Postal Service workers working in Puerto Rico were among 30 arrested for helping pass heroin, cocaine, and marijuana through the mail. They were thought to have smuggled more than 100,000 pounds of marijuana over a three-year period. But activists complain Puerto Rico has been slow to take the problem seriously, and it’s not just the failure to request federal money. Dominican drug trafficking organizations work hand in hand with Puerto Rico drug lords.

If your country is located on the route between one of the world’s major drug manufacturing centers and its biggest consumer nations, you’re going to experience problems. While that’s much less dire than the crisis in some U.S. states, activists and experts say the problem appears to be expanding rapidly as use of fentanyl, the opioid blamed for much of the problem in the U.S., spreads more widely here. Making matters worse, the people in need often do not receive adequate treatment to effectively begin long-term recovery. He is a founding member of the Puerto Rican Harm Reduction Coalition and is expanding his work in the Caribbean, providing technical assistance for harm reduction and syringe exchange in the Dominican Republic and the US Virgin Islands. According to Rafael, “We think of ourselves as Caribbean and as Latin American.” His work is indispensable in advancing reform across the region. Rafael Torruella works across countries, cultures and issues, and we are lucky to have him in the drug policy reform movement.

Operation Guard Shack was a two-year FBI investigation into law enforcement corruption in Puerto Rico. The operation came to a conclusion on 6 October 2010 with a series of pre-dawn raids that led to over 130 arrests of members of the Puerto Rico Police Department, various municipal departments, and the Puerto Rico Corrections Department. The operation began at 3 a.m., when 65 tactical teams, including FBI SWAT and the Hostage effective treatments for alcohol use disorders Rescue Team , fanned out across the island in a series of sneak attack arrests. On hand were a range of Bureau personnel—crisis negotiators, evidence response team members, canines and their handlers, and 80 medical personnel from first responders and nurses to a trauma surgeon and a veterinarian. The central thread of the corruption was law enforcement officers providing protection and other services to drug traffickers.

Drugs in Schedules I and II are considered highly addictive with little to no medical use, while drugs falling in the lower Schedules have more medical use and less chance for addiction. Possession of any amount of a scheduled narcotic (and some non-narcotics) is a felony. Low public trust in Puerto Rico’s police, fueled by a troubling history of abuses by law enforcement, makes it harder to stem the violence, said Jennifer Turner, can alcoholics drink in moderation a human rights researcher at the American Civil Liberties Union. Since 2008, the United States has pledged $1.6 billion in aid to Mexico as part of the Merida Initiative, aimed at helping Mexico combat cartels and organized crime. In that same period, Puerto Rico has received roughly $260 million to fund various addiction recovery, police and judicial programs, according to a recent estimate using government figures.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A heavily criticized private company that operates the transmission and distribution of power in Puerto Rico secured a last-minute extension on its contract Wednesday despite widespread objections. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Puerto Rico’s power company appears destined for an even longer bankruptcy than expected after several creditors rejected a new debt restructuring plan filed late Friday following years of failed negotiations. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The U.S. government announced a $1 million investment on Monday to establish a park-and-ride system for Puerto Rico’s El Yunque National Forest. Some 1.2 million people visit the forest every year, with up to 3,000 cars trying every day to access an area that has only 300 parking spaces, according to the U.S. … They know that they’re gonna die young, but they’re gonna take care of their mom with a lot of money. “We are talking about communities that are basically living from informal work,” says Bobea, who has studied similar neighborhoods in the Dominican Republic and will begin a fellowship researching Puerto Rico’s public housing projects in the fall.

Addiction Treatment Laws In Puerto Rico

These are all problems brought on by a storm that killed anywhere between64 and nearly 1,100 peopleon the island. Different media outlets have reported different numbers of deaths in part due to the widespread severity of the damage, making it difficult to get an accurate number. Puerto Rico divides illegal substances into five categories based on their potential for abuse, their level of accepted medical use in the US, and the lack of accepted safety for use of the drug under medical supervision.

• Keeping the tax break targeted to the generic sector lowers its fiscal costs while achieving a strategic objective.
• The official death toll included a pregnant woman’s 8-month-old unborn child, who was shot in the head, CNN affilate WAPA-TV reported.
• Puerto Rico has several airports and major shipping ports that move thousands of cargo containers each year.
• With little government funding dedicated to substance abuse treatment or recidivism, the Department of Justice estimates that 17.9% of drug charges in Puerto Rico are Heroin-related.
• SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The U.S. government announced Wednesday that it will detain all imports of sugar and related products made in the Dominican Republic by Central Romana Corporation, Ltd. amid allegations that it uses forced labor.

Border, cartels may be searching for other trafficking routes, some analysts and officials speculate. Up to 80% of the drugs that pass through Puerto Rico end up in cities across the eastern seaboard of the United States, officials say. And nearly a third of drugs destined for the continental United States pass through the Caribbean.

The Puerto Rican Police Department reported that in 2001, 63% of the 744 murders on the island were drug related. According to the Mental Health and Anti Addiction Services Administration of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, substance abuse is one of the island’s most compelling socio-medical problems. In 2009, a part-time American Airlines employee living far beyond his means was indicted for shipping packages of heroin as airline baggage with the help of other AA employees he recruited. He and his recruits were accused of moving 20,000 pounds of cocaine into eastern cities in the U.S.

Legal push to cut Puerto Rico power company debt delayed

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A former newspaper reporter in St. Vincent and the Grenadines has been found guilty of murder in the killing of a banker nearly six years ago. Junior Jarvis was convicted Monday in the fatal shooting of Randy Lawrence in February 2017 in the community of Arnos Vale, the Searchlight newspaper reported. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Federal agents have seized $24 million worth of cocaine off a speedboat trying to reach Puerto Rico’s southeast coast, authorities said Monday. Authorities arrested two people from the Dominican Republic and one from Colombia as they seized more than 2,200 pounds of cocaine Friday near the coastal town of Humacao, according to U.S.

Sign up to receive our monthly newsletter to get an inside look at DPA and the world of drug policy reform. FILE – A drug user turns in his used syringes to volunteers from the Intercambios Puerto Rico needle exchange program, in order to get new, clean ones, in an area popular with drug users in Humacao, Puerto Rico, Dec. 14, 2018. Operation Unified Resolve—U.S. Coast Guard’s District 7 is allocating additional resources and capabilities needed to deter, detect and disrupt illicit maritime trafficking in the region, targeting the flow of drugs, weapons, money, and migrants. Create a ‘most-favored nation’ Puerto Rican tax rate for pharmaceutical intellectual property. As I mentioned above, countries like Ireland have a special tax rate of 6.25 percent for manufacturing that is tied to intellectual property such as patents. This low tax rate has done much to spur Ireland’s economic growth over the past two decades.

About DHS

Before Maria devastated the island, Puerto Rico dealt with challenges similar to the United States, including poverty, crime and addiction. Another major problem for the island — one that haspersisted there for decades— is the drug addiction crisis and the unsuccessful efforts to help those suffering from substance use disorders. The island’s Senate sent a new bill to committee last year, but it has languished for several months. FILE – A volunteer from the Intercambios Puerto Rico needle exchange program tests a user’s heroin for fentanyl, in an area popular with drug users behind an abandoned home in Humacao, Puerto Rico, Dec. 14, 2018. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and local nonprofit groups also say the official data doesn’t reflect the true situation because the island’s government is not keeping proper count of deaths and overdoses. DHS has initiated a series of operational activities that build on existing law enforcement capabilities to deter, detect and disrupt illicit maritime trafficking in the region, targeting the flow of drugs, weapons, money, and migrants.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Federal agents said they seized $2 million worth of cocaine on Wednesday that was strewn on a beach in Puerto Rico and discovered the body of a man trapped under a nearby boat that was carrying the drugs. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe is fighting what it calls a “large-scale” cyberattack on its computer networks. The government is working with an unidentified specialized firm to limit the consequences of the attack as it tries to restore its systems as soon as possible, officials said Monday. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Efforts to restructure some $9 billion in debt held by Puerto Rico’s power company hit a new snag Thursday following multiple failed attempts to end its bankruptcy. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — One British man has been killed and another injured in the eastern Caribbean island of St. Lucia, according to the U.K.’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

Drug abuse and illicit drug use in Puerto Rico

Regardless of the island’s favored sites and activities, Puerto Rico does have a drug problem. Unfortunately, the number of gangs and drug trafficking organizations has caused danger and paranoia among the people who live there and the tourists who visit. The Recovery Village aims to improve the quality of life for people struggling with substance use or mental health disorder with fact-based content about the nature of behavioral health conditions, treatment options and their related outcomes. We publish material that is researched, cited, edited and reviewed by licensed medical professionals. The information we provide is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Puerto Rico’s Administration of Services for Mental Health and Addiction confirmed 40 fentanyl deaths through March, but 75 suspected ones since then have gone untested because of budget cuts. He dropped off 140 used needles, picked up clean cookers and paused to recount his near-death experience before disappearing behind an abandoned building. Since there are many people who face opiate addiction, opiate treatment often takes the form of Suboxone substitution treatment.

DHS components in Puerto Rico have an existing, robust relationship with other partners through the island chain to collaborate and promote information sharing. Since May 2012, Operation Sea Wall has resulted in the interdiction of more than 7000 kilograms of cocaine and the arrest of 29 suspected smugglers; a 300% increase over the previous 12-month period. A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. FREOPP.org), which focuses on expanding economic opportunity to those who least have it.

It should not be used in place of the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare providers. The limitations in the number of facilities, and the levels of care offered at many of them, has led to a grave problem in how officials https://en.forexpulse.info/ in Puerto Rico help individuals suffering from addiction. There are so many people needing help and so few resources that the commonwealth’s government, at times, resorts to sending people toChicagoandPhiladelphiafor treatment.

In 1996, a group of researchers from Puerto Rico’s Mental Health and Anti Addiction Services Administration, published the results of a study involving 849 out-of-treatment drug users in the San Juan area. Their study found that 36.5% of the drug users in the study were crack cocaine users only, 42.4% were drug injectors only and 21.1% were both drug injectors and crack users. Along with gang violence the island has also been victim to Police and political corruption.

Alyssa who is the National Director of Digital Marketing, joined the Banyan team in 2016, bringing her five-plus years of experience. She has produced a multitude of integrated campaigns and events in the behavioral health and addictions field. Through strategic marketing campaign concepts, Alyssa has established Banyan as an industry leader and a national household name. On an island where rehabilitation resources are scarcer than in every mainland state, the people trying to fix the problem have no choice but to ask others for help. The lack of withdrawal-blocking medications is not the only thing missing from Puerto Rico’s treatment facilities.

There are an estimated 60,000 intravenous drug users on the island, coupled with the highest infection rates of HIV and Hepatitis C in the western Hemisphere. Of the total number of HIV/AIDS transmissions, 42% were caused by injection (as opposed to the 21% transmission rate in the continental US). Additionally, eight in ten inmates in Puerto Rico have Hepatitis C, as illicit drugs have become available behind bars while needles are harder to come by. There are many places around the world that suffer from high levels of drug trafficking, substance abuse, and addiction problems simply because of their locations.