WP: As opioid overdoses rise, police officers become counselors, doctors and social workers

[China]

A federal judge sides with 3 major drug distributors in a landmark opioid lawsuit

 

A federal judge on Monday ruled in favor of three major U.S. drug distributors in a landmark lawsuit that accused them of causing a health crisis by distributing 81 million pills over eight years in one West Virginia county ravaged by opioid addiction.

 

The verdict came nearly a year after closing arguments in a bench trial in the lawsuit filed by Cabell County and the city of Huntington against AmerisourceBergen Drug Co., Cardinal Health Inc. and McKesson Corp.

 

"The opioid crisis has taken a considerable toll on the citizens of Cabell County and the City of Huntington. And while there is a natural tendency to assign blame in such cases, they must be decided not based on sympathy, but on the facts and the law," U.S. District Judge David Faber wrote in the 184-page ruling. "In view of the court's findings and conclusions, the court finds that judgment should be entered in defendants' favor."

 

Cabell County attorney Paul Farrell had argued the distributors should be held responsible for sending a "tsunami" of prescription pain pills into the community and that the defendants' conduct was unreasonable, reckless and disregarded the public's health and safety in an area ravaged by opioid addiction.

 

The companies blamed an increase in prescriptions written by doctors along with poor communication and pill quotas set by federal agents.

 

While the lawsuit alleged the distributors created a public nuisance, Faber said West Virginia's Supreme Court has only applied public nuisance law in the context of conduct that interferes with public property or resources. He said to extend the law to cover the marketing and sale of opioids "is inconsistent with the history and traditional notions of nuisance."

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Florida man arrested with enough fentanyl to kill more than 100K people, authorities say

 

A 52-year-old fugitive with a long criminal history was arrested after deputies said they found enough fentanyl to potentially kill more than 100,000 people.

 

The Flagler County Sheriff's Office said Adrian Kamai Rivers is facing multiple charges, including felony trafficking in fentanyl and felony possession of marijuana with intent to sell, along with violating his probation.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Concerns about rainbow fentanyl are on the rise

 

Law enforcement, doctors and parents are all facing a new challenge this Halloween season — rainbow fentanyl.

 

"It's moved quickly into the younger population. We haven't seen that before and that's what makes this particularly frightening," said Dr. Rene Bravo, San Luis Obispo pediatrician.

 

Dr. Bravo says he knows of reports that children as young as those in late elementary school are coming into contact with the drug.

 

"Add to that the toxicity of fentanyl, how very toxic it is in very low quantities, then you have a real mixture for some mortal overdoses," Dr. Bravo said.

 

The appearance of rainbow fentanyl is especially concerning.

 

"Children are traditionally attracted to bright lights and brightly colored things including candy-appearing pills," he said.

 

Click on the link for the full article

 

[Captain Wiggles]

Ugh rainbow fentanyl is the new razor blade in an apple. Lotta headlines about it, must be election season.

 

I can remember in the late 1980s warnings about people dosing kids Halloween candy as well as postage stamps with LSD. I wanna say that the scare tactics, I mean warnings, were through the D.A.R.E. program at school. 🤣

[China]

On 9/29/2022 at 4:14 PM, Captain Wiggles said:

Ugh rainbow fentanyl is the new razor blade in an apple. Lotta headlines about it, must be election season.

 

I can remember in the late 1980s warnings about people dosing kids Halloween candy as well as postage stamps with LSD. I wanna say that the scare tactics, I mean warnings, were through the D.A.R.E. program at school. 🤣

 

Trick-or-treat scare or a bunch of hocus pocus? Alabama officials warn of fentanyl distributed during Halloween

 

If the warnings from U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama and a few other politicians are to be believed, drug traffickers are deliberately packaging deadly fentanyl pills disguised as candy to “drive addiction” among children and adults.

 

And Halloween could serve as a perfect backdrop for further concern, Tuberville says in a public service announcement coming out this week. Parents, Tuberville is urging, need to “double, triple check” their children’s candy for suspicious looking packaged and unpackaged goodies.

 

“It’s a huge problem,” Tuberville said about fentanyl, and his concerns about the potential for tainted Halloween candy. “It’s getting worse.”

 

Tuberville’s PSA arrives as other politicians are sounding the alarm as Halloween approaches, and as fentanyl overdoses continue to mount.

 

But is the latest Halloween candy scare a legitimate trick-or-treating warning, or a bunch of hocus pocus?

 

“The people who command coverage from reporters are getting behind this, and it strikes me as nuts,” said Joel Best, a professor sociology and criminal justice at the University of Delaware, and the foremost leading researcher on tainted candy.

 

Best has reviewed media accounts dating back to 1958 and found not one death linked to tampered candy obtain during annual trick-or-treating. He said there have only been a few suspected cases reported in the media, but none of those turned out to be actual cases of death by tainted candy.

 

His conclusion: The latest fear is nothing more than a part of a generational urban legend that will not die.

 

“The thing about being against poisoning Halloween candy is that there is no one who is for it, so it’s a great campaign commercial,” Best said.

 

Michele Ramsey, an associate professor of communication arts and sciences and women’s studies at Penn State Berks in Reading, Pennsylvania, said the linking of trick-or-treating with the fentanyl crisis is “simply a new version of the same old scare tactic.”

 

“It’s simply not the case that the poisoning of candy is an actual issue parents should be concerned about,” she said.

 

Click on the links for more

[Captain Wiggles]

Quote

"The thing about being against poisoning Halloween candy is that there is no one who is for it, so it’s a great campaign commercial,” 

 

 

Common theme with the Republicans. Manufactured wedge issues. They've done the same thing with pedophilia. Like who can agrue with that stance. We're the party against poison and molestation. 🤪

[CousinsCowgirl84]

19 minutes ago, Captain Wiggles said:

 

. We're the party against poison and molestation. 🤪

Are they though?

[Captain Wiggles]

5 minutes ago, CousinsCowgirl84 said:

Are they though?

 

Which is one reason they get out in front of certain issues. Accuse the other side of that which you are guilty n whatnot. 

Edited October 3, 2022 by Captain Wiggles

[LD0506]

IMO the real issue here is exactly why this crazy horse**** resonates with so many people. 

 

Something like 20%(?) of the country is completely bat**** insane, will believe anything as long as it is completely bat**** insane while taking great pains to avoid even the shadow of anything makes sense.

 

Now, I understand, I've lived through it, through Barry Goldwater and the Southern Strategy and Iran-Contra and the "Moral Majority" and Mission Accomplished and 377 other moonbat bull**** offerings, but at some point you have to live with yourself, at some point you need to wonder when you find yourself posting "Well I used to believe in doorknobs". 

 

I wonder how these people function on a basic day-to-day level.

[Jabbyrwock]

12 minutes ago, LD0506 said:

IMO the real issue here is exactly why this crazy horse**** resonates with so many people. 

 

Three motives, generally working in concert: epistemic, existential and social.  Epistemic meaning a need for knowledge and desire for information.  When an event happens people naturally want an explanation for such events (the desire to know "the truth").  Existential indicates the need for people to feel safe, secure and have a certain amount of autonomy.  This dovetails quite a bit with epistemic in that when they feel insecure and have no control over something they reach for information to explain why they have no control (I can't do anything about it because...).  And finally social motives.  People want to feel good about themselves (Commanders fans not withstanding), and having access to "special knowledge" that the rest of the population either doesn't know, or doesn't accept (Sheople) fills that need.  Those three motives coupled with a "information" medium that lets whatever spread around at the speed of light, and you are where we are.

 

This morning of pop-psychology brought to you by football induced hangovers.  Hangover!  'cause **** those birds singing right outside the window on Autumn mornings.

[TheGreatBuzz]

1 hour ago, LD0506 said:

IMO the real issue here is exactly why this crazy horse**** resonates with so many people. 

 

Something like 20%(?) of the country is completely bat**** insane, will believe anything as long as it is completely bat**** insane while taking great pains to avoid even the shadow of anything makes sense.

 

Now, I understand, I've lived through it, through Barry Goldwater and the Southern Strategy and Iran-Contra and the "Moral Majority" and Mission Accomplished and 377 other moonbat bull**** offerings, but at some point you have to live with yourself, at some point you need to wonder when you find yourself posting "Well I used to believe in doorknobs". 

 

I wonder how these people function on a basic day-to-day level.

 

We are seeing decades of lack of funding and allowing local control regarding our education system finally coming home to roost.

[Riggo-toni]

 

[China]

CVS and Walgreens Near $10 Billion Deal to Settle Opioid Cases

 

CVS and Walgreens, two of the nation’s largest retail pharmacy chains, said on Wednesday that they had reached tentative agreements to pay about $5 billion each to settle thousands of lawsuits over their role in the opioid crisis.

 

The companies made the announcements in government filings, but finalization is conditional on an overwhelming majority of plaintiffs, including state, municipal and tribal governments, signing on, they said.

 

If the deals are finalized, they would represent payouts from the arm of the pharmaceutical industry that has been most resistant to striking a deal with plaintiffs in the litigation. Many large manufacturers of prescription opioids and the three major drug distribution companies have already settled.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Corcaigh]

On 9/29/2022 at 4:14 PM, Captain Wiggles said:

Ugh rainbow fentanyl is the new razor blade in an apple. 

 

 

 

https://www.theonion.com/disappointed-trick-or-treater-was-really-hoping-to-get-1849654379

On 10/3/2022 at 9:56 AM, Jabbyrwock said:

 

Hangover!  'cause **** those birds singing right outside the window on Autumn mornings.

 

Come on man! Those aren't birds, they are CIA spy drones.

[Captain Wiggles]

So uh how many kids died from eating candy laced with rainbow fentanyl this Halloween? 

 

I'm gonna take a wild guess and say zero. 🤔

[China]

On 9/29/2022 at 4:14 PM, Captain Wiggles said:

Ugh rainbow fentanyl is the new razor blade in an apple. Lotta headlines about it, must be election season.

 

I can remember in the late 1980s warnings about people dosing kids Halloween candy as well as postage stamps with LSD. I wanna say that the scare tactics, I mean warnings, were through the D.A.R.E. program at school. 🤣

 

Multiple razor blades found hidden in children’s Halloween candy as authorities search for suspect

 

Multiple razor blades have been found hidden in children’s Halloween candy and authorities have narrowed down their hunt for a suspect to a small neighborhood where the families may have been trick or treating for the holiday.

 

Police in Eugene, Oregon -- located approximately 110 miles south of Portland -- received a report of a small razor blade that was found hidden in their children’s Halloween candy earlier this week, said the city of Eugene in a civic alert issued to the public.

 

“The razor appears to be something similar to a pencil sharpener blade,” city officials said.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[PleaseBlitz]

Those liberals always want to defund the police (note that Alexandria VA is one of the most liberal communities in America). 

 

https://www.alxnow.com/2022/11/23/alexandria-police-to-get-significant-raise-after-reaching-collective-bargaining-agreement/

 

Quote

The Alexandria City Council unanimously approved a collective bargaining agreement with the Southern States Police Benevolent Association, ushering in a new era of collaboration with city employees.

 

If likely approved in the fiscal year 2024 budget this May, the agreement means substantial pay increases for new officers, sergeants and lieutenants. The current base salary of $54,698 for an officer would be increased by 11% to $61,503 at the beginning of the next fiscal year, July 1, 2023. After next year, salaries for officers would increase 2% annually.

Mayor Justin Wilson said that the collective bargaining agreement is historic, since it’s the first of its kind to be approved in Virginia.

 

“This is a really important step.,” Wilson said. “We came to a place that that was mutually agreeable one that I think moves the needle forward and recognizes our hard working police officers for the work that they do every day for our residents at work that is greatly valued by the community, but does so in a constructive way in partnership with the city, recognizing that we’re all in this together.”

 

Damon Minnix, president of Alexandria chapter of the Southern States Police Benevolent Association, said that the agreement creates a new pay scale based on years of service.

“We’ve spent countless hours working towards this agreement,” Minnix said. “Most importantly, this process and agreement opens the lines of communication between the interests of our officers and city management.”

 

 

 

[China]

 

[China]

 

[China]

Middle school art teacher arrested after overdosing on fentanyl in front of students at New Jersey school

 

A New Jersey middle school teacher has been arrested after police say he overdosed on fentanyl in front of his students last November. The incident happened just after 9 a.m. EST on Nov. 29, when another staff member at Roosevelt Intermediate School in Westfield reported an unconscious teacher found inside a classroom on the second floor of the building, according to the Westfield Police Department.

 

In an announcement released on Friday, Westfield Police Chief Christopher Battiloro said the teacher, Frank Thompson, was initially "observed in distress" by students before an administrator called the school resource officer, Fortunato Riga, to the classroom. Riga, who later reported the situation to police, recalled finding Thompson "unconscious and unresponsive" on the floor, with the school nurse actively treating him.

 

Riga told police that he noticed Thompson exhibiting signs of an opioid overdose and administered the medication naxolone hydrochloride, sold under the brand name Narcan, which is used to reverse symptoms. After he was given the medication, Thompson began "showing marked signs of improvement," police said.

 

Thompson, 57, teaches 6th and 7th grade visual art and 8th grade arts and crafts, according to his teaching page on the Roosevelt Intermediate School website. 

 

During a police investigation that followed the overdose in the fall, authorities say they discovered "a quantity of a suspected controlled substance" as well as drug paraphernalia in the closet of Thompson's classroom, Battiloro said in Friday's announcement. 

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

New opioid 10 times stronger than fentanyl hitting the streets of California

 

There is a new drug hitting the streets of California.

 

It's called Isotonitazene, commonly called ISO.

 

"ISO is a synthetic opioid that is ten times stronger than fentanyl," said Flindt Andersen, founder and executive director of P.A.I.N. (Parents of Addicts In Need).

 

ISO has already been found on the streets of San Francisco.

 

Law enforcement agencies say it's only a matter of time before it shows up in Central California, as the fight against fentanyl rages on.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Pa. senators consider bill to involuntarily commit people, who overdose and are revived, to addiction treatment centers

 

Over the last three years, more than 75,000 doses of the overdose reversal drug Naloxone were administered to patients in Pennsylvania, but the aftershocks of an overdose remain challenging as patients fight relapses.

 

On Thursday, two Pennsylvania state senators announced a bipartisan effort to help individuals regain control of their lives after an overdose.

 

Sens. Dan Laughlin (R-Erie) and Anthony Williams (D-Philadelphia) said Thursday that they plan to introduce legislation in Harrisburg, creating an involuntary commitment process for patients who have been transported to a hospital to be evaluated after a life-sustaining drug was administered to combat an overdose. 

 

"While the ability to administer a life-sustaining medication has reduced the death rate, it is not treatment and does little to address the individual's underlying substance use disorder," Laughlin said in a statement. "Treatment will allow individuals to regain their hopes, dreams, goals and most importantly, their lives." 

 

The involuntary commitment process will be similar to the 302 commitment process provided by Pennsylvania's Mental Health Procedures Act, placing those who are a danger to themselves and others in treatment centers, the lawmakers said.

 

Right now, 35 states and the District of Columbia have enacted involuntary commitment laws for those suffering with substance use disorder, the lawmakers wrote in a memo seeking legislative support for their proposal. 

 

Substance use disorder — or SUD — is a treatable mental health condition that affects a person's brain and behavior, leading to their inability to control their use of substances. 

 

Prior to the pandemic, Pennsylvania' drug overdose death rate was one of the highest in the nation, the lawmakers said, citing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.

The lawmakers also noted that in 2021, the most recent year of CDC data, Pennsylvania recorded 5,449 overdose deaths, its highest-ever. 

 

Click on the link for the full article