Day-care employees arrested after allegedly spiking kids' food with melatonin without parents' knowledge



The owner of a day-care business in New Hampshire as well as three of her employees have been arrested after they allegedly sprinkled a drug on kids' food, ostensibly in an effort to help them sleep.

Police in Manchester, New Hampshire, first began investigating the home day-care center in the city's West End back in November. At the time, they had received reports that employees there had been adding melatonin to lunches served to kids in their charge.

'Obviously they’re doing that to knock the kids out, but that’s something that shouldn’t be done at all, period.'

"Somebody who’d been inside the building ... had heard about the practices and tipped us off to that," said Heather Hamel, a spokesperson for the police department. "We also got some anonymous tips as well through our crime line."

Hamel suggested the employees had perhaps "broken up" melatonin pills into "a powder-type substance." She also explained a possible motive behind the alleged additive: "This is something that is an over-the-counter drug that’s usually used as a sleep aid."

Finally, she stated that the melatonin was given to children "with no knowledge for the parents and no consent." Luckily, no child fell ill as a result of the allegedly spiked food, police said, according to the Daily Mail.

The owner of the day-care business, 52-year-old Sally Dreckmann, as well as three of her employees — 23-year-old Kaitlin Filardo, 23-year-old Jessica Foster, and 51-year-old Traci Innie — turned themselves in on 10 counts each of endangering the welfare of a child, police said Thursday.

All four suspects were later released. They are due back in court next month.

Police also confirmed that the day-care facility, which was not named in the reports, is not licensed. However, day-care centers in home residences can operate without a license in the state of New Hampshire, so long as no more than three children are cared for at one time.

"If it was my child I’d be extremely upset," said neighbor Gary Boucher. "Obviously they’re doing that to knock the kids out, but that’s something that shouldn’t be done at all, period."

A woman at the address of the day-care center told 7News that she had "no comment" and directed all questions to her attorney. When the outlet contacted the attorney, she denied that the woman was a client.

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Oregon governor re-criminalizes drug possession, marking end of another fatal leftist experiment



Oregon's Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek ratified legislation Monday re-criminalizing the possession of small amounts of drugs, bringing a fatal leftist experiment to an end.

Narco state

In 2020, radicals in the Beaver State figured that the best way to tackle addiction and perceived "systems of oppression" would be to enable addicts to openly carry illicit drugs such as heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamin without legal consequence.

This decriminalization initiative took on the form of Measure 110, which reclassified possession of a controlled substance in Schedule I-IV from a Class A misdemeanor to a Class E violation.

The Democratic Party of Oregon, Multnomah Democrats, several medical unions, the ACLU of Oregon, NAACP Portland, NARAL Pro-Choice Oregon, and various other leftist outfits championed the measure.

The Oregon Association Chiefs of Police, various recovery groups, the Oregon Catholic Conference, and the Washington County Republican Party were among those who understood the decriminalization scheme was a recipe for disaster, reported Ballotpedia.

Naomi Schaefer Riley, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, warned that "such measures lower the risk and the cost of doing business for drug dealers and increase the supply of these drugs on streets across the country. Drugs will be cheaper and easier to get for adults already suffering from untreated mental illness, poverty or abuse. And the effects will be felt most severely by children."

Washington County District Attorney Kevin Barton underscored, "This is a terrible idea. It's disconnected to what's best for Oregonians. It will lead to increased crime and increased drug use."

Measure 110 went to a vote in November 2020 and 58.5% of voters indicated they were on board.

Kassandra Frederique, the executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, touted the result as a "paradigm-shifting win and arguably the biggest blow to the war on drugs to date," adding, "Oregon showed the world that a more humane, compassionate approach is possible."

The law took effect in February 2021.

Fatal failure

It turns out normalizing the use of hard drugs was indeed "a terrible idea." After all, earlier this year, Gov. Kotek, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, and Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson each declared a 90-day state of emergency to address the out-of-control overdoses in the state.

Newsweek reported that between 2020 and 2022, overdose deaths in Oregon skyrocketed by 75%. By way of comparison, overdose death increased by only 18% nationally during the same two-year stretch. Opioid overdoses in the Beaver State during this period increased by 101% and meth-involved overdoses increased by 112%.

Violent crime increased by 17% after Measure 110 passed, while public drug use and homeless camps full of junkies became ubiquitous.

Portland remains one of America's seedier cities, ranking 1 on Neighborhood Scout's crime index where 100 is safest.

To make matters worse, as drugs were freely flowing through the streets of Oregon and crime was on the rise, the state also saw one of the largest increases in homelessness in the nation. The Oregonian reported that between 2020 and 2022, the state saw an increase in its homeless population from 3,304 homeless persons to roughly 18,000.

The public quickly soured on the decriminalization scheme, with even radicals like Mayor Ted Wheeler of Portland seeking some return to sanity.

Correcting a 'huge mistake'

Kotek ratified House Bill 4002 on Monday, effectively reversing Measure 110.

Under the law, which had bipartisan support, a court can lock up an individual found in possession of illegal drugs for up to 180 days or sentence them to 18 months of probation. Jail sentences can be reduced "for any day the defendant is on release to a treatment program or previously served in-custody."

The law, which prevents courts from imposing fines or fees for a drug possession conviction, won't go into effect until Sept. 1.

The Statesman Journal reported that during testimony at the state legislature, the Oregon Public Defense Commission indicated it would have to hire 39 new full-time public defenders just to accommodate the glut of incoming suspects charged for drug offenses under the bill.

"We must acknowledge that Oregon's number of unrepresented persons will likely increase due to House Bill 4002," Kotek wrote in a letter to the speaker of the state House and the president of the state Senate.

While critical of Measure 110 and its fallout, Wheeler still appears unwilling to condemn the idea animating the decriminalization movement, telling the New York Times that "the state botched the implementation. ... To decriminalize the use of drugs before you actually had the treatment services in place was obviously a huge mistake."

"The truth is that addiction rates and overdose rates skyrocketed. I personally do not attribute all of that to the passage of Measure 110," added Wheeler. "It was very easy for the public to draw a line between the passage of Measure 110, the decriminalization of hard drugs, the increase in addiction and the increase in overdoses — and criminal activity associated with drugs."

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China's secret role in the drug epidemic



Amid the border crisis and surging drug problems, author Peter Schweizer has completely exposed China’s massive influence over all of it.

Schweizer explains to Mark Levin that in early 2021, there was a congressional commission that reported to the White House there were 2,000 Chinese nationals just south of the border in Mexico.

These Chinese nationals have been assisting the Mexican cartels with creating fentanyl to smuggle across the border.

The report on this issue was issued by the congressional commission in 2021, but rather than taking it as a sign to protect the border, the Biden administration has left it wide open.

“That, to me, is the epitome of negligence, criminal negligence, because what you’re essentially saying is we know this is a systematic effort; we know that fentanyl is coming; we know that tens of thousands of Americans are dying every year,” Schweizer tells Levin, adding, “and our agenda is more important than actually protecting the American people.”

Meanwhile, President Biden has refused to even confront the Chinese verbally about what they’re doing with the fentanyl trade — despite fentanyl poisoning now being the leading cause of death in the United States for people under the age of 45.

“What you seem to be suggesting here is that Joe Biden is one of the greatest facilitators of the sale and use of fentanyl in the United States of America given his policies,” Levin says.

“He’s also one of the greatest, as the left calls them, ‘slavers’ in American history, given his border policies and the fact that unknown infinite numbers of women and children are being sold into sex slavery and pornography,” he adds.

“If you look at the human cost of the open border — human cost to Americans, human cost to women and children — the body count is astronomical,” Schweizer says in agreement.


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Federal prosecutors seek retrial for former detective shot at by Breonna Taylor's boyfriend



The Biden Department of Justice failed to get a conviction last month in the federal civil rights case against the former Louisville detective who returned fire during a drug raid when shot at by Breonna Taylor's boyfriend.

Despite admitting ahead of the Nov. 17 mistrial that it would take "enormous resources ... to retry this case," federal prosecutors revealed this week they plan to refile charges against former Detective Brett Hankison.

What's the background?

Louisville Metro Police Department narcotics detectives attempted to execute a "no-knock" search warrant around 12:43 a.m. on March 13, 2020. The apparently falsified warrant pertained to a drug investigation involving 26-year-old Breonna Taylor's ex-boyfriend, Jamarcus Glover.

Police indicated they knocked repeatedly, announced their presence, then utilized a ram to gain entry. At the time, Taylor was inside the apartment with her then-boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, reported WHAS-TV.

When the police got the door open, Walker opened fire, striking Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly in the upper thigh and hitting his femoral artery. Officers returned fire.

In the exchange, Taylor was struck multiple times and killed. Mattingly survived, and Walker, initially charged with attempted murder of a police officer, later had his case dismissed.

Hankison reportedly fired 10 shots during the incident but did not hit Taylor or anyone else. He was nevertheless kicked off the force in June 2020 and ended up being the only officer criminally charged in the raid — with three counts of wanton endangerment.

The former detective was ultimately found not guilty of the wanton endangerment state charges last year.

Mistrial

Attorney General Merrick Garland — facing sustained pressure from Taylor's family and activists — announced charges for Hankison and the other officers involved in the fatal raid in August 2022.

Hankison was indicted accordingly for two civil rights offenses and accused of willfully using "unconstitutionally excessive force, while acting in his official capacity as an officer, when he fired his service weapon into Taylor’s apartment through a covered window and covered glass door."

The indictment noted that multiple bullets fired by the former detective traveled through the wall of Taylor's apartment and into neighboring apartments, endangering a pregnant woman, her partner, and their son.

During the trial, the former detective claimed his actions were the result of an attempt to defend himself and his fellow officers after seeing Mattingly catch a bullet from a shadowy figure who he figured was armed with a rifle, reported CNN.

"I felt helpless knowing that I had a handgun and I was facing rifle fire," Hankison testified. "Even though I had a tactical vest on, I knew that was no match for if the shooter came out with the rifle."

"I knew they were trying to get to him, and it appeared to me they were being executed with this rifle," continued Hankison. "I returned fire through the sliding glass door, and that did not stop the threat."

The Hill reported that after several days of deliberation in November, the 12-member jury notified U.S. District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings that they were at an impasse. Jennings implored them to keep trying. While they obliged her, their continued efforts were in vain.

Learning that the jury was deadlocked on both counts against Hankison, Jennings declared a mistrial on Nov. 17.

"I think the totality of the circumstances may be beyond repair in this case," said Jennings. "They have a disagreement that they cannot get past."

As the 47-year-old former officer was not acquitted, he remained susceptible to a retrial.

Retrial

While federal prosecutor Michael Songer indicated a retrial will be costly, an attorney for the Taylor family told reporters last month, "The assistant U.S. attorneys from the Department of Justice did indicate that it is their intention to retry Brett Hankison in this case."

Sure enough, federal prosecutors informed Hankison during a status hearing Wednesday that they plan to refile charges, the former detective's attorneys, Stew Matthews and Ibrahim Farag, confirmed to CNN.

A status hearing is reportedly set for Jan. 24, and a trial date has tentatively been set for Oct. 14.

Jack Byrd, another attorney for Hankison, filed a new motion of acquittal over the weekend, noting, "The evidence presented by the government in this case is insufficient to sustain a conviction on any of the Counts."

Judge Declares Mistrial In Case Of Former Officer Charged In Breonna Taylor Raidyoutu.be

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New York Times Ethicist Counsels Reader To Ignore Obesity

Poetic Justice is an advice column that offers better advice to submissions at other publications whose advice has failed the reader.

Have Lawmakers Found A Back Door To Extending Their Covid Tyranny?

A drug price transparency bill making its way through the Senate fails to protect against authorities accessing patient medical records.

Researchers cautiously 'optimistic' about new drug that may slow the progression of Alzheimer's



The trial of a new drug has given researchers, patients, and loved ones everywhere hope that medicine may soon be able to help slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease.

Lecanemab, a new experimental drug developed by Eisai and Biogen, was recently given to patients with what Reuters described as "mild cognitive impairment and early stage dementia." Of the 1,800 patients who took lecanemab, cognitive decline slowed by as much as 27% compared with those who took a placebo. That decline in progression amounts to an extra six months or so of relatively normal living, scientists said.

Dr. Christopher Van Dyck, director of the Alzheimer's Disease Research Unit at Yale School of Medicine, explained that an extra six months means that patients can continue living on their own, paying their own bills and cooking their own meals.

Lecanemab has been designed to target and remove amyloid beta plaque which collects in the brain of those developing Alzheimer's. The preliminary Phase 3 trial results of lecanemab were released on Tuesday, and many in the field are encouraged by what they see.

The signs of "a positive effect on cognition and lifestyle metrics" is "very encouraging," said Valerie Daggett, founder and CEO of AltPep, a company dedicated to finding ways of diagnosing Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease as early as possible and then neutralizing the "toxic soluble oligomers" associated with them.

Katie McDonough with the Southeastern Virginia Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association added that while she still awaits more details about lecanemab, she is nonetheless "very optimistic about the efficacy of this medication."

Dr. Reisa Sperling, director of the Center for Alzheimer Research and Treatment at Brigham and Women's and Massachusetts General hospitals in Boston, spoke even more plainly: "I've been kind of holding my breath for the last two and a half years ... so it was thrilling to see these results."

Still, researchers caution that tests of lecanemab are still in progress. More details regarding these results will likely become available in November, but no matter what those results show, they say that lecanemab cannot cure the disease or reverse any of the effects that have already taken root.

"It's not a huge effect, but it's a positive effect," stated Ronald Petersen, director of the Mayo Clinic Alzheimer's Disease Research Center in Rochester, Minnesota.

Roughly 55 million people worldwide suffer from Alzheimer's disease, and there have been precious few victories in the race to combat it. As a result, Eisai has asked the FDA for an expedited review process of lecanemab. The FDA decision on that request is expected to come some time in January.

George Floyd denied posthumous pardon for drug conviction in Texas



George Floyd's drug conviction in 2004 will stand. So says the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles.

Last Wednesday, the Texas parole board informed Allison Mathis, an attorney with the Harris County Public Defender's Office in Houston who had initially filed for the pardon in April 2021, that it had ultimately decided against recommending "a Full Pardon and/or Pardon for Innocence" for Floyd.

Back in 2004, Floyd was convicted of drug possession after former Houston police officer Gerald Goines arrested Floyd for giving $10 worth of crack cocaine to another suspect, who then sold it to Goines, who was undercover at the time. Floyd pled guilty and served 10 months in jail. The other suspect was never charged with a crime because of an "attempt to further the narcotic trafficking in this area," according to Murjani Rawls of The Root.

However, Goines has since become the target of investigators who have accused him of fabricating "the existence of confidential informants to bolster his cases against innocent defendants."

According to reports, Goines fabricated one such informant to secure a warrant against Dennis Tuttle, 59, and his wife, Rhogena Nicholas, 58, for allegedly selling heroin out of their Houston home in 2019. Police then conducted a no-knock raid against the married couple, who were shot and killed by police during the incident.

At first, police reported that one of the two had fired on police, prompting a return use of force. However, later reports suggested that law enforcement had initiated gun fire as police first fired on the family dog. Several officers were shot and wounded in the incident. One of them remains permanently paralyzed as a result.

No heroin was ever discovered in the home, though police did find small amounts of marijuana and cocaine.

Prosecutors allege that Goines later admitted that he made up the informant and that he'd purchased the heroin from Tuttle and Nicholas himself. Goines has been charged with two counts of felony murder. He maintains his innocence. The status of the case against him is unclear.

At least 150 drug convictions tied to Goines have been dismissed since the 2019 raid. However, the Texas parole board declined to add Floyd to that list. Though the board unanimously voted to recommend a pardon for Floyd last October, it has since "reconsidered" that decision.

\u201c#BREAKING The Texas parole board just DENIED a posthumous pardon for George Floyd - 11 months after recommending a pardon & then rescinding it\n\nThis was for a Houston drug case involving a cop now accused of fabricating informants\n\nThey told Floyd's lawyer he can reapply in 2 yrs\u201d
— Keri Blakinger (@Keri Blakinger) 1663275007

In a letter announcing its decision, the board did not provide a reason for the change of heart. Floyd's family may reapply for a pardon in two years, the letter states.

Floyd infamously died while Minneapolis police were in the midst of arresting him in May 2020. His death sparked worldwide outrage and a series of riots, causing billions of dollars in damages. A jury found former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin guilty of murdering Floyd. He has been sentenced to more than 22 years in prison.

H/T: Just the News

County of San Diego will utilize naloxone vending machines in bid to prevent opioid overdose deaths



The County of San Diego plans to employ a dozen naloxone vending machines as a way to tackle the problem of drug overdoses.

Naloxone is used to save people's lives in the event of an opioid overdose.

"Naloxone is a medicine that rapidly reverses an opioid overdose," according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. "It is an opioid antagonist. This means that it attaches to opioid receptors and reverses and blocks the effects of other opioids. Naloxone can quickly restore normal breathing to a person if their breathing has slowed or stopped because of an opioid overdose. But, naloxone has no effect on someone who does not have opioids in their system, and it is not a treatment for opioid use disorder."

A post by the county's communications office notes that "Registration and use will be anonymous and free of charge."

The machines will be available to adults who take an online training — after an individual finishes the training, they will get a pin to allow them to obtain naloxone from the machines.

The medication in the machines will come as a nasal spray, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. The outlet reported that county spokesperson José Álvarez said that the course is meant to make certain that individuals know how to utilize the naloxone devices. Álvarez said that the intent is not that the vending machines would be utilized in the midst an overdose crisis — the goal is that individuals would get the naloxone so that they have it on hand prior to an overdose.

"Based on preliminary data, nearly 900 people died from accidental opioid overdoses in San Diego County in 2021. That’s a 55 percent increase compared to 2020," according to the post from the county's communications office.

"Naloxone is a proven life saver in overdose situations and San Diego County Behavioral Health Services and its partners are working hard to expand access," the county's chief population health officer Nicole Esposito said. "The enhanced distribution of naloxone into the hands of community members is vital in saving lives that might otherwise be lost to overdose."

\u201cThe County is readying a new tool to help fight the growing number of opioid overdoses in the region. https://t.co/yBlahIndKV\u201d
— SanDiegoCounty (@SanDiegoCounty) 1659043848

Overdose rates up 700% in Oregon after the state decriminalized the possession of hard drugs



Overdose rates in the state of Oregon rose by 700% after voters in the state approved a ballot measure to decriminalize all hard drugs.

Voters in the state of Oregon voted to decriminalize all hard drugs in the pursuit of encouraging those struggling with drug addiction to seek medical help. The measure, referred to as Ballot Measure 110, was the first of its kind in the U.S. and went into effect in February of 2021 after being approved by the public the year before.

Ballot Measure 110 made it so that it was no longer a felony or misdemeanor of any kind to possess drugs in the state of Oregon. At most, people carrying hard drugs are subject to a maximum fine of $100 which can be waived if the person receiving the citation calls a public hotline and receives a free health assessment.

If a person is found to be carrying a “personal amount” of drugs like heroin, cocaine, or methamphetamine at most, they will receive a $100 fine.

Of the $300 million that was meant to be allocated to public health resources to fight addiction, only $40 million has been dispersed.

The Daily Mail reported that Ballot Measure 110 has largely had an inverse effect and has led not to more people seeking treatment but to more drug-related deaths and the proliferation of hard drug use throughout Oregonian communities.

Republican state official Lily Morgan said, “We have overdoses increasing at drastic rates.”

Morgan said, “In my community, [there has been] a 700% increase in overdoses and a 120% increase in deaths.”

Shemia Fagan, the Oregonian Secretary of State, said that Oregon residents approved Ballot Measure 110 to “improve the lives of people, to improve our communities.”

Fagan said, “When the voters of Oregon passed Measure 110, we did so because it was a change of policy in Oregon to improve the lives of people, to improve our communities, and in the years since, we haven’t seen that play out.”

She concluded, “Instead, in many communities in Oregon, we’ve seen the problem with drug addiction get worse.”

Steve Allen, Oregon’s behavioral health director, acknowledged that there has been a “dramatic” increase in overdoses and overdose deaths, but he attributed much of these to an influx of methamphetamine laced with fentanyl.

Allen indicated a belief that if public health resources received enough funding and support, then overdose deaths would decrease as the state’s drug problem begins to improve.

He said, “Getting these resources out to the community is incredibly important — not just the harm reduction resources, but people who can support folks who are at risk for overdose.”