Federal drug prosecutions fall to lowest level in decades as Trump shifts focus to deportations

[essentialsaltes]

So far this year, about 10% fewer people have been prosecuted for drug violations compared to the same period of 2024, court records show, a drop of about 1,200 cases and the slowest rate since at least the late 1990s. The pullback was more dramatic for the types of conspiracy and money-laundering cases often used to pursue higher-level traffickers. The number of people charged with money-laundering dropped by 24%, according to Reuters' analysis.

 

[iluvatar5150]

Who knew MAGA would be the legalization party?

 

[ThatRobGuy]

Who knew MAGA would be the legalization party?

There actually are some indicators that could point a little bit in that direction

Cannabis Market Explodes on Trump’s Surprise CBD Endorsement

Cannabis stocks rallied Monday after President Donald Trump said cannabidiol could “revolutionize senior healthcare” and signaled support for reclassifying marijuana.

wibc.com

If it turns out, after decades and decades of pot reform discussions, that the Blue team lets the Red team beat them to legalizing weed at a federal level, that could produce some very interesting voter blocs in the coming years.

 

[FireDragon76]

There actually are some indicators that could point a little bit in that direction

Cannabis Market Explodes on Trump’s Surprise CBD Endorsement

Cannabis stocks rallied Monday after President Donald Trump said cannabidiol could “revolutionize senior healthcare” and signaled support for reclassifying marijuana.

wibc.com

If it turns out, after decades and decades of pot reform discussions, that the Blue team lets the Red team beat them to legalizing weed at a federal level, that could produce some very interesting voter blocs in the coming years.

More "bro science" in line with MAHA, I am afraid. Another excuse to gut real healthcare.

The medical benefits of CBD for pain management may be real, but there's also alot of nonsense marketing marijuana as a panacea.

 

[BPPLEE]

Dr. Feelgood has been medicating people for decades

 

[ThatRobGuy]

More "bro science" in line with MAHA, I am afraid. Another excuse to gut real healthcare.

The medical benefits of CBD for pain management may be real, but there's also alot of nonsense marketing marijuana as a panacea.

Possibly...

But that wasn't the tune legalization advocates were singing back in the 2000's when they were using cancer patients and chronic pain sufferers as fodder to try to get their legal weed.


And Trump's signaling that there's consideration to re-schedule at at the federal level still accomplishes a few things (if he goes through with it)
1) removes barriers to doing further actual research on it
2) eases future federal sentencing, and establishes a precedent for currently incarcerated people to petition for relief on their existing sentencing

(which are two ideas that are still popular with both 18-25 and minority demographics)


As far as "gutting real healthcare"...I'd argue that we haven't had "real" (by "real", I mean comprehensive) healthcare in quite some time.

The status quo has been very little to no focus on nutrition/prevention, and a lot of focus on developing new drugs to help compensate for poor choices.

 

[FireDragon76]

Possibly...

But that wasn't the tune legalization advocates were singing back in the 2000's when they were using cancer patients and chronic pain sufferers as fodder to try to get their legal weed.


And Trump's signaling that there's consideration to re-schedule at at the federal level still accomplishes a few things (if he goes through with it)
1) removes barriers to doing further actual research on it
2) eases future federal sentencing, and establishes a precedent for currently incarcerated people to petition for relief on their existing sentencing

(which are two ideas that are still popular with both 18-25 and minority demographics)


As far as "gutting real healthcare"...I'd argue that we haven't had "real" (by "real", I mean comprehensive) healthcare in quite some time.

The status quo has been very little to no focus on nutrition/prevention, and a lot of focus on developing new drugs to help compensate for poor choices.

MAHA offers a boutique, individualized, and gimmicky view of healthcare as a smokescreen from addressing more systemic problems that contribute to high healthcare costs and poor health. Cardiometabolic disease with gimmicks like grass fed beef and substituting beef tallow for vegetable oil in junk food, measles with a little cod liver oil, etc.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

MAHA offers a boutique, individualized, and gimmicky view of healthcare as a smokescreen from addressing more systemic problems that contribute to high healthcare costs and poor health. Cardiometabolic disease's solutions can be reduced to gimmicks like grass fed beef and substituting beef tallow for vegetable oil in junk food, measles can be handled with a little cod liver oil, etc.

The reason those gimmicks exist is because there's a "nutritional guidance vacuum" of sorts with most doctors. Not because they don't know many of the answers, but probably because they're tired of fighting/arguing with their patients about it.

When there is legitimate nutrition information provided, people don't seem to like the answer.

It's not a particularly tough code to crack, but it does involve exercising some judgment and willpower. We all know that fast food, cake, soda, and sitting in front of a TV all day isn't healthy.

The...
"you can be healthier by cooking your tater tots in tallow instead of wesson oil"
is appealing the to same mindset as...
"you can lose weight with this Ozempic injection"
"you can lower your cholesterol with a statin"
etc...

That mindset being: "I want to achieve this better health outcome, but I don't want to sacrifice any of the foods I like, and I still want to be able to eat until I feel stuffed every meal"



The issue with fad diets and wellness trends (that make them look more credible than they should) are that they are less unhealthy than the "standard American diet" in most cases.


In discussing the "carnivore/keto diet" and similar ones on here before, I've used a smoking analogy to compare it to.

If someone was smoking 40 cigs per day, and cuts that back to 5 cigs per day... they're going to feel better, cough a little less, not get quite as easily winded. That fact that the feel better now compared to before doesn't mean smoking 5 cigs per day is a "health tip the medical establishment doesn't want you know"

Likewise if a person was eating pizza & fast food 5 times a week and eating a bunch of sugary snacks and sodas... if that person switched to the "Shawn Baker/Paul Saladino" diet, they probably will lose weight and feel like they have more energy. That doesn't mean eating steak, butter, and eggs at every meal is a good idea or optimal, but when looked at along side the "norm", it's probably going to feel like an improvement in comparison.

 

[wing2000]

So far this year, about 10% fewer people have been prosecuted for drug violations compared to the same period of 2024, court records show, a drop of about 1,200 cases and the slowest rate since at least the late 1990s. The pullback was more dramatic for the types of conspiracy and money-laundering cases often used to pursue higher-level traffickers. The number of people charged with money-laundering dropped by 24%, according to Reuters' analysis.

Imagine that. Diverting federal resources from illegal drug investigations will naturally lead to less prosecutions. It will be interesting to see the annual data for 2025...

 

[Pommer]

Imagine that. Diverting federal resources from illegal drug investigations will naturally lead to less prosecutions. It will be interesting to see the annual data for 2025...

On the other hand, deporting people who commit less crime, leaves a population that commits more crime, the rates of crime will go up, just based on that.
Winning.

 

[FireDragon76]

The reason those gimmicks exist is because there's a "nutritional guidance vacuum" of sorts with most doctors. Not because they don't know many of the answers, but probably because they're tired of fighting/arguing with their patients about it.

When there is legitimate nutrition information provided, people don't seem to like the answer.

It's not a particularly tough code to crack, but it does involve exercising some judgment and willpower. We all know that fast food, cake, soda, and sitting in front of a TV all day isn't healthy.

The...
"you can be healthier by cooking your tater tots in tallow instead of wesson oil"
is appealing the to same mindset as...
"you can lose weight with this Ozempic injection"
"you can lower your cholesterol with a statin"
etc...

At least Ozempic is effective for weight loss. There's no good evidence eating more beef tallow would be of any use for combatting heart disease or diabetes - quite the contrary.

That mindset being: "I want to achieve this better health outcome, but I don't want to sacrifice any of the foods I like, and I still want to be able to eat until I feel stuffed every meal"



The issue with fad diets and wellness trends (that make them look more credible than they should) are that they are less unhealthy than the "standard American diet" in most cases.


In discussing the "carnivore/keto diet" and similar ones on here before, I've used a smoking analogy to compare it to.

If someone was smoking 40 cigs per day, and cuts that back to 5 cigs per day... they're going to feel better, cough a little less, not get quite as easily winded. That fact that the feel better now compared to before doesn't mean smoking 5 cigs per day is a "health tip the medical establishment doesn't want you know"

Likewise if a person was eating pizza & fast food 5 times a week and eating a bunch of sugary snacks and sodas... if that person switched to the "Shawn Baker/Paul Saladino" diet, they probably will lose weight and feel like they have more energy. That doesn't mean eating steak, butter, and eggs at every meal is a good idea or optimal, but when looked at along side the "norm", it's probably going to feel like an improvement in comparison.

Diet alone isn't the only reason Americans are obese and have poorer health. They also walk less, because in many places in the US, the physical infrastructure is designed for cars, not people. People in England eat almost as lousy diets as Americans do, but they walk several thousand steps more on average, and have proportionally lower rates of obesity.

Also, MAHA is more than diet. They promote dubious notions like cod liver oil for measles instead of vaccination, or tylenol causing autism, etc.. It's not only a lack of understanding of systems complexity and abstract reasoning, but basic lack of critical thinking.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

Diet alone isn't the only reason Americans are obese and have poorer health.

But it's the main reason....

People in England eat almost as lousy diets as Americans do, but they walk several thousand steps more on average, and have proportionally lower rates of obesity.

A) No they don't, I've provided the screenshots before of the caloric differences between USA foods and their UK counterparts, if their version of the same junk food has 40-70% fewer calories, that's a game changer.

B) "Steps" differences doesn't account for the obesity differences. 10,000 steps burns about 400-500 calories. (provided your weight is between 160 and 300 pounds).

Per Stanford University

The Germans having and average of 5200 steps per day vs. the American 4700 steps per day doesn't explain the difference of their 19% obesity rate vs. ours that's north of 40%.

Also, MAHA is more than diet. They promote dubious notions like cod liver oil for measles instead of vaccination, or tylenol causing autism, etc.. You have not only a lack of understanding of systems theory and high order thinking, but basic lack of critical thinking.

Taking Tylenol during pregnancy associated with elevated risks for autism, ADHD

In analysis of umbilical cord blood, researchers discover that elevated levels of acetaminophen is associated with up to three times the risk of autism, ADHD diagnosis

hub.jhu.edu

(I'm saying this a pro-vaccine person who just got my flu shot at 2pm today )

The "Tylenol may increase autism" isn't a mere fabrication... Johns Hopkins is a reputable medical institution, wouldn't you agree?


That aside, the "cod liver in place of vaccination" has nothing to do with the health issues that are plaguing most people.

Even during the pre-vaccine era where a measles vaccine wasn't an option, measles deaths didn't scratch the surface of the number of people dying from obesity and blood sugar issues.

A) Cod liver oil has been proven to support immune function...it may not be as good as a vaccine for certain respiratory viruses, but none the less... it's not as wacky as you're making it seem
B) We're still living in the post-Covid bizarro world were land whales act like they're more "health-conscience" than fit people based on the number of jabs they get.

 

[BPPLEE]

Imagine that. Diverting federal resources from illegal drug investigations will naturally lead to less prosecutions. It will be interesting to see the annual data for 2025...

Blowing up the shipments on the way to the US may prove to be more effective

 

[wing2000]

Blowing up the shipments on the way to the US may prove to be more effective

...Cartels will adjust their opertaions as they always do.

 

[BPPLEE]

...Cartels will adjust their opertaions as they always do.

Then we have to adjust as well

 

[Pommer]

Then we have to adjust as well

Or legalize drug use and regulate it.
Them that want to continue to take drugs will be taking the drugs, why make it more dangerous and illegal than it needs to be?

 

[BPPLEE]

Or legalize drug use and regulate it.
Them that want to continue to take drugs will be taking the drugs, why make it more dangerous and illegal than it needs to be?

You want to legalize fentanyl?