Xanax Joins Opioid Abuses As Dangerous Drug

Photo: Shutterstock

[From article]
Minnesota’s wrestling program is being investigated internally and by campus police after an anonymous wrestler alleged that teammates were using and selling Xanax. Coach J Robinson was placed on paid administrative leave June 1 by new athletics director Mark Coyle.
[. . .]
Overdose benzodiazepine deaths are growing, Lee said, but that’s not the only frightening thing about benzodiazepine addiction. For one thing, one’s tolerance for drugs such as Xanax increases quickly and by leaps and bounds, as Dimler can attest.
Dimler had tried Xanax in high school, he said, but just once. “It didn’t do much for me,” he said. So when, as a freshman at Macalester, a friend suggested he try it to help him sleep, he didn’t think twice. He took 1 milligram, four times the usually prescribed dosage.
[. . .]
Perhaps even more dangerous is the fact that, like alcohol, benzodiazepines can cause blackouts, which is how Dimler came to be in police custody. In a sense, he was lucky. Blackout behavior on drugs like Xanax can be dangerous.
[. . .]
“It’s incredibly dangerous, and as with alcohol, you don’t have to be addicted to have a blackout.”
[. . .]
“His senior year (in high school), he had secondary enrollment at Northwestern College; he already had 34 college credits when he graduated,” she said. “He had a 16-dollar-an hour job. He had a girlfriend for four and a half years. Then he went to Macalester and within three months was fully and completely addicted to Xanax.”
There is no training component to taking Xanax, which often is taken to increase the effect of other drugs to which users already are becoming tolerant. For Dimler, it was marijuana. For others, Lee notes, it might be heroin. Suddenly, a user is addicted to two drugs.
After being academically suspended at Macalester at the end of the first semester in December, Dimler was off the football team and out of hope. Xanax, he said, had “robbed me of all motivation.”
He enrolled at Century College but didn’t go to class, just took Xanax and smoked marijuana. By then, Dimler estimates, he was spending up to $1,500 a month on Xanax, buying from acquaintances, or strangers on the street at the corner of Snelling and University avenues in the Midway neighborhood.
When the money ran out, Dimler sold some of his own pills, something Lee notes is common.
“People shouldn’t jump so quickly to conclusions,” Lee said. “It sounds horrible — ‘dealing drugs.’ But you’d be surprised to see how many kids are involved with dealing prescription drugs on college campuses. If it’s finals, and your friend is struggling, you have an extra Adderall and sell it for five bucks, you just dealt drugs.
[. . .]



James Johnson, manager of addiction care for HealthEast in St. Paul, said the majority of patients he sees are abusing prescription drugs.
“What we hear from our young adults is it’s easier to get those kinds of drugs than alcohol and nicotine, because people are checking for those,” Johnson said.
They’re also easier to obtain than opioids and cheap; Dimler said he was buying bars for $5, and Lee said that price can be as low as $2.
Lee said benzodiazepines, real and counterfeit, are easily available on the illicit Internet marketplace known as “the dark web.” Using a program that will disguise a computer’s IP address, virtually anyone can buy drugs online without a prescription and have them delivered anywhere.
“There are hundreds of thousands of Xanax bars out there,” he said. “It’s such a craze that kids are getting wise to counterfeiters that are using pill pressers to create fakes that look like Xanax bars.”
According to data compiled by Carol Falkowski, founder of Drug Abuse Dialogues in St. Paul, alprazolam was the 10th-most prescribed drug in the Twin Cities in 2014-15. In an April report called Twin Cities Drug Abuse Trends, alprazolam is listed sixth among drugs seized by law enforcement over the same period.
If not for his run-in with police, Dimler might still have been using, or worse, instead of graduating from a two-month treatment program in South Minneapolis.
The plan is to move in with his mother, get a job and ultimately go back to school in the fall or spring, maybe at Augsburg, maybe the University of Minnesota. He has a pre-trial hearing July 12 to address his arrest on fourth-degree driving while impaired.
Dimler acknowledges that he once “had everything going for me.” A starting defensive end on the Macalester football team as a freshman, he had a scholarship worth $63,000 a year. Had he applied himself, he said, he could have earned a valuable degree from one of the country’s most respected schools.

http://nypost.com/2016/06/09/xanax-is-ruining-peoples-lives/

Xanax is ruining people’s lives
By Associated Press
New York Post
June 9, 2016 | 2:39pm

Over Counter Sleep Aids Linked to Dementia

What is perplexing is how drug companies always cite FDA approval for drugs when  they are found to be dangerous. They do not explain that most of the management of the FDA is former drug company lawyers and officials. Who can rely on the FDA which has approved numerous dangerous lethal drugs for the American public? 

[From article]
New research is warning about a possible link between a very common allergy medicine and dementia.
CBS2’s Dr. Max Gomez reported that long-term use of an antihistamine known as diphenhydramine, which is commonly sold as Benadryl and included in many over-the-counter medications for cold and allergies, may increase the risk of dementia and even cause irreparable harm.
Diphenhydramine, which also causes drowsiness, is in popular sleep aids such as Tylenol PM, Advil PM, and ZZZQuil.
“I would take these medications myself only very rarely and I will try at all costs to avoid taking them for a long term,” Stanford psychiastrist Barbara Sommer said.
Sommer is an expert on anticholinergic drugs like diphenhydramine. She said recent research found that older adults who took anticholinergics continuously for years performed worse on tests that measured short-term memory, verbal reasoning, planning, as well as problem-solving.
PET scans revealed their brains were less active and MRI scans showed their brains had shrunk.
“Whereas it’s always been thought if you stop anticholinergic drugs, all of the cognitive functions you’ve lost come back, now people aren’t so sure,” Sommer said. “And they’re worried that this may lead to or hasten the onset of dementia.”
These studies do not prove a cause and effect.
“The active ingredients are approved by the FDA and recognized as safe and effective when taken as instructed,” Consumer Healthcare Products Association, the group that represents the makers of these over-the-counter products, said in a statement.
Also, the labels are clear – people should only use them occasionally and for no more than two weeks.
Experts said if people need help sleeping fore more than a couple of weeks, they should consult a doctor.

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2016/05/31/study-benadryl-dementia/

Research: Long-Term Use Of Benadryl, Many Over-The-Counter Cold Medications Linked To Dementia
CBS News New York NY
May 31, 2016 6:08 PM

Immigrant Suspect With Lengthy Crime Record, Shot Dead By Police After Shooting Death of Massachusetts Policeman

Policeman Ronald Tarentino, 42


This undated identification photo released by the Massachusetts State Police shows Jorge Zambrano, killed Sunday, May 22, 2016, during an exchange of gunfire with police at an apartment building in Oxford, Mass. Zambrano had been suspected in the shooting death of Auburn, Mass., Police Officer Ronald Tarentino during a traffic stop early Sunday morning. 
Photo Massachusetts State Police via AP

Here's a thoughtful gentleman who regularly took time from his busy schedule to engage with local law enforcement encouraging them to practice their arrest and chase techniques. He resisted arrest to test them, and was convicted on at least two occasions. Though on probation and violating it repeatedly, judges never revoked his probation. His resident status was not clear. He is suspected of having false citizenship papers. As expected no one was watching this active business oriented gentleman. No police, psychologists or psychiatrists, no Communists from New York or New Jersey, no Harvard University campus police, no local police from Somerville, or Medford, MA, no FBI informants, and no crime family associates. They have higher priorities. For example, the above mentioned organizations and licensed professionals took turns for 45 years maintaining relentless surveillance, harassment, behavior conditioning, drugging without consent, psychological testing, character assassination, ridicule, humiliation, sleep disturbances, computer tampering, provocations of a 70 year old white male who they say is mentally impaired. They used this law abiding American citizen's personal journals to ridicule and to humiliate him for 40 years. They denied him basic rights and privileges enjoyed by illegal alien criminals and terrorists alike. Here is more evidence of a serious problem with the misguided priorities of government and how thoroughly they waste taxpayer funds and ridicule voters. It is not just a local problem. The White House National Security deputy, Ben Rhodes (brother of CBS News President), openly boasted of how he fooled taxpayers, journalists and voters to get the misguided Iran nuclear arms deal promoted in media. He explained that he is much smarter than voters and taxpayers. He joins Jonathan Gruber using government power to deceive Americans to their detriment. These government criminals are unable to comprehend why Donald Trump is so popular.   


[From article]
The man police say shot and killed an Auburn police officer has a long history with drugs and violence towards cops, had repeatedly violated probation this spring and had been arrested just a week ago on motor vehicle charges, according to Worcester district and superior court documents.
Jorge Zambrano, 35, was shot and killed by police yesterday 18 hours after they say he killed Ronald Tarentino, 42, an Auburn police officer.
Zambrano was arrested last Monday when police noticed him driving a car with plates that belonged to a Nissan Maxima, not the Acura Infinity he was driving. He was pulled over and arrested without incident and charged with driving with a suspended license, driving an unregistered motor vehicle, and a number plate violation to conceal his ID. He was arraigned that day and let go on personal recognizance, according to court papers.
The Worcester resident has an extensive record and court papers show he had violated probation repeatedly this spring. A notice of probation violation and hearing filed in court states Zambrano tested positive for cocaine on April 11 and April 25, self-reported for cocaine on April 22, self reported for Suboxone use on April 11, missed a drug screening on April 8, and missed visits with his probation officer on April 4, April 8, April 11, and April 22. He was due in court for a probation violation hearing May 11, but the hearing was continued to June 9 because Zambrano said he needed to hire an attorney, records show.
He was also arrested in Worcester on Jan. 24 and charged with assault and battery on a police officer and resisting arrest.
[. . .]
Last year, in May 2015, Zambrano led cops on a high-speed chase when a police officer who knew Zambrano — and knew his license had been revoked — recognized him driving a car, according to court papers. Police followed him through early rush-hour traffic in Worcester and attempted to pull him over with lights and sirens. Zambrano stopped briefly before taking off and, according to the police report, drove at speeds “far greater than what was reasonable,” buzzing past the Rice Square School just after 2 p.m. — as it was letting out — driving an estimated 60 mph and “operating recklessly to endanger the public,” records show.
Zambrano damaged a Mercedes while he was fleeing, and police elected to terminate the pursuit, records show. He was charged with failure to stop for police, leaving the scene of a property damaging crash, and negligent operation of a motor vehicle.
[. . .]
Zambrano was charged with cocaine trafficking, possession with intent to distribute, three counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, two counts of assault and battery on a police officer, resisting arrest, and a drug violation near a school. Zambrano’s case had dozens of evidentiary, status and motion hearings from 2008 until May 2011, when he pleaded guilty to numerous charges and was sentenced to seven years in prison, court records show. He was given 1,637 days — nearly four and a half years — credit for time served.
Zambrano was charged in May 2003 with cocaine trafficking, possession of a class D substance with intent to distribute, and driving with a suspended license. He pleaded guilty to the lesser included offense — possession with intent to distribute — and was sentenced on May 28, 2004, to serve one to three years in state prison.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/local_coverage/2016/05/records_suspect_in_auburn_cop_killing_was_in_court_last_week

Records: Suspect in Auburn cop killing was in court last week
Chris Villani
Monday, May 23, 2016
Boston Herald





* * *

[From article]
A police officer was shot and killed during a traffic stop in a central Massachusetts town early Sunday and authorities are now hunting for the suspect, Fox 25 Boston reported. The murdered officer, Ronald Tarentino, 42, joined the Auburn Police Department two years ago after transferring from the Leicester, Mass., department, Auburn Police Chief Andrew Sluckis said at a news conference Sunday afternoon. Police surrounded a house Sunday afternoon close to four miles from where the shooting took place, and gunshots were heard as authorities deployed tear gas and a robot, The Boston Herald reported. State and local police surrounded the home in Oxford, Mass. and were using a bullhorn to tell the occupants to come out, the Herald reported. The murdered officer, Ronald Tarentino, 42, joined the Auburn Police Department two years ago after transferring from the Leicester, Mass., department, Auburn Police Chief Andrew Sluckis said at a news conference Sunday afternoon. Authorities have not yet released information about the suspect's identity. A law enforcement source told Fox 25 that police are looking for suspects out of Worcester, Mass. Tarentino leaves a wife and three children. The department “lost a dedicated and brave public servant,” Sluckis said, before announcing that no further details on the incident would be released at this time. Massachusetts State Police said the Auburn police officer was shot at about 12:30 a.m. Sunday. Auburn is about 45 miles southwest of Boston. Tarentino was rushed to UMass Medical Center in Worcester, WGGB/WSHM-TV reported. Auburn Police, the Massachusetts State Police, the FBI, and the Worcester Police are working together in the investigation, Sluckis said. State and local police officers lined up outside the hospital on Sunday as a police vehicle, escorted by a police procession, took Tarentino's body to the state medical examiner's office in Boston, where the vehicle was met by a large group of officers. 

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/05/22/massachusetts-officer-shot-condition-unknown-suspect-loose.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+foxnews%2Fmost-popular+%28Internal+-+Most+Popular+Content%29

Massachusetts officer shot and killed; hunt on for suspect
Published May 22, 2016
FoxNews.com

Atlanta, GA Psychiatrist Charged With Multiple Homicides By Negligent Drug Prescriptions

Mother-of-two Audrey Austin, 29, was among those who died

[From article]

A Georgia psychiatrist dubbed Dr Death has been charged with murder in the overdose deaths of three patients.
Thirty-six of Dr Narendra Nagareddy's patients died while he was prescribing them painkillers, court documents allege.
Twelve of them died of prescription drug overdoses, post-mortem examinations confirmed.
The doctor could face further charges for at least 30 other deaths, the Henry Herald reports.
Nagareddy - who was arrested in January - allegedly ran a pill mill out of his office in an Atlanta suburb.
In one 11-month period ending in July 2015, he prescribed nearly 500 times the amount of oxycodone prescribed by any other colleague at the Southern Regional Medical Center.
District Attorney Tracy Graham-Lawson said at least 11 of the counts Nagareddy faces include negligence to sign or date prescriptions.
He faces 59 other charges of unauthorised distribution of a controlled substance.
Nagareddy prescribed hydrocodone, oxycodone, methadone, fentanyl and amphetamine salts to patients who were suffering addiction, anxiety and depression.
He is charged in the deaths of Cheryl Pennington, 47, David Robinson, 49, and 29-year-old mother-of-two Audrey Austin.
Ms Austin's mother, Ruth Carr, said her daughter was an addict who had died of a prescription drug overdose the day after she visited Nagareddy.
Nagareddy - who was arrested in January - allegedly ran a pill mill out of his office in an Atlanta suburb.


Nagareddy was arrested in January

In one 11-month period ending in July 2015, he prescribed nearly 500 times the amount of oxycodone prescribed by any other colleague at the Southern Regional Medical Center.
District Attorney Tracy Graham-Lawson said at least 11 of the counts Nagareddy faces include negligence to sign or date prescriptions.
He faces 59 other charges of unauthorised distribution of a controlled substance.
Nagareddy prescribed hydrocodone, oxycodone, methadone, fentanyl and amphetamine salts to patients who were suffering addiction, anxiety and depression.
He is charged in the deaths of Cheryl Pennington, 47, David Robinson, 49, and 29-year-old mother-of-two Audrey Austin.
Ms Austin's mother, Ruth Carr, said her daughter was an addict who had died of a prescription drug overdose the day after she visited Nagareddy.
"He just overwrote prescriptions for my daughter that weren't necessary," Ms Carr told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
"It's the medicine that he gave her that led to her death."
A probation officer raised the alarm after noticing that three people in her caseload who had died were patients of Nagareddy.
The Georgia Composite Medical Board suspended his licence after his arrest.
Prescription drug abuse has reached epidemic levels in the US.
Overdose deaths from opioids, including prescription drugs, have nearly quadrupled since 1999, with over-prescribing blamed as a key cause of addiction.
http://news.sky.com/story/1698872/dr-death-psychiatrist-charged-with-murders

'Dr Death' Psychiatrist Charged With Murders
Thirty-six of Dr Narendra Nagareddy's patients died - 12 from overdoses - as he prescribed them painkillers, it is alleged.
15:06, UK,
Thursday 19 May 2016

Pop Icon Singer Prince Dead at 57

[From article]
Prince was treated for a drug overdose 6 days before his death ... multiple sources tell TMZ.
We broke the story ... Prince's private jet made an emergency landing in Moline, Illinois last Friday, hours after he performed in Atlanta. At the time his reps said he was battling the flu ... something we questioned because his plane was only 48 minutes from home before the unscheduled landing.
Multiple sources in Moline tell us, Prince was rushed to a hospital and doctors gave him a "save shot" ... typically administered to counteract the effects of an opiate.
Our sources further say doctors advised Prince to stay in the hospital for 24 hours. His people demanded a private room, and when they were told that wasn't possible ... Prince and co. decided to bail. The singer was released 3 hours after arriving and flew home.
We're told when Prince left he "was not doing well."
We know authorities in Minnesota are trying to get the hospital records from Moline to help determine cause of death.

http://www.tmz.com/2016/04/21/prince-treated-drug-overdose-dead/

PRINCE TREATED FOR DRUG OVERDOSE DAYS BEFORE DEATH
4/21/2016 4:51 PM PDT
BY TMZ STAFF

Love Is the Answer, How To Fight Heroin Abuse

“It's a regional and national and international issue if you’re talking about stopping the drug trade,” said City Councillor Jan Devereux. Councilor Devereux is correct, no will to curb massive import of drugs to supply the enormous appetite of Americans. Council can pass resolutions to close the southern border and to increase strict oversight of goods entering the USA. But the best and only answer is, "All you need is love."
[. . .]
[Devereux: other methods of combating the epidemic are beyond municipal control.]

City Council can pass law requiring a Narcan capsule to be included with all sales of heroin or oxycodone pills.

http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2016/2/25/cambridge-opium-crisis-council/

Cambridge Discusses Plans for Overdose Treatment
By JOSHUA J. FLORENCE and SAMUEL VASQUEZ,

Harvard CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

February 25, 2016

US Deaths From Drug Overdoses Continue to Increase

[From article]
American deaths from drug overdoses hit a record high in 2014, propelled by abuse of prescription painkillers and heroin, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday.
[. . .]
“The increasing number of deaths from opioid overdose is alarming,” CDC Director Tom Frieden said Friday in a statement. “The opioid epidemic is devastating American families and communities.”[. . .]
Lower heroin prices, wider availability and higher purity are causing more overdoses, the agency reported. It recommends stricter guidelines for prescribing pain killers, expanded availability and wider access to naloxone, an antidote for opioid-related overdoses.

http://nypost.com/2015/12/18/american-deaths-from-drug-overdoses-hit-record-high/

American deaths from drug overdoses hit record high
By Reuters
New York Post
December 18, 2015 | 5:49pm

Woman on Drugs Damages Anchorage, Alaska Restaurant

KTUU-TV

[From article]
The 35-year-old Anchorage woman accused of taking her clothes off and trashing an East Anchorage Subway Tuesday night was arrested and is being held at Anchorage jail, police spokeswoman Anita Shell told Channel 2 News.
Nikki Abrell went into the Subway on Tudor Road around 5 p.m. Tuesday and locked herself in the bathroom for two hours and refused to come out, Shell said.
[. . .]
Anaya says Abrell put up a fight when police tried to take her into custody.
Abrell is being charged with third-degree criminal mischief, harassment and resisting arrest.
Court records show that Abrell previously pleaded no contest to two DUI convictions in 2007 and 2009.
http://www.ktuu.com/news/news/naked-woman-destroys-anchorage-subway-restaurant/35830756

UPDATE: Woman accused of taking clothes off, trashing Subway in custody

Cameron Mackintosh, Digital Producer and TV Reporter, cmackintosh (at) ktuu.com
POSTED: 09:52 PM AKDT Oct 13, 2015 UPDATED: 10:31 AM AKDT Oct 14, 2015

Major Drug Bust in Taunton, MA, Providence, RI

Some of the Suspects Arrested

[From article]
Officials say a street-level drug dealer from Marshfield was among 25 people indicted this week as authorities sought to take down a Taunton-based operation accused of pumping heroin and fentanyl into Southeastern Massachusetts.



On Thursday morning, police in communities from Marshfield to Providence, R.I., fanned out to arrest people accused of serving a range of roles within the operation, from wholesale suppliers and mid-level distributors to dealers who worked the streets. The office of U.S. District Attorney Carmen Ortiz said the arrests followed a 15-month federal investigation that included the use of wiretaps, confidential informants and GPS tracking data.
http://www.patriotledger.com/article/20151001/NEWS/151009160/12662/NEWS

Marshfield man among 25 indicted in alleged heroin ring
By Patriot Ledger
Posted Oct. 1, 2015 at 12:33 PM
Updated at 3:55 PM

Published on Oct 1, 2015
U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz announced Taunton heroin bust on Oct. 1, 2015, at the Taunton Police Department.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuVZHfyxsHg

Updated: Synthetic Marijuana Dangerous, Causing Violence; 12-year-old Video Used For Scaremongering

Posted August 5, 2015 9:07 PM ET; Last updated August 6, 2015 8:53 PM ET


Synthetic pot known as "K2" on the streets has been on the rise.

Photo: AP

[From article]

The NYPD released a 2002 video of a man on the psychotic drug PCP in Iowa and claimed it was recent footage of a New Yorker under the influence of synthetic marijuana.
The clip shows a naked man screaming wildly, squatting in the street, and scrambling up a fence, defying Taser guns with 'super human strength'.
It was played during a press conference on Tuesday as Police Commissioner Bill Bratton issued an 'urgent' warning that 'weaponized marijuana' - or K2 - is a growing concern for New York officers.
But it has since emerged the scaremongering clip is 12 years old, filmed in Des Moines for the TV show COPS, and depicts a man on PCP, not K2. 

[. . .]
A spokesman for the NYPD told Gothamist the video was merely 'shown to depict the type of behavior sometimes associated with "excited delirium syndrome"'.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3186598/How-NYPD-released-scaremongering-video-psychotic-naked-Iowa-man-high-PCP-2002-claimed-New-Yorker-synthetic-marijuana.html

REVEALED: Scaremongering NYPD video of psychotic naked New Yorker high on 'weaponized marijuana' was actually of Iowa man high on PCP in 2002
Police issued a public warning over use of the synthetic marijuana 'K2'
Released two videos showing two crazed users of the drug, both naked
But the clips are actually from TV show COPS in Des Moines, Iowa, in 2002
And the men in the video had taken psychotic drug PCP - not K2
NYPD spokesman insists they did not say they were on K2 or in New York
By MIA DE GRAAF FOR DAILYMAIL.COM and JAMES DUNN FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 20:07 EST, 5 August 2015 | UPDATED: 09:35 EST, 6 August 2015

* * *

[From article]
The drug, which cops say is prevalent in the homeless community, is a cheap high that also increases body temperature, leading users to strip naked.
“A better term for it might be weaponized marijuana,” Bratton told reporters at a press conference at police headquarters.
“A number of individuals, when under the influence of this drug, are relatively impervious to pain and also have significant enhancement of their physical strength,” he said.
“So our officers encountering these individuals face more significant risk of having to subdue these individuals and potentially receiving injuries.”
Spice users are impervious to traditional takedown methods used by cops, such as tasers and mace, officials said.
[. . .]



“You’re going to see much more of it in the short term,” Bratton said of the drug. “Our concern in the potential overdose and death, the incredible number of people going to hospitals as well as those that we take into custody.”
Bratton added that while local politicians look to loosen marijuana laws, the synthetic stuff is wreaking havoc across the city.
“Ironically, even as the trend is to decriminalize and effectively pay less attention to marijuana, the synthetic marijuana issue is one of great and growing concern here in New York City,” he said.

http://nypost.com/2015/08/04/weaponized-weed-that-makes-people-strip-naked-wreaking-havoc-in-nyc/

‘Weaponized weed’ triggering nude, psychotic rampages in NYC
By Daniel Prendergast
New York Post
August 4, 2015 | 6:12pm

New Exotic Drug Overcomes Sex Desires

Ayahuasca, a hallucinogenic brew made from a South American vine that the Amazonians believe, when consumed, offers spiritual revelations.
Will the US Department of Education study the feasibility of adopting this drug and mandate it be served to male college students to eliminate sex offenses on campuses? 

[From article]
Beneath his bare feet lies a $7,000 rug. To his right is an 1890s antique French sideboard he spent “at least a grand on.” Rick Owens and John Galliano clothes worth “hundreds of thousands of dollars” hang in the walk-in closet.
Hartzog looks around. “Yeah, I’m getting rid of all this stuff,” he says.
On Monday, the 36-year-old successful personal trainer is ditching New York City — and all his designer goods — to become a shaman in Peru. There, he will specialize in ayahuasca, a hallucinogenic brew made from a South American vine that the Amazonians believe, when consumed, offers spiritual revelations.
“Nothing is like ayahuasca,” says Hartzog, who first tried the ancient drug last year.
“It is incomparable.”
Hartzog’s not alone in his praise.
In the past few years, ayahuasca — which is illegal in the United States, categorized alongside the likes of heroin — has become a pop-culture phenomenon thanks to celebs like Lindsay Lohan, Penn Badgley and Michelle Rodriguez, who hail the drug’s magical healing powers.
[. . .]
For the next five hours, Hartzog vomited and suffered intense diarrhea (common side effects of the drug), and hung on tight as thousands of seemingly random images sprinted through his brain.
[. . .]
“Ten hours of Ayahuasca is like 10 years of psychotherapy,” says Hartzog, who has now taken the so-called medicine 50 times across various trips to Peru over the past 15 months. He decided to move to Peru full time after a three-month stint in the country earlier this year.
[. . .]
He hopes to be able to guide others to spiritual enlightenment through his work at the Peruvian retreat. But first, he’ll need to cleanse himself.
“My apprenticeship will involve following very specific planned diets, abstaining from certain everyday practices like sex … going through the jungle to pick the plants and find out how they grow — it’s essentially like medicine-man school.”
Hartzog says his 31-year-old girlfriend, Cara, who has tried ayahuasca nearly 20 times and will also be working at the Way Inn as a retreat director, is fully onboard with the no-sex regimen: “We’ve been together for eight years, so we’re very committed to this path.”

http://nypost.com/2015/07/16/im-leaving-nyc-to-become-a-jungle-drug-guru/

I've found a drug so amazing I'm quitting NYC and sex to do it full-time
By Dana Schuster
New York Post
July 16, 2015 | 12:15am

Troubled Young White Man Taking Mind Altering Drugs Charged With Killing Nine in South Carolina Black Church

Such an odd young man who was known to be taking mind altering drugs, yet no one was watching him. No police, no crime family, no Communists, no Harvard University campus police, no graduate students in psychology at Harvard Medical School, no building superintendents, and no FBI informants. But in Cambridge MA on property owned and operated by the President and Fellows of Harvard College, a 70-year-old man is under 24/7 surveillance, and harassment. Above named groups take turns disturbing his sleep every one or two hours, and sabotaging his computer. They target him with relentless character assassination, ridicule, humiliation, insults provocations for over 45 years in three states. Are American police, public safety and law enforcement priorities misguided, or what?  

[From article]
Police on Thursday nabbed the 21-year-old man suspected of gunning down nine people gathered for Bible study in a Charleston, S.C., church, nearly 14 hours later and 240 miles away after an all-night manhunt.
Dylann Roof, of Columbia, was captured without incident just before noon in a traffic stop after a tip led police to Shelby, N.C. He was in the black Hyundai sedan seen fleeing the horrific scene at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, where the church's pastor, Clementa Pinckney, who was also a state senator, was among those killed.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/06/18/police-respond-to-shooting-at-sc-church/

Charleston church massacre suspect caught, but answers elude victims' loved ones
Published June 18, 2015FoxNews.com

* * *

[From article]
The Wall Street Journal reports a police incident report said Roof posessed Suboxone, a pain drug sometimes used to treat opiate addiction, without a prescription.
[. . .]
He was like a pill popper, from what I understood. Like Xanax, and stuff like that.”

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/06/18/everything-known-about-charleston-church-shooting-suspect-dylann-roof.html

06.18.1511:19 AM ET
Everything Known About Charleston Shooting Suspect Dylann Roof

* * *
[From article]
Charleston shooter Dylann Storm Roof was reportedly taking a drug that has been linked with sudden outbursts of violence, fitting the pattern of innumerable other mass shooters who were on or had recently come off pharmaceutical drugs linked to aggression. According to a CBS News report, earlier this year when cops searched Roof after he was acting suspiciously inside a Bath and Body Works store, they found “orange strips” that Roof told officers was suboxone, a narcotic that is used to treat opiate addiction.
Suboxone is a habit-forming drug that has been connected with sudden outbursts of aggression.

http://talk.baltimoresun.com/topic/261642-nine-dead-in-charleston-sc-church-shooting/page-12

Nine dead in Charleston SC church shooting
Started by Eastside Terp
Jun 17 2015 09:07 PM
* * *

[From article]
Charleston shooter Dylann Storm Roof was reportedly taking a drug that has been linked with sudden outbursts of violence, fitting the pattern of innumerable other mass shooters who were on or had recently come off pharmaceutical drugs linked to aggression. According to a CBS News report, earlier this year when cops searched Roof after he was acting suspiciously inside a Bath and Body Works store, they found “orange strips” that Roof told officers was suboxone, a narcotic that is used to treat opiate addiction.

http://www.infowars.com/charleston-shooter-was-on-drug-linked-to-violent-outbursts/

Posted June 18, 2015, 02:24 PM
ANOTHER KILLER ON PSYCH DRUGS
Charleston Shooter Was on Drug Linked to Violent Outbursts
Dylann Storm Roof was taking habit-forming drug Suboxone
by PAUL JOSEPH WATSON

JUNE 18, 2015
* * *
[From article]
The officer noted that Roof was becoming increasingly nervous. He searched Roof and found "orange strips" that Roof said were "suboxone," a Schedule 3 narcotic.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/south-carolina-shooting-suspect-idd-as-dylann-storm-roof-21/

By CRIMESIDER STAFF
CBS/AP
June 18, 2015, 10:20 AM
South Carolina shooting: What we know about suspect Dylann Storm Roof, 21

New Study Finds Causal Connection Between Psychiatric Drugs and Homicide

First time ever? Many people have "known" of the connection for many years.

[From article]

For the first time ever, scientists have linked prescription drugs that affect the central nervous system to an increased risk of committing a homicide.
European researchers found that people who were taking a class of tranquilizers called benzodiazpines were more likely to kill someone than those who were not taking these medicines, reports Live Science.
Those drugs are used to treat anxiety, insomnia and panic disorders. Pain relievers such as opioid medications and anti-inflammatories were also found to increase a person’s risk of homicide.
“I think that these chemical substances affect the impulse control of the person,” Dr. Jari Tiihonen, lead author and a professor, told Medical Daily. “The only surprising result was that painkillers also increase the risk.”
[. . .]

The study also showed people taking antidepressants had only a slight increase in homicide risk, even after the researchers factored in mental illness.
[I thought depression was a mental illness. Are anti depressants now a recreational drug?]
[. . .]
The findings showed that tranquilizers increased the risk of committing a homicide by 45 percent and antidepressant use increased the risk by 31 percent.
But the researchers were surprised to find that the use of anti-inflammatory pain relievers was tied to an increase of more than 200 percent in the risk of committing homicide. Opioid pain relievers elevated risk by 92 percent, Tiihonen said.
The researchers speculate that tranquilizers may weaken people’s impulse control. Other studies have suggested that using certain painkillers may dull processes responsible for processing emotions.
The study is published in the journal World Psychology.

http://atlanta.cbslocal.com/2015/06/01/medications-linked-to-homicide/

Study: Painkillers, Anti-Anxiety Medications Linked To Increased Risk Of Homicide
June 1, 2015 1:28 PM

CBS News Atlanta GA

Auburn University Lab Tech Charged With Selling Date Rape Drug

[From article]
A chemistry lab technician at Auburn University was arrested Friday after allegedly selling a large amount of date rape drug, police say.
[. . .]
Al.com, citing court documents, reports that Howard sold an undercover agent more than 20 ounces of a liquid substance known to incapacitate women. Another undercover agent was able to buy nearly a gallon of the same substance. Howard also showed the agent that he had a weapon, authorities say.
Lab tests would confirm that the liquid was a controlled substance called 1,4-butanediol.
When the substance is ingested, it is converted into Gamma Hydroxybutyric Acid (GHB), which is commonly known to be a date-rape drug, the US Attorney’s Office says.
An affidavit says Howard told an undercover agent that he “probably had five different girls pass out on him” while they were using the drug.

http://nypost.com/2015/05/27/college-lab-tech-arrested-for-selling-date-rape-drug/

College lab tech arrested for selling date-rape drug
By Fox News
New York Post
May 27, 2015 | 2:31pm

Beware the Flakka Men and Women, New Synthetic Drug Extremely Dangerous

[From article]

A mother is facing a child neglect charge after abandoning her baby while high on a synthetic drug called “flakka,” according to Boynton Beach Police.
Officers said they responded to a call Thursday of an unattended baby, crying and shivering, in front of an office building just feet away from Gulfstream Boulevard, with a Wal-Mart across the street and railroad tracks a few feet away.
[. . .]
Officers said she was unable to tell them where she was and how she got to where she was.
According to her arrest report, during questioning, she admitted to smoking flakka the night before while hanging out with friends.
From there, she made various stops including a Delray Beach hotel and a Wal-Mart.
[. . .]
The next thing, she said, she remembered was waking up in front of a Delray Beach Dunkin’ Donuts without her baby.
The report states she ran back to the Wal-Mart where she saw authorities and ran over to the scene where the baby was found.
Police said she admitted to smoking flakka regularly which has caused her to have hallucinations in the past.

http://miami.cbslocal.com/2015/04/30/police-mom-high-on-flakka-abandons-baby/

Police: Mom High On “Flakka” Abandons Baby
April 30, 2015 2:42 PM
CBS News Miami FL



* * *

[From article]
Capt. Dana Swisher: "We're looking at anywhere from five to 10 events a week where they're having to deal with someone on flakka.
A person on flakka can present a danger to police, so Fort Lauderdale officers have been getting special training.



Capt. Dana Swisher: "Individuals on this drug are exhibiting super-human strength. Our officers usually don't address a person on flakka if they don't have minimally four people there. It's going to take, minimally, four people to restrain their extremities.
Officers aren't the only ones on the flakka front line.
Dr. John Cunha: "Here at Holy Cross, we're seeing up to two to three cases a day now where we're seeing patients with altered mental status, they're flailing around, they are not controllable. They're not coherent mentally."



Experts say flakka, scientifically known as "Alpha-PVP", can cause "excited delirium" where body temperatures rise and kidneys can fail.
Dr. John Cunha: "One bad trip or one overdose on this drug can definitely kill you."
[. . .]



The sobering reality is the synthetic drug epidemic didn't begin, and doesn't end, with flakka."
It's hard to outlaw these synthetic drugs because the manufacturers can make minor chemical changes to them when specific compounds are banned. They are also being sold online.
Capt. Dana Swisher: "Some of the companies will actually show on their website, where they will guarantee they can get it through customs, and if they can't get it through customs, they will send you an additional shipment."
Recently, the United Way of Broward County Commission on Substance Abuse met to discuss the growing synthetic drug problem. Experts don't think it will end any time soon.

http://www.wsvn.com/story/28925327/flakka-and-the-rise-of-dangerous-synthetic-drugs

Flakka and The Rise of Dangerous Synthetic Drugs
Posted: Apr 28, 2015 10:53 PM EDT
Updated: Apr 28, 2015 10:53 PM EDT
Reported by Carmel Cafiero, Investigative Reporter
clue (at) wsvn.com
Produced by Daniel Cohen, Special Projects Producer

Dangerous Drugs Need To be Studied. New Idea In Massachusetts

Deaths from dangerous drug overdoses is one more public safety issue for which politicians commission studies by consultants. It keeps the otherwise academic theoreticians employed and is a way to spend taxpayer funds without killing the jobs. 



[From article]
A task force created by Gov. Charlie Baker to tackle the state's heroin and prescription drug abuse crisis is getting to work.
The 17-member panel will hold a public meeting on Tuesday in Worcester, the first of four around the state.
Baker has called the overdose epidemic a public health emergency and one of the top priorities of his administration. He's asking the task force to report back to him by the end of May with strategies for dealing with addiction, treatment and recovery.
State officials say there were 978 opioid-related overdose deaths in Massachusetts last year, a 46 percent increase over the previous year.
Tuesday's session will be held at Quinsigamond Community College. The other meetings are scheduled for March 19 in Greenfield, March 26 in Plymouth and April 2 in Boston.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2015/03/panel_to_hold_1st_public_meeting_on_overdose_epidemic

Panel to hold 1st public meeting on overdose epidemic
Saturday, March 7, 2015
By: Associated Press
Boston Herald

Wesleyan University President Asks Students To Reveal Who Sells Bad Drugs On Campus

The president of Wesleyan University (pictured) has urged students to 'turn in the drug dealers' following a rash of hospitalizations among people who took a party drug known as molly over the weekend.
[From article]
Wesleyan University's president has urged students to 'turn in the drug dealers' after 12 people - 10 students and two visitors - were hospitalized after taking party drug 'molly'.
In a letter to the campus President Michael Roth said: 'If you are aware of people distributing these substances, please let someone know before more people are hurt.'
The school became aware of the problem early on Sunday morning after several students showed up seeking treatment at a Middlesex Hospital near the campus.
[. . .]
Molly is a term used to describe a refined form of Ecstasy, a synthetic drug also known as MDMA.
It can drive up body temperature and cause liver, kidney or cardiovascular failure.
Dr. Mark Neavyn, chief of toxicology at Hartford Hospital, said users who believe they are taking molly are often receiving different kinds of designer drugs with ranges of purity and potency making the health risks unpredictable.
He said testing is underway to confirm what drugs the Wesleyan patients took.
'When we see these people in the emergency department and they claim to have taken molly, we don't pay attention to that word anymore.
'It's so commonly not MDMA, we just start from square one and say it's some sort of drug abuse,' Neavyn said.
Wesleyan health officials said in a campus-wide email on September 16 that students had been hospitalized after taking molly.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2966481/Wesleyan-University-s-president-urges-students-turn-dealers.html

Wesleyan University's president urges students to 'turn in the drug dealers' as 12 people are hospitalized after overdosing on party drug ‘molly’
So far 12 people have been hospitalised - 10 students and two visitors
Two students remain in critical condition after being airlifted to hospital
Students are believed to have ingested party drug molly - a type of Ecstasy
Police say they are looking into reports students took 'bad batch' of drug
University's president is urging students to identify the drug dealers
A confidential telephone line has been set up for students to call
By KEILIGH BAKER FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 04:01 EST, 24 February 2015 | UPDATED: 17:26 EST, 24 February 2015

* * *

[From article]
School officials said Sunday that the overdose symptoms seemed to point to the drug “Molly,” a stimulant psychoactive drug also known as methylone. No other information about their conditions was released.
Wesleyan officials did not say whether the students had been together or where the drugs had come from. The Hartford Courant reported that city police late Sunday were investigating whether the students had taken a “bad batch” of the drug.
Middletown police Capt. Gary Wallace said the side effects can be life-threatening and police are trying to help physicians “in obtaining any and all information.”

http://nypost.com/2015/02/23/11-students-hospitalized-after-overdosing-on-molly/

11 students hospitalized after overdosing on Molly
By Associated Press
New York Post
February 23, 2015 | 9:23am

Manhattan Lawyer Jumps To His Death

Photo: G.N. Miller
15-story Westminster building at 180 W. 20th St.
Is this another death caused by anti depressants? 

[From article]
A man who neighbors described as a lawyer jumped to his death from the roof of his luxury Chelsea apartment building on Sunday morning.
Joseph Cioffi, 56, landed on a third-floor balcony after his leap from the top of the 15-story Westminster building at 180 W. 20th St. shortly after 7 a.m., authorities said.
Cioffi left behind two suicide notes — one in his wallet and another on his dresser — and appeared to be taking medication, possibly for anxiety and depression, law-enforcement sources said.
[. . .]
He owed two consulting firms a total of more than $4,000 between 2007 and 2008.
He also owed Ancora Psychiatric Hospital nearly $3,000 in 2003 and Bally’s Park Place Casino in Atlantic City, NJ, $1,500 in 2002.

http://nypost.com/2015/02/16/lawyer-jumped-to-his-death-from-roof-of-luxury-apartment/

Lawyer jumped to his death from roof of luxury apartment
By Dana Sauchelli and C.J. Sullivan
New York Post
February 16, 2015 | 6:39am

Youth Must Be Taught About Strong Marijuana; Colorado's Legalization

Michael Ellis (above), a Tory member of the Home Affairs Select Committee, said the 'study illustrates that those in government and the police must be careful to send out the right message' about cannabis.

This almost two-hour video shows some of the effects of legalizing marijuana in Colorado. A lawyer whose firm focuses solely on marijuana issues, a mother who started an organization to inform the public, a former drug addict turned rehab counselor, and a Democratic Washington DC lobbyist speak on the issues. The distinction is made between, decriminalization, legalization, and commercialization. The latter is what creates problems, especially with edibles. One observation is that the rush to legalize marijuana brought unintended consequences like the new health care law rushed into law by the Democratic Party without reading it. 
http://www.c-span.org/video/?323692-1/colorado-marijuana-law-anniversary

JANUARY 22, 2015
Colorado Marijuana Law Anniversary
Panelists talked about the local, state, and national impact of decriminalizing recreational marijuana, and gave advice to other states passing similar laws. In January 2014, the first retail marijuana stores opened in Colorado following the passage of legislation making Colorado the first state in the country to legalize recreational marijuana use.

* * *

[From article]
As many as a quarter of new cases of psychotic mental illness can be blamed on super-strength strains of cannabis, scientists will warn this week.
The potent form of the drug – known as ‘skunk’ – is so powerful that users are three times more likely to have a psychotic episode than those who have never tried it.
The study, leaked to The Mail on Sunday, will reignite debate around Britain’s drug laws – and will add weight to calls for a tougher stance towards those caught dealing or in possession of cannabis.
According to Crime Survey figures for England and Wales, more than a million youngsters aged 16 to 24 smoke cannabis.
Regular users are most at risk of a psychotic episode, prompting experts to warn that youngsters need to be aware of the dangers of skunk, which has been cultivated to be four times as strong as cannabis smoked by previous generations.
The researchers, led by a team at the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London, conclude there is an ‘urgent need… to inform young people about the risks of high-potency cannabis’, despite a worldwide trend towards relaxing drug laws.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2955020/Strong-cannabis-causes-one-four-cases-psychosis-Users-three-times-likely-episode-never-tried-it.html

Strong cannabis causes one in four cases of psychosis: Users three times more likely to have an episode than those who have never tried it
Scientists at King’s College London say youngsters must be told of risks
Study will add weight to calls for a tougher stance on cannabis users
More than 1 million 16-24-year-olds in England and Wales smoke the drug
Those who use weaker 'hash' over potent 'skunk' less affected by episodes
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
PUBLISHED: 19:27 EST, 15 February 2015 | UPDATED: 04:17 EST, 16 February 2015

NY Drug Addict Hit and Run Driver Kills Girl, 12, Sister, 9, in Coma

[From article]
The younger sister of a girl who was killed by a pill-popping criminal in a stolen SUV is in a coma, a family member said Thursday .
Charlie Sellers, 9, has no clue that her beloved sister, Joey, 12, is dead after junkie Robert DeCarlo, 26, plowed into them and their mother Wednesday night while speeding in a stolen van through Mill Basin.
[. . .]
DeCarlo, who was out on bail after previously mugging an elderly woman, is charged with manslaughter, assault and other charges.
“Sorry, sorry,” the drug addict muttered when asked what he would say to the tragic family.

http://nypost.com/2014/07/04/sister-of-girl-killed-in-hit-and-run-is-in-a-coma/

Sister of girl killed in hit-and-run is in a coma
By Georgett Roberts and Lia Eustachewich
New York Post
July 4, 2014 | 2:58pm