Biography/Memoir

Mexican cartel leader who faked own death… in U.S. is arrested in California, feds say

Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said Cristian Fernando Gutierrez-Ochoa “allegedly faked his own death and assumed a false identity…” According to court documents, Gutierrez-Ochoa began working for the Jalisco cartel in 2014 and coordinated the shipment of 40,000 kilograms (88,000 pounds) of methamphetamine and 2,000 kilograms of cocaine from Mexico to the United States. The…

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Science

The double face of fentanyl: the neuronal basis of opioid addiction

…fentanyl… triggers the activation of the dopamine neurons in the mesolimbic system (also known as the reward system), which includes the ventral tegmental area and the nucleus accubens. The neurons then release a large quantity of dopamine. Normally, dopamine neurons are under the control of inhibitory GABA cells. However, opioids block GABA neurons, which makes…

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Biography/Memoir

Prescription opioid overdoses drop, as fentanyl deaths skyrocket

“It’s important that the public and policymakers recognize that the addiction crisis is unfortunately still alive and well. It’s just shifting.” – Adam Leventhal, director of the University of Southern California’s Institute for Addiction Science. Fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid often sold as a street drug, surpassed prescription opioids in 2015 as the most lethal overdose…

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Politics

…will a wall stop opiods? Two high-profile legal cases suggest no.

*average fatal dosage size of fentanyl The [Sackler case is]… a reminder than an opioid epidemic that is largely responsible for lowering life expectancy in the United States for the first time since 1980 began quite legally, with a drug manufactured not by a Mexican cartel but by an American pharmaceutical company. illicit fentanyl, which…

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Anthropology

Makah police report possible fentanyl-laced marijuana

The Makah Tribal Police Department is warning the public that officers believe they found fentanyl-laced marijuana during a recent arrest … Jasper Bruner, Makah public safety director and police chief, said that when officers field-tested seized marijuana Friday, the test was positive for fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that can be 50 times stronger than heroin,…

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