Dawn, a prevention specialist noticed brightly colored packing of mushroom products in a smoke shop near a school. She wanted to know what they were selling children. Dawn found Josh Swider who agreed to testing of several products. The results were shocking - the products included a range of chemicals from THC to bath salts. Consumer protections are important for food and all types of drugs, especially when sold legally.

Josh began his career in chemistry at Eastern Washington University, where he earned his Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and degrees in physics and biology. His quest for a deeper understanding of science led him to graduate school, where he attended the joint doctoral program at the University of California, San Diego, and San Diego State University. Josh saw the problems in the analytical cannabis industry with the lack of analytical research and public understanding associated with it. He wanted to change this, and with his knowledge and passion for the industry, Josh founded the lab with fellow chemist Dave Marelius in 2016. Together they’ve made it InfiniteCAL’s mission to ensure only safe; quality products are allowed to be sold to consumers

Connor Sheets' investigative stories have resulted in public health alerts, federal investigations, and international ramifications. His investigations included finding that Mexican pharmacies were selling counterfeit pain pills that contain fentanyl and smoke shops were selling chocolate magic mushrooms that contain THC or bath salts.

Connor Sheets is an investigative and enterprise reporter for the Los Angeles Times. He was part of the team that was a 2024 Pulitzer finalist for its coverage of the mass shooting in Monterey Park. Before joining The Times in 2021, he worked for six years as an investigative reporter in Alabama, reported from four continents as a New York-based enterprise reporter and covered local news for a weekly newspaper chain in Queens. A father of two, Sheets grew up in Maryland, where he delivered newspapers as a teenager and landed his first reporting job after graduating from the University of Maryland.

Social media handle: https://x.com/ConnorASheets

56% of drivers involved in serious injury and fatal crashes tested positive for a least one drug. I talked to Ari Briskman to get boots on the ground law enforcement perspective of drugged driving.

Sergeant Ari Briskman has served as a law enforcement officer since 2007. Ari is presently assigned full-time as the Commander of the Marine Unit for the Lake County Sheriff’s Office. Ari also serves the Sheriff’s Office as the Technical Crash Investigation Team Commander, the Auxiliary Deputy Unit Commander, and as a Public Information Officer.

Ari has dedicated much of his career to impaired driving enforcement and traffic safety. He is a certified Drug Recognition Expert, certified Drug Recognition Expert – Instructor, Standardized Field Sobriety Test Instructor, Seated Standardized Field Sobriety Test Instructor, and certified Crash Reconstruction Specialist. Ari has been recognized by courts in several counties in northern Illinois as an expert in the fields of alcohol and drug impairment.

Ari has personally apprehended over 600 impaired vehicle and boat operators throughout his career, for which he has been recognized several times by Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists and Mothers Against Drunk Driving. He has consulted with and assisted in the prosecution of hundreds of additional impaired driving cases throughout Illinois.

Ari has been contracted with various Illinois training units as an instructor to teach all the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration impaired driving enforcement courses, the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators boating under the influence courses, and his own original material. Ari serves as an adjunct instructor for the Homeland Security Training Institute at the College of DuPage teaching course material on drug impairment in the workplace. Ari is also a senior consultant for Dynamic Impairment, LLC, for whom he provides consultancy services to private businesses and court litigants on drug policies and impairment recognition.

In addition to his law enforcement duties, Ari advocates for stronger impaired driving laws and protections for crash victims as a member of the Board of Directors of the Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists. Ari also serves as a board member for the State of Illinois Impaired Driving Task Force and on the speaker’s bureau for the National Marijuana Initiative.

Ari holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Law Enforcement and Justice Administration and a Master of Arts degree in Public Safety Administration, both from Western Illinois University.