US Drug Epidemic: Obama joins fight against opioid abuse -yearly in America more people die from drug overdoses than from car accidents

Lending his voice to the fight against a drug scourge that kills 28,000 Americans a year, President Obama told nearly 2,000 policymakers, professionals and parents Tuesday that the nation must provide more treatment for people addicted to opioids and reframe the addiction problem through the lens of public health.

“The most important thing we can do is reduce demand for drugs, and the only way that we reduce demand is by providing treatment and thinking about this as a public health problem and not just a criminal issue,” Obama said during a panel discussion at the 2016 National Rx Drug Abuse & Heroin Summit.

“Part of what has made it difficult to emphasize treatment over criminal justice system has to do with the fact that the populations affected in the past were ... stereotypically identified as poor and minority,” he said. “And as a consequence, the thinking was it is often a character flaw in those individuals who live in those communities. ... One of the things that’s changed ... is a recognition that this reaches everybody.”

Given its widespread reach, administration officials announced a wide range of actions to fight the epidemic, such as expanding access to drug treatment, bolstering efforts to ensure health coverage for substance abuse and mental health are on par with benefits for other medical services, investing in partnerships between law enforcement and communities, and providing guidance on using federal funds to start or expand needle exchanges.

Surgeon General Vivek Murthy,meanwhile, said he will release a report later this year on substance use, addiction and health, similar to the landmark surgeon general’s report on smoking released 50 years ago that focused public attention on that issue.

US Drug Abuse: 't’s a plague for families and communities 

They shared their news at the fifth annual summit, organized by Operation UNITE, an Eastern Kentucky anti-drug organization launched in 2003 by U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers. The summit has grown from an upstart event into the major national gathering on the issue, drawing people from both sides of the political aisle.
“This is a bipartisan issue — actually a non-partisan issue,”

Rogers, a Republican who represents Kentucky’s fifth district, said in an interview. “We’re united in the drive to stop this death rage that we’re in.”

Across the USA, more Americans die every year from drug overdoses than from motor vehicle crashes. In 2014, drug overdoses killed 47,055 people, the highest number on record, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The majority, around 28,000, involved opioids such as prescription painkillers and heroin.

In fact, heroin-related overdose deaths have more than tripled since 2010, totaling 10,500 in 2014.

Bottom line: believing that people are able to act responsibly when it comes to recreational, hard drugs or other opiods is total nonsense. Just say no to drugsand report anyone selling drugs immediately to the police.

 Read more: Obama joins fight against opioid abuse | WUSA9.com

Terrorism - ISIS: High finance: ISIS generates up to $1bn annually from trafficking Afghan heroin

Drug money is a massive source of profit for ISIS, who makes up to $1 billion annually from sales throughout its conquered lands, according to the Russian Federal Drug Control Service (FSKN).

"The area of poppy plantations is growing. This year, I think, we’ll hear news about a record-high poppy harvest, therefore a high yield of opium and heroin. So this issue should be raised not only in Moscow, but also in the UN in general, because this is a threat not only to our country, but also European security. Over the past five years the Balkan route has been split - heroin traffic now also goes through Iraqi territory," TASS quotes FSKN head Viktor Ivanov as saying.

What makes profits especially huge is that, despite not operating in Afghanistan, large quantities of poppy are being transported through those parts of Iraq the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) controls. To Ivanov, this makes possible a “huge financial sponsorship.”
 
"According to our estimates, IS makes up to $1 billion annually on Afghan heroin trafficked through its territory," he added. The FSKN in November said that the sale of Afghan heroin in Europe could generate upwards of $50 billion for the militants.

What’s more, over half of Europe’s heroin now comes from the IS, according to Ivanov.

Read more:High finance: ISIS generates up to $1bn annually from trafficking Afghan heroin — RT News

Illegal Derugs: The Netherlands Fights Drug Scare With Info and reward for info - Not Panic - by Charlotte Alfred

A spate of deaths attributed to dangerous drugs in Amsterdam has prompted a major effort by Dutch authorities to prevent further tragedy.illegal

But rather than cracking down on the people buying the drugs, the Netherlands is focusing on keeping drug users safe and tracking down the dodgy dealer.

Three British tourists have died in Amsterdam in recent months after snorting heroin they may have believed to be cocaine, according to Dutch police. More than a dozen other tourists have fallen sick, apparently after using the same drug.

Police believe that a single drug dealer is responsible. They suspect the dealer doesn't realize he is selling heroin, which is much more expensive than cocaine, a spokesman for the force told the BBC. White heroin, which is less common than brown heroin, looks like cocaine but can cause respiratory failure when snorted.

Dutch authorities are offering a reward of 15,000 euros ($18,500) for information about the dealer, who they believe may be targeting tourists.

Read more: The Netherlands Fights Drug Scare With Information, Not Panic

Norway Government Wants to Decriminalize Heroin Smoking

The Norwegian government said Friday it wants to decriminalize the smoking of heroin as a harm reduction measure, Agence-France Presse reported. Smoking heroin is less dangerous than injecting it, and the move could reduce the number of overdoses, officials said.

"The number of fatal overdoses is too high and I would say it's shameful for Norway," said Health Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere. "The way addicts consume their drugs is central to the question of overdoses. My view is that we should allow people to smoke heroin since injecting it is more dangerous," he said.

According to the Norwegian Institute for Alcohol and Drug Research (SIRUS), heroin overdoses accounted for 30% of 262 fatal overdoses in 2011. By comparison, only 168 people died in traffic accidents that year.

The city of Oslo has opened a supervised injection site in a bid to reduce overdoses, but decriminalizing heroin smoking would also help, said Stoere. User currently can't smoke at the supervised injection site.

"This isn't about some kind of legalization of heroin but about being realistic," he said."Those who are in the unfortunate situation of injecting themselves in a drug room should be able to inhale. It is less dangerous, you consume less and the risk of contracting a disease is lower," he added.

Read more: Norway Government Wants to Decriminalize Heroin Smoking | StoptheDrugWar.org

NATO rejects Russia’s demand to destroy Afghan poppy fields

 NATO and Russia clashed on 24 March over how to tackle the drug problem in Afghanistan, where Western nations have been fighting a Taliban-led insurgency for eight years. The country is the world’s largest producer of poppy seeds, a key ingredient in the manufacture of heroin. Russia is keen to pursue an aggressive eradication strategy, while Western allies fear that such an approach risks antagonizing the local population, who rely on selling poppy crops to survive, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) reported.

For more: NATO rejects Russia’s demand to destroy Afghan poppy fields - New Europe

EU-Digest/ IHT: Afghanistan: No 1 Heroin Producer in the world: "A bottomless Pit which is hard to sell in Europe" - by Celestine Bohlen

For the complete report from the International Herald Tribune click on this link

Afghanistan: No 1 Heroin Producer in the world: "A bottomless Pit which is hard to sell in Europe" - by Celestine Bohlen

As allied casualties mounted - more than 840 at last count - popular support for the war has waned in Europe, limiting the ability of government leaders to respond to urgent pleas for help from the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which leads the international force. Continued involvement hinges on a comprehensive plan for the country's reconstruction, which was the focus of an international conference in Paris last week. European leaders "want a new strategy that's more saleable at home," says Daniel Korski, author of "Afghanistan: Europe's Forgotten War" and a senior fellow at the London-based European Council on Foreign Relations. "It is part of an outreach to the domestic audience that there's more to this than the military component." When the war was started in late 2001 in response to the attacks of Sept. 11 against New York and Washington, the fight against Al Qaeda and its Taliban allies had broad support in both the United States and Europe, in stark contrast to the more divisive, costlier and deadlier Iraq war that began two years later. Since then, Afghanistan has increasingly been caught in a spiral of violence and corruption, fueled by a booming opium trade that has put local officials in thrall to a criminal narcotics racket.

Heroin production in Afghanistan has tripled since 2001 and now accounts for 90 percent of the world supply, according to U.S. figures. Profit from the drug trade helps fund Taliban insurgents, who have stepped up attacks. In 2003, there were three suicide bombings. In 2007, there were 130.