Head and Neck Cancers High Risk due to Daily use of Cannabis

NEW YORK — Using marijuana daily for years may raise the overall risk of head and neck cancers three- to five-fold, according to a new study that analyzed millions of medical records.

“Our research shows that people who use cannabis, particularly those with a cannabis use disorder, are significantly more likely to develop head and neck cancers compared to those who do not use cannabis,” said senior study author Dr. Niels Kokot, a professor of clinical otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

Cannabis use disorder is diagnosed when a person has two or more of such symptoms as craving weed, becoming tolerant to its effects, using more than intended, using marijuana even though it causes problems in life, using it in high-risk situations, experiencing withdrawal and being unable to quit, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“While our study did not differentiate between methods of cannabis consumption, cannabis is most commonly consumed by smoking,” Kokot said in an email. “The association we found likely pertains mainly to smoked cannabis.”

Some 69% of people with a diagnosis of oral or throat cancer will survive five years or longer after their diagnosis, according to the National Cancer Institute. If the cancer metastasizes, however, that rate drops to 14%. About 61% of people diagnosed with cancer of the larynx will be alive five years later – a rate that drops to 16% if the cancer spreads.Take Your Cannabis Daily for Good Health - Weedist

The study used insurance data to look at the association of cannabis use disorder with head and neck cancers, said Dr. Joseph Califano, the Iris and Matthew Strauss Chancellor’s Endowed Chair in Head and Neck Surgery at the University of California, San Diego. He was not involved in the study.

“The researchers used a huge, huge dataset, which is really extraordinary, and there is enormous power in looking at numbers this large when we typically only see small studies,” said Califano, who is also the director of UC San Diego’s Hanna and Mark Gleiberman Head and Neck Cancer Center.

“On average, people with cannabis use disorder smoke about a joint a day and do so for at least a couple years, if not longer,” said Califano, who coauthored an editorial published Thursday in JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery in conjunction with the new study.

However, he added, the study does not find an association between “the occasional recreational use of marijuana and head and neck cancer.”

Causes of head and neck cancers

In the United States, head and neck cancers make up 4% of all cancers, with more than 71,000 new cases and more than 16,000 deaths expected in 2024, according to the National Foundation for Cancer Research.

Tobacco use, which includes smoking cigarettes, cigars, pipes and smokeless tobacco, and the use of alcohol are the two most common causes of head and neck cancers, experts say. Other risk factors include poor oral hygiene; gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD; a weakened immune system; and a diet low in fruits and vegetables. Occupational risk factors include exposure to asbestos and wood dust.

A growing number of head and neck cancers are due to infection with the human papillomavirus or HPV, or the Epstein-Barr virus, or EBV, which are DNA viruses that affect genes, making them susceptible to malignancies.

Epstein-Barr virus is linked to infectious mononucleosis, also called the “kissing disease,” as well as various cancers. Researchers estimate that 90% of the world’s population is infected with EBV. A vaccine is available for HPV, which is linked to a high risk of developing cervical cancer and some non-Hodgkin lymphomas.

It’s possible to be infected with both viruses at once, and that combination is responsible for 38% of all virus-associated cancers, according to research.

How might cannabis cause cancers?

The study, published Thursday in JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, analyzed a database of 4 million electronic health records and found more than 116,000 diagnoses of cannabis use disorder among people with head and neck cancers. Those men and women, whose average age was 46, were then matched with people who also had head and neck cancers but were not diagnosed with cannabis use disorder.

The analysis showed that people with cannabis use disorder were about 2.5 times more likely to develop an oral cancer; nearly five times more likely to develop oropharyngeal cancer, which is cancer of the soft palate, tonsils and back of the throat; and over eight times more likely to develop cancer of the larynx. The findings held true for all age groups, according to the study.

Associated reading/study from 2019

What About Those Chinese Illegally Crossing our Borders?

Let us begin in Maine and the pot farms. Criminal networks with suitcases full of cash are buying up land of various sizes in Maine and elsewhere. In fact in Maine there are an estimated 270  farms and they are using exceptional electric power and water for the growing of the crops. A recent raid in Maine of just 34 properties included DEA, FBI and Homeland Security so no one can claim ignorance. 

How many are here that will soon be illegally exporting sensitive machinery or technology? Well just last month out of the San Francisco FBI field office, an investigation led to the arrest of two Chinese nationals conspiring to illegally export U.S. technology semi-conductors back to China. Are there more doing the same? According to FBI Director Christopher Wray…yes, including now former employees of Google for stealing AI secrets.

Remember those clandestine Chinese police stations around the country?

Now here is a case that did not get any press.

A San Gabriel Valley woman has admitted to defrauding the U.S. Postal Service of more than $150 million.

Lijuan “Angela” Chen, 51, of Walnut, carried out the scheme by using counterfeit postage to ship tens of millions of packages, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

From November 2019 to May 2023, Chen and her accomplice, Chuanhua “Hugh” Hu, 51, owned and operated a package shipping business in the City of Industry.

The company provided shipping services for China-based logistics businesses.

To save money, Hu created fake postage stamps to ship packages by printing duplicate and counterfeit Netstamps, which are stamps purchased online from third-party vendors and printed onto adhesive paper.

In November 2019, authorities became aware of the counterfeit operation and Hu fled the country and moved to China where he continued making counterfeit postage, officials said.

Chen remained in the U.S. to oversee the warehouses that she and Hu were using to ship their packages during the scheme.

In 2020, the pair began using the counterfeit labels to send mail through the United States Postal Service.

They would receive parcels from vendors and apply fake shipping labels before arranging for the items to be transferred to USPS facilities.

“The shipping labels were fraudulent and frequently included, among other red flags, ‘intelligent barcode data’ recycled from previously mailed packages,” according to court documents. “Intelligent barcode data is used in some postage shipping labels to evidence the payment of required postage for the shipped item.”

From January 2020 to May 2023, Chen and Hu mailed over 34 million packages with counterfeit postage and shipping labels, officials said.

This scheme caused more than $150 million in losses to the USPS.

Chen pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and one count of the use of counterfeit postage. She has been in federal custody since her arrest in May 2023.

As part of her plea agreement, Chen also agreed to forfeit funds that authorities seized from her bank accounts, insurance policies, and real estate in several cities including Walnut, Chino, Chino Hills, South El Monte, Diamond Bar, and West Covina.

Hu remains a fugitive believed to be residing in China. He was charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S., three counts of passing and possessing counterfeit obligations of the U.S., and one count of forging and counterfeiting postage stamps.

A sentencing hearing for Chen is scheduled for Aug. 2. If convicted, she could face up to five years in federal prison for each count.

This case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and IRS Criminal Investigation teams.

***

Those coming across are now part of a propaganda army using Tik Tok and other forms of social media. It was only a few days ago that former National Security Advisor to President Trump, Robert O’Brien was in Houston at Rice University for an event. He was met with the chanting of protestors numbering more than 100. When he looked closely, he said at least half of the protestors were Chinese.

***

Yet another under-reported scandal in birthing hotels. Many are located in California. Reported by the LA Times this past January, in part:

A new documentary streaming on PBS, called “How to Have an American Baby,” wrestles with that question. Filmmaker Leslie Tai embedded with a group of Chinese mothers for more than a decade as they navigated the underground industry, including one family staying at the Rowland Heights townhome complex targeted in the raid.

Tai began her film in 2013, when birth tourism was such an open secret in Southern California‘s suburbs that residents began to complain. Local officials could not work out whether enforcing federal immigration policy should be their job. Los Angeles County officials formed a birth tourism task force in 2015, but after complaints about the practice fell off in 2018, the task force ended, said Alex Garcia, who had helped lead the operation.

Even when the task force was operating, its primary purpose was to prevent improper uses of buildings and property, Garcia told me. But what troubled residents was the idea that foreigners were scamming their way into American citizenship. For months after the raid, I would get voicemails and emails leaving information on the movements of pregnant Asian women, with no guarantee that they were actually Chinese or violating immigration law.

Federal agents serve warrants and question several residents at the Pheasant Ridge Apartment complex in Rowland Heights, California, while investigating alleged 'birth tourism' centers on Tuesday (informational/education use source photo)

Tai’s film tackles this question by insisting on the humanity of the women involved. Her dogged camera work follows mothers into delivery rooms, doctors’ offices and into the hotels themselves. There’s little narration except the women’s interviews, but the point is clear anyway: Few, if any of these women are getting the American dream. Most women in modern China still struggle to exercise basic financial and personal independence. Gender discrimination is illegal on paper, but Chinese laws governing divorce, inheritance and childbirth always favor men.

The birth tourism industry is depicted as a world in which everyone seems to be scamming one another. In China, Tai captures salesmen marketing birth tourism packages arguing about whether to tell customers about price hikes and cost cutting. A maternity hotel operator instructs expectant mothers on what to say at the hospital to get the most time in the hospital bed. A mother who gives birth in America decides to stay and start her own birth hotel, lured by the rumors of easy money.

Even the drivers hired to ferry the women around discuss how to avoid being taken advantage of by the clients with more powerful, wealthy connections.

This is a condition going back to at least 2015, where these women are paid up to $80,000 each to give birth.

***

It is limitless on exactly the nefarious duties assigned to these illegal Chinese operatives….

 

 

 

Biden’s Immigration Policy is Designed to Alter the House of Representatives

A few months ago, this website published an article describing the new development in Texas called Colony Ridge. It is north of Houston and is only for migrants. Anew voting district underway to add another U.S. Representative for only migrants appears to be the mission. But let’s look at some other details for context and history.

  • During the Clinton administration, there were two initiatives launched to stop illegal immigration: Operation Gatekeeper and Operation Hold the Line. In fact during this time, the San Diego Sector was the area enduring the most chaos. so, President Clinton got his Department of Justice to act and AG Janet Reno made several visits and was shocked with what she saw.
  • The Biden Department of Justice is not prosecuting criminal cases of illegals that were previously deported.
    NYC secures $106M in federal funding for reimbursement of migrant costs after months of delays and the $106 million to NYC is just a portion of the $150 aid package promised by the Federal government thanks to Senator Chuck Schumer.
  • DHS failed to file paperwork which caused 200,000 cases to be tossed out under Biden and Mayorkas.Last week, the second-in-command of violent Colombian street gang Los Santanás was apprehended in New Braunfels, Texas, a suburb of San Antonio, by Homeland Security agents working with state and local authorities. He was subsequently handed over to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

    Aderbis Pirela, 29, was on INTERPOL’s top 10 most wanted list and has warrants out for his arrest in Colombia in connection with at least four murders, as well as drug trafficking and extortion. He had been in the United States since January after being allowed in by claiming political asylum.

    According to NBC15, Pirela managed to flee Colombia last year before making his way through Central America up to the Mexico-US border. Upon being granted permission to enter, he and his fellow gang members began conducting their business out of a migrant shelter.

    On January 27, authorities were made aware of his actions and began searching for him.

    As Fox News reports, police and the mayor of Bogotá are hoping national law enforcement will ensure he ends up in prison and is rendered unable to continue carrying out his crimes while behind bars.

  • The Chinese have built major marijuana grow operations in several states across the country. Who is buying the land? Some arrests have been made. 
  • A Lebanese man arrested at the southern border told U.S. authorities he traveled from the Middle East because he was a member of the terrorist group Hezbollah and planned to build a bomb once in the United States, the Washington Examiner has learned.
  • Even more interesting,Vadim Wolfson, a friend of Putin, a Russian oligarch was arrested in Texas.The arrest came from a federal warrant issued by the Southern District of New York. According to court documents, Wolfson and others have been indicted on federal charges related to violations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and money laundering. Is he an operative of the Kremlin? Appears to be so according to the charging documents.
  • Bringing it forward many years to just yesterday as reported in part by the Boston Herald (pay-wall):
  • Do we really want these people here that will have representation if the U.S. Congress?

Biden Considers Haitian Refugees in Guantanamo?

In recent days, it is being reported that the Biden White House is considering sending Haitian refugees to Guantanamo if conditions get worse. Exactly how much worse when the gangs control 80% of Port au Prince? But know this….it is not a new concept at all by the Biden administration….no you ask? Nope….you see Al Jazeera reported in back in September of 2021.

What is worse actually is the U.S State Department and the Department of Homeland Security have known about the doom and pending collapse of Haiti at least since early 2021 and did….nothing. Now it is at a crisis. But history repeats itself…what do I mean?

Well in the 1990’s Guantanamo was used as a makeshift camp for thousands of Haitians. Yet just last year….the President of Haiti, Jovenel Moise was assassinated…and so here we are in a total collapse and Secretary of State Blinkin visited to tell the interim government led by Ariel Henry  to just leave..which after a day or so he did. Meanwhile, Blinkin is pledging money everywhere all while a Marine Anti Terrorism Unit has just arrived in Haiti allegedly to protect government personnel at the U.S. embassy while American citizen volunteers are begging for help to get out…another Kabul, Afghanistan is now.

Police rebels in Haiti occupy the streets of Port-au-Prince to protest ...

According to Matthew Miller, the State Department spokesperson, the U.S. has no idea how many Americans are in Haiti and how many want to get out…all too familiar…..Miller also said that Haiti has ben a Level 4 country since 2020 which means, the United States advises for no Americans to travel to Haiti. 4 years…

Haiti: Thousands Trapped as Gangs Battle for Control in Port-au-Prince source and for educational purposes.

Will Nicaragua and Venezuela or even Ecuador be next?

So, Florida Governor DeSantis is in full blown offense in the Key West region to fight back against an incursion and he should. Haitians are fleeing already to the Dominican Republic but…..the DR too is on the offense and using every bus it can mobilize to removed the Haitian migrants back across the border to Haiti.

So, after of few minutes on the State Department website to see any actually posts about Haiti…well no unless you scroll to page 2-3 and beyond. For instance, in November of 2023, there was a post of an increase in the reward for information leading to the arrest or capture of a Haitian gang leader…$2 million dollars for organized crime. The post also include some text referring to the 400 Mawozo gang engaged in kidnapping 16 U.S, Christian missionaries and holding them for ransom. However there is no update to the condition of those kidnapped or anyone arrested.

Ah be more recently, Secretary Blinkin was in Brazil holding a multinational security support mission ministerial meeting where of course sustainable planet talk was first to be mentioned only later did Bliknin discuss the gangs in Haiti. He did declare the gangs were in control of 80% of Port au Prince and these armed groups use sexual assaults and rape to terrorize the population. They are blocking trade routes and have cut off access to food, clean water, healthcare and electricity. He said nothing of kidnapping sick people right out of hospital rooms or the burning of houses and people by the gang leader, a former cop known as bar-be-que. 

But Blinkin did allocated $189 million then and just this week another $400 million…for what? No clue and payable to whom? Again, no clue. So…call in the United Nations…right? Well, the U.S. is already there and has been since the earthquake in 2010.

Perhaps putting gang members and leaders in Guantanamo is the right thing to do actually.

 

 

Confirmed Biden’s Secret Chartered Migrant Flights

Who are these people and where are they exactly and what are they doing?

In part from the Daily Mail:

Aliens who cannot legally enter the U.S. use CBP One to apply for travel authorization and temporary humanitarian release from those airports.

Under this parole release, migrants are able to remain in the U.S. for two years without obtaining legal status and are eligible for work authorization.

The administration first said it would not reveal which airports the undocumented aliens were transported, citing a ‘law enforcement exception’ in the refusal to hand over information.

But new information from the Center for Immigration Studies lawsuit reveals the locations were not disclosed due to fear ‘bad actors’ would inflict harm on public safety or the information would create law enforcement vulnerabilities.

CBP lawyers wrote that revealing the airports would ‘reveal information about the relative number of individuals arriving, and thus resources expended at particular airports.’

That would in turn reveal ‘operational vulnerabilities that could be exploited by bad actors altering their patterns of conduct, adopting new methods of operation, and taking other countermeasures.’

CIS said that the secretive flights are ‘legally dubious’ and claimed that since CBP will not disclose the locations for fear of ‘grave’ consequences, it is likely not a program that should continue.

Lawyers also did not disclose the locations of foreign airport departures, making it unclear where these migrants are coming from.

But those eligible for the CBP One applications are citizens from Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Colombia and Ecuador.

***
But it is actually a little worse as the Biden administration is actually loaning money to migrants…do they need to pay back the loans? Nah…
The International Office of Migration….yes with a budget paid out of the State Department at an estimate amount to be $2.4 billion….but read on…

The International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) Travel Loan Program helps to provide penalty and interest-free loans to refugees arriving in the United States. Refugees who accept these travel loans are required to sign a promissory note prior to departure, committing themselves to repayment of the debt within a determined period after arrival.

IOM arranges travel for refugee using funds furnished by the Department of State and is mandated to subsequently receive refugees’ repayments on behalf of the Department of State. Repayments made are remitted to a revolving fund created between the Department of State and IOM for use by the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) to defray the cost of future refugee travel.

A Travel Loan repayment is initially assigned either to IOM itself or to a resettlement agency.

The core belief of the Program is that refugees’ financial participation in making repayments against their debt will strengthen their determination to make a success of their migration. Furthermore, repayments are utilized by IOM and other receiving agencies to help establish the credit worthiness of the newly arriving refugees. Not only does that help refugees better integrate and contribute to the US economy, it also serves as a protection tool against abusive and predatory lending markets for those without credit worthiness.