Drug ODs in Dramatic Drop, MA Psychedelic Init in Peril, More... (10/17/24)

The former Mexican public security minister -- the guy in charge of Mexico's drug war -- heads to federal prison for taking bribes from the Sinaloa Cartel, and more.

Psychedelics

Massachusetts Psychedelic Legalization Initiative in Tight Race, Poll Finds. A new poll from UMass Amherst/WCBV TV has the Question 4 psychedelic legalization initiative as a toss-up, with 43 percent of respondents in favor and 43 percent opposed. That leaves 14 percent undecided. If more than half the undecided vote in favor of the measure, it would then have a winning margin.

But the poll is not good news for the campaign. As a general rule, initiative campaigns want to go into the final weeks before an election with a 10 percent lead or greater because they fear they will lose some votes as opposition heats up and voters begin to really concentrate on the ballot.

"So this opens the door to a high likelihood of increased bombardment by supporters of this change and opponents of this change in the remaining weeks," said Tatishe Nteta, director of the UMass Poll.

Drug Policy

Drug Overdose Deaths Drop by Record Amount Over Past Year, CDC Says. According to provisional data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Wednesday, overdose deaths dropped by 15 percent in the 12-month period ending in May 2024. That is the biggest decrease in overdose deaths ever recorded by the CDC.

Even though overdose deaths are declining, the toll is still staggering. According to the provisional data, 94,785 people died of drug overdoses in that 12-month period, and the toll could rise to as high as 98,820 when the numbers are finalized. Even if that figure is reached, it would still mark a decline in overdoses of 12.7 percent.

Driven largely by the arrival of fentanyl in illicit drug markets in the US -- but also by the prescription opioid epidemic in the 2000s and increased cocaine and methamphetamine deaths -- the annual overdose toll rose from about 5,000 a year at the beginning of the century to more than 100,000 a year in recent years.

Law Enforcement

Former Mexican Public Security Minister Sentenced to 38 Years in US Prison for Taking Bribes from Sinaloa Cartel. Genaro Garcia Luna, the man who led Mexico's descent into drug war violence as public security minister under then-President Felipe Calderon, has been sentenced to more than 38 years in federal prison after being convicted of accepting bribes from the Sinaloa Cartel. Observers had long noted that the Sinaloa Cartel appeared curiously unaffected by the Mexican government's shift from turning a blind eye to the cartels to going after them with the armed forces. Now, one reason why is evident.

Garcia Luna was convicted of engaging in a criminal drug enterprise, taking part in various conspiracies, and making false statements at his criminal trial in February 2023. He has been behind bars in the US since 2019.

Prosecutors presented compelling evidence that he had taken millions of dollars in bribes from the Sinaloa Cartel in exchange for protecting its members from arrest and ensuring its cocaine shipments to the US were unimpeded.

US District Court Judge Brian Cogan rejected prosecution requests for a life sentence, saying Garcia Luna should have "some light at the end of the tunnel," but added that he lived "a double life" and that the harm he had caused outweighed the good he had done. He also denounced Garcia Luna's character, saying, "Aside from your very pleasant demeanor and your articulateness, you have the same kind of thuggishness as El Chapo, it just manifests itself differently."

Garcia Luna's Sinaloa Cartel benefactor, El Chapo, is currently serving a life sentence in a US federal prison, while the cartel itself is violently splintering into factions linked to El Chapo and those linked to his erstwhile cartel co-leader and current US prisoner, Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada.

All of the criminal activity these men engaged in was made possible by the existence of the global drug prohibition regime.