Tag: drugs

The U.S. Keeps Killing Venezuelans on Boats. Is That Legal? | The Daily

Posted on by Lone Candle

Trump’s strikes on drug boats appear to be illegal. These military men and women are likely breaking the law by following orders.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYAwwZDLUy4

Donald Trump Is Not a Peace President

Posted on by Lone Candle

“The two Trump administrations have launched as many airstrikes at overseas targets as any other administration. Although childish and superficial, his renaming the Department of Defense as the Department of War doesn’t telegraph a love of peace. Nor does his authorized strike on a Venezuelan boat in the Caribbean. His policies in the Middle East have amounted to little more than giving Israel the greenlight to do as it pleases. Then there were his attacks on nuclear sites in Iran and his constant threats to send troops to root out cartels in Mexico.

Whether or not you agree with these policies, they don’t adhere to any principled non-interventionist philosophy. And that takes us back to Russia and Ukraine. The problem with appeasement is that it emboldens the aggressor rather than secures lasting and just peace. No serious person is calling for American troops in Ukraine, but Trump’s insistence on blaming Ukraine and not pushing Russia for serious concessions has escalated the conflict.”

https://reason.com/2025/09/19/donald-trump-is-not-a-peace-president/

Americans Like Drugs. Killing Drug Traffickers Won’t Change That.

Posted on by Lone Candle

“Most U.S. drug traffickers are Americans, but the president is ordering extrajudicial maritime killings while ignoring the domestic demand that drives the market.”

https://reason.com/2025/09/19/americans-like-drugs-killing-drug-traffickers-wont-change-that/

FDA to approve drug to treat autism symptoms

Posted on by Lone Candle

“The Food and Drug Administration plans to approve a new use for the generic drug leucovorin in the coming weeks to treat kids with “cerebral folate deficiency and autistic symptoms,” according to a POLITICO Magazine opinion piece by federal health leaders published on Monday.

The officials — FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, National Institutes for Health Director Jay Bhattacharya and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz — pointed to research they say suggests leucovorin, also known as folinic acid, may help children who are deficient in folate, a vitamin. They said there was evidence leucovorin, which is currently used to treat cancer and anemia patients, can help children with autism improve their verbal communication. But they emphasized in the opinion piece that the drug “is not a cure for autism.”

While scientists say leucovorin, a form of vitamin B, could be promising for a subset of autism patients, they cautioned that the current data is limited and the drug needs more research.”

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/22/fda-to-approve-prescription-drug-to-treat-certain-children-with-symptoms-of-autism-00575580

Another Military Strike on a Speedboat Confirms Trump’s Policy of Murdering Suspected Drug Smugglers

Posted on by Lone Candle

“Although Trump frames his unprecedented use of the U.S. military to summarily execute drug suspects as “self-defense,” it plainly does not fit that description. By his own account, he has unilaterally decided to impose the death penalty on alleged drug traffickers for the sake of deterrence. That policy represents a stark departure from both military norms and criminal justice principles.

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The Trump administration “has not even seriously tried to present a legal argument to justify the premeditated killing of the people aboard these two vessels,” former State Department lawyer Brian Finucane told The New York Times. “The U.S. president does not have a license to kill suspected drug smugglers on that basis alone.”

Rear Adm. Donald J. Guter, who served as the Navy’s top judge advocate general from 2000 to 2002, concurred. “Trump is normalizing what I consider to be an unlawful strike,” he said.

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Trump does not claim the men whose deaths he ordered were engaged in literal attacks on the United States. The justification in both cases was that the targets were “transporting illegal narcotics,” which Trump dubiously equates with violent aggression.”

https://reason.com/2025/09/16/another-military-strike-on-a-speedboat-confirms-trumps-policy-of-murdering-suspected-drug-smugglers/

Trump Has a Habit of Asserting Broad, Unreviewable Authority

Posted on by Lone Candle

“Whether he is waging the drug war, imposing tariffs, deporting alleged gang members, or fighting crime, the president thinks he can do “anything I want to do.””

https://reason.com/2025/09/17/trump-has-a-habit-of-asserting-broad-unreviewable-authority/

Trump’s Drug Boat Drone Strike Shows How ‘Terrorism’ Makes Everyone Killable

Posted on by Lone Candle

“Vice President J.D. Vance was almost incredulous when a reporter asked him what “legal authority” the Trump administration used to blow up an alleged drug boat off the coast of Venezuela with a drone on Tuesday. “There are people who are bringing—literal terrorists—who are bringing deadly drugs into our country,” Vance said.

Why are they “literal terrorists”? Because the administration said so. President Donald Trump declared just after taking office that he would be designating drug cartels as terrorist organizations. One of them was Tren de Aragua, the organization accused of sending out the drug boat. (The administration tends to play fast and loose with labeling things Tren de Aragua; for all its criminal activities, the gang is not known to smuggle cocaine.) After the drone strike, multiple cabinet officials made sure to use the phrase “narco-terrorist organization.”

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A terrorist can be anyone the White House declares: an American journalist, a suspected drug smuggler, or another government. The only requirement seems to be that the terrorist is located outside of U.S. soil.

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Deploying uniformed troops against street crime, flying (unarmed) Predator drones over protesters, blowing up suspected smugglers instead of arresting them—these images are breaking down the political distinction between the “battlefield” and the “homefront.” Last week, U.S. Border Patrol agents were photographed training with mortars during live-fire exercises in Alaska. Since when do American police need artillery?”

https://reason.com/2025/09/04/trumps-drug-boat-drone-strike-shows-how-terrorism-makes-everyone-killable/