Inside Mother Camp: the woman tackling Afghanistan’s drug problem

Laila Haidari risks her life to run the country’s only private rehabilitation centre, helping hundreds of addicts a year

Laila Haidari is considered a criminal, despite never committing a crime. The 40-year-old works with drug addicts in Kabul. “The addicts I work with are considered criminal and dangerous and by extension I am considered criminal,” she says.

Despite opposition and death threats, eight years ago, Haidari opened the city’s only private drug rehabilitation centre, which so far has helped nearly 4,800 Afghans who would otherwise have ended up on the streets, or worse, dead.

Continue reading...

Farm bill’s federal hemp provision could disrupt Humboldt County cannabis economy

A major agriculture bill passed by the U.S. Congress last week could legalize hemp at the federal level, allowing farmers across the country to cultivate hemp, but that doesn't necessarily spell good news for Humboldt County. The bill, which now awaits President Donald Trump's signature, includes a provision that lifts hemp off of a list of federally criminalized drugs.

Marijuana policies at play on Election Day, even in Republican strongholds

The Long Beach Green Room sells various marijuana products to recreational users and medical patients on Friday, August 31, 2018. Marijuana will once again be a hot topic on Election Day, with the future of local, state and federal cannabis policies in the hands of voters Nov. 6. But this time, voters in states that typically lean Republican will be the ones weighing legalization measures at the ballot box.

Postal Service is the preferred shipper for drug dealers, report says

A report by the Postal Service Office of Inspector General demonstrates just how valuable the mail is as a marketing tool for drug pushers: "For example, a cocaine trafficker claimed to have used the Postal Service to successfully distribute nearly 4,000 shipments, stating that they had a 100 percent delivery success rate. In addition, of the 96 traffickers who indicated they used the Postal Service as their shipping provider, 43 percent offered free, partial, or full reshipment if the package did not arrive to the buyer's address because it was confiscated, stolen, or lost."

Protesters target opioid maker

The Winchester family of Philip Baldwin, who fatally overdosed in July 2017, participated in a protest Sunday against Purdue Pharma, the makers of OxyContin. The all-day protest took place outside the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery at the Smithsonian Institution and at Freedom Park near the White House, according to Beth Baldwin, Philip Baldwin's mother.

Governor hopeful Scott Wagner on curbing spending: ‘We have to drill down [to] every single nickel’

A few hours after his only face-to-face encounter with his Democratic incumbent opponent concluded on Monday, Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott Wagner found himself at a hotel in the Poconos getting a few hours of shut eye before getting up to go to a prayer breakfast. Such is the life of the candidate who has spent the past 21 months traveling across Pennsylvania attending over 630 events this year alone to acquaint voters with himself and where he stands on the issues.

How CEO helped traffickers

American authorities say the chief executive of a Vancouver-area company has pleaded guilty to aiding narcotics traffickers around the world by providing encrypted communications devices designed to thwart law enforcement. Vincent Ramos, CEO of Phantom Secure, was arrested March 7 in Bellingham, Wash., near Seattle, following a years-long undercover operation that included several American, Australian and Canadian agencies.

Armed Forces Spokesman Colonel Tamer al Rifai – File Photo

In an official statement, Rifai referred that this comes as part of the efforts exerted by the Egyptian border guards to thwart attempts by criminal elements, smugglers and drug dealers to harm the national security. Rifai added that the border guards were informed that drug traffickers prepare to smuggle drugs into Egypt from the southern strategic direction.

O’Rourke offers blue vision for red Texas during Nelson show

Democratic Texas Senate candidate Beto O'Rouke rallied thousands with Willie Nelson on Saturday night, offering an openly liberal vision for the country's largest conservative state and vowing that his campaign that has shunned outside political support can topple Republican Ted Cruz in November. Taking an open-air stage in Texas' progressive-minded capital city, O'Rourke said he wanted to appeal to voters from both parties and independents but called for universal health care and gay rights, warned of the ills of climate change and switched to his fluent Spanish to denounce President Donald Trump's calls to wall off the U.S.-Mexico border.

US Coast Guard nabs three smugglers, seizes millions in cocaine in Caribbean Sea

The United States Coast Guard says crew members from the cutter Joseph Tezanos have transferred custody of three smugglers and about US$3.3 million of cocaine to US Drug Enforcement Administration agents. The Coast Guard said the drugs and smugglers were transferred to Sector San Juan on Thursday, following the interdiction of a go-fast vessel in the Caribbean Sea off Loiza, Puerto Rico.

Cruz, O’Rourke trade attacks during testy 1st Texas debate

Republican Ted Cruz and Democrat Beto O'Rourke repeatedly traded barbs during a testy first debate Friday night, underscoring how a Texas Senate race that long looked like a cakewalk for the conservative incumbent now appears to be anything but one. Cruz went on the attack moments after stepping on the stage, charging that his opponent suggested that police officers embodied "modern-day Jim Crow" laws in response to a question about a Dallas policewoman who shot and killed her unarmed, black neighbor after saying she mistakenly entered his apartment, thinking it was her own.

Top member of global drug ring is extradited from Colombia, charged in Calif.

They found the cocaine in submarines, in speedboats stopped in the Pacific Ocean, in a private jet that crashed into the Caribbean Sea and, perhaps most strangely, in frozen cubes of orange juice transported in trucks. Officials in Mexico, Colombia and Los Angeles seized a total of 7,700 pounds of cocaine and other drugs worth half a million dollars as part of a four-year investigation into a global drug ring, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Meek Mill says he’s ‘always open to talking’ to Trump about criminal justice reform

"I'm always open to talking to the president to make change. Everybody I was in prison with always encouraged me to go, take the sacrifice, even if you get crucified in the media - go, try to make change," the rapper told ABC News on Friday, after participating in a panel discussion during the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's Annual Legislative Conference , which was held in Washington D.C. and hosted by Democratic Rep. Hakeem Jeffries.

Canadian Users of Legalized Marijuana Could Face Lifetime Bans From…

While nearly all border states have some form of legalized marijuana use, it remains illegal under U.S. federal law and will classify those who work in the marijuana industry as drug traffickers. As Canada prepares to legalize marijuana nationwide beginning October 17th, a high-level official in the Trump administration says the United States will now start implementing possible lifetime bans on Canadian citizens who are cannabis users, industry workers, or investors.

Too late for many, Florida’s prescription database is finally mandatory

Florida has been battling its image as the Oxy capital of America for more than a decade. The state began by shutting down pill mills, and this year the Legislature finally required its prescription database to be mandatory for health care professions.