The Fentanyl problem......

[Its On A Slab]

That lady doctor from “Lost In Space” who ran the Shady Rest?

Petticoat.......Junction

 

[Crimson1967]

That lady doctor from “Lost In Space” who ran the Shady Rest?

Now we know why Uncle Joe was moving kinda slow.

 

[Bazza]

U.S. military strikes drug-carrying boat from Venezuela, Rubio says

The Trump administration has accused Maduro's government — a longtime U.S. foe — of working with drug cartels and groups like Tren de Aragua to traffic narcotics to the United States, and of leading a Venezuela-based drug group called Cartel de los Soles. Maduro was charged with narco-terrorism and drug trafficking in U.S. federal court in 2020. Last month, Attorney General Pam Bondi doubled the reward for Maduro's arrest to $50 million.

More here:

U.S. military strikes drug-carrying boat from Venezuela, Rubio says

The U.S. military on Tuesday struck a drug boat from Venezuela, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, as tensions spike between the Trump administration and the Venezuelan government.

www.cbsnews.com

 

[Huckleberry]

U.S. military strikes drug-carrying boat from Venezuela, Rubio says

The Trump administration has accused Maduro's government — a longtime U.S. foe — of working with drug cartels and groups like Tren de Aragua to traffic narcotics to the United States, and of leading a Venezuela-based drug group called Cartel de los Soles. Maduro was charged with narco-terrorism and drug trafficking in U.S. federal court in 2020. Last month, Attorney General Pam Bondi doubled the reward for Maduro's arrest to $50 million.

More here:

U.S. military strikes drug-carrying boat from Venezuela, Rubio says

The U.S. military on Tuesday struck a drug boat from Venezuela, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, as tensions spike between the Trump administration and the Venezuelan government.

www.cbsnews.com

I have little sympathy for cartels who smuggle drugs into our country, but there are larger issues and several important questions here:

NYT gift link

Trump Administration Says Boat Strike Is Start of Campaign Against Venezuelan Cartels
The defense secretary and President Trump said a small boat was carrying drugs but offered little evidence and few details.

The Trump administration declared the start of a new and potentially violent campaign against Venezuelan cartels on Wednesday, defending a deadly U.S. military strike on a boat that officials said was carrying drugs even as specialists in the law of war questioned the legality of the attack.

The U.S. Navy has long intercepted and boarded ships suspected of smuggling drugs in international waters, typically with a Coast Guard officer temporarily in charge to invoke law enforcement authority. Tuesday’s direct attack in the Caribbean was a marked departure from that decades-long approach.

The administration has said 11 people were aboard the vessel. It was unclear whether they were given a chance to surrender before the United States attacked.

The Trump administration has not offered any legal rationale. But Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in an appearance on “Fox & Friends” on Wednesday that administration officials “knew exactly who was in that boat” and “exactly what they were doing,” although he did not offer evidence.

...

But some officials at the Defense Department privately expressed concern on Wednesday about the administration’s shifting narratives, including where the vessel was headed. Mr. Rubio had said on Tuesday that it was going to Trinidad, while Mr. Trump said the United States. On Wednesday, Mr. Rubio changed his version, saying the drug-laden boat was bound for the United States.

The secretary said in Mexico City that drug cartels and traffickers, including those on the boat, “pose an immediate threat to the United States, period.”

Pentagon officials were still working Wednesday on what legal authority they would tell the public was used to back up the extraordinary strike in international waters.

...


Senior congressional Democrats said on Wednesday that stopping the spread of drugs was a top priority, but not in the way Mr. Trump was doing it.

“The administration has not identified the authority under which this action was taken, raising the question of its legality and constitutionality,” said Representative Adam Smith of Washington, the senior Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee. “The lack of information and transparency from the administration is even more concerning.”

A former senior federal law enforcement official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive military matter, said the attack was a “significant change” in U.S. anti-narcotics operations.
“In all of my years of doing this,” the former official said, “I’ve never seen the U.S. military say, ‘OK, this is a drug shipment,’ and then just blow it up.”

The former official, who has years of direct experience in fighting drug cartels, raised several other questions about the attack on the fast boat.

First, the former official said, Tren de Aragua was not known for handling large shipments of cocaine or fentanyl. Instead it was known to focus on smuggling what is known as pink cocaine — a psychedelic substance that is generally made by combining ketamine and MDMA, commonly known as ecstasy, a stimulant that can cause hallucinations.

The former official also said it was unusual to have 11 people manning a vessel that could easily be crewed by two or three, especially since traffickers are always trying to maximize the amount of cargo space devoted to carrying drugs, not human beings.

In the former official’s opinion, it was more likely that the vessel was carrying migrants on a human smuggling run. It would be impossible to know for sure, however, given that any evidence of drug smuggling was destroyed in the attack.

 

[Bazza]

NYT gift link

But Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in an appearance on “Fox & Friends” on Wednesday that administration officials “knew exactly who was in that boat” and “exactly what they were doing,” although he did not offer evidence.

I can live with that. The public has no business knowing some things the military is doing on our behalf.

 

[TIDE-HSV]

I can live with that. The public has no business knowing some things the military is doing on our behalf.

You know, I could also, with any prior regime...

 

[Bazza]

DEA operation seizes 480 kilograms of fentanyl, $11M cash from cartel designated as terrorist organization

Among the seizures: 480 kilograms of fentanyl powder, 2,209 kilograms of methamphetamine, 7,469 kilograms of cocaine, 16.5 kilograms of heroin, more than 714,000 counterfeit pills, 420 firearms and $11 million in cash.

"These results demonstrate the full weight of DEA’s commitment to protecting the American people," DEA Administrator Terrance Cole said in a statement.

"Every kilogram of poison seized, every dollar stripped from the cartels, and every arrest we make represents lives saved and communities defended. DEA will not relent until the Sinaloa Cartel is dismantled from top to bottom."

 

[arthurdawg]

These drugs are so prevalent that Drs are hesitant to even prescribe pain-killers and opiates when they are actually needed.

When I fell and cracked ribs last Summer, I could have really used some Vicodin or some other good pain med.

And I have seen my health insurance not cover codeine cough syrup. When I have found that codeine is about the only thing that can let me sleep when I have a really bad chest cold. Nothing worse than sitting up all night coughing. I paid the $42 for the liquid gold. I'm hoarding that bottle for the next time I get a really bad cold.

It is a constant thorn in the side... And even worse is the cancer patient who is an addict as well. Have several currently and it is very challenging.

I have cut way back on controlled substances. No more benzos and opiates only for clear cut pain related to metastatic disease.

 

[Bazza]

May there be a special place in Hell for the people who are responsible for doing this to them......

 

[Maudiemae]

Honduras issues warrant for former president pardoned by Trump

Honduras' attorney general calls for the arrest of ex-President Juan Orlando Hernández days after President Donald Trump's pardon, citing fraud case.

www.foxnews.com

 

[jthomas666]

I have little sympathy for cartels who smuggle drugs into our country, but there are larger issues and several important questions here:

NYT gift link


Pentagon officials were still working Wednesday on what legal authority they would tell the public was used to back up the extraordinary strike in international waters.

Isn't the time to determine the legality of attacking and killing foreign nationals in international waters before said attack?

 

[92tide]

Isn't the time to determine the legality of attacking and killing foreign nationals in international waters before said attack?

but that’s totally not the warfighter way

 

[Padreruf]

My nephew died in 2016 @ the age of 20 when he overdosed on a mixture of fentanyl and heroin...probably did not know the fentanyl was mixed in. He had battled with drugs for years -- hard to believe at that young of an age. His mother and father were doctors...he had every advantage you could ask for...humorous, talented, and intelligent. All he wanted to do was to get high one more time to relieve the pain that life often brings.

If drugs/fentanyl are being brought to our shores in speed boats, etc., then I would hope we would stop them anyway we can. However, I don't have any illusions that we will stop the drug trafficking...too much money at stake.