Critics of Tbilisi's hardline drug policies say laws were being exploited to justify heavy-handed policing

Big pharma is blaming others in the drug supply chain while pushing policies to protect its own bottom line.

Sen. Susan Collins of Maine on Monday said Congress is ready and able to forbid “gag clauses” that bar pharmacies from telling customers they could pay less by using cash for certain drugs instead of ponying up the copayment under their insurance policy.

Mexico's President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador plans to establish a border police force to combat illegal immigration and the problems associated with it, such as drug and weapons smuggling and human trafficking. The announcement comes at a time when President Donald Trump is facing intense criticism for his policies addressing illegal immigration. What are the details? For years, Mexico has been plagued with high levels of illegal immigration on its southern border. Migrants traveling north from war-torn Central America have at times overwhelmed Mexican authorities. And while most of the migrants use the border as a gateway toward a better life, others use it to smuggle drugs and weapons, which amounts to a major problem for cartel-controlled Mexico. But that's all allegedly going to change with the upcoming administration. Alfonso Durazo, Lopez Obrador's future chief of public security, said in an interview with Bloomberg published Monday that the border police force is part of a larger …

Mexico's President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador plans to establish a border police force to combat illegal immigration and the problems associated with it, such as drug and weapons smuggling and human trafficking. The announcement comes at a time when President Donald Trump is facing intense criticism for his policies addressing illegal immigration. What are the details? For years, Mexico has been plagued with high levels of illegal immigration on its southern border. Migrants traveling north from war-torn Central America have at times overwhelmed Mexican authorities. And while most of the migrants use the border as a gateway toward a better life, others use it to smuggle drugs and weapons, which amounts to a major problem for cartel-controlled Mexico. But that's all allegedly going to change with the upcoming administration. Alfonso Durazo, Lopez Obrador's future chief of public security, said in an interview with Bloomberg published Monday that the border police force is part of a larger …

'This government’s approach is lining the pockets of organised criminals while forcing taxpayers to live with the costs associated with drug abuse'

According to the Washington Examiner, President Donald Trump's top health official blasted Pfizer's new drug price hikes, calling the increases a "tipping point" that will lead to policy changes.

The Southwest border crisis continues, thanks to the Trump administration’s zero tolerance policy towards migrants risking the long, dangerous trek from Latin America, where many face violence from the drug cartels. Some Latin American migrants are so desperate that even pregnant women have undertaken the dangerous trip. As Buzzfeed News reports, their treatment by US immigration authorities has been far from humane. One woman told Buzzfeed that she’d decided to come to the United States …

Mexico goes to the polls Sunday to vote for a new president — the office is limited to a single, six-year term, so President Enrique Peña Nieto cannot run again — plus some 18,000 lower offices, including all congressional seats. Advance polling suggests left-wing populist candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador (also known by his initials, AMLO) holds a strong lead for the presidency. More broadly, the election is focused on issues of corruption, drug-related violence, and President Trump's immigration policies, with candidates from across the political spectrum slamming Trump's approach. Mexico "will never be the piñata of any foreign government," López Obrador said on the campaign trail. "A door opens for opportunity with Andrés Manuel," Marcos Fastlicht, who has known AMLO for two decades, told Politico. "He's willing to speak with [Trump], willing to sit and negotiate, but part of this requires we wait and see." Bonnie Kristian

In response to the severe political backlash against Immigration and Customs Enforcement over border policies, a group of special agents is asking for their department to be separated from the agency, The Texas Observer reported. A letter signed by 19 agents in ICE's Homeland Security Investigative Division said the negative perception of the agency over deportations and border detainment policies has made it difficult for them to do their jobs. ICE is comprised of two separate divisions. Homeland Security and Investigative deals with counterterrorism, drugs, and human trafficking, while the other division, Enforcement and Removal Operations handles the immigration arrests and deportations that have made headlines recently. "The perception of HSI's investigative independence is unnecessarily impacted by the political nature of ERO's civil immigration enforcement," the letter read. What's the problem? The HSI agents say that some law enforcement jurisdictions have refused or been hesitant to work with them, turned off by the connection to …

A former server at a Dearborn, Michigan restaurant recorded management making shocking remarks blithely confessing to blatant racism, discrimination and Islamophobia, reports WJBK. It started when a young black kid walked in. “‘He’s black and a black kid isn’t going to amount to more than a drug dealer,'” Dana Alserjani claims he said. She decided to record a conversation with a different manager. She asked him about a perplexing policy instruction that told employees that, “Gratuities …

Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan, the top U.S. border enforcement official, said Monday that President Trump's order to stop separating undocumented children and parents at the Mexican border made it necessary to suspend prosecutions of families under the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" immigration policy, for now, The Associated Press reported. The news came after Attorney General Jeff Sessions defended the controversial policy, and said that some children had been brought to the border by gang members. Sessions also said that drug cartels "take advantage of our generosity and ... use children to smuggle their drugs into our country as well." Protesters outside the school-safety conference in Reno where Sessions was speaking blocked a busy road and expressed outrage over the way the administration has treated immigrant families. Harold Maass

Attorney General Jeff Sessions defended the president's immigration policy Monday saying MS-13 gang members are using child immigrants to smuggle drugs. Saying children bear the burden of a broken immigration system, Sessions, in a speech in front of School Resource Officers in Reno, Nev., argued...

Dead bodies are being discovered in Walmart parking lots across the nation, but murders or safety hazards are not to blame, the Associated Press reported. Why is this happening? It's happening mainly because transient people are living in the retail giant's parking lots. A corporate policy allows truckers and other travelers to park overnight at Walmart overnight with no questions asked.  The policy can vary, depending on local laws and store managers. Sometimes people park there for just one night. Other times it's more permanent. “And where people live, they also die,” the report noted. The list includes people who are “homeless, truckers, immigrants, drug-addled, suicidal or ill.” Sometimes their bodies go unnoticed for days or weeks amid crowds of passersby and cart pushers. In Brevard County, Florida, police have investigated nearly a half-dozen of the deaths since 2015, according to the report. Detailed descriptions are not necessary, but the bodies are often not noticed until they've been there a …

The president’s obsession with border security is likely to have ripple effects on law enforcement elsewhere.

The U.S. government continues to house migrant children in private facilities that have a history of facing disturbing allegations of sexual and physical abuse, as well as neglect and poor medical supervision, The Texas Tribune has learned. The children housed in such facilities include the thousands of minors who have been separated from their parents at the border under the Trump administration's new "zero tolerance" policy. At a Southwest Key Programs facility in San Benito, Texas, inspectors found some 246 violations, including an employee who showed up to work drunk, and shampoo dispensers filled with hand sanitizer; the same company operates a converted Walmart in Brownsville that holds more than 1,000 children. Another shelter, the Shiloh Treatment Center, has been awarded $26 million from the Office of Refugee Resettlement since 2013, although Maribel Bernardez claims it administered psychotropic drugs to her 9-year-old son without her consent and despite her protests. At a temporary facility in Florida, an employee asked a 15-year-old boy for a pornographic video of himself; although that specific shelter was shut down in 2017, it reopened in February, being awarded $30 million after its population doubled to 1,000 children. There are apparently hundreds of such stories: In Texas, where the resettlement agency awarded the majority of the grants, state inspectors have cited homes with more than 400 deficiencies, about one-third of them serious. Allegations included staff members' failure to seek medical attention for children. One had a burn, another a broken wrist, a third a sexually transmitted disease. In another shelter, staff gave a child medicine to which she was allergic, despite a warning on her medical bracelet. Inspectors also cited homes for "inappropriate contact" between children and staff, including a case in which a staff member gave children a pornographic magazine. [The Texas Tribune] Read the full investigation at The Texas Tribune. Jeva Lange

The big political story is still President Trump's policy of separating migrant children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border, plus Trump's continued insistence on falsely blaming the Democrats. The Late Show highlighted the absurdity of Trump's talking point with a parody of his Monday morning news conference featuring Friday the 13th's Jason Voorhees, who also blamed the Democrats for his murderous machete rampages of teen campers. Stephen Colbert read one of Trump's tweet blaming the Democrats and imagined a cheer to go with his "WIN!" coda: "'Two, four, six, eight, who do we incarcerate? Kids! Gooooo into the cages.' Yeah, ended sad, didn't it," he said. "There are two things wrong with this. One, if it was a law, Republicans are in control of everything — they can fix it. Second of all, it's not a law. This is a policy. It's just another scoop from your chum bucket of cruelty." Trump defended his policy at a Space Force announcement Monday, saying the U.S. "will not be a migrant camp" and "will not be a refugee holding facility." "No, it will be the all-baby reboot of The Shawshank Redemption," Colbert said, and he had a movie poster. "Not everyone in the administration blames this policy on the Democrats; some say the policy doesn't even exist," Colbert said, specifically pointing to Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. Others, like Stephen Miller, tout it loud and proud. Fox & Friends is happy to call a "cage" a "security pen," and Border Patrol says the "cage" description is accurate but uncomfortable-making. "Oh, it's accurate — that's what's making them uncomfortable," Colbert said. "Trump's defenders are wrong, and they are bad, but it's important to give the Devil his due — he's a sponsor. So it's time for our new segment, 'The Devil's Advocate.'" Do not watch the last minute or so if you are on hallucinogenic drugs. Otherwise, the video's below. Peter Weber

It's getting hard to find people — other than Attorney General Jeff Sessions and White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders — who are willing to publicly defend the Trump administration's new policy of separating migrant children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. Even President Trump (falsely) blames Democrats for his own family-separation policy. So CNN's Chris Cuomo invited Joe Arpaio — the former Arizona sheriff, current U.S. Senate candidate, and convict pardoned by Trump — on Thursday night's show to stand up for "zero tolerance." "I understand separating the kids from their families," Arpaio said. "What about the thousands and thousands of people I locked up in my 58-year law enforcement, taking the parents out of the houses for drugs or whatever, leaving the kids separated?" "Those were serious crimes, not a misdemeanor of crossing the border undocumented," Cuomo pointed out. Arpaio said that if he's elected to the Senate, he'll work to make the laws "tougher," faulted Central America and Mexico for not stopping people from migrating, and blamed the parents for bring this kids across the border illegally. "Now for the kids?" Arpaio said. "I feel sorry for them." Cuomo said if he felt sorry for the kids, why not keep them with their families, and if Arpaio had a problem with young immigrants coming illegally to the U.S. for work, why not go after the "fat cat" factory workers who hire them. "All I'm saying is this, Joe: Why are we being the harshest on the weakest?" he asked. "You know a lot of these people are trying to get asylum, they're fleeing persecution, they're looking for a better life, and they're getting treated like they're all felons when they come across. That's a policy decision — the law doesn't make you have to do it this way." Watch below. Peter Weber

A study released by the Journal of the American Medical Association on Tuesday showed that 37 percent of American adults are taking common drugs that can increase the risk of depression. Lead author Dima Qato, assistant professor of pharmacy systems, outcomes and policy at the University of Illinois - Chicago, said: "Many may be surprised to learn that their medications, despite having nothing to do with mood or anxiety or any other condition normally associated with depression, can increase their risk of experiencing depressive symptoms, and may lead to a depression diagnosis." Like what? Certain blood pressure medications, oral contraceptives, painkillers and even antacids were cited on the list of 200 prescription drugs named in the study that have known potential side effects of depression and even suicide. The report cautioned that "Product labeling for over-the-counter medications does not include comprehensive information on adverse side effects including depression. "Many patients may therefore not be aware of …

Activists say they plan to take the NSW Police to court after ticket holders were denied entry to a music festival based on the use of drug detection dogs.

President Trump threw out some blazing hot takes before hopping on a helicopter Friday morning, from wanting to pardon Muhammad Ali to not thinking about pardoning Michael Cohen. Oh, and he also said he'd "probably" support a bill protecting states' rights to legalize marijuana, reports the Los Angeles Times. Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) unveiled a plan Thursday that would essentially let states determine their own marijuana policies without federal consequences, per Politico. Both lawmakers represent states that have legalized recreational marijuana. Trump only specifically said he supports Gardner and that he's still looking at the bill, but that he'll "probably end up supporting" it. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who firmly supports anti-drug laws, has yet to respond to Trump's remark. Kathryn Krawczyk

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday slammed a United Nations human rights expert who issued a warning about his country's judicial integrity. "Tell him not to interfere with the affairs of my country. He can go to hell," Duterte said of Diego Garcia-Sayan, a U.N. special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers. "He is not a special person, and I do not recognize his rapporteur title." Garcia-Sayan was critical of the ouster of the Philippines' chief justice, Maria Lourdes Sereno, whom Duterte has publicly labeled his "enemy" because she voted against policies Duterte supports. Her removal has created "a climate of intimidation" among the court's justices, Garcia-Sayan charged. Duterte is best known for encouraging thousands of extrajudicial murders of suspected drug dealers as part of his controversial war on drugs. Bonnie Kristian

Social media was aflame with stories about President Trump's immigration policies over the long weekend, and not all of them were exactly 100 percent correct — like the idea that Trump's Department of Health and Human Services "lost" nearly 1,500 immigrant children. Trevor Noah started out Tuesday's Daily Show with a little liberal truth-squadding. "Let's take a breath, let's read past headlines before we start sharing misleading stories that Trump will use to discredit all other news," he said. "Just so we're on the same page, Trump didn't lose 1,500 kids and his administration didn't put those kids in cages, all right? But don't worry, you can still hate him, because he and his administration have started doing something that is way worse:" Separating immigrant parents from their children. "When this policy first started, I think President Trump was probably thrilled with it," Noah said. "He was, like, 'We're taking kids away from parents — pack you bags, Eric, we're going to the border. Come on, Eric, let's go!' But as it turns out, the blowback from this policy has been so fierce, that now even President Trump is going, 'Uh, it wasn't me.'" Still, blaming Democrats? "Even for Trump, that's at terrible lie," Noah said. "But that's just to tell you how awful this real policy is — this is the first thing ever Trump doesn't want to put his name on." At The Opposition, Jordan Klepper was happy to square the circle: "That's right — it's his own administration's policy, and Democrats are to blame. What's so confusing about that? Maybe my trusty gaslight can shed some light on this." First, however, he fake-defended the policy: "If you don't want to lose your child to the government, don't bring them across the border. And if you don't want to lose them to drug cartels, don't stay where you are. It's like an immigrant Catch-22 — which is also ICE's hourly quota." Watch below. Peter Weber

NBC's Megyn Kelly expressed concern about Starbucks stores turning into places where homeless people can use the bathroom during a roundtable conversation about the company's new policy to allow anyone to use the facilities, regardless of if they are a paying customer or not. "They're allowing anyone to stay and use the bathroom even if they don't buy anything, which has a lot of Starbucks' customers saying, really? Like, why?" Kelly said. She wondered if "Starbucks are now going to get overwhelmed with people and is it really just a public space or is it not?" The conversation was prompted by Tuesday's anti-bias training at Starbucks stores nationwide, a decision that followed an incident when a store manager called the police on two black men for "trespassing" when they sat in the cafe without buying a drink. Kelly received pushback from Jenna Bush Hager, who said: "I think some of these people don't have places to go. I've seen people sit in our local Starbucks here in New York City that are homeless, that don't have another place." Kelly dismissed that Starbucks was the "solution," noting that homeless people can go to "churches." She added, "For the paying customers who go in with their kids, do you really want to deal with a mass of homeless people or whoever is in there — could be drug addicted, you don't know — when you're there with your kids, paying for the services of the place?" Watch below via Raw Story. Jeva Lange

As a labor and employment law attorney when it comes to medical marijuana the question I am most asked is “what does medical marijuana mean for our workplace andor our drug-testing policies?”

Many health policy watchers say even if Joe Grogan’s actions on drug policy have been legal, his role is still troubling.

Gabrielle Okun Starbucks’s new bathroom policy will likely increase the issues of drug abuse in the coffee company’s bathrooms, The Wall Street Journal reported. The Seattle-based company’s employees fear Starbucks’s new policy that permits anyone to use its restrooms, regardless of if they bought anything, believing that it will increase drug use in the newly

Most opioids traded on the black market depend on a plant for their raw material. Fentanyl can be created from chemicals in a laboratory.

Starbucks addressed complaints that its locations would become defacto homeless shelters Monday.

Starbucks tried to dig itself out of controversy by attempting to clarify a policy toward nonpaying guests that generated an onslaught of complaints that cafes would turn into homeless shelters and drug havens.