wakingtimes--2020-02-27--The Looming Financial Nightmare: So Much for Living the American Dream

The national debt ( the amount the federal government has borrowed over the years and must pay back ) is $ 23 trillion and growing .
The amount this country owes is now greater than its gross national product ( all the products and services produced in one year by labor and property supplied by the citizens ) .
We ’ re paying more than $ 270 billion just in interest on that public debt annually .
And the top two foreign countries who “ own ” our debt are China and Japan .
The national deficit ( the difference @ @ @ @ @ @ @ revenue it takes in ) is projected to surpass $ 1 trillion every year for the next 10 years .
The United States spends more on foreign aid than any other nation ( $ 50 billion in 2017 alone ) .
More than 150 countries around the world receive U.S. taxpayer-funded assistance , with most of the funds going to the Middle East , Africa and Asia .
Meanwhile , almost 60 % of Americans are so financially strapped that they don ’ t have even $ 500 in savings and nothing whatsoever @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they are being forced to pay for government programs that do little to enhance or advance their lives .
Folks , if you haven ’ t figured it out yet , we ’ re not living the American dream .
The U.S. government—and that includes the current administration—is spending money it doesn ’ t have on programs it can ’ t afford , and “ we the taxpayers ” are the ones who will pay for it .
As financial analyst Kristin Tate explains , “ When the government has its debt bill @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be on the hook.
” It ’ s happened before : during the European debt crisis , Cypress seized private funds from its citizens ’ bank accounts to cover its debts , with those who had been careful to save their pennies forced to relinquish between 40 % to 60 % of their assets .
Could it happen here ?
Could the government actually seize private funds for its own gain ?
Look around you .
It ’ s already happening .
In the eyes of the government , “ we the people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and the taxpayers ” are little more than pocketbooks waiting to be picked .
Consider : The government can seize your home and your car ( which you ’ ve bought and paid for ) over nonpayment of taxes .
Government agents can freeze and seize your bank accounts and other valuables if they merely “ suspect ” wrongdoing .
And the IRS insists on getting the first cut of your salary to pay for government programs over which you have no say .
We have no real say in how the government @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are used , but we ’ re being forced to pay through the nose , anyhow .
We have no real say , but that doesn ’ t prevent the government from fleecing us at every turn and forcing us to pay for endless wars that do more to fund the military industrial complex than protect us , pork barrel projects that produce little to nothing , and a police state that serves only to imprison us within its walls .
If you have no choice , no voice , and no real @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s claims on your property and your money , you ’ re not free .
It wasn ’ t always this way , of course .
Early Americans went to war over the inalienable rights described by philosopher John Locke as the natural rights of life , liberty and property .
It didn ’ t take long , however—a hundred years , in fact—before the American government was laying claim to the citizenry ’ s property by levying taxes to pay for the Civil War .
As the New York Times reports @ @ @ @ @ @ @ repeal in 1872.
” Determined to claim some of the citizenry ’ s wealth for its own uses , the government reinstituted the income tax in 1894 .
Charles Pollock challenged the tax as unconstitutional , and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in his favor .
Pollock ’ s victory was relatively short-lived .
Members of Congress—united in their determination to tax the American people ’ s income—worked together to adopt a constitutional amendment to overrule the Pollock decision .
On the eve of World War I , in 1913 , Congress instituted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the 16th Amendment to the Constitution and the Revenue Act of 1913 .
Under the Revenue Act , individuals with income exceeding $ 3,000 could be taxed starting at 1 % up to 7 % for incomes exceeding $ 500,000 .
It ’ s all gone downhill from there .
Unsurprisingly , the government has used its tax powers to advance its own imperialistic agendas and the courts have repeatedly upheld the government ’ s power to penalize or jail those who refused to pay their taxes .
Irwin A. Schiff was one @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tax protesters .
He spent a good portion of his life arguing that the income tax was unconstitutional , and he put his wallet where his conscience was : Schiff stopped paying federal taxes in 1974 .
Schiff paid the price for his resistance , too : he served three separate prison terms ( more than 10 years in all ) over his refusal to pay taxes .
He died at the age of 87 serving a 14-year prison term .
As constitutional activist Robert L. Schulz noted in Schiff ’ s obituary @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is so much fear of government , and in particular of the I.R.S.
, [ Schiff ] was probably the most influential educator regarding the illegal and unconstitutional operation and enforcement of the Internal Revenue Code .
It ’ s very hard to speak to power , but he did , and he paid a very heavy price.
” It ’ s still hard to speak to power , and those who do are still paying a very heavy price .
All the while the government continues to do whatever it likes—levy taxes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and irresponsibly—with little thought for the plight of its citizens .
To top it all off , all of those wars the U.S. is so eager to fight abroad are being waged with borrowed funds .
As The Atlantic reports , “ For 15 years now , the United States has been putting these wars on a credit card… U.S. leaders are essentially bankrolling the wars with debt , in the form of purchases of U.S. Treasury bonds by U.S.-based entities like pension funds and state and local governments , and by countries @ @ @ @ @ @ @ managed their personal finances the way the government mismanages the nation ’ s finances , we ’ d all be in debtors ’ prison by now .
Still , the government remains unrepentant , unfazed and undeterred in its money grabs .
While we ’ re struggling to get by , and making tough decisions about how to spend what little money actually makes it into our pockets after the federal , state and local governments take their share ( this doesn ’ t include the stealth taxes imposed through tolls , fines @ @ @ @ @ @ @ police state is spending our hard-earned tax dollars to further entrench its powers and entrap its citizens .
For instance , American taxpayers have been forced to shell out more than $ 5.6 trillion since 9/11 for the military industrial complex ’ s costly , endless so-called “ war on terrorism.
” That translates to roughly $ 23,000 per taxpayer to wage wars abroad , occupy foreign countries , provide financial aid to foreign allies , and fill the pockets of defense contractors and grease the hands of corrupt foreign dignitaries .
Mind @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is only a portion of what the Pentagon spends on America ’ s military empire .
That price tag keeps growing , too .
In this way , the military industrial complex will get even richer , and the American taxpayer will be forced to shell out even more funds for programs that do little to enhance our lives , ensure our happiness and well-being , or secure our freedoms .
Every gun that is made , every warship launched , every rocket fired signifies , in the final sense , a theft @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fed , those who are cold and are not clothed .
This world in arms is not spending money alone .
It is spending the sweat of its laborers , the genius of its scientists , the hopes of its children .
The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this : a modern brick school in more than 30 cities .
It is two electric power plants , each serving a town of 60,000 population .
It is two fine , fully equipped hospitals .
It is some fifty miles of concrete @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat .
We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people .
This is , I repeat , the best way of life to be found on the road the world has been taking .
This is not a way of life at all , in any true sense .
Under the cloud of threatening war , it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron .
[ … ] Is there no other way the world @ @ @ @ @ @ @ way of life .
Yet it ’ s not just the government ’ s endless wars that are bleeding us dry .
We ’ re also being forced to shell out money for surveillance systems to track our movements , money to further militarize our already militarized police , money to allow the government to raid our homes and bank accounts , money to fund schools where our kids learn nothing about freedom and everything about how to comply , and on and on .
Are you getting the picture yet ?
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to make our lives better .
Just take a look at the nation ’ s failing infrastructure , and you ’ ll see how little is being spent on programs that advance the common good .
We ’ re being robbed blind so the governmental elite can get richer .
This is nothing less than financial tyranny .
“ We the people ” have become the new , permanent underclass in America .
It ’ s tempting to say that there ’ s little we can do about it , except that ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a few things we can do ( demand transparency , reject cronyism and graft , insist on fair pricing and honest accounting methods , call a halt to incentive-driven government programs that prioritize profits over people ) , but it will require that “ we the people ” stop playing politics and stand united against the politicians and corporate interests who have turned our government and economy into a pay-to-play exercise in fascism .
We ’ ve become so invested in identity politics that label us based on our political leanings that we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ label that unites us : we ’ re all Americans .
The powers-that-be want to pit us against one another .
They want us to adopt an “ us versus them ” mindset that keeps us powerless and divided .
Trust me , the only “ us versus them ” that matters anymore is “ we the people ” against the police state .
We ’ re all in the same boat , folks , and there ’ s only one real life preserver : that ’ s the Constitution and the Bill @ @ @ @ @ @ @ those three powerful words : “ We the people.
” The message is this : there is power in our numbers .
That remains our greatest strength in the face of a governmental elite that continues to ride roughshod over the populace .
It remains our greatest defense against a government that has claimed for itself unlimited power over the purse ( taxpayer funds ) and the sword ( military might ) .
This holds true whether you ’ re talking about health care , war spending , or the American police state @ @ @ @ @ @ @ subject , do me a favor and don ’ t let yourself be fooled into believing that the next crop of political saviors will be any different from their predecessors .
They all talk big when they ’ re running for office , and when they get elected , they spend big at our expense .
As I make clear in my book Battlefield America : The War on the American People , this is how the middle classes , who fuel the nation ’ s economy and fund the government ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Harrison , who would have been 77 this year , summed up this outrageous state of affairs in his song Taxman : Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute , where this article ( The Looming Financial Nightmare : So Much for Living the American Dream ) was originally published .
He is the author of A Government of Wolves : The Emerging American Police State and The Change Manifesto .

The Looming Financial Nightmare: So Much for Living the American Dream
John W. Whitehead, Rutherford
Waking Times
“When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men in a society, over the course of time they create for themselves a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it.” ― Frédéric Bastiat, French economist
Let’s talk numbers, shall we?
The national debt (the amount the federal government has borrowed over the years and must pay back) is $23 trillion and growing.
The amount this country owes is now greater than its gross national product (all the products and services produced in one year by labor and property supplied by the citizens). We’re paying more than $270 billion just in interest on that public debt annually. And the top two foreign countries who “own” our debt are China and Japan.
The national deficit (the difference between what the government spends and the revenue it takes in) is projected to surpass $1 trillion every year for the next 10 years.
The United States spends more on foreign aid than any other nation ($50 billion in 2017 alone). More than 150 countries around the world receive U.S. taxpayer-funded assistance, with most of the funds going to the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
Meanwhile, almost 60% of Americans are so financially strapped that they don’t have even $500 in savings and nothing whatsoever put away for retirement, and yet they are being forced to pay for government programs that do little to enhance or advance their lives.
Folks, if you haven’t figured it out yet, we’re not living the American dream.
We’re living a financial nightmare.
The U.S. government—and that includes the current administration—is spending money it doesn’t have on programs it can’t afford, and “we the taxpayers” are the ones who will pay for it.
As financial analyst Kristin Tate explains, “When the government has its debt bill come due, all of us will be on the hook.” It’s happened before: during the European debt crisis, Cypress seized private funds from its citizens’ bank accounts to cover its debts, with those who had been careful to save their pennies forced to relinquish between 40% to 60% of their assets.
Could it happen here? Could the government actually seize private funds for its own gain?
Look around you. It’s already happening.
In the eyes of the government, “we the people, the voters, the consumers, and the taxpayers” are little more than pocketbooks waiting to be picked.
Consider: The government can seize your home and your car (which you’ve bought and paid for) over nonpayment of taxes. Government agents can freeze and seize your bank accounts and other valuables if they merely “suspect” wrongdoing. And the IRS insists on getting the first cut of your salary to pay for government programs over which you have no say.
We have no real say in how the government runs, or how our taxpayer funds are used, but we’re being forced to pay through the nose, anyhow.
We have no real say, but that doesn’t prevent the government from fleecing us at every turn and forcing us to pay for endless wars that do more to fund the military industrial complex than protect us, pork barrel projects that produce little to nothing, and a police state that serves only to imprison us within its walls.
If you have no choice, no voice, and no real options when it comes to the government’s claims on your property and your money, you’re not free.
It wasn’t always this way, of course.
Early Americans went to war over the inalienable rights described by philosopher John Locke as the natural rights of life, liberty and property.
It didn’t take long, however—a hundred years, in fact—before the American government was laying claim to the citizenry’s property by levying taxes to pay for the Civil War. As the New York Times reports, “Widespread resistance led to its repeal in 1872.”
Determined to claim some of the citizenry’s wealth for its own uses, the government reinstituted the income tax in 1894. Charles Pollock challenged the tax as unconstitutional, and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in his favor. Pollock’s victory was relatively short-lived. Members of Congress—united in their determination to tax the American people’s income—worked together to adopt a constitutional amendment to overrule the Pollock decision.
On the eve of World War I, in 1913, Congress instituted a permanent income tax by way of the 16th Amendment to the Constitution and the Revenue Act of 1913. Under the Revenue Act, individuals with income exceeding $3,000 could be taxed starting at 1% up to 7% for incomes exceeding $500,000.
It’s all gone downhill from there.
Unsurprisingly, the government has used its tax powers to advance its own imperialistic agendas and the courts have repeatedly upheld the government’s power to penalize or jail those who refused to pay their taxes.
Irwin A. Schiff was one of the nation’s most vocal tax protesters. He spent a good portion of his life arguing that the income tax was unconstitutional, and he put his wallet where his conscience was: Schiff stopped paying federal taxes in 1974.
Schiff paid the price for his resistance, too: he served three separate prison terms (more than 10 years in all) over his refusal to pay taxes. He died at the age of 87 serving a 14-year prison term. As constitutional activist Robert L. Schulz noted in Schiff’s obituary, “In a society where there is so much fear of government, and in particular of the I.R.S., [Schiff] was probably the most influential educator regarding the illegal and unconstitutional operation and enforcement of the Internal Revenue Code. It’s very hard to speak to power, but he did, and he paid a very heavy price.”
It’s still hard to speak to power, and those who do are still paying a very heavy price.
All the while the government continues to do whatever it likes—levy taxes, rack up debt, spend outrageously and irresponsibly—with little thought for the plight of its citizens.
To top it all off, all of those wars the U.S. is so eager to fight abroad are being waged with borrowed funds. As The Atlantic reports, “For 15 years now, the United States has been putting these wars on a credit card… U.S. leaders are essentially bankrolling the wars with debt, in the form of purchases of U.S. Treasury bonds by U.S.-based entities like pension funds and state and local governments, and by countries like China and Japan.”
If Americans managed their personal finances the way the government mismanages the nation’s finances, we’d all be in debtors’ prison by now.
Still, the government remains unrepentant, unfazed and undeterred in its money grabs.
While we’re struggling to get by, and making tough decisions about how to spend what little money actually makes it into our pockets after the federal, state and local governments take their share (this doesn’t include the stealth taxes imposed through tolls, fines and other fiscal penalties), the police state is spending our hard-earned tax dollars to further entrench its powers and entrap its citizens.
For instance, American taxpayers have been forced to shell out more than $5.6 trillion since 9/11 for the military industrial complex’s costly, endless so-called “war on terrorism.”
That translates to roughly $23,000 per taxpayer to wage wars abroad, occupy foreign countries, provide financial aid to foreign allies, and fill the pockets of defense contractors and grease the hands of corrupt foreign dignitaries.
Mind you, that staggering $6 trillion is only a portion of what the Pentagon spends on America’s military empire.
That price tag keeps growing, too.
In this way, the military industrial complex will get even richer, and the American taxpayer will be forced to shell out even more funds for programs that do little to enhance our lives, ensure our happiness and well-being, or secure our freedoms.
As Dwight D. Eisenhower warned in a 1953 speech:
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some fifty miles of concrete pavement. We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people. This is, I repeat, the best way of life to be found on the road the world has been taking. This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron. […] Is there no other way the world may live?
This is still no way of life.
Yet it’s not just the government’s endless wars that are bleeding us dry.
We’re also being forced to shell out money for surveillance systems to track our movements, money to further militarize our already militarized police, money to allow the government to raid our homes and bank accounts, money to fund schools where our kids learn nothing about freedom and everything about how to comply, and on and on.
Are you getting the picture yet?
The government isn’t taking our money to make our lives better. Just take a look at the nation’s failing infrastructure, and you’ll see how little is being spent on programs that advance the common good.
We’re being robbed blind so the governmental elite can get richer.
This is nothing less than financial tyranny.
“We the people” have become the new, permanent underclass in America.
It’s tempting to say that there’s little we can do about it, except that’s not quite accurate.
There are a few things we can do (demand transparency, reject cronyism and graft, insist on fair pricing and honest accounting methods, call a halt to incentive-driven government programs that prioritize profits over people), but it will require that “we the people” stop playing politics and stand united against the politicians and corporate interests who have turned our government and economy into a pay-to-play exercise in fascism.
We’ve become so invested in identity politics that label us based on our political leanings that we’ve lost sight of the one label that unites us: we’re all Americans.
The powers-that-be want to pit us against one another. They want us to adopt an “us versus them” mindset that keeps us powerless and divided.
Trust me, the only “us versus them” that matters anymore is “we the people” against the police state.
We’re all in the same boat, folks, and there’s only one real life preserver: that’s the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
The Constitution starts with those three powerful words: “We the people.”
The message is this: there is power in our numbers.
That remains our greatest strength in the face of a governmental elite that continues to ride roughshod over the populace. It remains our greatest defense against a government that has claimed for itself unlimited power over the purse (taxpayer funds) and the sword (military might).
This holds true whether you’re talking about health care, war spending, or the American police state.
While we’re on the subject, do me a favor and don’t let yourself be fooled into believing that the next crop of political saviors will be any different from their predecessors. They all talk big when they’re running for office, and when they get elected, they spend big at our expense.
As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, this is how the middle classes, who fuel the nation’s economy and fund the government’s programs, get screwed repeatedly.
George Harrison, who would have been 77 this year, summed up this outrageous state of affairs in his song Taxman:
If you drive a car, I’ll tax the street, If you try to sit, I’ll tax your seat. If you get too cold I’ll tax the heat, If you take a walk, I’ll tax your feet. Don’t ask me what I want it for If you don’t want to pay some more ‘Cause I’m the taxman, yeah, I’m the taxman. Now my advice for those who die Declare the pennies on your eyes ‘Cause I’m the taxman, yeah, I’m the taxman And you’re working for no one but me.
About the Author
Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute, where this article (The Looming Financial Nightmare: So Much for Living the American Dream) was originally published. He is the author of A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State and The Change Manifesto.


wakingtimes--2020-02-27--Woman Accidentally Took 550 Times the Typical Dose of LSD, and This Was the Result

Ask anybody who has accidentally taken a larger dose than they ’ ve bargained for—whether it ’ s prescription painkillers , marijuana edibles , or any other sort of recreational drug—and they ’ ll tell you that while the experience may not have been life-threatening it certainly wasn ’ t fun .
But for one 46-year-old woman , what began as an attempt to have a good time instead turned into a life-changing experience .
Her story has now become the basis of a scientific research paper published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs .
The individual @ @ @ @ @ @ @ CB , ” began her night thinking that she would indulge in a bit of cocaine .
However , it turned out that what she snorted definitely wasn ’ t cocaine hydrochloride—instead , it turned out to be a dose of LSD about 550 times higher than the typical recreational dose of 100 micrograms .
About 15 minutes after ingesting the white powder , she realized that something wasn ’ t right .
At that point , she called her roommate for help .
The authors wrote in the paper : She started @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for the next 12 hours … Her recollection was that she sat up for this experience and mostly ‘ blacked out ’ for the first 12 hours , after which she was able to communicate .
She felt ‘ pleasantly high ’ for the next 12 hours—with infrequent vomiting .
The collateral report from the roommate revealed that she sat mostly still in a chair with her eyes either open , closed , or rolled back , frothing at the mouth , occasionally vocalizing random words and vomiting frequently.
” CB couldn ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about ten hours later , when she went to the bathroom before regaining her coherence .
CB ’ s roommate stuck to her side for another 12 hours before she finally returned to a normal state .
While the LSD overdose was no doubt a traumatizing experience , CB claims that there was a major silver lining : her chronic foot pain had entirely disappeared the next day .
CB had contracted Lyme disease in her early 20s which eventually led to injuries to her feet and ankles and subsequently , chronic pain @ @ @ @ @ @ @ prescribed her with morphine from around 2008 to 2018 .
Prior to her LSD accident , CB used an average of four to six 10mg morphine pills on a daily basis .
Following the trip , she halted her use of morphine for five days without any withdrawal symptoms kicking in .
Her pain eventually returned , causing her to return to her opiates—albeit in sharply reduced doses of only one or two pills per day .
She supplemented the morphine with microdoses of LSD , taking about 25 micrograms every three days @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pain had significantly reduced to the point where she was ready to let go of morphine and all other painkillers .
She reported having none of the typical withdrawal symptoms common to longtime users of morphine .
Yet instead , she had a boosted sense of anxiety , depression , social withdrawal , and had become “ overly sensitive ” to other people ’ s experiences .

Woman Accidentally Took 550 Times the Typical Dose of LSD, and This Was the Result
Elias Marat, The Mind Unleashed
Waking Times
Ask anybody who has accidentally taken a larger dose than they’ve bargained for—whether it’s prescription painkillers, marijuana edibles, or any other sort of recreational drug—and they’ll tell you that while the experience may not have been life-threatening it certainly wasn’t fun.
But for one 46-year-old woman, what began as an attempt to have a good time instead turned into a life-changing experience. Her story has now become the basis of a scientific research paper published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.
The individual, identified only by the initials “CB,” began her night thinking that she would indulge in a bit of cocaine.
However, it turned out that what she snorted definitely wasn’t cocaine hydrochloride—instead, it turned out to be a dose of LSD about 550 times higher than the typical recreational dose of 100 micrograms.
About 15 minutes after ingesting the white powder, she realized that something wasn’t right. At that point, she called her roommate for help.
The authors wrote in the paper:
She started vomiting within an hour and vomited frequently for the next 12 hours … Her recollection was that she sat up for this experience and mostly ‘blacked out’ for the first 12 hours, after which she was able to communicate. She felt ‘pleasantly high’ for the next 12 hours—with infrequent vomiting. The collateral report from the roommate revealed that she sat mostly still in a chair with her eyes either open, closed, or rolled back, frothing at the mouth, occasionally vocalizing random words and vomiting frequently.”
CB couldn’t even conduct a basic conversation until about ten hours later, when she went to the bathroom before regaining her coherence. CB’s roommate stuck to her side for another 12 hours before she finally returned to a normal state.
While the LSD overdose was no doubt a traumatizing experience, CB claims that there was a major silver lining: her chronic foot pain had entirely disappeared the next day.
CB had contracted Lyme disease in her early 20s which eventually led to injuries to her feet and ankles and subsequently, chronic pain. To manage the pain, doctors prescribed her with morphine from around 2008 to 2018.
Prior to her LSD accident, CB used an average of four to six 10mg morphine pills on a daily basis. Following the trip, she halted her use of morphine for five days without any withdrawal symptoms kicking in.
Her pain eventually returned, causing her to return to her opiates—albeit in sharply reduced doses of only one or two pills per day. She supplemented the morphine with microdoses of LSD, taking about 25 micrograms every three days.
By January 2018, her foot pain had significantly reduced to the point where she was ready to let go of morphine and all other painkillers. She reported having none of the typical withdrawal symptoms common to longtime users of morphine.
Yet instead, she had a boosted sense of anxiety, depression, social withdrawal, and had become “overly sensitive” to other people’s experiences.
The authors concluded:
“In a 46-year-old woman, intranasal ingestion of 550 times the normal recreational dosage of LSD was not fatal and had subsequent positive effects on pain levels and subsequent morphine withdrawal. Although the effect was not sustained, she was able to reduce her morphine dose significantly with microdosing LSD and was able to come off of morphine eventually without typical withdrawal symptoms.”
By Elias Marat | Creative Commons | TheMindUnleashed.com


wakingtimes--2020-02-27--Animals Used To Transport Tourists At Great Pyramids Are Beaten And Abused

Last year , People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals ( PETA ) , conducted an undercover investigation at major tourist sites , and found that animals who were being used to transport tourists at the great pyramids were routinely beaten and held in extremely cruel conditions .
Footage taken by PETA members showed camels and horses being whipped and beaten , or collapsing from exhaustion .
Many of the animals were visibly weak and malnourished , and some oven had open wounds .
Investigators also learned that the animals are eventually killed once they are unable to work .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ sites are forced to wait in the scorching sun without access to food , water , or shade as they waited for customers .
The animals were given no breaks and beaten until they collapsed , and some of them could be seen with bloody faces in the footage .
After the release of the footage , three people were arrested for animal cruelty for abusing the camels and horses near the pyramids , but PETA warns that the practice still continues , and they are calling for a full boycott of these @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of animals for transporting tourists .
While the practice may be illegal , and a few people were arrested , PETA says that not enough is being to prevent the abuse of animals at the tourist sites , and that abuse continues on a regular basis .
The group maintains that tourists who pay for rides on these animals are keeping these operations in business .
Environmentalists and animal rights activists have become increasingly critical of the global tourism industry in general over the past few years , as evidence continues to surface @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of tourists has on local wildlife and the ecosystems they call home .
The video released as a part of PETA ’ s investigation can be seen below .
Be warned that the content is very graphic .
John Vibes is an author and journalist who takes a special interest in the counter culture , and focuses solutions-oriented approaches to social problems .
He is also a host of The Free Your Mind Conference and The Free Thought Project Podcast .

Animals Used To Transport Tourists At Great Pyramids Are Beaten And Abused
John Vibes, Truth Theory
Waking Times
Last year, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), conducted an undercover investigation at major tourist sites, and found that animals who were being used to transport tourists at the great pyramids were routinely beaten and held in extremely cruel conditions.
http://www.instagram.com/p/B87VYAvnfm9/?utm_source=ig_embed
Footage taken by PETA members showed camels and horses being whipped and beaten, or collapsing from exhaustion. Many of the animals were visibly weak and malnourished, and some oven had open wounds. Investigators also learned that the animals are eventually killed once they are unable to work.
The footage showed how animals at these sites are forced to wait in the scorching sun without access to food, water, or shade as they waited for customers.
The animals were given no breaks and beaten until they collapsed, and some of them could be seen with bloody faces in the footage.
After the release of the footage, three people were arrested for animal cruelty for abusing the camels and horses near the pyramids, but PETA warns that the practice still continues, and they are calling for a full boycott of these sites until the government bans the use of animals for transporting tourists.
Technically, animal cruelty is illegal in Egypt, under article 45 of the country’s constitution, which says that, “The state also commits to the protection … of livestock …; the protection of endangered species; and the prevention of cruelty to animals.”
While the practice may be illegal, and a few people were arrested, PETA says that not enough is being to prevent the abuse of animals at the tourist sites, and that abuse continues on a regular basis. The group maintains that tourists who pay for rides on these animals are keeping these operations in business.
Environmentalists and animal rights activists have become increasingly critical of the global tourism industry in general over the past few years, as evidence continues to surface showing the massive impact that the flow of tourists has on local wildlife and the ecosystems they call home.
The video released as a part of PETA’s investigation can be seen below. Be warned that the content is very graphic.
About the Author
John Vibes is an author and journalist who takes a special interest in the counter culture, and focuses solutions-oriented approaches to social problems. He is also a host of The Free Your Mind Conference and The Free Thought Project Podcast.


wakingtimes--2020-02-27--Pediatric Drug Poisoning Is on the Rise

Pediatric Drug Poisoning Is on the Rise

Aside from causing a wide variety of side effects in those who take medications , the widespread routine use of pharmaceuticals also pose a serious risk to children who get their hands on them .
As of 2016 , nearly half of the U.S. population were on at least one medication .
Twenty-four percent used three or more drugs , and 12.6 % were on more than five different medications .
According to the 2016 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey , 73.9 % of all doctor ’ s visits also involved drug therapy .
As one would expect , drug @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of 2016 , 18 % of children under 12 were on prescription medication , compared to 85 % of adults over the age of 60 .
While this trend is troubling enough , with prescription drugs now being a staple in most homes , the number of children suffering accidental poisoning is also on the rise .
According to a 2012 article in The Journal of Pediatrics that reviewed patient records from the National Poison Data System of the American Association of Poison Control Centers , 453,559 children aged 5 or younger were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ exposure to a potentially toxic dose of a pharmaceutical drug between 2001 and 2008 .
In that time , drug poisonings rose 22 % .
Ninety-five percent of cases were due to self-exposure , meaning the children got into the medication and took it themselves , opposed to being given an excessive dose by error .
Forty-three percent of all children admitted to the hospital after accidentally ingesting medication ended up in the intensive care unit , and prescription ( opposed to over-the-counter ) medications were responsible for 71 % of serious injuries @ @ @ @ @ @ @ drugs topping the list of drugs causing serious harm .
As noted by the authors : Keep All Drugs in Childproof Containers If you ’ re older , you may recall your parents or grandparents would have a lockable medicine cabinet where drugs were stored .
Few people keep their medications in locked cabinets or boxes these days , failing to realize the serious risk they pose to young children .
The hazard is further magnified if you sort your medications into easy-open daily pill organizers rather than keeping each drug in its @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in The Journal of Pediatrics , which sought to “ identify types of containers from which young children accessed solid dose medications during unsupervised medication exposures ” found 51.5 % involved drugs accessed as a result of having been removed from its original childproof packaging .
Remarkably , in 49.3 % of cases involving attention deficit hyperactivity disorder medications and 42.6 % of cases involving an opioid , the drug was not in any container at all when accessed .
In other words , the child found the pill or pills just laying @ @ @ @ @ @ @ % of all cases where a child ingested a drug , the exposure involved a grandparent ’ s medication .
As noted by the authors : Teen Drug Overdoses Are Also on the Rise While infants are notorious for putting anything and everything in their mouth , making them particularly vulnerable to accidental drug exposures , drug overdoses , particularly those involving opioids and benzodiazepines , are also becoming more prevalent among teens with access to these drugs .
According to a 2019 study published in the journal Clinical Toxicology , 296,838 children @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to benzodiazepines between January 2000 and December 2015 .
Over that time , benzodiazepine exposure in this age group increased by 54 % .
According to the authors : A similar trend has been found with opioids .
A 2017 study looking at prescription opioid exposures among children and adolescents in the U.S. between 2000 and 2015 found : The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention promotes and supports the Up and Away and Out of Sight campaign , which centers “ around several simple , data-driven actions that parents and caregivers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the children they care about and care for.
” These commonsense precautions include the following : • Store your medications ( and supplements ) in their original packaging in a place your child can not reach .
Don ’ t store medications in your nightstand , purse or end table where little hands are likely to explore and find them .
Any medication stored in the refrigerator should be in childproof packaging .
Also make sure drugs are safely stored in areas your child visits frequently , such as a grandparent ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Put all medications away after each use .
• Make sure to relock the safety cap after each use .
• Teach your children about medicine safety ; never tell them medicine is “ like candy ” in order to get them to take it .
• Remind guests to place bags , purses and coats that have medicine in them in a safe place while visiting .
What to Do in Case of Accidental Drug Exposure Be sure to keep the Poison Help number in your phone , and make sure your @ @ @ @ @ @ @ In the U.S. , the Poison Help number is 800-222-1222 .
If you suspect your child has taken a prescription or OTC medication , even if he or she is not yet exhibiting symptoms , call the Poison Help line immediately .
If you ’ re unsure what medication your child may have taken , call 911 or the emergency number in your area for transportation to the nearest medical facility .
Although your child may appear fine in the initial minutes , this can rapidly change .
You want to start treatment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ risk of permanent damage or potential death .
Remember to bring with you the names of any medications your child may have accidentally ingested , as well as any medications your child has taken in the past 24 hours as prescribed by their doctor , any allergies they have , and any changes or symptoms you may have observed .
Unfortunately , symptoms of a medication overdose can vary widely , depending on the drug , dosage and age of the child .
That said , symptoms of an overdose may include : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ following symptoms , call 911 ( in the U.S. ) immediately : It ’ s crucial to realize that many drugs can be life threatening to a young child , even in low doses .
This is particularly true for opioids and buprenorphine , a drug used to treat opioid dependence .
As noted in a 2005 paper on opioid exposure in toddlers : “ Ingestions of opioid analgesics by children may lead to significant toxicity as a result of depression of the respiratory and central nervous systems .
A review of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ low doses of opioids are dangerous in the pediatric population under 6 years old .
Methadone was found to be the most toxic of the opioids ; doses as low as a single tablet can lead to death .
All children who have ingested any amount of methadone need to be observed in an Emergency Department ( ED ) for at least 6 h and considered for hospital admission .
Most other opioids are better tolerated in ingestions as small as one or two tablets .
Based on the limited data available for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ doses of 5 mg/kg of codeine or greater require 4 to 6 h of observation in the ED .
Data for propoxyphene and all extended-release preparations are limited ; their prolonged half-lives would suggest the need for longer observation periods .
All opioid ingestions leading to respiratory depression or significant central nervous system depression require admission to an intensive care unit.
” Similarly , a 2006 paper on the adverse effects of unintentional buprenorphine exposure in children noted that : The take-home message here is that as drug treatment increases and becomes ever-more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ risk of unintentional exposure increases as well .
Toddlers will stick just about anything in their mouth , and young children will often not recognize there ’ s a difference between pills and candy .
As parents and caregivers , we simply must take the necessary precautions to keep all medications in a safe place , well out of reach of curious hands .
Failure to safeguard your medications can have profoundly tragic consequences , so please , do not take this matter lightly .

Pediatric Drug Poisoning Is on the Rise
Dr. Mercola, Guest
Waking Times
Aside from causing a wide variety of side effects in those who take medications, the widespread routine use of pharmaceuticals also pose a serious risk to children who get their hands on them.
As of 2016, nearly half of the U.S. population were on at least one medication. Twenty-four percent used three or more drugs, and 12.6% were on more than five different medications. According to the 2016 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, 73.9% of all doctor’s visits also involved drug therapy.
As one would expect, drug use dramatically increases with age. As of 2016, 18% of children under 12 were on prescription medication, compared to 85% of adults over the age of 60. While this trend is troubling enough, with prescription drugs now being a staple in most homes, the number of children suffering accidental poisoning is also on the rise.
Medications Pose Serious Risks to Young Children
According to a 2012 article in The Journal of Pediatrics that reviewed patient records from the National Poison Data System of the American Association of Poison Control Centers, 453,559 children aged 5 or younger were admitted to a health care facility following exposure to a potentially toxic dose of a pharmaceutical drug between 2001 and 2008.
In that time, drug poisonings rose 22%. Ninety-five percent of cases were due to self-exposure, meaning the children got into the medication and took it themselves, opposed to being given an excessive dose by error.
Forty-three percent of all children admitted to the hospital after accidentally ingesting medication ended up in the intensive care unit, and prescription (opposed to over-the-counter) medications were responsible for 71% of serious injuries, with opioids, sedative-hypnotics and cardiovascular drugs topping the list of drugs causing serious harm. As noted by the authors:
“Prevention efforts have proved to be inadequate in the face of rising availability of prescription medications, particularly more dangerous medications.”
Keep All Drugs in Childproof Containers
If you’re older, you may recall your parents or grandparents would have a lockable medicine cabinet where drugs were stored. Few people keep their medications in locked cabinets or boxes these days, failing to realize the serious risk they pose to young children.
The hazard is further magnified if you sort your medications into easy-open daily pill organizers rather than keeping each drug in its original childproof container.
A 2020 paper in The Journal of Pediatrics, which sought to “identify types of containers from which young children accessed solid dose medications during unsupervised medication exposures” found 51.5% involved drugs accessed as a result of having been removed from its original childproof packaging.
Remarkably, in 49.3% of cases involving attention deficit hyperactivity disorder medications and 42.6% of cases involving an opioid, the drug was not in any container at all when accessed. In other words, the child found the pill or pills just laying out in the open. In 30.7% of all cases where a child ingested a drug, the exposure involved a grandparent’s medication. As noted by the authors:
“Efforts to reduce pediatric SDM [solid dose medication] exposures should also address exposures in which adults, rather than children, remove medications from child-resistant packaging. Packaging/storage innovations designed to encourage adults to keep products within child-resistant packaging and specific educational messages could be targeted based on common exposure circumstances, medication classes, and medication intended recipients.”
Teen Drug Overdoses Are Also on the Rise
While infants are notorious for putting anything and everything in their mouth, making them particularly vulnerable to accidental drug exposures, drug overdoses, particularly those involving opioids and benzodiazepines, are also becoming more prevalent among teens with access to these drugs.
According to a 2019 study published in the journal Clinical Toxicology, 296,838 children under the age of 18 were exposed to benzodiazepines between January 2000 and December 2015. Over that time, benzodiazepine exposure in this age group increased by 54%. According to the authors:
“The severity of medical outcomes also increased, as did the prevalence of co-ingestion of multiple drugs, especially in children ages 12 to <18 years. Nearly half of all reported exposures in 2015 were documented as intentional abuse, misuse, or attempted suicide, reflecting a change from prior years … Medical providers and caretakers should be cognizant of this growing epidemic to avoid preventable harm to adolescents, young children, and infants.”
A similar trend has been found with opioids. A 2017 study looking at prescription opioid exposures among children and adolescents in the U.S. between 2000 and 2015 found:
“Poison control centers received reports of 188,468 prescription opioid exposures among children aged<20 years old from 2000 through 2015 … Hydrocodone accounted for the largest proportion of exposures (28.7%), and 47.1% of children exposed to buprenorphine were admitted to a health care facility (HCF). The odds of being admitted to an HCF were higher for teenagers than for children aged 0 to 5 years or children aged 6 to 12 years. Teenagers also had greater odds of serious medical outcomes … The rate of prescription opioid-related suspected suicides among teenagers increased by 52.7% during the study period.”
Commonsense Precautions
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention promotes and supports the Up and Away and Out of Sight campaign, which centers “around several simple, data-driven actions that parents and caregivers can take to prevent medication overdoses in the children they care about and care for.” These commonsense precautions include the following:
Store your medications (and supplements) in their original packaging in a place your child cannot reach. Don’t store medications in your nightstand, purse or end table where little hands are likely to explore and find them. Any medication stored in the refrigerator should be in childproof packaging. Also make sure drugs are safely stored in areas your child visits frequently, such as a grandparent’s house or a baby sitter.
Put all medications away after each use.
Make sure to relock the safety cap after each use.
Teach your children about medicine safety; never tell them medicine is “like candy” in order to get them to take it.
Remind guests to place bags, purses and coats that have medicine in them in a safe place while visiting.
What to Do in Case of Accidental Drug Exposure
Be sure to keep the Poison Help number in your phone, and make sure your baby sitter or caregiver has it. In the U.S., the Poison Help number is 800-222-1222. If you suspect your child has taken a prescription or OTC medication, even if he or she is not yet exhibiting symptoms, call the Poison Help line immediately.
If you’re unsure what medication your child may have taken, call 911 or the emergency number in your area for transportation to the nearest medical facility. Although your child may appear fine in the initial minutes, this can rapidly change. You want to start treatment as soon as possible to reduce the risk of permanent damage or potential death.
Remember to bring with you the names of any medications your child may have accidentally ingested, as well as any medications your child has taken in the past 24 hours as prescribed by their doctor, any allergies they have, and any changes or symptoms you may have observed.
Unfortunately, symptoms of a medication overdose can vary widely, depending on the drug, dosage and age of the child. That said, symptoms of an overdose may include:
Nausea Vomiting or diarrhea Drooling or dry mouth Convulsions Pupils that grow larger or shrink Sweating Loss of coordination and/or slurred speech Extreme fatigue Yellow skin or eyes Flu-like symptoms Unusual bleeding or bruising Abdominal pain Numbness Rapid heartbeat
Should your child exhibit any of the following symptoms, call 911 (in the U.S.) immediately:
Won’t wake up Can’t breathe Twitches or shakes uncontrollably Displays extremely strange behavior Has trouble swallowing Develops a rapidly spreading rash Swells up in the face, including around the lips and tongue
Opioid Epidemic Takes Toll on Pediatric Population
It’s crucial to realize that many drugs can be life threatening to a young child, even in low doses. This is particularly true for opioids and buprenorphine, a drug used to treat opioid dependence. As noted in a 2005 paper on opioid exposure in toddlers:
“Ingestions of opioid analgesics by children may lead to significant toxicity as a result of depression of the respiratory and central nervous systems. A review of the medical literature was performed to determine whether low doses of opioids are dangerous in the pediatric population under 6 years old. Methadone was found to be the most toxic of the opioids; doses as low as a single tablet can lead to death. All children who have ingested any amount of methadone need to be observed in an Emergency Department (ED) for at least 6 h and considered for hospital admission. Most other opioids are better tolerated in ingestions as small as one or two tablets. Based on the limited data available for these opioids, we conclude that equianalgesic doses of 5 mg/kg of codeine or greater require 4 to 6 h of observation in the ED. Data for propoxyphene and all extended-release preparations are limited; their prolonged half-lives would suggest the need for longer observation periods. All opioid ingestions leading to respiratory depression or significant central nervous system depression require admission to an intensive care unit.”
Similarly, a 2006 paper on the adverse effects of unintentional buprenorphine exposure in children noted that:
“Buprenorphine in sublingual formulation was recently introduced to the American market for treatment of opioid dependence. We report a series of 5 toddlers with respiratory and mental-status depression after unintentional buprenorphine exposure. Despite buprenorphine’s partial agonist activity and ceiling effect on respiratory depression, all children required hospital admission and either opioid-antagonist therapy or mechanical ventilation … The increasing use of buprenorphine as a home-based therapy for opioid addiction in the United States raises public health concerns for the pediatric population.”
The take-home message here is that as drug treatment increases and becomes ever-more prevalent among all age groups, the risk of unintentional exposure increases as well. Toddlers will stick just about anything in their mouth, and young children will often not recognize there’s a difference between pills and candy.
As parents and caregivers, we simply must take the necessary precautions to keep all medications in a safe place, well out of reach of curious hands. Failure to safeguard your medications can have profoundly tragic consequences, so please, do not take this matter lightly.


wakingtimes--2020-02-26--As Americans Distracted by Trump Tweets, President Quietly Attacks Medical Pot Protections

There has been a proverbial sh*t storm brewing online this week and last as President Donald Trump receives both praise and hatred for his tweets over the Roger Stone sentencing .
Trump has repeatedly bashed the jury forewoman publicly over the past week since Stone was sentenced to over three years in prison for obstructing a congressional investigation .
As many folks argued over the Stone debacle , behind the scenes , the Trump admin has been taking on medical marijuana — and not in a good way .
Despite what president Trump says to certain crowds on the campaign @ @ @ @ @ @ @ far louder than empty promises on the road .
Trump has never openly supported marijuana legalization though he said he had no objection to US states legalizing forms of marijuana .
When it came time to act , however , he did the opposite .
According to a recent report from the Sun Sentinel , the Trump Administration has proposed removing medical marijuana protections in the 2021 fiscal budget and leaked audio revealed the President ’ s belief that smoking weed makes you dumb .
What ’ s more , Marc Lotter , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as director of strategic communications for Trump ’ s 2020 campaign , was asked about the President ’ s stance on changing federal cannabis laws , and minced no words when he said the devil ’ s lettuce has no place in the legal market .
These remarks are in complete contrast to former statements made by the president on the campaign trail in 2016 .
Perhaps prison and pharmaceutical lobby dollars flowing into the GOP may be now steering Trump ’ s decisions .
According to a recent report from NORML : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ protects state medical marijuana programs from Justice Department interference in addition to a provision that would continue to prohibit the District of Columbia from regulating the sale of marijuana for adult use .
This is the opposite of what he said during his first campaign .
With WWJ Newsradio 950 in Michigan on March 8 , 2016 , Trump said “ I think it certainly has to be a state — I have not smoked it — it ’ s got to be a state decision … I do like it , you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it does do pretty good things .
But from the other standpoint , I think that it should be up to the states.
” While the Trump admin takes on medical marijuana this month , Congress quietly killed marijuana reform in December .
Over the Christmas break , Congress voted to pass spending legislation for fiscal year 2020 .
Attached to the 2020 spending legislation was a list of riders intended on making the United States a less tyrannical and more freer nation in regards to cannabis .
As Newsweek reported : The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from interfering with legal cannabis companies and eased their access to U.S. banking services , among other things the industry has said it needs to function properly .
Instead , cannabis businesses––which are fully legal in 11 states to date––will continue to face onerous levels of red tape and uncertainty well into 2020 , despite their rapidly growing size and popularity among U.S. consumers .
One of the most significant riders to the spending package would have prevented the U.S. Justice Department from using taxpayer dollars to stop states and territories from implementing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or cultivation of marijuana .
That rider was tossed in favor of a long-standing one that protects only medical marijuana .
But it didn ’ t stop there .
In addition to stripping out all the riders that would have saved taxpayers money by defunding the police state that enforces cannabis laws , the Senate also added anti-cannabis legislation to the bill .
According to Newsweek , the Senate added an anti-cannabis rule that prevents Washington , D.C. , which relies on Congress for funding , from legalizing marijuana or even reducing the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ use or distribution , according to the Congressional Record .
All of these tyrannical moves against cannabis are in spite of the overwhelming support for legalization .
In 2017 , a survey found that most Americans favor legal weed .
This number is likely far larger now .
This move by lawmakers is not only Anti-American and anti-freedom , it is in direct contrast with the will of the American people .
Seems legit .
Despite the tyrants in DC attempting to keep this plant in the darkest alleys , all they are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ themselves as tyrants .
Starting with Colorado and Washington in 2012 , the government ’ s immoral , violent , and destructive war on marijuana began to come to a grinding halt .
Although measures for medical marijuana were enacted long before this , complete legalization paved the way for a revolution .
Aside from the economic benefits and increase in freedom from legal cannabis , legalizing marijuana would have a massive potential to curb the opioid crisis currently gripping the nation .
As TFTP previously reported , in a study published in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Tracey E. Barnett , Chris Delcher , and Alexander C. Wagenaar , set out to see if any association existed between Colorado ’ s legalization of marijuana and opioid-related deaths in the state .
The researchers looked at all of the available data from the year 2000 to the year 2015 .
What they discovered may come as a shock to many .
While the rest of the nation struggles with a burgeoning fatal opioid and heroin overdose crisis , the State of Colorado saw opioid deaths reduced while its population exploded @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cannabis is a “ gateway ” drug , which leads users to experiment with other drugs , leading up to the most deadly , such as heroin .
But the researchers in the study published in the American Journal of Public Health found that the availability of safe and legal cannabis actually reduced opiate deaths : It ’ s not just that study either .
There were other studies showing that deaths from opioids plummet in states with legal cannabis , and that 80 percent of cannabis users give up prescription pills .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ dependence and overdoses dropped significantly in medical cannabis states .
In January 2017 , the National Academies of Science published an exhaustive review of the scientific literature and found that one of the most promising areas in medical cannabis is for the treatment of chronic pain .
As TFTP reported in 2017 , a new experimental study showed exactly how cannabis works to treat actual opioid addiction – by actually blocking the opioid reward in the brain .
Those who continue denying the evidence , while continuing to lock people in cages for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by history .
They will not be the heroes they claim to be now .
They will be remembered as the ones responsible for mass incarceration , fostering the police state , and dealing a near-death blow to freedom .
Matt Agorist is an honorably discharged veteran of the USMC and former intelligence operator directly tasked by the NSA .
This prior experience gives him unique insight into the world of government corruption and the American police state .
Agorist has been an independent journalist for over a decade and has been featured @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Agorist is also the Editor at Large at the Free Thought Project .
Follow @ MattAgorist on Twitter , Steemit , and now on Minds .

As Americans Distracted by Trump Tweets, President Quietly Attacks Medical Pot Protections
Matt Agorist, The Free Thought Project
Waking Times
There has been a proverbial sh*t storm brewing online this week and last as President Donald Trump receives both praise and hatred for his tweets over the Roger Stone sentencing. Trump has repeatedly bashed the jury forewoman publicly over the past week since Stone was sentenced to over three years in prison for obstructing a congressional investigation. As many folks argued over the Stone debacle, behind the scenes, the Trump admin has been taking on medical marijuana — and not in a good way.
Despite what president Trump says to certain crowds on the campaign trail, his actions in office speak far louder than empty promises on the road. Trump has never openly supported marijuana legalization though he said he had no objection to US states legalizing forms of marijuana. When it came time to act, however, he did the opposite.
According to a recent report from the Sun Sentinel, the Trump Administration has proposed removing medical marijuana protections in the 2021 fiscal budget and leaked audio revealed the President’s belief that smoking weed makes you dumb.
What’s more, Marc Lotter, a top Trump campaign spokesperson who serves as director of strategic communications for Trump’s 2020 campaign, was asked about the President’s stance on changing federal cannabis laws, and minced no words when he said the devil’s lettuce has no place in the legal market.
“I think the president is looking at this from a standpoint of a parent—a parent of a young person—to make sure we keep our kids away from drugs,” Lotter said. “They need to be kept illegal. That is the federal policy.”
These remarks are in complete contrast to former statements made by the president on the campaign trail in 2016. Perhaps prison and pharmaceutical lobby dollars flowing into the GOP may be now steering Trump’s decisions.
According to a recent report from NORML:
Trump proposed ending an existing policy that protects state medical marijuana programs from Justice Department interference in addition to a provision that would continue to prohibit the District of Columbia from regulating the sale of marijuana for adult use. This is the opposite of what he said during his first campaign. With WWJ Newsradio 950 in Michigan on March 8, 2016, Trump said “I think it certainly has to be a state — I have not smoked it — it’s got to be a state decision … I do like it, you know, from a medical standpoint … it does do pretty good things. But from the other standpoint, I think that it should be up to the states.”
While the Trump admin takes on medical marijuana this month, Congress quietly killed marijuana reform in December.
Over the Christmas break, Congress voted to pass spending legislation for fiscal year 2020. Attached to the 2020 spending legislation was a list of riders intended on making the United States a less tyrannical and more freer nation in regards to cannabis. As Newsweek reported:
The riders would have prevented the federal government from interfering with legal cannabis companies and eased their access to U.S. banking services, among other things the industry has said it needs to function properly. Instead, cannabis businesses––which are fully legal in 11 states to date––will continue to face onerous levels of red tape and uncertainty well into 2020, despite their rapidly growing size and popularity among U.S. consumers. One of the most significant riders to the spending package would have prevented the U.S. Justice Department from using taxpayer dollars to stop states and territories from implementing their own laws authorizing possession, distribution or cultivation of marijuana. That rider was tossed in favor of a long-standing one that protects only medical marijuana.
But it didn’t stop there. In addition to stripping out all the riders that would have saved taxpayers money by defunding the police state that enforces cannabis laws, the Senate also added anti-cannabis legislation to the bill. According to Newsweek, the Senate added an anti-cannabis rule that prevents Washington, D.C., which relies on Congress for funding, from legalizing marijuana or even reducing the criminal penalties associated with its possession, use or distribution, according to the Congressional Record.
All of these tyrannical moves against cannabis are in spite of the overwhelming support for legalization. In 2017, a survey found that most Americans favor legal weed. This number is likely far larger now. This move by lawmakers is not only Anti-American and anti-freedom, it is in direct contrast with the will of the American people. Seems legit.
Despite the tyrants in DC attempting to keep this plant in the darkest alleys, all they are doing is prolonging the inevitable and exposing themselves as tyrants.
Starting with Colorado and Washington in 2012, the government’s immoral, violent, and destructive war on marijuana began to come to a grinding halt. Although measures for medical marijuana were enacted long before this, complete legalization paved the way for a revolution.
Aside from the economic benefits and increase in freedom from legal cannabis, legalizing marijuana would have a massive potential to curb the opioid crisis currently gripping the nation.
As TFTP previously reported, in a study published in a peer-reviewed journal, Melvin D. Livingston, Tracey E. Barnett, Chris Delcher, and Alexander C. Wagenaar, set out to see if any association existed between Colorado’s legalization of marijuana and opioid-related deaths in the state.
The researchers looked at all of the available data from the year 2000 to the year 2015. What they discovered may come as a shock to many. While the rest of the nation struggles with a burgeoning fatal opioid and heroin overdose crisis, the State of Colorado saw opioid deaths reduced while its population exploded.
It has long been stated that cannabis is a “gateway” drug, which leads users to experiment with other drugs, leading up to the most deadly, such as heroin. But the researchers in the study published in the American Journal of Public Health found that the availability of safe and legal cannabis actually reduced opiate deaths:
“Colorado’s legalization of recreational cannabis sales and use resulted in a 0.7 deaths per month…reduction in opioid-related deaths. This reduction represents a reversal of the upward trend in opioid-related deaths in Colorado.” The researchers concluded, “Legalization of cannabis in Colorado was associated with short-term reductions in opioid-related deaths.”
It’s not just that study either. There were other studies showing that deaths from opioids plummet in states with legal cannabis, and that 80 percent of cannabis users give up prescription pills. A Feb. 2017 study confirmed that opioid dependence and overdoses dropped significantly in medical cannabis states.
In January 2017, the National Academies of Science published an exhaustive review of the scientific literature and found that one of the most promising areas in medical cannabis is for the treatment of chronic pain.
As TFTP reported in 2017, a new experimental study showed exactly how cannabis works to treat actual opioid addiction – by actually blocking the opioid reward in the brain.
“This study sought to determine whether the cannabis constituent cannabidiol attenuates the development of morphine reward in the conditioned place preference paradigm. Separate groups of mice received either saline or morphine in combination with one of four doses of cannabidiol using three sets of drug/no-drug conditioning trials. After drug-place conditioning, morphine mice displayed robust place preference that was attenuated by 10 mg/kg cannabidiol. Further, when administered alone, this dose of cannabidiol was void of rewarding and aversive properties. The finding that cannabidiol blocks opioid reward suggests that this compound may be useful in addiction treatment settings.”
Those who continue denying the evidence, while continuing to lock people in cages for a plant, will ultimately be judged by history. They will not be the heroes they claim to be now. They will be remembered as the ones responsible for mass incarceration, fostering the police state, and dealing a near-death blow to freedom.
About the Author
Matt Agorist is an honorably discharged veteran of the USMC and former intelligence operator directly tasked by the NSA. This prior experience gives him unique insight into the world of government corruption and the American police state. Agorist has been an independent journalist for over a decade and has been featured on mainstream networks around the world. Agorist is also the Editor at Large at the Free Thought Project. Follow @MattAgorist on Twitter, Steemit, and now on Minds.


wakingtimes--2020-02-26--Gas Pipeline Rupture Injures 46, Forces 300 to Evacuate in Mississippi

More than 300 people were forced to evacuate and 46 were sent to the hospital after a gas pipeline ruptured in Mississippi Saturday .
The pipeline was used by the company Denbury Enterprises to transport carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide for oilfield operations , according to The Yazoo Herald .
It ruptured around 8 p.m. near the town of Satartia in Yazoo County , according to the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency ( MEMA ) .
People near the leak experienced headaches and dizziness , and some lost consciousness , the Vicksburg Daily News reported .
The leak overwhelmed Yazoo County @ @ @ @ @ @ @ those injured had to be transferred to Warren County .
Among the injured were three people discovered non-responsive in a vehicle near the leak site by emergency workers just before 10 p.m. Those taken to the hospital were expected to recover , and evacuees were allowed to return to their homes after 9:30 a.m. Sunday , The Weather Channel Reported .
Denbury shut off the gas as soon as it learned of the rupture , according to The Weather Channel .
An initial investigation suggests the rupture was a result of recent heavy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ state near the rupture have seen 23 inches of rain since Jan. 1 , the Weather Channel reported .
Jackson , the state ’ s capital , has had its wettest start to the year on record as of Feb. 22 .
Its Pearl River crested at 37 feet Feb. 17 , its third highest water level in recorded history , The New York Times reported .
More than 2,400 structures are likely to have been damaged by the flooding , authorities estimate .
This February ’ s rains have been “ 400 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Authority spokesman Jim Hopson told The Associated Press , “ and we have more coming in this week .
It ’ s kind of a never-ending battle.
” Extreme rainfall events are on the rise in the Southeast , according to the Fourth National Climate Assessment .
And heavy precipitation is expected to increase in the region due to the climate crisis .

Gas Pipeline Rupture Injures 46, Forces 300 to Evacuate in Mississippi
Olivia Rosane, EcoWatch
Waking Times
More than 300 people were forced to evacuate and 46 were sent to the hospital after a gas pipeline ruptured in Mississippi Saturday.
The pipeline was used by the company Denbury Enterprises to transport carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide for oilfield operations, according to The Yazoo Herald. It ruptured around 8 p.m. near the town of Satartia in Yazoo County, according to the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (MEMA).
“Residents in the area complained of green gas and a noxious odor,” MEMA said.
People near the leak experienced headaches and dizziness, and some lost consciousness, the Vicksburg Daily News reported. The leak overwhelmed Yazoo County emergency rooms and at least five of those injured had to be transferred to Warren County. Among the injured were three people discovered non-responsive in a vehicle near the leak site by emergency workers just before 10 p.m.
Those taken to the hospital were expected to recover, and evacuees were allowed to return to their homes after 9:30 a.m. Sunday, The Weather Channel Reported.
BREAKING UPDATE: Mayor of Sartartia and first responders tell me evacuated families have been given the all clear to return to their homes. https://t.co/bx9PaVl1Mn pic.twitter.com/c0ub8Cmg1F — Reggi Marion (@ReggiMarion) February 23, 2020
Denbury shut off the gas as soon as it learned of the rupture, according to The Weather Channel.
“[T]he affected area of the pipeline was isolated within minutes, and the leak site was evacuated as a precaution,” the company said in a statement reported by TIME.
An initial investigation suggests the rupture was a result of recent heavy rainfall in Mississippi.
“It appears the ground caved into a ravine damaging the 24-inch pipe,” MEMA said.
Parts of the state near the rupture have seen 23 inches of rain since Jan. 1, the Weather Channel reported. Jackson, the state’s capital, has had its wettest start to the year on record as of Feb. 22. Its Pearl River crested at 37 feet Feb. 17, its third highest water level in recorded history, The New York Times reported. More than 2,400 structures are likely to have been damaged by the flooding, authorities estimate.
This February’s rains have been “400 percent of normal,” Tennessee Valley Authority spokesman Jim Hopson told The Associated Press, “and we have more coming in this week. It’s kind of a never-ending battle.” Extreme rainfall events are on the rise in the Southeast, according to the Fourth National Climate Assessment. And heavy precipitation is expected to increase in the region due to the climate crisis.
About the Author
Olivia is a freelance reporter for EcoWatch.


wakingtimes--2020-02-26--Marijuana Use Among Adults Over 65 is on the Rise, Study Shows

With the legalization of cannabis in several states for medical and recreational purposes , older adults are taking an increased interest in the plant to combat numerous health issues .
According to a recent study published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine , adults 65 years and older who reported using marijuana increased from 2.4 % in 2015 to 4.2 % in 2018 .
Researchers at the New York University School of Medicine analyzed data collected from the 2015-2018 National Survey on Drug Use and Health , and identified a number of key groups among older adults who have experienced @ @ @ @ @ @ @ groups included women , racial and ethnic minorities , adults with higher family incomes , those who reported being under care of mental health treatment , and individuals with diabetes .
“ Cannabis use was very stigmatized in the past but now we have all these new laws passing about medical use of cannabis , so people are curious to see if it is something that can be used to treat their chronic disease , ” said Benjamin Han , one of the researchers who lead the study .
However , Han added @ @ @ @ @ @ @ providers to be aware of the growing cannabis use among older adults because , while it ’ s possible that cannabis use could provide health benefits , older adults are vulnerable to the potential side effects of the plant as well .
The Associated Press reports that more and more aging Americans are seeking to treat their aches , sleeplessness , and other problems that come with old age .
Many are choosing the method of cannabis-infused snacks or drinks rather than smoking .
Another study by Brightfield Group , a cannabis market @ @ @ @ @ @ @ once cannabis and CBD products were used by participants to replace Big Pharma ’ s drugs , users found themselves not wanting to use drugs , with more than ultimately half discontinuing their use .
A whopping 90 percent of people in the study reported they were likely to buy plant-derived CBD products again in the future , while many reported using a variety of CBD products rather than just one .
There are at least 850 brands of marijuana-derived CBD products on the market and 150 hemp-derived solutions , according to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that marijuana and hemp are the two variations of the cannabis plant .
While this can be confusing to some , hemp CBD oil is mostly legal thanks to a bill signed in 2018 by President Donald Trump and marijuana CBD-derived oils containing THC remain still illegal .
CBD and marijuana have shown promise as treatment for conditions like epilepsy and anxiety in early research .
Although more research is needed into CBD oil and marijuana and its effects .
Cannabis remains illegal at the federal level , but 11 states including Alaska @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Massachusetts , Maine , Michigan , Nevada , Oregon , Vermont , Washington , and the District of Columbia have laws on the books legalizing marijuana for recreational use .
Ten states also allow for the regulated sale of the plant .
Nearly 90 percent of American adults support marijuana legalization , according to a recent poll .

Marijuana Use Among Adults Over 65 is on the Rise, Study Shows
Aaron Kesel, The Mind Unleashed
Waking Times
With the legalization of cannabis in several states for medical and recreational purposes, older adults are taking an increased interest in the plant to combat numerous health issues.
According to a recent study published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, adults 65 years and older who reported using marijuana increased from 2.4% in 2015 to 4.2% in 2018.
Researchers at the New York University School of Medicine analyzed data collected from the 2015-2018 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, and identified a number of key groups among older adults who have experienced an increase in cannabis use. Those groups included women, racial and ethnic minorities, adults with higher family incomes, those who reported being under care of mental health treatment, and individuals with diabetes.
“Cannabis use was very stigmatized in the past but now we have all these new laws passing about medical use of cannabis, so people are curious to see if it is something that can be used to treat their chronic disease,” said Benjamin Han, one of the researchers who lead the study.
However, Han added that it is important for health care providers to be aware of the growing cannabis use among older adults because, while it’s possible that cannabis use could provide health benefits, older adults are vulnerable to the potential side effects of the plant as well.
“As health care providers, we don’t do a very good job of screening older patients for substance use. This is something we need to be asking, and be prepared to answer any questions about,” said Han.
The Associated Press reports that more and more aging Americans are seeking to treat their aches, sleeplessness, and other problems that come with old age. Many are choosing the method of cannabis-infused snacks or drinks rather than smoking.
Another study by Brightfield Group, a cannabis market research organization, and HelloMD found that once cannabis and CBD products were used by participants to replace Big Pharma’s drugs, users found themselves not wanting to use drugs, with more than ultimately half discontinuing their use.
A whopping 90 percent of people in the study reported they were likely to buy plant-derived CBD products again in the future, while many reported using a variety of CBD products rather than just one.
There are at least 850 brands of marijuana-derived CBD products on the market and 150 hemp-derived solutions, according to the study. It’s worth noting that marijuana and hemp are the two variations of the cannabis plant. While this can be confusing to some, hemp CBD oil is mostly legal thanks to a bill signed in 2018 by President Donald Trump and marijuana CBD-derived oils containing THC remain still illegal.
CBD and marijuana have shown promise as treatment for conditions like epilepsy and anxiety in early research. Although more research is needed into CBD oil and marijuana and its effects.
Cannabis remains illegal at the federal level, but 11 states including Alaska, California, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maine, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia have laws on the books legalizing marijuana for recreational use. Ten states also allow for the regulated sale of the plant.
Nearly 90 percent of American adults support marijuana legalization, according to a recent poll.
By Aaron Kesel | Creative Commons | TheMindUnleashed.com