March 16, 2018
By Natasha Vaughn
Albany -- The number of opioid overdose deaths (click here) in New York surged again, growing 29 percent between 2015 and 2016, a report Thursday showed.
The Rockefeller Institute of Government reviewed data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, finding growth in deaths in New York.
The year-over-year increase was the largest in six years, the think tank said.
"The data continue to show that New York's opioid crisis is deepening, despite well-intentioned interventions at every level of government," Jim Malatras, president of the group, said in a statement.
"This will not come as a shock to anyone on the frontlines of the crisis.”...
The country can't continue to move at a snails pass regarding this epidemic.
By Martha Bebinger
Mady Ohlman, who lives near Boston and has been sober for more than four years, says many drug users hit a point when the disease and the pursuit of illegal drugs crushes the will to live.
..."You realize getting clean would be a lot of work," (click here) Ohlman says, her voice rising. "And you realize dying would be a lot less painful. You also feel like you'll be doing everyone else a favor if you die."
Ohlman, who has now been sober for more than four years, says many drug users hit the same point, when the disease and the pursuit of illegal drugs crushes their will to live. Ohlman is among at least 40 percent of active drug users who wrestle with depression, anxiety or another mental health issue that increases the risk of suicide....
And the foreign front:
Location: Playa del Carmen, Mexico (click here)
Event: On March 7, the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City received information about a security threat in Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico. Effective immediately, U.S. Government employees are prohibited from traveling to Playa del Carmen until further notice. The U.S. Consular Agency in Playa del Carmen will be closed until further notice....
Alcopulco, once a vibrant and global attraction for tourism is basically abandoned. The encroaching poverty is profound and the drug cartels rule the cities in Mexico. One could say with so many tourist areas abandoned due to danger, Mexico has lost it's sovereignty to the drug cartels.
When drug cartels rule the land there is profound poverty among the people due to the lack of any viable economy. In rehabilitating the country's best economic areas should not be difficult if the drug cartels are removed from the land. That is a military assault. There is no other way of doing it. The problem with any military operation are citizen casualties.
Mexico is growing in tragedy. The wall at the southern border is not going to solve the problem. With advancing cartel presence in Mexico, the coastal USA is more or less their next target.
The US decision in avoiding a once Mexican tourist area is making global news. The decision occurred after a near terrorist level explosion. This is the "Gulf News."
March 9, 2018
Mexico City: Citing a new security threat (click here) in Mexico’s Caribbean beach resort of Playa del Carmen, the US government is prohibiting its employees from travelling there, marking another blow to the battered reputations of the country’s most popular tourist hubs.
The US travel ban was issued late on Wednesday and was later cited by the Canadian government in its own warning. While the travel ban only applies to government employees, the US Embassy said Americans should consider the security threat, which it did not specify, before travelling to the area.
Playa del Carmen is located about 76km south of Mexico’s top beach destination, Cancun, part of a long strip of white sand beach-front resorts that attracts international tourists.
Late last month, an explosion on a ferry docked at a Playa del Carmen pier injured 25, including several US citizens....
