title: War on drugs

text: In the early 21st century, the war on drugs began being referred to as "the new Jim Crow". This mentality was further popularized by lawyer and civil rights advocate Michelle Alexander, who wrote "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness" in 2010.


title: War on drugs

text: At the turn of the century, incarceration rates in the United States disproportionately consisted of African-American men, according to an article from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). In 2001,


title: War on drugs

text: "the number of black men in prison (792,000) [had] already equaled the number of men enslaved in 1820. With the current momentum of the drug war fueling an ever expanding prison-industrial complex, if current trends continue, only 15 years remain before the United States incarcerates as many African-American men as were forced into chattel bondage at slavery's peak, in 1860".


title: War on drugs

text: During his time in office, Barack Obama implemented a "tough but smart" approach to the war on drugs. While he claimed that his methodology differed from those of previous presidents, in reality, his practices were very similar. He promoted a universal drug issue, but his binary "tough but smart" solution maintained the mentality of criminalizing drug offenders.


title: War on drugs

text: An international group called the Global Commission on Drug Policy composed of former heads of state and government released a report on June 2, 2011, stating that "The global war on drugs has failed." The commission was made up of 22 self-appointed members including a number of prominent international politicians and writers. U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin also released the first-ever National Prevention Strategy, a framework towards preventing drug abuse and promoting healthy, active lifestyles.


title: War on drugs

text: On May 21, 2012, the U.S. Government published an updated version of its drug policy. The director of ONDCP stated simultaneously that this policy is somewhat different from the "War on Drugs":


title: War on drugs

text: At the same meeting was a declaration signed by the representatives of Italy, the Russian Federation, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States in line with this:


title: War on drugs

text: "Our approach must be a balanced one, combining effective enforcement to restrict the supply of drugs, with efforts to reduce demand and build recovery; supporting people to live a life free of addiction."


title: War on drugs

text: A 2013 ACLU report declared the anti-marijuana crusade a "war on people of color". The report found that "African Americans [were] 3.73 times more likely than whites to be apprehended despite nearly identical usage rates, and marijuana violations accounting for more than half of drug arrests nationwide during the previous decade". In a manner of speaking, Barack Obama's "tough but smart" binary approach to the war on drugs stunted its own progress. On one hand, nonwhite drug offenders received less excessive criminal sanctions, but on the other, by examining criminals as strictly violent or nonviolent, mass incarceration persisted.


title: War on drugs

text: In March 2016 the International Narcotics Control Board stated that the International Drug Control treaties do not mandate a "war on drugs".


title: War on drugs

text: According to 2020 articles from the ACLU and "The New York Times", Republicans and Democrats agreed that the time has come to end the war on drugs. While on the presidential campaign trail, Joe Biden claimed that he would take the necessary steps to alleviate the war on drugs and end the opioid epidemic.


title: War on drugs

text: On December 4, 2020, the United States House of Representatives passed a marijuana reform bill, the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act (also known as the MORE Act), which decriminalized marijuana. Additionally, according to the ACLU, it "expunges past convictions and arrests, and taxes marijuana to reinvest in communities targeted by the war on drugs". However, cannabis remains a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act. While the MORE Act decriminalizes marijuana, the Schedule I classification of the substance conflicts with efforts to reframe cannabis in the socio-political view. The MORE Act was received in the Senate in December 2020.


title: War on drugs

text: Over time, states in the US have approached the matter of drug liberalization at various paces. For example, , Oregon became the first U.S. state to decriminalize all drugs. The state government's response has shifted from a criminal approach to a public health approach.


title: War on drugs

text: Based on ideology from modern political scientists and economic theorists, some contend the war on drugs has persisted as a way to facilitate the deregulation of free economic markets through its methods of mass incarceration.


title: War on drugs

text: According to Human Rights Watch, the War on Drugs caused soaring arrest rates that disproportionately targeted African Americans due to various factors. John Ehrlichman, an aide to Nixon, said that Nixon used the war on drugs to criminalize and disrupt black and hippie communities and their leaders.


title: War on drugs

text: The present state of incarceration in the U.S. as a result of the war on drugs arrived in several stages. By 1971, different steps on drugs had been implemented for more than 50 years (since 1914, 1937, etc.) with only a very small increase of inmates per 100,000 citizens. During the first nine years after Nixon coined the expression "War on Drugs", statistics showed only a minor increase in the total number of imprisoned.


title: War on drugs

text: After 1980, the situation began to change. In the 1980s, while the number of arrests for all crimes had risen by 28%, the number of arrests for drug offenses rose 126%. The result of increased demand was the development of privatization and the for-profit prison industry. The US Department of Justice, reporting on the effects of state initiatives, has stated that, from 1990 through 2000, "the increasing number of drug offenses accounted for 27% of the total growth among black inmates, 7% of the total growth among Hispanic inmates, and 15% of the growth among white inmates." In addition to prison or jail, the United States provides for the deportation of many non-citizens convicted of drug offenses.


title: War on drugs

text: In 1994, the "New England Journal of Medicine" reported that the "War on Drugs" resulted in the incarceration of one million Americans each year. In 2008, "The Washington Post" reported that of 1.5 million Americans arrested each year for drug offenses, half a million would be incarcerated. In addition, one in five black Americans would spend time behind bars due to drug laws.


title: War on drugs

text: Federal and state policies also impose collateral consequences on those convicted of drug offenses, separate from fines and prison time, that are not applicable to other types of crime. For example, a number of states have enacted laws to suspend for six months the driver's license of anyone convicted of a drug offense; these laws were enacted in order to comply with a federal law known as the Solomon–Lautenberg amendment, which threatened to penalize states that did not implement the policy. Other examples of collateral consequences for drug offenses, or for felony offenses in general, include loss of professional license, loss of ability to purchase a firearm, loss of eligibility for food stamps, loss of eligibility for Federal Student Aid, loss of eligibility to live in public housing, loss of ability to vote, and deportation.


title: War on drugs

text: In 1986, the U.S. Congress passed laws that created a 100 to 1 sentencing disparity for the trafficking "or possession" of crack when compared to penalties for "trafficking" of powder cocaine, which had been widely criticized as discriminatory against minorities, mostly blacks, who were more likely to use crack than powder cocaine. This 100:1 ratio had been required under federal law since 1986. Persons convicted in federal court of possession of 5 grams of crack cocaine received a minimum mandatory sentence of 5 years in federal prison. On the other hand, possession of 500 grams of powder cocaine carries the same sentence. In 2010, the Fair Sentencing Act cut the sentencing disparity to 18:1.


title: War on drugs

text: According to Human Rights Watch, crime statistics show that—in the United States in 1999—compared to non-minorities, African Americans were far more likely to be arrested for drug crimes, and received much stiffer penalties and sentences.


title: War on drugs

text: Statistics from 1998 show that there were wide racial disparities in arrests, prosecutions, sentencing and deaths. African-American drug users made up for 35% of drug arrests, 55% of convictions, and 74% of people sent to prison for drug possession crimes. Nationwide African-Americans were sent to state prisons for drug offenses 13 times more often than other races, even though they supposedly constituted only 13% of regular drug users.


title: War on drugs

text: Anti-drug legislation over time has also displayed an apparent racial bias. University of Minnesota Professor and social justice author Michael Tonry writes, "The War on Drugs foreseeably and unnecessarily blighted the lives of hundreds and thousands of young disadvantaged black Americans and undermined decades of effort to improve the life chances of members of the urban black underclass."


title: War on drugs

text: In 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson decided that the government needed to make an effort to curtail the social unrest that blanketed the country at the time. He decided to focus his efforts on illegal drug use, an approach that was in line with expert opinion on the subject at the time. In the 1960s, it was believed that at least half of the crime in the U.S. was drug-related, and this number grew as high as 90 percent in the next decade. He created the Reorganization Plan of 1968 which merged the Bureau of Narcotics and the Bureau of Drug Abuse to form the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs within the Department of Justice. The belief during this time about drug use was summarized by journalist Max Lerner in his work "America as a Civilization" (1957):


title: War on drugs

text: As a case in point we may take the known fact of the prevalence of reefer and dope addiction in Negro areas. This is essentially explained in terms of poverty, slum living, and broken families, yet it would be easy to show the lack of drug addiction among other ethnic groups where the same conditions apply.


title: War on drugs

text: Richard Nixon became president in 1969, and did not back away from the anti-drug precedent set by Johnson. Nixon began orchestrating drug raids nationwide to improve his "watchdog" reputation. Lois B. Defleur, a social historian who studied drug arrests during this period in Chicago, stated that, "police administrators indicated they were making the kind of arrests the public wanted". Additionally, some of Nixon's newly created drug enforcement agencies would resort to illegal practices to make arrests as they tried to meet public demand for arrest numbers. From 1972 to 1973, the Office of Drug Abuse and Law Enforcement performed 6,000 drug arrests in 18 months, the majority of the arrested black.


title: War on drugs

text: The next two presidents, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, responded with programs that were essentially a continuation of their predecessors. Shortly after Ronald Reagan became president in 1981, he delivered a speech on the topic. Reagan announced, "We're taking down the surrender flag that has flown over so many drug efforts; we're running up a battle flag."


title: War on drugs

text: Then, driven by the 1986 cocaine overdose of black basketball star Len Bias, Reagan was able to pass the Anti-Drug Abuse Act through Congress. This legislation appropriated an additional $1.7 billion to fund the War on Drugs. More importantly, it established 29 new, mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses. In the entire history of the country up until that point, the legal system had only seen 55 minimum sentences in total. A major stipulation of the new sentencing rules included different mandatory minimums for powder and crack cocaine. At the time of the bill, there was public debate as to the difference in potency and effect of powder cocaine, generally used by whites, and crack cocaine, generally used by blacks, with many believing that "crack" was substantially more powerful and addictive. Crack and powder cocaine are closely related chemicals, crack being a smokeable, freebase form of powdered cocaine hydrochloride which produces a shorter, more intense high while using less of the drug. This method is more cost-effective, and therefore more prevalent on the inner-city streets, while powder cocaine remains more popular in white suburbia. The Reagan administration began shoring public opinion against "crack", encouraging DEA official Robert Putnam to play up the harmful effects of the drug. Stories of "crack whores" and "crack babies" became commonplace; by 1986, "Time" had declared "crack" the issue of the year. Riding the wave of public fervor, Reagan established much harsher sentencing for crack cocaine, handing down stiffer felony penalties for much smaller amounts of the drug.


title: War on drugs

text: Reagan protégé and former Vice-President George H. W. Bush was next to occupy the oval office, and the drug policy under his watch held true to his political background. Bush maintained the hard line drawn by his predecessor and former boss, increasing narcotics regulation when the first National Drug Control Strategy was issued by the Office of National Drug Control in 1989.


title: War on drugs

text: The next three presidents—Clinton, Bush and Obama—continued this trend, maintaining the War on Drugs as they inherited it upon taking office. During this time of passivity by the federal government, it was the states that initiated controversial legislation in the War on Drugs. Racial bias manifested itself in the states through such controversial policies as the "stop and frisk" police practices in New York city and the "three strikes" felony laws began in California in 1994.


title: War on drugs

text: In August 2010, President Obama signed the Fair Sentencing Act into law that dramatically reduced the 100-to-1 sentencing disparity between powder and crack cocaine, which disproportionately affected minorities.


title: War on drugs

text: Commonly used illegal drugs include heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, ecstasy, LSD, ketamine and marijuana


title: War on drugs

text: Heroin is an opiate that is highly addictive. If caught selling or possessing heroin, a perpetrator can be charged with a felony and face two to four years in prison and could be fined to a maximum of $20,000.


title: War on drugs

text: Crystal meth is composed of methamphetamine hydrochloride. It is marketed as either a white powder or in a solid (rock) form. The possession of crystal meth can result in a punishment varying from a fine to a jail sentence. As with other drug crimes, sentencing length may increase depending on the amount of the drug found in the possession of the defendant.


title: War on drugs

text: Cocaine possession is illegal across the U.S. The penalties for possession vary by state, or if charges are federal.


title: War on drugs

text: Marijuana is the most popular illegal drug worldwide. The punishment for possession of it is less than for the possession of cocaine or heroin. In a fast-increasing number of U.S. states, the drug is being legalized. Approximately half of all adult Americans have tried marijuana.


title: War on drugs

text: Ecstasy, also known as MDMA, is an empathogen. Ecstasy possession is illegal within the U.S. Punishments of ecstasy possession can be up to $50,000 in fines and 3–10 years in jail.


title: War on drugs

text: LSD is a type of psychedelic drug that can lead to hallucinations. LSD possession is illegal in U.S. The punishment can be a fine up to $2 million and 5–40 years in prison.


title: War on drugs

text: Some scholars have claimed that the phrase "War on Drugs" is propaganda cloaking an extension of earlier military or paramilitary operations. Others have argued that large amounts of "drug war" foreign aid money, training, and equipment actually goes to fighting leftist insurgencies and is often provided to groups who themselves are involved in large-scale narco-trafficking, such as corrupt members of the Colombian military.


title: War on drugs

text: From 1963 to the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, marijuana usage became common among U.S. soldiers in non-combat situations. Some servicemen also used heroin. Many of the servicemen ended the heroin use after returning to the United States but came home addicted. In 1971, the U.S. military conducted a study of drug use among American servicemen and women. It found that daily usage rates for drugs on a worldwide basis were as low as two percent. However, in the spring of 1971, two congressmen released an alarming report alleging that 15% of the servicemen in Vietnam were addicted to heroin. Marijuana use was also common in Vietnam. Soldiers who used drugs had more disciplinary problems. The frequent drug use had become an issue for the commanders in Vietnam; in 1971 it was estimated that 30,000 servicemen were addicted to drugs, most of them to heroin.


title: War on drugs

text: From 1971 on, therefore, returning servicemen were required to take a mandatory heroin test. Servicemen who tested positive upon returning from Vietnam were not allowed to return home until they had passed the test with a negative result. The program also offered a treatment for heroin addicts.


title: War on drugs

text: Elliot Borin's article "The U.S. Military Needs its Speed"—published in "Wired" on February 10, 2003—reports:


title: War on drugs

text: One of the first anti-drug efforts in the realm of foreign policy was President Nixon's Operation Intercept, announced in September 1969, targeted at reducing the amount of cannabis entering the United States from Mexico. The effort began with an intense inspection crackdown that resulted in an almost shutdown of cross-border traffic. Because the burden on border crossings was controversial in border states, the effort only lasted twenty days.


title: War on drugs

text: On December 20, 1989, the United States invaded Panama as part of Operation Just Cause, which involved 25,000 American troops. Gen. Manuel Noriega, head of the government of Panama, had been giving military assistance to Contra groups in Nicaragua at the request of the U.S. which, in exchange, tolerated his drug trafficking activities, which they had known about since the 1960s. When the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) tried to indict Noriega in 1971, the CIA prevented them from doing so. The CIA, which was then directed by future president George H. W. Bush, provided Noriega with hundreds of thousands of dollars per year as payment for his work in Latin America. When CIA pilot Eugene Hasenfus was shot down over Nicaragua by the Sandinistas, documents aboard the plane revealed many of the CIA's activities in Latin America, and the CIA's connections with Noriega became a public relations "liability" for the U.S. government, which finally allowed the DEA to indict him for drug trafficking, after decades of tolerating his drug operations. Operation Just Cause, whose purpose was to capture Noriega and overthrow his government; Noriega found temporary asylum in the Papal Nuncio, and surrendered to U.S. soldiers on January 3, 1990. He was sentenced by a court in Miami to 45 years in prison.


title: War on drugs

text: As part of its Plan Colombia program, the United States government currently provides hundreds of millions of dollars per year of military aid, training, and equipment to Colombia, to fight left-wing guerrillas such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC-EP), which has been accused of being involved in drug trafficking.


title: War on drugs

text: Private U.S. corporations have signed contracts to carry out anti-drug activities as part of Plan Colombia. DynCorp, the largest private company involved, was among those contracted by the State Department, while others signed contracts with the Defense Department.


title: War on drugs

text: Colombian military personnel have received extensive counterinsurgency training from U.S. military and law enforcement agencies, including the School of Americas (SOA). Author Grace Livingstone has stated that more Colombian SOA graduates have been implicated in human rights abuses than currently known SOA graduates from any other country. All of the commanders of the brigades highlighted in a 2001 Human Rights Watch report on Colombia were graduates of the SOA, including the III brigade in Valle del Cauca, where the 2001 Alto Naya Massacre occurred. US-trained officers have been accused of being directly or indirectly involved in many atrocities during the 1990s, including the Massacre of Trujillo and the 1997 Mapiripán Massacre.


title: War on drugs

text: In 2000, the Clinton administration initially waived all but one of the human rights conditions attached to Plan Colombia, considering such aid as crucial to national security at the time.


title: War on drugs

text: The efforts of U.S. and Colombian governments have been criticized for focusing on fighting leftist guerrillas in southern regions without applying enough pressure on right-wing paramilitaries and continuing drug smuggling operations in the north of the country. Human Rights Watch, congressional committees and other entities have documented the existence of connections between members of the Colombian military and the AUC, which the U.S. government has listed as a terrorist group, and that Colombian military personnel have committed human rights abuses which would make them ineligible for U.S. aid under current laws.


title: War on drugs

text: In 2010, the Washington Office on Latin America concluded that both Plan Colombia and the Colombian government's security strategy "came at a high cost in lives and resources, only did part of the job, are yielding diminishing returns and have left important institutions weaker."


title: War on drugs

text: A 2014 report by the RAND Corporation, which was issued to analyze viable strategies for the Mexican drug war considering successes experienced in Colombia, noted:


title: War on drugs

text: Between 1999 and 2002, the United States gave Colombia $2.04 billion in aid, 81 percent of which was for military purposes, placing Colombia just below Israel and Egypt among the largest recipients of U.S. military assistance. Colombia increased its defense spending from 3.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2000 to 4.19 percent in 2005. Overall, the results were extremely positive. Greater spending on infrastructure and social programs helped the Colombian government increase its political legitimacy, while improved security forces were better able to consolidate control over large swaths of the country previously overrun by insurgents and drug cartels.


title: War on drugs

text: It also notes that, "Plan Colombia has been widely hailed as a success, and some analysts believe that, by 2010, Colombian security forces had finally gained the upper hand once and for all."


title: War on drugs

text: The Mérida Initiative is a security cooperation between the United States and the government of Mexico and the countries of Central America. It was approved on June 30, 2008, and its stated aim is combating the threats of drug trafficking and transnational crime. The Mérida Initiative appropriated $1.4 billion in a three-year commitment (2008–2010) to the Mexican government for military and law enforcement training and equipment, as well as technical advice and training to strengthen the national justice systems. The Mérida Initiative targeted many very important government officials, but it failed to address the thousands of Central Americans who had to flee their countries due to the danger they faced every day because of the war on drugs. There is still not any type of plan that addresses these people. No weapons are included in the plan.


title: War on drugs

text: The United States regularly sponsors the spraying of large amounts of herbicides such as glyphosate over the jungles of Central and South America as part of its drug eradication programs. Environmental consequences resulting from aerial fumigation have been criticized as detrimental to some of the world's most fragile ecosystems; the same aerial fumigation practices are further credited with causing health problems in local populations.


title: War on drugs

text: In 2012, the U.S. sent DEA agents to Honduras to assist security forces in counternarcotics operations. Honduras has been a major stop for drug traffickers, who use small planes and landing strips hidden throughout the country to transport drugs. The U.S. government made agreements with several Latin American countries to share intelligence and resources to counter the drug trade. DEA agents, working with other U.S. agencies such as the State Department, the CBP, and Joint Task Force-Bravo, assisted Honduras troops in conducting raids on traffickers' sites of operation.


title: War on drugs

text: Several critics have compared the wholesale incarceration of the dissenting minority of drug users to the wholesale incarceration of other minorities in history. Psychiatrist Thomas Szasz, for example, wrote in 1997 "Over the past thirty years, we have replaced the medical-political persecution of illegal sex users ('perverts' and 'psychopaths') with the even more ferocious medical-political persecution of illegal drug users."


title: War on drugs

text: The War on Drugs has been a highly contentious issue since its inception. A poll on October 2, 2008, found that three in four Americans believed that the War On Drugs was failing.


title: War on drugs

text: The social consequences of the drug war have been widely criticized by such organizations as the American Civil Liberties Union as being racially biased against minorities and disproportionately responsible for the exploding United States prison population. According to a report commissioned by the Drug Policy Alliance, and released in March 2006 by the Justice Policy Institute, America's "Drug-Free Zones" are ineffective at keeping youths away from drugs, and instead create strong racial disparities in the judicial system.


title: War on drugs

text: In 2014, a Pew Research Center poll found more than six in ten Americans state that state governments moving away from mandatory prison terms for drug law violations is a good thing, while three out of ten Americans say these policy changes are a bad thing. This a substantial shift from the same poll questions since 2001. In 2014 a Pew Research Center poll found that 67 percent of Americans feel that a movement towards treatment for drugs like cocaine and heroin is better versus the 26 percent who feel that prosecution is the better route.


title: War on drugs

text: In 2018, a Rasmussen Report poll found that less than 10 percent of Americans think that the War on Drugs is being won and that 75 percent found that Americans believe that America is not winning the War on Drugs.


title: War on drugs

text: Mexican citizens, unlike American citizens, support the current measures their government is taking against drug cartels in the War on Drugs. A Pew Research Center poll in 2010 found that 80 percent supported the current use of the army in the War on Drugs to combat drug traffickers with about 55 percent saying that they have been making progress in the war. A year later in 2011 a Pew Research Center poll uncovered that 71 percent of Mexicans find that "illegal drugs are a very big problem in their country". 77 percent of Mexicans also found that drug cartels and the violence associated with them are as well a big challenge for Mexico. The poll also found that the percentages believing that illegal drugs and violence related to the cartel were higher in the North, with 87 percent for illegal drug use and 94 percent cartel-related violence being a problem. This compared to the other locations: South, Mexico City and the greater area of Mexico City, and Central Mexico which are all about 18 percent or lower than the NoCrth on Illegal drug use being a problem for the country. These respective areas are also lower than the North by 19 percent or more on the issue of drug cartel-related violence being an issue for the country.


title: War on drugs

text: In 2013 a Pew Research Center poll found that 74 percent of Mexican citizens would support the training of their police and military, the poll also found that another 55 percent would support the supplying of weapons and financial aid. Though the poll indicates a support of U.S. aid, 59 percent were against troops on the ground by the U.S. military. Also in 2013 Pew Research Center found in a poll that 56 percent of Mexican citizens believe that the United States and Mexico are both to blame for drug violence in Mexico. In that same poll, 20 percent believe that the United States is solely to blame and 17 percent believe that Mexico is solely to blame.


title: War on drugs

text: At a meeting in Guatemala in 2012, three former presidents from Guatemala, Mexico and Colombia said that the war on drugs had failed and that they would propose a discussion on alternatives, including decriminalization, at the Summit of the Americas in April of that year. Guatemalan President Otto Pérez Molina said that the war on drugs was exacting too high a price on the lives of Central Americans and that it was time to "end the taboo on discussing decriminalization". At the summit, the government of Colombia pushed for the most far-reaching change to drugs policy since the war on narcotics was declared by Nixon four decades prior, citing the catastrophic effects it had had in Colombia.


title: War on drugs

text: In Canada, enforcement is not carried out using the military, even when Canada is a major supplier of recreational drugs including meth, and ecstasy.


title: War on drugs

text: China's anti-drug movement can be traced back to 1909 in Shanghai with the International Opium Commission. From 1991 to 1999, China has uncovered 360 cases which involved illegal drug abuse and trafficking. In 2009, Akmal Shaikh, a British drug dealer was sentenced to death in China for smuggling 4 kg of heroin into China. Today, it is illegal to use, possess or plant cannabis in China. The punishment can be from 10–15 days detention to life sentence according to the severity.


title: War on drugs

text: Penalties for drug crimes among American youth almost always involve permanent or semi-permanent removal from opportunities for education, strip them of voting rights, and later involve creation of criminal records which make employment more difficult. One-fifth of the US prison population are incarcerated for a drug offence. Thus, some authors maintain that the War on Drugs has resulted in the creation of a permanent underclass of people who have few educational or job opportunities, often as a result of being punished for drug offenses which in turn have resulted from attempts to earn a living in spite of having no education or job opportunities.


title: War on drugs

text: According to a 2008 study published by Harvard economist Jeffrey A. Miron, the annual savings on enforcement and incarceration costs from the legalization of drugs would amount to roughly $41.3 billion, with $25.7 billion being saved among the states and over $15.6 billion accrued for the federal government. Miron further estimated at least $46.7 billion in tax revenue based on rates comparable to those on tobacco and alcohol: $8.7 billion from marijuana, $32.6 billion from cocaine and heroin, and $5.4 billion from other drugs.


title: War on drugs

text: Low taxation in Central American countries has been credited with weakening the region's response in dealing with drug traffickers. Many cartels, especially Los Zetas have taken advantage of the limited resources of these nations. 2010 tax revenue in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, composed just 13.53% of GDP. As a comparison, in Chile and the U.S., taxes were 18.6% and 26.9% of GDP respectively. However, direct taxes on income are very hard to enforce and in some cases tax evasion is seen as a national pastime.


title: War on drugs

text: The status of coca and coca growers has become an intense political issue in several countries, including Colombia and particularly Bolivia, where former president Evo Morales, a former coca growers' union leader, promised to legalise the traditional cultivation and use of coca. Indeed, legalization efforts yielded some successes under the Morales administration when combined with aggressive and targeted eradication efforts. The country saw a 12–13% decline in coca cultivation in 2011 under Morales, who used coca growers' federations to ensure compliance with the law rather than providing a primary role for security forces.


title: War on drugs

text: The coca eradication policy has been criticised for its negative impact on the livelihood of coca growers in South America. In many areas of South America the coca leaf has traditionally been chewed and used in tea and for religious, medicinal and nutritional purposes by locals. For this reason many insist that the illegality of traditional coca cultivation is unjust. In many areas the U.S. government and military has forced the eradication of coca without providing for any meaningful alternative crop for farmers, and has additionally destroyed many of their food or market crops, leaving them starving and destitute.


title: War on drugs

text: Critics note that the War on Drugs also creates an artificial shortage of workers in the labor force due to random drug testing. For example, according to the Department of Transportation, in 2020, 70,000 truck drivers were fired due to testing positive for cannabis use. This is during a period in which 70% of Americans claim to experience product shortages and delays. Additionally, the American Trucking Associations claims that the trucking industry is short 80,000 truck drivers, a number that could potentially double by 2030. Furthermore, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration increased the amount of random drug tests from 25% of the average number of driver positions to 50%, which, critics note, will result in an even greater amount of truck driver and supply shortages.


title: War on drugs

text: The CIA, DEA, State Department, and several other U.S. government agencies have been alleged to have relations with various groups which are involved in drug trafficking.


title: War on drugs

text: Senator John Kerry's 1988 U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations report on Contra drug links concludes that members of the U.S. State Department "who provided support for the Contras are involved in drug trafficking... and elements of the Contras themselves knowingly receive financial and material assistance from drug traffickers." The report further states that "the Contra drug links include... payments to drug traffickers by the U.S. State Department of funds authorized by the Congress for humanitarian assistance to the Contras, in some cases after the traffickers had been indicted by federal law enforcement agencies on drug charges, in others while traffickers were under active investigation by these same agencies."


title: War on drugs

text: In 1996, journalist Gary Webb published reports in the "San Jose Mercury News", and later in his book "Dark Alliance", claiming that: "For the better part of a decade, a San Francisco Bay Area drug ring sold tons of cocaine to the Crips and Bloods street gangs of Los Angeles and funneled millions in drug profits to a Latin American guerrilla army run by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency." This drug ring "opened the first pipeline between Colombia's cocaine cartels and the black neighborhoods of Los Angeles" and, as a result, "The cocaine that flooded in helped spark a crack explosion in urban America."


title: War on drugs

text: Webb's premise regarding the U.S. Government connection was initially attacked at the time by the media. The series remains controversial. The series resulted in three federal investigations (i.e., by the CIA, Department of Justice, and the House Intelligence Committee) into the claims of "Dark Alliance". The reports rejected the series' main claims but were critical of some CIA and law enforcement actions. The CIA report found no evidence that "any past or present employee of CIA, or anyone acting on behalf of CIA, had any direct or indirect dealing" with Ross, Blandón, or Meneses or that any of the other figures mentioned in "Dark Alliance" were ever employed by or associated with or contacted by the agency. The Department of Justice report stated that "We did not find that he [Blandón] had any ties to the CIA, that the CIA intervened in his case in any way, or that any connections to the Contras affected his treatment." The House Committee report examined the support that Meneses and Blandón gave to the local Contra organization in San Francisco and the Contras in general, the report concluded that it was "not sufficient to finance the organization" and did not consist of "millions", contrary to the claims of the "Dark Alliance" series. This support "was not directed by anyone within the Contra movement who had an association with the CIA," and the Committee found "no evidence that the CIA or the Intelligence Community was aware of these individuals' support."


title: War on drugs

text: According to Rodney Campbell, an editorial assistant to Nelson Rockefeller, during World War II, the United States Navy, concerned that strikes and labor disputes in U.S. eastern shipping ports would disrupt wartime logistics, released the mobster Lucky Luciano from prison, and collaborated with him to help the mafia take control of those ports. Labor union members were terrorized and murdered by mafia members as a means of preventing labor unrest and ensuring smooth shipping of supplies to Europe.


title: War on drugs

text: According to Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair, in order to prevent Communist party members from being elected in Italy following World War II, the CIA worked closely with the Sicilian Mafia, protecting them and assisting in their worldwide heroin smuggling operations. The mafia was in conflict with leftist groups and was involved in assassinating, torturing, and beating leftist political organizers.


title: War on drugs

text: In 1986, the US Defense Department funded a two-year study by the RAND Corporation, which found that the use of the armed forces to interdict drugs coming into the United States would have little or no effect on cocaine traffic and might, in fact, raise the profits of cocaine cartels and manufacturers. The 175-page study, "Sealing the Borders: The Effects of Increased Military Participation in Drug Interdiction", was prepared by seven researchers, mathematicians and economists at the National Defense Research Institute, a branch of the RAND, and was released in 1988. The study noted that seven prior studies in the past nine years, including one by the Center for Naval Research and the Office of Technology Assessment, had come to similar conclusions. Interdiction efforts, using current armed forces resources, would have almost no effect on cocaine importation into the United States, the report concluded.


title: War on drugs

text: During the early-to-mid-1990s, the Clinton administration ordered and funded a major cocaine policy study, again by RAND. The Rand Drug Policy Research Center study concluded that $3 billion should be switched from federal and local law enforcement to treatment. The report said that treatment is the cheapest way to cut drug use, stating that drug treatment is twenty-three times more effective than the supply-side "war on drugs".


title: War on drugs

text: The National Research Council Committee on Data and Research for Policy on Illegal Drugs published its findings in 2001 on the efficacy of the drug war. The NRC Committee found that existing studies on efforts to address drug usage and smuggling, from U.S. military operations to eradicate coca fields in Colombia, to domestic drug treatment centers, have all been inconclusive, if the programs have been evaluated at all: "The existing drug-use monitoring systems are strikingly inadequate to support the full range of policy decisions that the nation must make... It is unconscionable for this country to continue to carry out a public policy of this magnitude and cost without any way of knowing whether and to what extent it is having the desired effect." The study, though not ignored by the press, was ignored by top-level policymakers, leading Committee Chair Charles Manski to conclude, as one observer notes, that "the drug war has no interest in its own results".


title: War on drugs

text: In mid-1995, the US government tried to reduce the supply of methamphetamine precursors to disrupt the market of this drug. According to a 2009 study, this effort was successful, but its effects were largely temporary.


title: War on drugs

text: During alcohol prohibition, the period from 1920 to 1933, alcohol use initially fell but began to increase as early as 1922. It has been extrapolated that even if prohibition had not been repealed in 1933, alcohol consumption would have quickly surpassed pre-prohibition levels. One argument against the War on Drugs is that it uses similar measures as Prohibition and is no more effective.


title: War on drugs

text: In the six years from 2000 to 2006, the U.S. spent $4.7 billion on Plan Colombia, an effort to eradicate coca production in Colombia. The main result of this effort was to shift coca production into more remote areas and force other forms of adaptation. The overall acreage cultivated for coca in Colombia at the end of the six years was found to be the same, after the U.S. Drug Czar's office announced a change in measuring methodology in 2005 and included new areas in its surveys. Cultivation in the neighboring countries of Peru and Bolivia increased, some would describe this effect like squeezing a balloon.


title: War on drugs

text: Richard Davenport-Hines, in his book "The Pursuit of Oblivion", criticized the efficacy of the War on Drugs by pointing out that


title: War on drugs

text: Alberto Fujimori, president of Peru from 1990 to 2000, described U.S. foreign drug policy as "failed" on grounds that


title: War on drugs

text: for 10 years, there has been a considerable sum invested by the Peruvian government and another sum on the part of the American government, and this has not led to a reduction in the supply of coca leaf offered for sale. Rather, in the 10 years from 1980 to 1990, it grew 10-fold.


title: War on drugs

text: At least 500 economists, including Nobel Laureates Milton Friedman, George Akerlof and Vernon L. Smith, have noted that reducing the supply of marijuana without reducing the demand causes the price, and hence the profits of marijuana sellers, to go up, according to the laws of supply and demand. The increased profits encourage the producers to produce more drugs despite the risks, providing a theoretical explanation for why attacks on drug supply have failed to have any lasting effect. The aforementioned economists published an open letter to President George W. Bush stating "We urge...the country to commence an open and honest debate about marijuana prohibition... At a minimum, this debate will force advocates of current policy to show that prohibition has benefits sufficient to justify the cost to taxpayers, foregone tax revenues and numerous ancillary consequences that result from marijuana prohibition."


title: War on drugs

text: The declaration from the World Forum Against Drugs, 2008 state that a balanced policy of drug abuse prevention, education,


title: War on drugs

text: treatment, law enforcement, research, and supply reduction provides the most effective platform to reduce drug abuse and its associated harms and call on governments to consider demand reduction as one of their first priorities in the fight against drug abuse.


title: War on drugs

text: Despite over $7 billion spent annually towards arresting and prosecuting nearly 800,000 people across the country for marijuana offenses in 2005 (FBI Uniform Crime Reports), the federally funded Monitoring the Future Survey reports about 85% of high school seniors find marijuana "easy to obtain". That figure has remained virtually unchanged since 1975, never dropping below 82.7% in three decades of national surveys. The Drug Enforcement Administration states that the number of users of marijuana in the U.S. declined between 2000 and 2005 even with many states passing new medical marijuana laws making access easier, though usage rates remain higher than they were in the 1990s according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health.


title: War on drugs

text: ONDCP stated in April 2011 that there has been a 46 percent drop in cocaine use among young adults over the past five years, and a 65 percent drop in the rate of people testing positive for cocaine in the workplace since 2006. At the same time, a 2007 study found that up to 35% of college undergraduates used stimulants not prescribed to them.


title: War on drugs

text: A 2013 study found that prices of heroin, cocaine and cannabis had decreased from 1990 to 2007, but the purity of these drugs had increased during the same time.


title: War on drugs

text: According to data collected by the Federal Bureau of Prisons 45.3% of all criminal charges were drug related and 25.5% of sentences for all charges last 5–10 years. Furthermore, non-whites make up 41.4% of the federal prison system's population and over half are under the age of 40. The Bureau of Justice Statistics contends that over 80% of all drug related charges are for possession rather than the sale or manufacture of drugs. In 2015 The U.S. government spent over to $25 billion on supply reduction, while allocating only $11 billion for demand reduction. Supply reduction includes: interdiction, eradication, and law enforcement; demand reduction includes: education, prevention, and treatment. The War on Drugs is often called a policy failure.


title: War on drugs

text: Critics of the War on Drugs have noted that it has done little to reduce the amount of deaths caused by drug use. For example, according to the CDC, drug abuse deaths in 2021 have reached an all time high of 108,000 deaths, a 15 percent increase from 2020 (93,000) which, at the time, was the highest number of deaths and a 30% increase from 2019. This is despite the fact that the Obama, Trump, and Biden Administrations and prior administrations have perpetuated strict drug scheduling and mandatory minimum sentences from drug users that critics say have very little effect on reducing drug use and deaths.


title: War on drugs

text: Several authors believe that the United States' federal and state governments have chosen wrong methods for combatting the distribution of illicit substances. Aggressive, heavy-handed enforcement funnels individuals through courts and prisons; instead of treating the cause of the addiction, the focus of government efforts has been on punishment. By making drugs illegal rather than regulating them, the War on Drugs creates a highly profitable black market. Jefferson Fish has edited scholarly collections of articles offering a wide variety of public health based and rights based alternative drug policies.


title: War on drugs

text: In the year 2000, the United States drug-control budget reached 18.4 billion dollars, nearly half of which was spent financing law enforcement while only one sixth was spent on treatment. In the year 2003, 53 percent of the requested drug control budget was for enforcement, 29 percent for treatment, and 18 percent for prevention. The state of New York, in particular, designated 17 percent of its budget towards substance-abuse-related spending. Of that, a mere one percent was put towards prevention, treatment, and research.


title: War on drugs

text: In a survey taken by Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), it was found that substance abusers that remain in treatment longer are less likely to resume their former drug habits. Of the people that were studied, 66 percent were cocaine users. After experiencing long-term in-patient treatment, only 22 percent returned to the use of cocaine. Treatment had reduced the number of cocaine abusers by two-thirds. By spending the majority of its money on law enforcement, the federal government had underestimated the true value of drug-treatment facilities and their benefit towards reducing the number of addicts in the U.S.


title: War on drugs

text: In 2004 the federal government issued the National Drug Control Strategy. It supported programs designed to expand treatment options, enhance treatment delivery, and improve treatment outcomes. For example, the Strategy provided SAMHSA with a $100.6 million grant to put towards their Access to Recovery (ATR) initiative. ATR is a program that provides vouchers to addicts to provide them with the means to acquire clinical treatment or recovery support. The project's goals are to expand capacity, support client choice, and increase the array of faith-based and community-based providers for clinical treatment and recovery support services. The ATR program will also provide a more flexible array of services based on the individual's treatment needs.


title: War on drugs

text: The 2004 Strategy additionally declared a significant 32 million dollar raise in the Drug Courts Program, which provides drug offenders with alternatives to incarceration. As a substitute for imprisonment, drug courts identify substance-abusing offenders and place them under strict court monitoring and community supervision, as well as provide them with long-term treatment services. According to a report issued by the National Drug Court Institute, drug courts have a wide array of benefits, with only 16.4 percent of the nation's drug court graduates rearrested and charged with a felony within one year of completing the program (versus the 44.1% of released prisoners who end up back in prison within one year). Additionally, enrolling an addict in a drug court program costs much less than incarcerating one in prison. According to the Bureau of Prisons, the fee to cover the average cost of incarceration for Federal inmates in 2006 was $24,440. The annual cost of receiving treatment in a drug court program ranges from $900 to $3,500. Drug courts in New York State alone saved $2.54 million in incarceration costs.


title: War on drugs

text: Many believe that the War on Drugs has been costly and ineffective largely because inadequate emphasis is placed on treatment of addiction. The United States leads the world in both recreational drug usage and incarceration rates. 70% of men arrested in metropolitan areas test positive for an illicit substance, and 54% of all men incarcerated will be repeat offenders.


title: Erebus

text: In Greek mythology, Erebus (; , "deep darkness, shadow"), or Erebos, is the personification of darkness and one of the primordial deities. Hesiod's "Theogony" identifies him as one of the first five beings in existence, born of Chaos.


title: Erebus

text: The perceived meaning of "Erebus" is "darkness"; the first recorded instance of it was "place of darkness between earth and Hades". The name Ἔρεβος itself originates from Proto-Indo-European "darkness" (cf. Sanskrit "rájas", Gothic "riqis", Old Norse "røkkr").


title: Erebus

text: According to the Greek oral poet Hesiod's "Theogony", Erebus is the offspring of Chaos, and the brother of Nyx, by whom he is the father of Aether and Hemera.


title: Erebus

text: According to the "Fabulae" of Hyginus, Erebus, Nox (Night), Aether and Dies (Day) are the offspring of Chaos and Caligine (Mist), and Erebus, by Nox, is the father of Fate, Old age, Death, Destruction, Strife, Sleep, Dreams, Thoughtfulness, Hedymeles, Porphyrion, Epaphus, Discord, Misery, Petulance, Nemesis, Cheerfulness, Friendship, Pity, Styx, the Parcae (Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos), and the Hesperides (Aegle, Hesperia, and Erythea).


title: Erebus

text: In Cicero's De Natura Deorum, the following are "fabled" to be the children of Erebus and Nox (Night): Aether, Dies (Day), Amor (Love), Dolus (Guile), Metus (Fear), Labor (Toil), Invidentia (Envy), Fatum (Fate), Senectus (Old Age), Mors (Death), Tenebrae (Darkness), Miseria (Misery), Querella (Lamentation), Gratia (Favour), Fraus (Fraud), Pertinacia (Obstinacy), the Parcae (the Fates), the Hesperides and the Somnia (Dreams).


title: Erebus

text: In a cosmogony attributed to Alcman, Erebus is apparently the fourth being to come into existence, after Thetis, Poros and Tekmor.


title: Erebus

text: In Aristophanes' comedy "Birds", Chaos, Erebus, Nyx and Tartarus were the first beings, before the existence of Earth, air or heaven. Nyx "laid a germless egg in the bosom of the infinite deeps of Erebus", from which came Eros. Aether is also called the son of Erebus.


title: Erebus

text: Erebus functions as the unanthropomorphized personification of darkness in the "Theogony", and features little in Greek mythological tradition and literature. Though he plays no active role as a deity in later works, "Erebus" is used as a name for a region of the Greek underworld where the dead pass immediately after dying, and is sometimes used interchangeably with Tartarus.


title: Erebus

text: Five ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS "Erebus" after Erebus. Mount Erebus, the second-highest volcano in Antarctica, was named after HMS "Erebus" used by Sir James Clark Ross on his Antarctic expedition in 1841, later used in the ill-fated Franklin Expedition.


title: Hydrocodone

text: Hydrocodone, also known as dihydrocodeinone, is an opioid used to treat pain and as a cough suppressant. It is taken by mouth. Typically it is dispensed as the combination acetaminophen/hydrocodone or ibuprofen/hydrocodone for pain severe enough to require an opioid and in combination with homatropine methylbromide to relieve cough. It is also available by itself in a long-acting form under the brand name Zohydro ER, among others, to treat severe pain of a prolonged duration. Hydrocodone is a controlled drug, in the United States a Schedule II Controlled Substance.


title: Hydrocodone

text: Common side effects include dizziness, sleepiness, nausea, and constipation. Serious side effects may include low blood pressure, seizures, QT prolongation, respiratory depression, and serotonin syndrome. Rapidly decreasing the dose may result in opioid withdrawal. Use during pregnancy or breastfeeding is generally not recommended. Hydrocodone is believed to work by activating opioid receptors, mainly in the brain and spinal cord. Hydrocodone 10 mg is equivalent to about 10 mg of morphine by mouth.


title: Hydrocodone

text: Hydrocodone was patented in 1923, while the long-acting formulation was approved for medical use in the United States in 2013. It is most commonly prescribed in the United States, which consumed 99% of the worldwide supply as of 2010. In 2018, it was the 402nd most commonly prescribed medication in the United States, with more than 400thousand prescriptions. Hydrocodone is a semisynthetic opioid, converted from codeine or less often from thebaine. Production using genetically engineered yeasts have been developed but are not used commercially.


title: Hydrocodone

text: Hydrocodone is used to treat moderate to severe pain. In liquid formulations, it is used to treat cough. In one study comparing the potency of hydrocodone to that of oxycodone, it was found that it took 50% more hydrocodone to achieve the same degree of miosis (pupillary contraction). The investigators interpreted this to mean that oxycodone is about 50% more potent than hydrocodone.


title: Hydrocodone

text: However, in a study of emergency department patients with fractures, it was found that an equal amount of either drug provided about the same degree of pain relief, indicating that there is little practical difference between them when used for that purpose. Some references state that the analgesic action of hydrocodone begins in 20–30 minutes and lasts about 4–8 hours. The manufacturer's information says onset of action is about 10–30 minutes and duration is about 4–6 hours. Recommended dosing interval is 4–6 hours.


title: Hydrocodone

text: Common side effects of hydrocodone are nausea, vomiting, constipation, drowsiness, dizziness, lightheadedness, anxiety, abnormally happy or sad mood, dry throat, difficulty urinating, rash, itching, and contraction of the pupils. Serious side effects include slowed or irregular breathing and chest tightness.


title: Hydrocodone

text: Several cases of progressive bilateral hearing loss unresponsive to steroid therapy have been described as an infrequent adverse reaction to hydrocodone/paracetamol misuse. This adverse effect has been considered by some to be due to the ototoxicity of hydrocodone. Other researchers have suggested that paracetamol is the primary agent responsible for the ototoxicity.


title: Hydrocodone

text: Hydrocodone is in U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) pregnancy category C. No adequate and well-controlled studies in humans have been conducted. A newborn of a mother taking opioid medications regularly prior to the birth will be physically dependent. The baby may also exhibit respiratory depression if the opioid dose was high. An epidemiological study indicated that opioid treatment during early pregnancy results in increased risk of various birth defects.


title: Hydrocodone

text: Symptoms of hydrocodone overdose include narrowed or widened pupils; slow, shallow, or stopped breathing; slowed or stopped heartbeat; cold, clammy, or blue skin; excessive sleepiness; loss of consciousness; seizures; or death.


title: Hydrocodone

text: Hydrocodone can be habit forming, causing physical and psychological dependence. Its abuse liability is similar to morphine and less than oxycodone.


title: Hydrocodone

text: Hydrocodone is metabolized by the cytochrome P450 enzymes CYP2D6 and CYP3A4, and inhibitors and inducers of these enzymes can modify hydrocodone exposure. One study found that combination of paroxetine, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) and strong CYP2D6 inhibitor, with once-daily extended-release hydrocodone, did not modify exposure to hydrocodone or the incidence of adverse effects. These findings suggest that hydrocodone can be coadministered with CYP2D6 inhibitors without dosage modification. Conversely, combination of hydrocodone/acetaminophen with the antiviral regimen of ombitasvir, paritaprevir, ritonavir, and dasabuvir for treatment of hepatitis C increased peak concentrations of hydrocodone by 27%, total exposure by 90%, and elimination half-life from 5.1hours to 8.0hours. Ritonavir is a strong CYP3A4 inhibitor as well as inducer of CYP3A and other enzymes, and the other antivirals are known to inhibit drug transporters like organic anion transporting polypeptide (OATP) 1B1 and 1B3, P-glycoprotein, and breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP). The changes in hydrocodone levels are consistent with CYP3A4 inhibition by ritonavir. Based on these findings, a 50% lower dose of hydrocodone and closer clinical monitoring was recommended when hydrocodone is used in combination with this antiviral regimen.


title: Hydrocodone

text: People consuming alcohol, other opioids, anticholinergic antihistamines, antipsychotics, anxiolytics, or other central nervous system (CNS) depressants together with hydrocodone may exhibit an additive CNS depression. Hydrocodone taken concomitantly with serotonergic medications like SSRI antidepressants may increase the risk of serotonin syndrome.


title: Hydrocodone

text: Hydrocodone is a highly selective full agonist of the μ-opioid receptor (MOR). This is the main biological target of the endogenous opioid neuropeptide β-endorphin. Hydrocodone has low affinity for the δ-opioid receptor (DOR) and the κ-opioid receptor (KOR), where it is an agonist similarly.


title: Hydrocodone

text: Studies have shown hydrocodone is stronger than codeine but only one-tenth as potent as morphine at binding to receptors and reported to be only 59% as potent as morphine in analgesic properties. However, in tests conducted on rhesus monkeys, the analgesic potency of hydrocodone was actually higher than morphine. Oral hydrocodone has a mean equivalent daily dosage (MEDD) factor of 0.4, meaning that 1 mg of hydrocodone is equivalent to 0.4 mg of intravenous morphine. However, because of morphine's low oral bioavailability, there is a 1:1 correspondence between orally administered morphine and orally administered hydrocodone.


title: Hydrocodone

text: Hydrocodone is only pharmaceutically available as an oral medication. It is well-absorbed, but the oral bioavailability of hydrocodone is only approximately 25%. The onset of action of hydrocodone via this route is 10 to 20 minutes, with a peak effect (T) occurring at 30 to 60 minutes, and it has a duration of 4 to 8 hours.


title: Hydrocodone

text: The volume of distribution of hydrocodone is 3.3 to 4.7 L/kg. The plasma protein binding of hydrocodone is 20 to 50%.


title: Hydrocodone

text: In the liver, hydrocodone is transformed into several metabolites, including norhydrocodone, hydromorphone, 6α-hydrocodol (dihydrocodeine), and 6β-hydrocodol. 6α- and 6β-hydromorphol are also formed, and the metabolites of hydrocodone are conjugated (via glucuronidation). Hydrocodone has a terminal half-life that averages 3.8 hours (range 3.3–4.4 hours). The hepatic cytochrome P450 enzyme CYP2D6 converts hydrocodone into hydromorphone, a more potent opioid (5-fold higher binding affinity to the MOR). However, extensive and poor cytochrome 450 CYP2D6 metabolizers had similar physiological and subjective responses to hydrocodone, and CYP2D6 inhibitor quinidine did not change the responses of extensive metabolizers, suggesting that inhibition of CYP2D6 metabolism of hydrocodone has no practical importance. Ultra-rapid CYP2D6 metabolizers (1–2% of the population) may have an increased response to hydrocodone; however, hydrocodone metabolism in this population has not been studied.


title: Hydrocodone

text: Norhydrocodone, the major metabolite of hydrocodone, is predominantly formed by CYP3A4-catalyzed oxidation. In contrast to hydromorphone, it is described as inactive. However, norhydrocodone is actually a MOR agonist with similar potency to hydrocodone, but has been found to produce only minimal analgesia when administered peripherally to animals (likely due to poor blood–brain barrier and thus central nervous system penetration). Inhibition of CYP3A4 in a child who was, in addition, a poor CYP2D6 metabolizer, resulted in a fatal overdose of hydrocodone. Approximately 40% of hydrocodone metabolism is attributed to non-cytochrome P450-catalyzed reactions.


title: Hydrocodone

text: Hydrocodone concentrations are measured in blood, plasma, and urine to seek evidence of misuse, to confirm diagnoses of poisoning, and to assist in investigations into deaths. Many commercial opiate screening tests react indiscriminately with hydrocodone, other opiates, and their metabolites, but chromatographic techniques can easily distinguish hydrocodone uniquely. Blood and plasma hydrocodone concentrations typically fall into the 5–30 µg/L range among people taking the drug therapeutically, 100–200 µg/L among recreational users, and 100–1,600 µg/L in cases of acute, fatal overdosage. Co-administration of the drug with food or alcohol can very significantly increase the resulting plasma hydrocodone concentrations that are subsequently achieved.


title: Hydrocodone

text: Hydrocodone is most commonly synthesized from Thebaine, a constituent of opium latex from the dried poppy plant. Once Thebaine is obtained, the reaction undergoes hydrogenation using a palladium catalyst.


title: Hydrocodone

text: There are three important structures in hydrocodone: the amine group, which binds to the tertiary nitrogen binding site in the central nervous system's opioid receptor, the hydroxy group that binds to the anionic binding side, and the phenyl group which binds to the phenolic binding site. This triggers a G protein activation and subsequent release of dopamine.


title: Hydrocodone

text: Hydrocodone was first synthesized in Germany in 1920 by Carl Mannich and Helene Löwenheim. It was approved by the Food and Drug Administration on 23 March 1943 for sale in the United States and approved by Health Canada for sale in Canada under the brand name Hycodan.


title: Hydrocodone

text: Hydrocodone was first marketed by Knoll as Dicodid, starting in February 1924 in Germany. This name is analogous to other products the company introduced or otherwise marketed: Dilaudid (hydromorphone, 1926), Dinarkon (oxycodone, 1917), Dihydrin (dihydrocodeine, 1911), and Dimorphan (dihydromorphine). Paramorfan is the trade name of dihydromorphine from another manufacturer, as is Paracodin, for dihydrocodeine.


title: Hydrocodone

text: The name Dicodid was registered in the United States and appears without a monograph as late as 1978 in the Physicians' Desk Reference; Dicodid may have been marketed to one extent or another in North America in the 1920s and early 1930s. The drug was pure hydrocodone in small 5 and 10 mg tablets, physically similar to the Dilaudid tablets. It is no longer manufactured by Knoll in Germany, nor is a generic available. Hydrocodone was never as common in Europe as it is in North America—dihydrocodeine is used for its spectrum of indications. Germany was the number two consumer of hydrocodone until the manufacture of the drug was discontinued there. Now, the world outside the United States accounts for less than 1% of annual consumption. It was listed as a "Suchtgift" under the German Betäubungsmittelgesetz and regulated like morphine. It became available in the Schengen Area of the European Union as of 1 January 2002 under Title 76 of the Schengen Treaty.


title: Hydrocodone

text: Most hydrocodone formulations include a second analgesic, such as paracetamol (acetaminophen) or ibuprofen. Examples of hydrocodone combinations include Norco, Vicodin, Vicoprofen and Riboxen.


title: Hydrocodone

text: The US government imposed tougher prescribing rules for hydrocodone in 2014, changing the drug from Schedule III to Schedule II. In 2011, hydrocodone products were involved in around 100,000 abuse-related emergency department visits in the United States, more than double the number in 2004.


title: Vagabond (manga)

text: Viz Media licensed the series for English release in North America and has published the current thirty-seven volumes as of April 2015. The series is currently on an extended hiatus, with the latest chapter released in May 2015.


title: Vagabond (manga)

text: As of December 2012, the manga had over 82 million copies in circulation, making it one of the best-selling manga series of all time. In 2000, "Vagabond" won the 24th Kodansha Manga Award for Best General Manga as well as the Grand Prize of the 6th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2002.


title: Vagabond (manga)

text: The story starts in 1600, in the aftermath of the decisive Battle of Sekigahara. Two 17-year-old teenagers who joined the losing side, Takezō Shinmen and Matahachi Hon'iden, lie wounded in the battlefield and pursued by survivor hunters. They manage to escape and swear to become "Invincible Under The Heavens" (天下無双, "Tenka Musō"). They find housing with two women, but are soon attacked by the Tsujikaze gang, and in the confusion of the fight their paths separate: Takezō decides to become a "vagabond" and wander the world challenging strong opponents, and Matahachi chooses to stay with the women. Takezō returns to his hometown, the Miyamoto village, to tell Matahachi's mother, Osugi Hon'iden, that her son is alive. However, Osugi reacts hostile because the village detests Takezō for his extremely violent and antisocial tendencies, and because the future of the Hon'iden gentry family is compromised now that their heir Matahachi is missing. Osugi pulls strings to accuse Takezō of being a criminal. Takezō fights his pursuers but is eventually caught by the monk Takuan Sōhō, who makes him reconsider his purpose in life. Takuan frees him and, to make him start his life anew, renames him "Musashi Miyamoto". Thus begins a story that will show how the legend of the acclaimed sword master Musashi Miyamoto was forged.


title: Vagabond (manga)

text: Takehiko Inoue started "Vagabond" having wondered what the character was like when he read "Musashi". Having come off of drawing a sports manga, he wanted to create a series about more basic concepts, such as "life and death, the human condition, etc.". Rather than portray Musashi's later life in his "enlightened state", which has been written about often, the author chose to depict the lesser known "young man reaching that point of enlightenment when he comes from a place of being so like an animal". In 2009, he stated that he made his weekly deadline thanks to only having to draw the people, with his five assistants drawing the backgrounds.


title: Vagabond (manga)

text: In April 2009, Inoue told "Nishinippon Shimbun" that he suspected "Vagabond" would be ending "within one or two years". Claiming that he did not know how it would end, but that it had entered its final stages. In January 2010, he confirmed it would be ending within the year. However, in September during a hiatus due to health concerns, Inoue announced that the ending had been delayed until 2011. Inoue posted an update on his website in December 2010, stating that "Vagabond" would not return until he regained "enthusiasm" for the series.


title: Vagabond (manga)

text: After eighteen-months, "Vagabond" returned to "Morning" as a monthly series in March 2012. The manga went on what was supposed to be a four-month hiatus in February 2014, with the reason stated being for Inoue to work on research. However, it was not until January 2015 that the series resumed. The series is currently on an extended hiatus since May 21, 2015, being its 327th chapter, "The Man named Tadaoki", the latest chapter.


title: Vagabond (manga)

text: Written and illustrated by Takehiko Inoue, "Vagabond" is based on Eiji Yoshikawa's 1935 novel "Musashi". It started serialization in Kodansha's "seinen" manga magazine "Morning" on September 17, 1998. Inoue started the series "Real" in "Weekly Young Jump" in 1999, and serialized it alongside "Vagabond". As of July 2014, the "Vagabond" chapters have been collected into 37 "tankōbon" volumes by Kodansha.


title: Vagabond (manga)

text: Viz Media began releasing "Vagabond" in English in North America in 2002. Their release retains the color pages from the series' magazine run, and the company has published 37 volumes as of April 21, 2015. Viz's release is distributed in Australasia by Madman Entertainment. In 2008, Viz began re-releasing the series in a format that collects three of the volumes into one. There are currently 12 VIZBIG editions released.


title: Vagabond (manga)

text: Two art books for the series were released on October 23, 2006; "Water" containing the manga's colored art and new pieces, and containing the black and white art as well as early rough sketches. Both were published in North America by Viz on September 16, 2008.


title: Vagabond (manga)

text: "Vagabond" won the Grand Prize for manga at the 4th Japan Media Arts Festival in 2000. The following is an excerpt from the speech congratulating Takehiko Inoue: "From Toyotomi to Tokugawa. Musashi Miyamoto grew up amidst the turn of two great eras. Mr. Inoue has taken the powerful Musashi who was sometimes called a 'beast' and drawn him as a vagabond. The artist brags about boldly challenging the national literary work of Eiji Yoshikawa, even so, the sense of speed that he creates is impressive. I send my applause to the artist for creating a new image of Musashi". The same year, the series won the 24th Kodansha Manga Award in the general category. "Vagabond" also received the Grand Prize of the 6th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2002, and the North American version earned Inoue a nomination for the 2003 Eisner Award in the Best Writer/Artist category.


title: Kosher foods

text: Kosher foods are foods that conform to the Jewish dietary regulations of "kashrut" (dietary law). The laws of "kashrut" apply to food derived from living creatures and kosher foods are restricted to certain types of mammals, birds and fish meeting specific criteria; the flesh of any animals that do not meet these criteria is forbidden by the dietary laws. Furthermore, kosher mammals and birds must be slaughtered according to a process known as and their blood may never be consumed and must be removed from the meat by a process of salting and soaking in water for the meat to be permissible for use. All plant-based products, including fruits, vegetables, grains, herbs and spices, are intrinsically kosher, although certain produce grown in the Land of Israel is subjected to other requirements, such as tithing, before it may be consumed.


title: Kosher foods

text: Kosher food also distinguishes between meat and dairy products. Meat products are those that comprise or contain kosher meat, such as beef, lamb or venison, kosher poultry such as chicken, goose, duck or turkey, or derivatives of meat, such as animal gelatin; non-animal products that are processed on equipment used for meat or meat-derived products are also considered to belong to this category. Dairy products are those which contain milk or any derivatives such as butter or cheese; non-dairy products that are processed on equipment used for milk or milk-derived products are also considered as belonging to this category. Because of this categorization, meat and milk or their respective derivatives are not combined in kosher foods, and separate equipment for the storage and preparation of meat-based and dairy-based foods is used in order for food to be considered kosher.


title: Kosher foods

text: Another category of kosher food, called contains neither meat, milk nor their derivatives; they include foods such as fish, eggs from permitted birds, produce, grains, fruit and other edible plants. They remain pareve if they are not mixed with or processed using equipment that is used for any meat or dairy products.


title: Kosher foods

text: Because of the complexities of modern food manufacturing, kashrut agencies supervise or inspect the production of kosher foods and provide a certification called a hechsher to verify for kosher food consumers that it has been produced in accordance with Jewish law.


title: Kosher foods

text: Jewish dietary law is primarily derived from Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14:1-21. Foods that may be consumed according to Jewish religious law are termed "kosher" () in English, from the Ashkenazi pronunciation of the Hebrew term "kashér" (), meaning "fit" (in this context, fit for consumption). Foods that are not in accordance with Jewish law are called "treif" (; , derived from "trāfáh") meaning "torn."


title: Kosher foods

text: The Torah permits eating only those land animals that chew their cud and have cloven hooves. Four animals, the hare, hyrax, camel, and pig, are specifically identified as being forbidden because they possess only one of the above characteristics: the hare, hyrax and camel are hindgut fermenters and chew their cud but do not have cloven hooves, while the pig has a cloven hoof but does not chew its cud.


title: Kosher foods

text: The Torah lists winged creatures that may not be consumed, mainly birds of prey, fish-eating water-birds, and bats. Certain domesticated fowl can be eaten, such as chicken, geese, quail, dove, and turkey.


title: Kosher foods

text: The Torah permits only those fish which have both fins and scales to be eaten. Monkfish is not considered kosher. To comply with kosher requirements, a fish must have fins and easily detached scales; the scales of a sturgeon are extremely hard to remove, hence it is non-kosher. Other seafood considered non-kosher includes shellfish like clams, oysters, crabs and shrimp. There is also a risk of products like seaweed and kelp being contaminated by microscopic, non-kosher crustaceans.


title: Kosher foods

text: In addition to meat, products of forbidden species and from unhealthy animals were banned by the Talmudic writers. This included eggs (including fish roe), as well as derived products such as jelly, but did not include materials merely "manufactured" or "gathered" by animals, such as honey (although, in the case of honey from animals other than bees, there was a difference of opinion among the ancient writers).


title: Kosher foods

text: According to the rabbinical writers, eggs from ritually pure animals would always be prolate ("pointy") at one end and oblate ("rounded") at the other, helping to reduce uncertainty about whether consumption was permitted or not.


title: Kosher foods

text: The classic rabbinical writers imply that milk from an animal whose meat is kosher is also kosher. As animals are considered non-kosher if they are discovered to have been diseased after being slaughtered, this could make their milk retroactively non-kosher.


title: Kosher foods

text: However, by adhering to the principle that the majority case overrules the exception, Jewish tradition continues to regard such milk as kosher, since statistically it is true that most animals producing such milk are kosher; the same principle is not applied to the possibility of consuming meat from an animal that has not been checked for disease.


title: Kosher foods

text: Rabbi Hershel Schachter argued that with modern dairy-farm equipment, milk from the minority of non-kosher cows is invariably mixed with that of the majority of kosher cows, thus invalidating the permissibility of consuming milk from a large dairy operation. Many leading rabbis, however, rule milk permissible, as do major "kashrut" authorities.


title: Kosher foods

text: Breast milk from a woman is permitted. However, authorities assert breast milk may be consumed directly from the breasts only by children younger than four (five if the child is ill), and children older than two were only permitted to continue to suckle if they had not stopped doing so for more than three consecutive days.


title: Kosher foods

text: The situation of cheese is complicated as hard cheese usually involves rennet, an enzyme that splits milk into curds and whey.


title: Kosher foods

text: Most forms of rennet were formerly derived from the stomach linings of animals, but currently rennet is most often made recombinantly in microbes (though most European cheese still uses animal rennet).


title: Kosher foods

text: Because the rennet could be derived from animals, it could potentially be non-kosher. Only rennet made recombinantly, or from the stomachs of kosher animals, if they have been slaughtered according to the laws of "kashrut", is kosher.


title: Kosher foods

text: According to the Shulchan Aruch, a rabbinic decree (called "gevinat akum") prohibits all cheese made by non-Jews without Jewish supervision, even if its ingredients are all kosher, because very frequently the rennet in cheese is not kosher.. Rabbeinu Tam and some of the geonim suggested that this decree does not apply in a location where cheese is commonly made with only kosher ingredients, a position that was practiced in communities in Narbonne and Italy.


title: Kosher foods

text: Many contemporary Orthodox authorities do not follow this ruling, and hold that cheese requires formal "kashrut" certification to be kosher; some even argue this is necessary for cheese made with non-animal rennet. However, some such as Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik ate generic cheeses without certification. Isaac Klein's "tshuva" authorized the use of cheese made from non-kosher rennet, and this is widely practised by observant Conservative Jews and Conservative institutions.


title: Kosher foods

text: Occasionally blood spots are found within an egg, which can affect the kosher status of the egg. The "halacha" varies depending on whether or not there is a possibility of the egg being fertilized.


title: Kosher foods

text: If the egg may have been fertilized, the Rishonim and Shulchan Aruch suggest a complex set of rules for determining whether the egg may be eaten; among these rules, if blood appears on the yolk, the entire egg is forbidden.


title: Kosher foods

text: To avoid the complexity of these rules, R' Moshe Isserles records a custom not to eat any such eggs with blood spots.


title: Kosher foods

text: If the egg was definitely unfertilized (laid by a hen kept isolated from roosters), many authorities (including Rabbis Moshe Feinstein and Ovadiah Yosef) rule that one may remove the blood spot and then eat the remainder of the egg. This is the case nowadays, when battery eggs form the majority of available produce.


title: Kosher foods

text: Regarding the question of whether one must check an egg for blood spots, the Shulchan Aruch rules that one may eat hard-boiled eggs where checking is impossible. R' Moshe Isserles adds that checking is not required, but that a custom exists to check eggs if they are cracked during the daytime (when blood could be seen).


title: Kosher foods

text: A contemporary Ashkenazi authority writes that while ""halacha" does not require" checking supermarket-bought eggs, "there is a "minhag"" to do so. Nevertheless, eggs are not checked in commercial settings where doing so would be expensive.


title: Kosher foods

text: Gelatin is hydrolysed collagen, the main protein in animal connective tissue, and therefore could potentially come from a non-kosher source, such as pig skin. Gelatin has historically been a prominent source of glue, finding uses from musical instruments to embroidery, one of the main historic emulsions used in cosmetics and in photographic film, the main coating given to medical capsule pills, and a form of food including jelly, trifle, and marshmallows; the status of gelatin in "kashrut" is consequently fairly controversial.


title: Kosher foods

text: Due to the ambiguity over the source of individual items derived from gelatin, many Orthodox rabbis regard it as generally being non-kosher. However, Conservative rabbis and several prominent Orthodox rabbis, including Chaim Ozer Grodzinski and Ovadia Yosef—the former Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel—argue that gelatin has undergone such total chemical change and processing that it should not count as meat, and therefore would be kosher.


title: Kosher foods

text: Technically, gelatin is produced by separating the three strands in each collagen fiber's triple helix by boiling collagen in water. Rabbi Dr. David Sheinkopf, author of "Gelatin in Jewish Law" (Bloch 1982) and "Issues in Jewish Dietary Laws" (Ktav 1998), has published in-depth studies of the kosher uses of gelatin, as well as carmine and "kitniyot".


title: Kosher foods

text: One of the main methods of avoiding non-kosher gelatin is to substitute gelatin-like materials in its place; substances with a similar chemical behaviour include food starch from tapioca, chemically modified pectins, and carrageenan combined with certain vegetable gums—guar gum, locust bean gum, xanthan gum, gum acacia, agar, and others. Although gelatin is used for several purposes by a wide variety of manufacturers, it has started to be replaced with these substitutes in a number of products, due to the use of gelatin also being a significant concern to vegans and vegetarians.


title: Kosher foods

text: Today manufacturers are producing gelatin from the skins of kosher fish, circumventing many of these problems.


title: Kosher foods

text: One of the few dietary laws appearing in Exodus prohibits eating the meat from animals that have been "torn by beasts"; a related law appears in Deuteronomy, prohibiting the consumption of anything that has died from natural causes.


title: Kosher foods

text: Some have claimed that the Book of Ezekiel implies that the rules about animals that die of natural causes, or are "torn by beasts", were adhered to only by the priests, and were intended only for them; the implication that they did not apply to, and were not upheld by, ordinary Israelites was noticed by the classical rabbis, who declared "the prophet Elijah shall some day explain this problematic passage".


title: Kosher foods

text: Traditional Jewish thought has expressed the view that all meat must come from animals that have been slaughtered according to Jewish law. These guidelines require the animal be killed by a single cut across the throat to a precise depth, severing both carotid arteries, both jugular veins, both vagus nerves, the trachea and the esophagus, no higher than the epiglottis and no lower than where cilia begin inside the trachea, causing the animal to bleed to death.


title: Kosher foods

text: Some believe that this ensures the animal dies instantly without unnecessary suffering, but many animal-rights activists view the process as cruel, claiming that the animal may not lose consciousness immediately, and activists have called for it to be banned. Animal science researcher Temple Grandin has stated that kosher slaughter, no matter how well performed, does not result in an instantaneous loss of consciousness, whereas stunning properly with a captive bolt is instantaneous. She gives various times for loss of consciousness via kosher ritual slaughter, ranging from 15 to 90 seconds depending on measurement type and individual kosher slaughterhouse.


title: Kosher foods

text: To avoid tearing, and to ensure the cut is thorough, such slaughter is usually performed by a trained individual, with a large, razor-sharp knife, which is checked before each slaughter to ensure that it has no irregularities (such as nicks and dents); if irregularities are discovered, or the cut is too shallow, the meat is deemed non-kosher.


title: Kosher foods

text: Rabbis usually require the slaughterer, known within Judaism as a "shochet", to also be a pious Jew of good character and an observer of the Shabbat. In smaller communities, the "shochet" was often the town rabbi, or a rabbi from a local synagogue, but large slaughterhouses usually employ a full-time "shochet" if they intend to sell kosher meat.


title: Kosher foods

text: The Talmud, and later Jewish authorities, also prohibit the consumption of meat from animals who were slaughtered despite being in the process of dying from disease. This is not based on concern for the health of the eater, instead being an extension of the rules banning the meat from animals torn by beasts, and animals that die from natural causes.


title: Kosher foods

text: To comply with this Talmudic injunction against eating diseased animals, Orthodox Jews usually require that the corpses of freshly slaughtered animals be thoroughly inspected.


title: Kosher foods

text: There are 70 different traditional checks for irregularities and growths; for example, there are checks to ensure that the lungs have absolutely no scars, which might have been caused by an inflammation. If these checks are passed, the meat is then termed "glatt" (), the Yiddish word meaning 'smooth'.


title: Kosher foods

text: An unusual situation is created when a live fetus is removed from a kosher slaughtered animal. The fetus is called a Ben pekuah and takes the status of the mother, so that if the mother was kosher, the fetus is kosher even if there were problems with the slaughter.


title: Kosher foods

text: Compromises in countries with animal-cruelty laws that prohibit such practices involve stunning the animal to lessen the suffering that occurs while the animal bleeds to death. However, the use of electric shocks to daze the animal is often not accepted by some markets as producing meat that is kosher.


title: Kosher foods

text: As forbidden fats, tendons, blood vessels and the "gid hanasheh" (sciatic nerve) must be removed, more difficult in the rear-quarters, often only cuts of meat from the forequarters are available.


title: Kosher foods

text: Leviticus prohibits the eating of certain types of fat ("chelev") from sacrificial land animals (cattle, sheep, and goats), since the fat is the portion of the meat exclusively allocated to God (by burning it on the altar).


title: Kosher foods

text: The gift of the foreleg, cheeks and maw of a kosher-slaughtered animal to a "kohen" is a positive commandment in the Hebrew Bible. Some rabbinic opinions maintain that consumption of the animal is forbidden before these gifts are given, though the accepted "halacha" is to permit this.


title: Kosher foods

text: Furthermore, the actual foreleg, cheeks and maw of all kosher-slaughtered beef are forbidden to a non-"kohen" unless the "kohen" permits.


title: Kosher foods

text: One of the main biblical food laws forbids consuming blood on account of "the life [being] in the blood". This ban and reason are listed in the Noahide Laws and twice in Book of Leviticus as well as in Deuteronomy.


title: Kosher foods

text: Classical rabbis argued that only if it is impossible to remove every drop of blood, the prohibition against consuming blood was impractical, and there should be rare exceptions.


title: Kosher foods

text: They claimed that consuming the blood that remained on the inside of meat (as opposed to the blood on the surface of it, dripping from it, or housed within the veins) should be permitted and that the blood of fish and locusts could also be consumed.


title: Kosher foods

text: To comply with this prohibition, a number of preparation techniques became practiced within traditional Judaism. The main technique, known as "meliḥah", involves the meat being soaked in water for about half an hour, which opens pores.


title: Kosher foods

text: After this, the meat is placed on a slanted board or in a wicker basket, and is thickly covered with salt on each side, then left for between 20 minutes and one hour. The salt covering draws blood from the meat by osmosis, and the salt must be subsequently removed from the meat (usually by trying to shake most of it off and then washing the meat twice) to complete the extraction of the blood. The type of salt used in the process is known as kosher salt.


title: Kosher foods

text: "Meliḥah" is not sufficient to extract blood from the liver, lungs, heart, and certain other internal organs, since they naturally contain a high density of blood, and therefore these organs are usually removed before the rest of the meat is salted. Roasting, on the other hand, discharges blood while cooking, and is the usual treatment given to these organs. It is also an acceptable method for removing blood from all meat.


title: Kosher foods

text: Classical rabbis prohibited any item of food that had been consecrated to an idol or had been used in the service of an idol.


title: Kosher foods

text: Since the Talmud views all non-Jews as potential idolaters, and viewed intermarriage with apprehension, it included within this prohibition any food that has been cooked or prepared completely by non-Jews. (Bread sold by a non-Jewish baker was not included in the prohibition.) Similarly, a number of Jewish writers believed food prepared for Jews by non-Jewish servants would not count as prepared by potential idolaters, although this view was opposed by Jacob ben Asher.


title: Kosher foods

text: Consequently, Orthodox Jews generally rule that wine, certain cooked foods, and sometimes dairy products, should be prepared only by Jews.


title: Kosher foods

text: The prohibition against drinking non-Jewish wine, traditionally called "yayin nesekh" (literally meaning "wine for offering [to a deity]"), is not absolute. Cooked wine (Hebrew: , "yayin mevushal"), meaning wine that has been heated, is regarded as drinkable on the basis that heated wine was not historically used as a religious libation; thus kosher wine will often be prepared by Jews and then pasteurised, after which it can be handled by a non-Jew.


title: Kosher foods

text: Some Jews refer to these prohibited foods as "akum", an acronym of "Ovde Kokhavim U Mazzaloth" (), meaning "worshippers of stars and planets (or Zodiac)". "Akum" is thus a reference to activities that these Jews view as idolatry, and in many significant works of post-classical Jewish literature, such as the "Shulchan Aruch", it has been applied to Christians in particular.


title: Kosher foods

text: However, among the classical rabbis, there were a number who refused to treat Christians as idolaters, and consequently regarded food that had been manufactured by them as being kosher.


title: Kosher foods

text: Conservative Judaism is more lenient; in the 1960s, Rabbi Silverman issued a "responsum", officially approved by the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, in which he argued that wine manufactured by an automated process was not "manufactured by gentiles", and therefore would be kosher.


title: Kosher foods

text: A later "responsum" of Conservative Judaism was issued by Rabbi Dorff, who argued, based on precedents in 15th- to 19th-century "responsa", that many foods, such as wheat and oil products, which had once been forbidden when produced by non-Jews, were eventually declared kosher. On this basis he concluded wine and grape products produced by non-Jews would be permissible.


title: Kosher foods

text: Three times the Torah specifically forbids "seething" a young goat "in its mother's milk". The Talmud interprets this as a general prohibition against cooking meat and dairy products together, and against eating or deriving any benefit from such a mixture.


title: Kosher foods

text: To help prevent accidental violation of these rules, the modern standard Orthodox practice is to classify food into either being "fleishig" (meat), "milchig" (dairy), or neither; this third category is more usually referred to as "pareve" (also spelled "parve" and "parev") meaning "neutral".


title: Kosher foods

text: As the biblical prohibition uses the word "gedi" ("kid") and not the phrase "gedi izim" ("goat-kid") used elsewhere in the Torah, the rabbis concluded that the flesh of all domestic mammals ("behemoth") is included in the prohibition.


title: Kosher foods

text: Flesh of fish and bugs is not included, and therefore is considered "pareve". By rabbinic decree, the flesh of birds and wild mammals ("chayot"), such as deer, is considered as "meat", rather than "pareve".


title: Kosher foods

text: By rabbinic law and custom, not only are meat and milk not cooked together, but they are not eaten even separately within a single meal.


title: Kosher foods

text: The laws of "kashrut" can be broken for "pikuach nefesh" (preservation of human life). For example, a patient is allowed to eat non-kosher food if it is essential for recovery, or where the person would otherwise starve.


title: Kosher foods

text: The Talmud adds to the biblical regulations a prohibition against consuming poisoned animals. Similarly, Yoreh De'ah prohibits the drinking of water, if the water had been left uncovered overnight in an area where there might be snakes, on the basis that a snake might have left its venom in the water. In a place where there aren't usually snakes, this prohibition does not apply.


title: Kosher foods

text: The Talmud and Yoreh De'ah suggest that eating meat and fish together may cause "tzaraath". Strictly Orthodox Jews thus avoid combining the two, while Conservative Jews may or may not.


title: Kosher foods

text: Each year, 5,000 food industry vendors, kosher certification agencies, journalists and other professionals gather in New York City to sample kosher fare from 300 event attendees.


title: Kosher foods

text: Among the offerings at the 2018 Kosherfest were plantain croutons from Ecuador. The gluten-free croutons won the Kosherfest award for best new snack.


title: Kosher foods

text: There were breaded dessert ravioli stuffed with sweet ricotta and chocolate chips, pareve and vegan "ice cream" cake made from cherry and passion fruit sorbet, butter substitute made from coconut oil, and a gluten-free variation of Syrian "sambusak" dumplings.


title: Polyurethane

text: Polyurethane (; often abbreviated PUR and PU) refers to a class of polymers composed of organic units joined by carbamate (urethane) links. In contrast to other common polymers such as polyethylene and polystyrene, polyurethane is produced from a wide range of starting materials. This chemical variety produces polyurethanes with different chemical structures leading to many different applications. These include rigid and flexible foams, varnishes and coatings, adhesives, electrical potting compounds, and fibers such as spandex and PUL. Foams are the largest application accounting for 67% of all polyurethane produced in 2016.


title: Polyurethane

text: A polyurethane is typically produced by reacting an isocyanate with a polyol. Since a polyurethane contains two types of monomers, which polymerize one after the other, they are classed as alternating copolymers. Both the isocyanates and polyols used to make a polyurethane contain two or more functional groups per molecule.


title: Polyurethane

text: Global production in 2019 was 25 million metric tonnes, accounting for about 6% of all polymers produced in that year. Polyurethane is a commodity plastic.


title: Polyurethane

text: Otto Bayer and his coworkers at IG Farben in Leverkusen, Germany, first made polyurethanes in 1937. The new polymers had some advantages over existing plastics that were made by polymerizing olefins or by polycondensation, and were not covered by patents obtained by Wallace Carothers on polyesters. Early work focused on the production of fibers and flexible foams and PUs were applied on a limited scale as aircraft coating during World War II. Polyisocyanates became commercially available in 1952, and production of flexible polyurethane foam began in 1954 by combining toluene diisocyanate (TDI) and polyester polyols. These materials were also used to produce rigid foams, gum rubber, and elastomers. Linear fibers were produced from hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI) and 1,4-Butanediol (BDO).