpetrated by people trying to get money for drugs.
Before decriminalization, Portlandβs violent crime rate was below the national average. By 2022, Portland saw a record number of homicides. This dropped off a bit in 2023, and there were claims that other crimes dropped as well, but traffic fatalities increased to record levels, while shoplifting arrests increased by 88%. Portlandβs property crime rate is higher than the national average and rose steadily until 2023, when it came down slightly. But it is still higher than pre-drug legalization. And most predictably, from 2019 to 2022, the rate of opioid deaths increased by 241%.
While many sources claim that overall crime rates have dropped in cities that legalized drugs, the statistic is misleading. This is evidenced not only by Oregon, but also by other municipalities that decriminalized drugs or liberalized enforcement and have seen an increase in drug use, overdoses, and certain kinds of crime. This has been true in Seattle, where the claim was that overall crime was down, but there was an increase in homicides and auto thefts.
San Francisco has seen an increase in drug-related crimes, as well as the prevalence of dealers and violence. Crime is up in New York, where the liberal governor wants to deploy the National Guard to keep order in the subways. Philadelphia is now known as the capital of the Xylazine zombie drug crisis, and Los Angeles is a fentanyl hub, experiencing rampant shoplifting, theft, and an increase in property crime.
One way that the statistics are being misrepresented is that many of these cities are claiming a decrease in violent crime in 2023, and this may be true, but only because 2022 experienced a severe spike in crime. This may have been the final effects of lockdowns and COVID restrictions which, in some cases, were not completely eliminated until the middle or end of the year. However, in most cases, the 2023 numbers are not lower than 2020 or pre-drug-liberalization figures.
No matter how they try to spin it, drug usage and deaths are up. In 2020, 27 million Americans reported being drug users, including marijuana, opioids, or amphetamines. Last year, the number climbed to 37.3 million. About 10% of Americans now have problems with alcohol abuse, and 6% are drug addicts. Most heartbreaking, nationwide, 22 teens are dying each week of drug overdoses.
The post Narcan and Liberal Drug Policies Worsening Drug Crisis appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
Swedish customs made one of the country's biggest-ever cocaine seizures after confiscating around 1.4 tons of the drug near Stockholm.
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Jordanish Torres-GarciaΒ said he got out of a green car at a traffic light and pointed a semiautomatic rifle at a woman in Florida.
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The leader of the Conservative Party of Canada,Β Pierre Poilievre, was removed from question period at the Parliament's House of Commons on Tuesday after condemning radical leftist Justin Trudeau, branding his policies "wacko" and refusing to withdraw the insult.
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