WDBD FOX 40 Jackson MS Local News, Weather and Sports

WDBD Television for Jackson, MS

    fox-news/health/mental-health/drug-and-substance-abuse

    Florida Gov. DeSantis signs bill increasing punishments for fentanyl trafficking as opioid crisis worsens

    Families speak out on fentanyl overdose deaths

    Founder of Families Against Fentanyl Jim Rauh and Sandy Snodgrass, who lost her son to a fentanyl overdose, joined ‘Fox & Friends First’ to discuss the nationwide drug crisis and what they hope to see from the Biden administration.

    NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

    Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill Thursday cracking down on drug trafficking, increasing the mandatory minimum sentence for those convicted of dealing fentanyl and making the sale of methamphetamine resulting in death a capital felony punishable by life in prison or execution. 

    “We can and must lower the demand for drugs through education and outreach programs, but we also must fight the supply of drugs and crack down on dealers and traffickers, particularly of substances like fentanyl,” DeSantis said at a press conference Thursday alongside Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd and Seminole County Sheriff Dennis Lemma. 

    Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida, speaks during a news conference at a in Pembroke Pines, Florida. (Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

    The mandatory minium sentence for selling 4-14 grams of fentanyl is increased to 7 years, while the mandatory minimum for selling 14-28 grams is bumped up to 20 years under the bill, HB 95. 

    US DRUG OVERDOSES TOPPED 100,000 IN 2021, REACHING ALL-TIME HIGH: CDC

    DeSantis cited the fentanyl overdoses of several U.S. Military Academy cadets in Miami earlier this year while they were on spring break after they consumed what authorities believe is fentanyl-laced cocaine. 

    “We’re going to do all we can to decrease the prevalence of fentanyl in Florida, and that means if you’re dealing fentanyl, you are killing people you’re going to be put in jail,” DeSantis said. 

    Distributing methamphetamine that results in a fatal overdose will also be a felony murder under the new bill. 

    FEDERAL JUDGE EXPECTED TO RULE ON TITLE 42 WITHIN DAYS

    More than 107,000 people died from drug overdoses nationwide last year, about 71,000 of which were caused by fentanyl and other synthetic opioids. 

    A reporter holds up an example of the amount of fentanyl that can be deadly after a news conference about deaths from fentanyl exposure, at DEA Headquarters in Arlington, Virginia.  (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

    DeSantis blamed the increased flow of fentanyl and other drugs coming across the southern border for the rise in overdose deaths. 

    “If you look at what’s going on at the southern border right now. I don’t think we’ve ever seen anything like this, with the massive numbers of people that are coming across the border illegally,” DeSantis said. “It’s fueling a massive infusion of fentanyl into this country.”

    BORDER PATROL SEIZES $18M OF METH IN SINGLE BUST ON MEXICAN TRUCK DRIVER ENTERING TEXAS

    Customs and Border Protection seized about 10,600 pounds of fentanyl at the southern border in fiscal year 2021, an increase of 130% over 2020, according to CBP data. 

    The number of migrants coming across the southern border has also surged recently. Nearly 235,000 migrants were encountered by border agents at the southern border in April, the highest number the Department of Homeland Security has ever recorded. 

    Immigrant men from many countries are taken into custody by U.S. Border Patrol agents at the U.S.-Mexico border on December 07, 2021 in Yuma, Arizona.  (John Moore/Getty Images)

    DeSantis has taken aim at Biden over the surge in border crossings, accusing the president this week of “violating his oath of office” by not cracking down on the surge. 

    CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

    “Those border communities are just getting killed down in southern Texas with everything coming in, DeSantis said at a press conference Wednesday. 

    “Biden should be given an honorary membership in the Mexican drug cartels because nobody has done more to help the cartels than Biden with his open border policies.”

    Mac Miller overdose death: LA drug dealer sentenced to 17.5 years in prison for fentanyl distribution

    NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

    A man was sentenced Monday to 17.5 years in prison and five years of supervised released in Los Angeles federal court in connection to the 2018 overdose death of 26-year-old rapper Mac Miller.

    Stephen Andrew Walter, 48 and of Westwood, California, is now the second drug dealer to be sentenced to more than a decade behind bars over Miller’s death. 

    Ryan Michael Reavis, 39, was sentenced in April to nearly 11 years in prison after previously pleading guilty to a single count of distribution of fentanyl. The case against a third dealer, Cameron James Pettit, 30, of Los Angeles, remains pending as prosecutors sought last October to postpone it. 

    DRUG DEALER WHO SOLD MAC MILLER FENTANYL-LACED PILLS SENTENCED TO MORE THAN A DECADE IN PRISON 

    Mac Miller performs at the Okeechobee Music and Arts Festival in Florida in 2016. Miller died of an overdose in Los Angeles in 2018.  (Rolando Otero/South Florida Sun Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

    Walter struck a deal with federal prosecutors in October to serve 17 years if he pleaded guilty to one count of fentanyl distribution, a reduced charge from the original distribution of fentanyl resulting in death, the Los Angeles Times reported. But U.S. District Judge Otis D. Wright II rejected the agreement Monday, arguing that Walter continued to distribute dangerous substances after Miller’s death. 

    “The court has elected not to accept that plea agreement. So, sir, if you want, at this point, you can withdraw your guilty plea and go to trial,” the judge said Monday, according to Rolling Stone. “I may as well lay it out, okay. When you continue to engage in this activity even after your activities killed someone, I’m having a tough time not staying within the guidelines.”

    Wright said Miller’s “celebrity” status had nothing to do with his decision to move closer to the maximum sentence of 20 years for the charge.  

    Mac Miller died of an overdose in 2018. (AP)

    “This was a human being who unwittingly took something that will flat out kill you, and I have no idea why we have people out here dealing in this stuff, peddling this stuff,” the judge said. “This is what upsets me. Everybody now knows this stuff will kill you.” 

    Miller, a rapper from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, whose real name was Malcolm James Myers McCormick, was found unresponsive by his assistant inside his Los Angeles home on Sept. 7, 2018. 

    Los Angeles County Medical Examiner and Coroner ruled the Miller died from an accidental overdose caused by a lethal cocktail of fentanyl, cocaine, and alcohol, FOX 5 San Diego reported. 

    CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

    The indictment says Walter provided pills containing fentanyl to Reavis and Pettit for distribution. Pettit is accused of later selling cocaine, Xanax and 10 “blues” — counterfeit oxycodone pills laced with fentanyl – to Miller about three days before the rapper died, according to the Times. In court, Walter apologized to Miller’s family but claimed he did not know he supplied the pills that caused the rapper’s death until his arrest

    Pharmaceutical fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine, is sold through illegal drug markets for its heroin-like effect and is the primary driver of overdose deaths in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids were nearly 12 times higher in 2019 than in 2013 and have accelerated since the pandemic. 

    Colorado mom finds crack pipe in Walmart grocery delivery in front of 3-year-old daughter

    NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

    A Colorado mother said she found a crack pipe while unpacking a Walmart grocery delivery order with her 3-year-old daughter. 

    Tesia Britt said the pipe was in a bag next to a container of pineapple juice, according to Fox 31 in Denver. That’s when she said she immediately called her husband. 

    HUMAN REMAINS DISCOVERED IN COLORADO 28 YEARS AGO ID’D AS MISSING WASHINGTON WOMAN

    “I said this is a crack pipe in the bag, and he looked and he’s like, yeah, it really is, you’re not crazy,” she said. Britt told FOX31 the groceries were delivered by a third-party service used by Walmart.

    A pipe for crack cocaine use, a needle for heroin use and a pipe for methamphetamine. A mother in Colorado said she found a crack pipe in her groceries that were delivered from Walmart.  (FILE- Reuters/David Ryder)

    She said she was “angry” and “disappointed.”

    Fox News has reached out to the retail giant. Walmart told Fox31 in Denevr that it is has investigated the incident.

    “We strive to provide every customer with a positive delivery experience,” a company statement said. “While uncommon, we take customer complaints like this very seriously. Upon learning of what happened, we immediately deactivated the third-party driver and encourage any customer who encounters anything unsatisfactory to reach out to customer care.”

    Walmart did not identify the service that was used to deliver the groceries. Britt said she will still order her groceries but will check each bag moving forward. 

    CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

    “You shouldn’t have to worry about when you have groceries delivered that you can’t even let your kids help anymore, because you don’t know what you’re going to find in these bags,” she said.

    Fentanyl awareness group asks Biden admin to track poisoning, overdose deaths like COVID-19 deaths

    NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

    Families Against Fentanyl, an organization raising awareness about the dangers of the deadly synthetic opioid, are asking the Biden administration to count fentanyl poisoning and overdose deaths the same way it counted COVID-19 deaths.

    The organization, which is in regular communication with hundreds of individuals impacted by the opioid crisis, sent a letter to Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky on May 10, which the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) designated as National Fentanyl Awareness Day for the first time this year.

    The letter calls on Becerra and Walensky to “publish usable provisional fentanyl fatality data within six weeks of death,” noting that a current six-month lag prevents experts “from anticipating coming trends, and from responding appropriately to the existing situation.”

    Families Against Fentanyl is asking the Biden administration to track fentanyl poisoning and overdose deaths — including suspected overdose deaths — in the same way it tracked COVID-19 deaths. 

    The group is also encouraging the administration to publish data on the number of times naloxone, a life-saving medication that reverses the effects of fentanyl poisoning, saves a life, as well as data on non-fatal fentanyl poisonings.

    FENTANYL OVERDOSE DEATHS BECOME NO. 1 CAUSE OF DEATH AMONG US ADULTS, AGES 18-45: ‘A NATIONAL EMERGENCY’ 

    “The danger of it is unbelievable. The cost of manufacture is super cheap. And we’re trying to stop the fentanyl poisoning of Americans,” Jim Rauh, founder of Families Against Fentanyl, told Fox News Digital in an interview. “We’re trying to have influence over the CDC to be able to derive the data in real–time to see exactly what’s happening. This has become the number one killer of 18 to 45-year-olds, and that demographic is widening. We should be able to see what that is.”

    Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that can be deadly even in very small amounts, and other drugs — including heroin, meth and marijuana — can be laced with the dangerous drug. Mexico and China are the primary sources for the flow of fentanyl into the United States, according to the DEA. 

    The shadow of U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is cast on a photograph of heroin and fentanyl during a news conference the U.S. Capitol March 22, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Chip Somodevilla)

    Drug traffickers are increasingly mixing fentanyl with other illicit drugs to drive addiction and create repeat customers, according to experts.

    “We’ve been seeing counterfeit pills. [Fentanyl traffickers] buy pill presses, so it looks exactly like a Zanzibar or Xanax,” said Dr. Roneet Lev, an emergency room physician and former chief medical officer of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. “And people think that’s what they’re buying, but they’re buying it not from a pharmacy. And there’s no Xanax in there. There’s fentanyl, and they’ve seen it even in marijuana products, vaping products. So really, anywhere people get drugs outside a pharmacy, they are at risk for fentanyl.”

    SUSPECTED VIRGINIA DRUG DEALER ARRESTED AFTER 14-YEAR-OLD DIES OF FENTYNAL OVERDOSE FROM COUNTERFEIT PERCOCET

    Families Against Fentanyl first reported CDC data showing that fatal fentanyl poisonings surged to the leading cause of death for adults between the ages of 18 and 45 between 2020 and 2021. Nearly 79,000 people between 18 and 45 years old — 37,208 in 2020 and 41,587 in 2021 — died of fentanyl overdoses in that time frame.

    Paula Verrengia is shown at her home in Fountain Valley on Thursday, November 4, 2021, with a photo of her son Sam Doxakis on his graduation from Fountain Valley High. Doxakis died of a fentanyl overdose in March 2018. (Leonard Ortiz/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register)

    U.S. overdose deaths have doubled in 30 states over the past two years. The U.S. recorded more than 100,000 overdose deaths between May 2020 to April 2021. Over 64% of those overdose deaths are due to synthetic opioids like fentanyl and its analogs, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

    Between November 2020 and November 2021, more than 107,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in the U.S. Around 66% of those deaths involved synthetic opioids like fentanyl, though many people who do overdose were not aware they were taking fentanyl. 

    US OVERDOSE DEATHS TOP 100K IN 2021, REACHING ALL-TIME HIGH: CDC

    Victims, many of whom are minors or young adults, have died from ingesting fentanyl in illicit pills marketed as Xanax and other non-lethal drugs but which contain the dangerous opioid unbeknownst to buyers. Among teenagers, U.S. fentanyl deaths tripled over two years. Deaths among Black teenagers in the U.S. increased five-fold. Reports suggest some victims may be purchasing illicit drugs and pills containing the opioid on social media apps like Snapchat.

    Amy Neville (3rd L) and Jaime Puerta (2nd R) whose children died from fentanyl poisoning protest against illicit drug availability to children on the app Snapchat near the Snap, Inc. headquarters, in Santa Monica, California on January 21, 2022.  ( Apu GOMES / AFP)

    Months-old babies, law enforcement officers and even maintenance workers are dying from accidental exposure to the drug.

    WHAT IS NARCAN? THE LIFESAVING TREATMENT THAT CAN REVERSE OPIOID OVERDOSE SYMPTOMSv

    “Now we’re seeing kids, middle-school-age, dying like crazy, and they’re in no way doing anything other than experiment,” said Rauh, who lost his own son to fentanyl poisoning in 2015. “These aren’t drug users. These are just innocent people who are being allured to the temptation of risk for … excitement, like any young person does. And so we’re pushing the government to give us real-time data so they can’t ignore what’s happening to us.”

    He noted that the crisis is costing taxpayers “trillions of dollars.”

    Jim and Thomas Rauh. (Families Against Fentanyl)

    Rauh’s son, Thomas, was instantly poisoned from fentanyl manufactured in China. The U.S. government indicted the organization that manufactured the fentanyl responsible for Thomas’s poisoning, but it now operates in Mexico “with the Chinese government’s knowledge and assistance,” according to Rauh. 

    Only two milligrams of fentanyl is considered a “potentially lethal dose,” and is particularly dangerous for someone who does not have a tolerance to opioid according to the DEA.

    DRUG DEALER WHO SOLD MAC MILLER FENTANYL-LACED PILLS SENTENCED TO MORE THAN A DECADE IN PRISON

    The number of pills seized by law enforcement increased almost 50-fold from the first quarter of 2018 to the last quarter of 2021, with pills representing over a quarter of illicit fentanyl seizures by the end of 2021. Seizures of fentanyl powder also increased from 657 pounds to about 5,326 pounds, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

    The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is seeing a record number of seizures of fentanyl.  (DEA)

    Emergency room doctors are seeing the impact of record fentanyl poisoning deaths and overdoses first-hand. 

    TEXAS SEIZED ENOUGH FENTANYL TO KILL 200 MILLION PEOPLE THIS YEAR ALONE, OFFICIALS SAY

    “I’m an emergency physician, and I’m going into work today, and I’ll … treat somebody who has an opioid use disorder and treat their addiction or treat their overdose and be lucky to do so because our medical examiners here in San Diego see two-and-a-half deaths a day from fentanyl,” Dr. Lev said. “So I’m very jealous of the consorted effort that we’ve had on COVID, an infectious disease. And I would very much want to see the same type of methodology, approach, focus data on the issue of overdoses.”

    Lev added that she has not seen a single fentanyl overdose patient who did not “start with marijuana,” which is why she is calling for better education about the harmful effects of drugs and other prevention efforts in schools and communities. 

    A man reads an alert on fentanyl before being interviewed by John Jay College of Criminal Justice students. (Spencer Platt)

    REP. GOODEN CALLS ON BIDEN TO ACT ON FENTANYL EPIDEMIC FUELED BY BORDER CRISIS: ‘LISTEN TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE’

    Rauh, Lev and some members of Congress are also calling on the administration to label fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction (WMD) in order to strengthen punishments for entities and individuals who distribute the drug.

    “I think they should declare this a weapon of mass destruction immediately,” Rauh said, “and have our military intelligence go after them. We can break the Foreign Sovereign Immunity Act and go after the perpetrators in other countries. We can seize money. We can stop ships at sea. We can have a real effect on the supply.”

    CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP 

    He also added that schools should be educating children about the dangers of the drug and carrying Narcan, or noloxone, in the event of an emergency. In January, a 13-year-old Connecticut boy died after being exposed to fentanyl at a middle school. 

    About 30,000 people have signed a petition from Families Against Fentanyl calling on the U.S. government to designate the drug as a WMD.

    Fox News’ Bradford Betz contributed to this report.

    California’s drug cartel crisis fueling national fentanyl epidemic

    NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. – California has a vast network of highways and interstates that run through nearly the entire country. Law enforcement sources say because of weak drug laws in the state coupled with the access to major highway systems and its proximity to the border, California has become a prime location for cartels to set up shop and distribute deadly drugs. 

    ‘YOU DON’T KNOW THE WHOLE DARK SIDE’

    Inside a small warehouse that reeks of marijuana just outside the capital city in California, the reality Sacramento County residents are faced with is exposed. The floors in one room are covered with thousands of pounds of illegally grown marijuana. Hundreds of guns, some semi-automatic that were used for murder, hang from steel bars that line an entire room, waiting to be destroyed. In another garage–style warehouse room, there are thousands of boxes filled with paperwork and evidence gathered at crime scenes. 

    Hundreds of boxes filled with deadly drugs and thousands of pounds of illegal marijuana inside a garage-style warehouse room where the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office keeps evidence. (Fox News)

    “You don’t know the whole dark side of things,” an undercover major narcotics detective who works in California told Fox News. “What’s presented into their view is only a fraction of what’s going on.” 

    CALIFORNIA COP’S DEATH LINKED TO ‘FENTANYL TOXICITY,’ CORONER SAYS

    “They’re called corridors. You have LA and Southern California. Those are main hubs where they’ll have several locations spread all over. Whenever they have narcotics that enter the country, they’ll be sent to stash locations,” the detective said.

    These stash locations include Fresno, Sacramento and San Jose, for example. 

    “The narcotics will drop there, and that’s a hub for the rest of the United States. You have your I-5 corridor that runs all the way up California. You have other corridors that run east from southern California,” he explained.

    A narcotics detective who investigates high-ranking cartel members across California explains that this is a growing issue across the country and that California has become a prime location for cartel members to set up and distribute deadly drugs. (Fox News)

    In the most recently available National Drug Threat Assessment report published by the Drug Enforcement Administration, California has 10 cities where cartel operations do business. The different cartel groups are classified as Transitional Criminal Organizations, according to the DEA. 

    “Mexican TCOs continue to control lucrative smuggling corridors, primarily across the SWB [southwest border] and maintain the greatest drug trafficking influence in the United States,” the report states. 

    The cartel members also have used California to grow marijuana illegally. 

    “The wealth that can be built off of growing on what they believe is a relatively safe place to grow without harsh penalties for that, yet they can further their organization in very large ways financially,” the detective said. 

    California has a vast network of interstates and highways that stretch across the country, and cartels use these to distribute drugs to surrounding states. (Fox News)

    Beyond growing illegal marijuana, the cartel also has fueled the fentanyl crisis, and law enforcement officials across the country have had to shift some efforts to combat it. 

    “It’s so unstable, very cheap. You can buy a fentanyl pill for three to five dollars on the street, and in that one pill for three to five dollars, you can be dead,” the detective told Fox News. 

    “Accidental overdoses are almost exclusively fentanyl now,” Sacramento Sheriff Scott Jones added. 

    According to the DEA, clandestinely produced fentanyl is primarily manufactured in Mexico.

    “In China, they have super labs that are generating all sorts of different compounds,” the detective added. 

    The detective found that a significant amount of money has gone to China, where the cartel members have bought the compounds and materials to make fentanyl. These materials are sent to Mexico, where the fentanyl pills are pressed and created in labs. 

    A folder with fentanyl pills kept inside the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office evidence warehouse April 22. (Fox News)

    “Once their final product is made, they’ll package those together and then send them through various ways to get across the U.S. border,” the detective said. 

    Generally, when these packages and loads of fentanyl make it across the border, it is divided and shipped throughout the country and sent to stash locations while cartel members wait for orders. 

    “Once it gets into the country, then it gets very complicated,” the detective said. “That one load that made it through gets broken down into 10 loads and then into 20. Then, before you know it, that one load is in eight different cities in the United States and countless people are dying everywhere,” 

    Jones said his department has seen an increase in emergency calls related to fentanyl exposures and incidents. 

    “We’ve had calls for children as young as one year old from being under the influence of fentanyl,” Jones said. “It is a crisis that not only affects the users of illicit drugs. Sometimes it’s hard to get sympathy for those who voluntarily use, but it’s not just them.”

    ‘WE WERE BLINDSIDED’

    “Already this year, numerous mass overdose events have resulted in dozens of overdoses and deaths,” DEA administrator Anne Milgram said in April. “Drug traffickers are driving addiction and increasing their profits by mixing fentanyl with other illicit drugs. Tragically, many overdose victims have no idea they are ingesting deadly fentanyl until it’s too late,” 

    Recent data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that from November 2020 to November 2021, over 100,000 deaths were related to overdoses.

    Laura Didier with her son Zach.

    Zachary Didier was a 17-year-old student who ran varsity track. He was a straight-A student who attended high school about 30 minutes outside Sacramento. 

    “Anything he did and attempted to do, he put his all into it, and he did really well,” his mother, Laura Didier, said. “To say we were blindsided is an understatement.

    OHIO STATE STUDENT DEAD AFTER SCHOOL WARNS OF POSSIBLE FENTANYL LACED PILLS

    “It was just shattering when we lost him because he was doing so well and working so hard, and it was so exciting to think, like, ‘Gosh, I wonder what he is going to accomplish,’ because he’s on such a great path, and it was all just ripped away,” the mother of three added. 

    She said he had a go-getter attitude and was a self-starter. He taught himself how to play piano by watching online videos and was focused on getting into UCLA.

    “My daughter called, and I was going to be coming to the house later that day. She called to say, you need to get home right now,” Didier said. 

    It was two days after Christmas in 2020 when Zach’s father, Chris, found the teen unresponsive in a bedroom in their home. 

    “I just don’t remember much getting back to the house, but as soon as I arrived, my family was on the driveway, there were first responders. There was no ambulance. So, I had got really nervous about that because nobody is here working on him. I walked onto the driveway, and Zach’s dad, Chris, said, ‘Our baby’s gone,’” Laura Didier said. 

    Zach took a pill that he believed to be a Percocet. But, it was laced with fentanyl. The suspected dealer in his case has since been arrested.

    “I just ask for people to have compassion, for people to really hear their stories so that we can all work together to make a difference and save lives,” his mother said. 

    “Too often, we talk about crime; we don’t realize or at least cognize that crime has an attendant victim. Every crime has a victim, and too often we don’t talk about the victims,” Jones said. 

    ‘A COLLECTIVE WILL TO STOP THE TIDE’

    Laura Didier has since been traveling across California to educate young people about fentanyl and to share her son’s story. She said warning other parents and education could help save lives. 

    A proposed bill in California, called Alexandra’s Law, was written to enhance punishments for those who deal the deadly drugs. It would allow prosecutors to charge people who manufacture or distribute with voluntary manslaughter or murder. 

    “This is a far deadlier issue than we’ve ever had in our country, and it’s going to require re-examining the way that our laws are set up right now,” Didier said. 

    The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office has seen an increase in fentanyl-related investigations, according to Sheriff Scott Jones. (Fox News)

    FATHER WHO LOST DAUGHTER TO FENTANYL DEMANDS ACTION ON BORDER: ‘SHE DIDN’T OVERDOSE, SHE WAS POISONED’

    The undercover detective said stiffer consequences are necessary for those who deal these deadly drugs.

    “Something we see quite often is, we’ll arrest somebody, we’ll have plenty of evidence, but because of narcotics and marijuana and the entire drug environment is not viewed so much as a serious crime anymore, it’s being treated as such,” the detective said. 

    Often, he added, people arrested in California are back on the streets within hours or days.

    “There has to be a collective will of all of us to stop the tide,” Jones added. 

    CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

    He also called for increased border security to help stop criminals from crossing illegally. 

    “Drug abuse, drug sales, everything is out in the open now,” Jones said. 

    Drug overdose deaths among adolescents on the rise

    NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

    HOUSTON – The number of teens and adolescents dying from drug overdoses has increased dramatically over the past two years.

    Ranee Crest’s daughter Lydia was an unfortunate victim. 

    “She was beautiful, vibrant, passionate, incredible,” Crest said. 

    Crest said her daughter turned up dead in her bedroom in July 2020. The cause of death was an accidental overdose. 

    Lydia and Ranee Crest hug. (Fox News)

    Crest said her daughter struggled with addiction but had been sober and in recovery for over a year.

    “We were in the pandemic, and isolation, I think, had a big factor,” she said. 

    FENTANYL TEST STRIPS CAN DETECT DEADLY OPIOID HIDDEN IN RECREATIONAL DRUGS

    Lydia walking through a field. (Ranee Crest)

    According to a study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association, deadly overdoses among adolescents nearly doubled from 492 in 2019 to 954 in 2020. They jumped another 20% in 2021.

    George Youngblood, who has worked with Teen and Family Services in Houston, said the COVID-19 pandemic affected hundreds of children across the country in the same way that it did Lydia. 

    “The more we isolated our kids without being able to do all the social-emotional learning that they needed to do, I think that the mental health crisis became so acute. They experienced anxiety and depression,” Youngblood said. 

    GOP LAWMAKERS DEMAND ‘DECISIVE ACTION’ FROM BIDEN AMID INCREASE OF FENTANYL AT MEXICO BORDER

    The number of teens and adolescents dying from drug overdoses has increased dramatically over the past two years. (Fox News)

    Youngblood said the number of children in Teen and Family Services’ outreach program alone doubled after the pandemic started. 

    “For the fall semester, just in one of our school districts, we saw almost 600 kids in crisis, which was an increase from pre-pandemic numbers in that school of 350,” Youngblood said.

    Teen and Family Services in Houston hosts a weekend getaway. (George Youngblood)

    The National Institute on Drug Abuse has found that drugs are becoming deadlier. 

    “There has been a huge rise in illicitly manufactured prescription pills that contain fentanyl, at least 30% of which have doses that can kill someone,” the institute’s director, Dr. Nora D. Volkow, said. “We believe this may be one of the factors that’s putting teenagers at a higher risk for overdose mortality.”  

    This has left mothers like Crest with one question: “So, what are we doing now?”

    CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

    Last year, the El Paso sector of Customs and Border Protection alone seized more than six times the amount of fentanyl it did in 2018.

    Last week, President Biden released the first National Drug Control Strategy focused on untreated addiction and drug trafficking. Federal officials said about two-thirds of drug overdoses over the last year were related to fentanyl. 

    Florida sheriff arrests own daughter for meth trafficking

    NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

    A sheriff in Florida arrested his own daughter on drug charges as his department continues its war on addictive substances.

    Franklin County Sheriff A.J. Smith gave a statement on April 19 confirming that his daughter, Kristen Kent, had been arrested under suspicion of meth trafficking two days prior. 

    “Methamphetamine does not discriminate [and] neither do we,” Smith wrote on the office’s Facebook. “It does not matter who you are – no one is immune or exempt.”

    BIDEN GRANTS THREE PARDONS, 75 COMMUTATIONS FOR INDIVIDUALS SERVING FOR NONVIOLENT DRUG CRIMES

    “Our hearts break over the grief meth causes all – whether you use it, sell it or love someone who is involved with it,” the post added. “If you want to break free from this lifestyle, we want to help you.”

    Franklin County Sheriff’s Office in Florida released the mugshots of two women arrested on drug trafficking charges in April 2022. (Franklin County Sheriff’s Office)

    The arrest is just the latest in the sheriff’s long-standing war on drugs. Smith regularly updates his constituents on recent arrests and legal developments. Hundreds of people commented on the post announcing his family’s situation, offering prayers and thanking him for the transparency.

    Smith’s daughter is facing counts of methamphetamine trafficking and cocaine possession, along with other charges.

    The arrest is just the latest in the sheriff’s long-standing war on drugs. (Franklin County Sheriff’s Office)

    CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

    President Biden is granting his first three pardons while in office and commuting the sentences of 75 individuals serving prison time for nonviolent drug crimes, as part of the administration’s “broad commitment” to reforming the justice system and addressing racial disparities.

    The White House said Tuesday that the pardons and commutations embody the president’s “belief that America is a nation of second chances,” saying the individuals have “made efforts to rehabilitate themselves, including through educational and vocational training or drug treatment in prison.”

    Biden grants three pardons, 75 commutations for individuals serving for nonviolent drug crimes

    NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

    President Biden is granting his first three pardons while in office and commuting the sentences of 75 individuals serving prison time for nonviolent drug crimes, as part of the Biden administration’s “broad commitment” to reforming the justice system and addressing racial disparities.

    The White House said on Tuesday that the pardons and commutations embody the president’s “belief that America is a nation of second chances,” saying that the individuals have “made efforts to rehabilitate themselves, including through educational and vocational training or drug treatment in prison.”

    BIDEN ANNOUNCES RULE MAKING ‘GHOST GUNS’ ILLEGAL AS PART OF COMPREHENSIVE GUN CRIME STRATEGY

    “Today, I am pardoning three people who have demonstrated their commitment to rehabilitation and are striving every day to give back and contribute to their communities,” the president said, adding that he is commuting the sentences of 75 people who are serving “long sentences for non-violent drug offenses, many of whom have been serving on home confinement during the COVIDpandemic [sic]—and many of whom would have received a lower sentence if they were charged with the same offense today, thanks to the bipartisan First Step Act.”

    The First Step Act is a law that passed with bipartisan support under the Trump administration, which lowers the mandatory minimum sentences for prior drug felonies, shifting to offer drug offenders with three convictions up to 25 years in prison instead of life; and allows some people serving sentences for crack cocaine offenses the opportunity to petition a judge for a reduced penalty.

    The individuals expected to receive a full pardon are Abraham Bolden, an 86-year-old former U.S. Secret Service agent, who was the first African American to serve on a presidential detail. Bolden, in 1964, was charged with offenses relating to attempting to sell a copy of his Secret Service file. Bolden has maintained his innocence, arguing that he was targeted in retaliation for exposing unprofessional and racist behavior within the agency.

    Department of Justice sign, Washington DC, USA. iStock

    Bolden had received numerous honors and awards for his ongoing work to speak out against the racism he faced in the Secret Service in the 1960s, and for his courage in challenging injustice. 

    Betty Jo Bogans, 51, is also set to receive a full pardon from the president after she was convicted in 1998 of possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine in the Southern District of Texas after attempting to transport drugs for her boyfriend and his accomplice—neither of whom were detained or arrested. Officials said Bogans was a single mother with no prior record when convicted. Bogan received a seven-year sentence.

    Officials say Bogans, since her release, has held consistent employment, even while undergoing treatment for cancer, and has focused on raising her son.

    BIDEN ADMIN TO RELEASE OVERDOSE PREVENTION STRATEGY TO COMBAT EVOLVING ‘PUBLIC HEALTH CRISIS’

    Dexter Eugene Jackson, 52, is also expected to receive a full pardon. He was convicted in 2002 for his business to facilitate the distribution of marijuana in the Northern District of Georgia. Jackson was not personally involved in the trafficking of marijuana, officials said, but allowed marijuana distributors to use his pool hall to facilitate drug transactions.

    At the time, Jackson accepted full responsibility for his actions and pled guilty. Since his release from custody, Jackson converted his business into a cell phone repair service, and he now hires local high school students through a program that seeks to provide young adults with work experience. Jackson, according to officials, also works to build and renovate homes in a community that “lacks quality affordable housing.”

    President Joe Biden speaks at Business Roundtable’s CEO quarterly meeting (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

    Beyond the pardons and commutations, the president said his administration on Tuesday is taking steps to expand employment opportunities and help formerly incarcerated people successfully re-enter society – which a senior administration official said are “two key pillars” of the president’s comprehensive strategy to prevent and combat gun violence and other violent crime.

    “Advancing successful reentry outcomes makes our communities safer, breaks cycles of economic hardship, and strengthens our economy,” the official said.

    BIDEN ADMINISTRATION ANNOUNCES ‘ZERO TOLERANCE’ FOR GUN DEALERS IN PUSH AGAINST VIOLENT CRIME

    The White House on Tuesday announced a $145 million partnership between the Justice Department and the Labor Department to invest in job training and reentry programs in federal prisons to provide pathways for a “seamless transition to employment and reentry support upon release.”

    U.S President Joe Biden gives remarks at a Black History Month celebration event in the East Room of the White House on February 28, 2022, in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

    The initiative comes as part of the Justice Department’s implementation of the First Step Act. The law also gives a directive for the DOJ to establish a system to assess the risk of a person to re-offend as well as to create housing or other incentives for offenders to participate in recidivism reduction programs.

    Biden administration officials anticipate that the pilot program—the first of its kind—will serve thousands of incarcerated individuals in multiple states.

    “The president’s announcement with respect to these commutations…this is an exercise of the president’s power that reflects his broad commitment to reform our justice system and address racial disparities,” an administration official said. “He understands that too many people are serving very long sentences for nonviolent drug crimes and so he is using his clemency power as a way to try and address that.”

    The official also said the new program is a “crime reduction strategy.”

    “We know employment reduces recidivism and we’re really leaning into that,” the official said, saying Tuesday’s announcements are part of the Biden administration’s “comprehensive, inclusive strategy.”

    BIDEN SAYS THE ANSWER ‘IS NOT TO DEFUND THE POLICE,’ BUT TO INVEST IN LAW ENFORCEMENT

    “You need to do a lot of things at once,” the official said. “You need to make sure that people are getting support while they are incarcerated and they’re beginning to get the job skills and training that they need.” 

    The administration also is set expand access to business capital through the Small Business Administration—which recently announced the elimination of criminal record restrictions to access its Community Advantage loans—a critical program that provides loans to low-income borrowers and to those from underserved communities.

    The administration, on Tuesday, will also “remove barriers” to federal employment for formerly incarcerated individuals, and agencies like the Department of Transportation will expand access to jobs.

    Meanwhile, the Department of Veterans Affairs’, the Social Security Administration and the Bureau of Prisons are also set to make a joint announcement about a new effort to expedite the restoration of benefits for incarcerated veterans. The VA also announced new efforts to increase the number of state prisons and jails that use its Veterans Reentry Search Service, which helps identify veterans in their custody and connect them with reentry services.

    The Department of Health and Human Services is proposing a new special enrollment period of six months post-release for Medicare for people who missed an enrollment period for health insurance coverage while incarcerated. And the Department of Housing and Urban Development is also announcing a review of its existing regulations and guidance to identify how HUD programs can increase inclusivity of people with arrest and conviction records.

    As for educational opportunities, the Department of Education will announce changes to policies to help incarcerated individuals get out of loan default and get access to Pell Grants.

    CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

    “In the short term, incarcerated persons who have defaulted will get a ‘fresh start.’ Like other defaulted borrowers, incarcerated borrowers with defaulted loans will reenter repayment in good standing when the student loan payment pause ends,” an official said, adding that the Department of Education is also announcing a “longer-term fix” that will allow incarcerated individuals to consolidate their loans to get out of default.

    “This change will now allow incarcerated persons the same opportunity to get out of default as non-incarcerated persons,” the official said.

    The president, meanwhile, stressed that “helping those who served their time to return to their families and become contributing members of their communities is one of the most effective ways to reduce recidivism and decrease crime.” 

    Biden added that while the announcements Tuesday mark “important progress,” his administration will continue to “review clemency petitions” and deliver reforms that he said will “advance equity and justice, provide second chances and enhance the wellbeing and safety of all Americans.” 

     

    Florida bride allegedly laces wedding food with pot, grins as deputies arrive, bodycam shows

    NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

    Florida deputies‘ bodycam video shows a grinning new bride as law enforcement responded to reports of a mass marijuana overdose at her wedding after she and the caterer allegedly engaged in lacing their guest’s food with pot and causing multiple bad trips.

    It shows deputies telling catering staff “don’t put anything away yet” after loading victims into the back of an ambulance. 

    “We all have been affected, somehow, by what was put in the food,” a man, whose face is blurred, tells a Seminole County Sheriff’s deputy in video recorded at a Feb. 19 wedding and released Monday.

    Deputies responded to the Feb. 19 wedding of Danya and Andrew Svoboda after reports of marijuana-laced food making guests feel high or ill. (Seminole County Sheriff’s Office)

    FLORIDA BRIDE AND CATERER ARRESTED AFTER WEDDING GUESTS GET SICK FROM WEED-LACED FOOD

    “We’re trying to figure out who put it in the food, whether it was a guest or the catering company,” the officer responds, before walking across the lawn to interview the bride and groom.

    The bride, Dayna Glenny Svoboda, 42, and caterer, Joycelyn Bryant, 31, have been charged with tampering, culpable negligence and marijuana delivery. They did not respond to requests for comment Monday, nor did a lawyer listed for Bryant. It was not immediately clear who was representing Svoboda.

    The bodycam video shows law enforcement confronting the bride and groom after their wedding went south.

    • Deputies responded to the Feb. 19 wedding of Danya and Andrew Svoboda after reports of marijuana-laced food making guests feel high or ill. (Seminole County Sheriff’s Office)

    • Deputies responded to the Feb. 19 wedding of Danya and Andrew Svoboda after reports of marijuana-laced food making guests feel high or ill. (Seminole County Sheriff’s Office)

    • Deputies responded to the Feb. 19 wedding of Danya and Andrew Svoboda after reports of marijuana-laced food making guests feel high or ill. (Seminole County Sheriff’s Office)

    “Supposedly your food had cannabis inside of it,” a deputy can be heard telling the couple as the wedding singer is standing with them trying to get paid. “Did you guys authorize that?”

    “I have no idea,” replies the husband, Andrew Svoboda, who has not been charged. His face appears blurred in the footage. 

    The bride is standing in the background, seemingly aloof with a smile on her face. The grin turns into a strained look and she shakes her head no as the deputy repeats his question.

    At least 18 people complained of feeling high or ill after eating at the reception, according to court documents. There were between 50 and 70 guests present.

    Danya Svoboda, 42, the bride and Joycelyn Bryant, 31, the caterer, both face a number of charges including tampering, culpable negligence and delivery of marijuana.  (Seminole County Sheriff’s Office.)

    According to court documents, one victim, Miranda Cady, told investigators that she saw Bryant placing spoonfuls of what looked like a green herb mixture into olive oil for the bread. It smelled like pot, but lost its scent once mixed with the oil. She said she recognized the caterer from a prior event in January.

    When she confronted Svoboda on the dance floor, the bride allegedly admitted to lacing the food and “acted like [she] should be excited as if she were given a gift.” She also told investigators she was “terrified” at how the food made her feel and showed them a positive marijuana test.

    All 10 people seated at her table discussed feeling the drug’s effects the next day in a group text, she told investigators. Other alleged victims included a half-dozen relatives of the bride who had traveled in from Michigan and the newlyweds’ neighbor.

    Danya Svoboda, 42, the bride and Joycelyn Bryant, 31, the caterer, both face a number of charges including tampering, culpable negligence and delivery of marijuana.  (Seminole County Sheriff’s Office.)

    One questionable dish the victims shared in common was the bread and olive oil appetizer.

    Authorities later tested food dumped on a neighbor’s lawn nearby and found traces of THC in the lasagna as well, the documents state.

    Christopher Baumann, who lives near the wedding venue, told Fox News Digital Monday that his security cameras recorded an unidentified woman dumping trash on his property on the evening on the nuptials.

    “We found what looked like some food leftover and stuff, it looked like a lot of dessert…salad, some kind of pasta, dumped in our front lawn,” he said. 

    He said he was not sure who the woman was but that he did not believe her to be Svoboda or Bryant.

    CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

    Baumann and his wife reached out to the homeowners association and were told to contact police. Police referenced their video in the warrants and said they tested some of the food and found THC, the active ingredient of marijuana, present.

    The gated community, known as The Springs, was built in the 1970s and is rife with nature trails and wild animals, Baumann said. He has lived there for about two years and said this was the first trouble he’s seen stemming from a wedding at the clubhouse.

    “It’s the first time I’ve ever heard of anything… this is not a neighborhood that has that kind of stuff going on,” he said.

    Missouri troopers find 500 pounds of weed on highway after 4/20 crash

    NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

    Missouri police officers found over 500 pounds of marijuana at the scene of a car crash on April 20.

    A pickup truck traveling on I-70 accidentally struck two semitrucks on the highway, sending the vehicle out of control. Authorities arriving to the scene found the treasure trove of marijuana scatter about the highway, according to local affiliate FOX 2. 

    “You don’t see this everyday, but it is 4/20,” the Missouri State Highway Patrol wrote on social media. 

    FLORIDA WARNS OF NEW DRUG MUCH MORE POWERFUL THAN FENTANYL

    The sheer volume of drugs recovered from the scene proved cumbersome for the police.

    “After it was all collected at the crash scene, it took more than one patrol car to transport it to the evidence room,” Missouri State Highway Patrol wrote on social media.

    April 20, the date of the crash, is an unofficial holiday dedicated to smoking marijuana.

    The Missouri State Highway Patrol said troopers found 500 pounds of weed on a highway after a crash on April 20, 2022. (Missouri State Highway Patrol Troop F)

    Driver David Mora Navarro, 34, and passenger Victor Gonzalez Acosta, 32, were arrested at the scene. Both suspects are from Mexico and both have been charged with felony drug trafficking in the past.

    CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

    The U.S. House of Representatives voted Friday to decriminalize possession of marijuana on the federal level.

    Missouri State Highway Patrol collected 500 pounds of weed scattered on a highway after a crash on April 20, 2022. (Missouri State Highway Patrol )

    The House heard a slew of proposed amendments for the bill, including measures to track and prevent impaired driving under the influence of marijuana, as well as carve-outs for law enforcement to restructure around the decriminalized substance.

    The bill passed with a vote of 220 to 204. The bill still has a long road ahead to full approval, but is so far one of the most successful pieces of recreational drug legislation at the federal level.