Latin America 1/1/1997 - 31/12/2024
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1 Colombia: Students Fall Prey To Drug GangsWed, 07 Apr 2021
Source:Wall Street Journal (US) Author:Vyas, Kejal Area:Colombia Lines:168 Added:04/07/2021

PUERTO CACHICAMO, Colombia-The pandemic closed the only school in this remote hamlet, long a stronghold for Marxist guerrillas. With no internet connection for virtual classes, 16-year-old Danna Montilla told her family she was leaving to find work, but instead authorities say she joined a narco-trafficking rebel group.

Last month, Colombia's military bombarded the group's jungle camp, killing Danna, another underage girl and 10 others. Residents here said her death underscored a grim reality: Armed gangs have found fresh recruits from an ample pool of youths who, like Danna, have been out of school because of the coronavirus pandemic.

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2 US: Baba Ram Dass, Proponent Of LSD Turned New Age Guru, Dies At 88Tue, 24 Dec 2019
Source:New York Times (NY) Author:Martin, Douglas Area:United States Lines:198 Added:12/24/2019

Baba Ram Dass, who epitomized the 1960s of legend by popularizing psychedelic drugs with Timothy Leary, a fellow Harvard academic, before finding spiritual inspiration in India, died on Sunday at his home on Maui, Hawaii. He was 88.

His death was announced on his official Instagram account.

Having returned from India as a bushy-bearded, barefoot, white-robed guru, Ram Dass, who was born Richard Alpert, became a peripatetic lecturer on New Age possibilities and a popular author of more than a dozen inspirational books.

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3 US CA: Fights Over Growing Marijuana Cause StinkFri, 13 Sep 2019
Source:Wall Street Journal (US) Author:Elinson, Zusha Area:California Lines:101 Added:09/13/2019

CARPINTERIA, Calif.-On a recent sunny morning in this beach town near Santa Barbara, realtor Gary Goldberg ran into Das Williams on the street and raised a concern: A persistent skunky aroma had required him to knock $18,000 off the sale price of a condo.

"It smelled like marijuana," said Mr. Goldberg, adding that buyers threatened to pull out because of the odor.

Mr. Williams, a Santa Barbara County supervisor who helped craft regulations for large cannabis farms here, assured the realtor that he was doing everything he could to tamp down the smell. The argument over odor is part of an acrimonious debate over how to regulate the region's growing marijuana industry, pitting farmers against some residents.

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4 Colombia: Drug Gangs Battle In Old Rebel LandsTue, 17 Jul 2018
Source:Wall Street Journal (US) Author:Forero, Juan Area:Colombia Lines:128 Added:07/17/2018

YOKY RIDGE, Colombia-On a hilltop base shielded with sandbags, police sharpshooter Jose Diaz gazed into thick jungle as a fellow commando checked tripwires protecting the stronghold. A radioman listened in on the fighters they were battling.

"They're always looking for the right moment to attack our base," said Hector Ocampo, commander of the Colombian detachment in a cocaine-trafficking corridor near Panama.

Their adversaries weren't the FARC rebels that security forces had long fought, but a cocaine-trafficking gang known as the Gulf Clan. In the year since the powerful Marxist guerrillas disarmed, drug gangs like this one have battled each other and the state for control of the booming cocaine trade in remote regions where the FARC once ruled.

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5 Mexico: Soldiers Took Them In The Night. Now The Army's Role InWed, 25 Apr 2018
Source:Los Angeles Times (CA) Author:Linthicum, Kate Area:Mexico Lines:177 Added:04/25/2018

The soldiers took them in the night.

First they came for Nitza Alvarado Espinoza and Jose Alvarado Herrera. The 31-year-old cousins were sitting in a van outside a family member's house when troops forced them into a military truck.

Minutes later, soldiers arrived at the house of another Alvarado cousin, 18-year-old Rocio Alvarado Reyes. She was carried away screaming at gunpoint in front of her young brothers and baby daughter.

It was Dec. 29, 2009 -- the last time the cousins were seen alive.

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6 CN ON: Column: Will Marijuana Squeeze Out Exciting Plants?Fri, 26 Jan 2018
Source:Toronto Star (CN ON) Author:Day, Sonia Area:Ontario Lines:98 Added:01/26/2018

Marijuana is moving in. Big time. So here's something to ponder: Will a flood of prolific, easy-to-grow pot mean fewer exciting plants for we gardeners to grow?

Could be. Right now, we're accustomed to taking our pick from a wonderful selection of inexpensive offerings, mostly because they're raised in Ontario greenhouses and no longer imported from other countries.

Think of fabulous Phalaenopsis orchids (once rare and pricey, yet now so common and inexpensive, we're actually getting tired of them); perfect Christmas poinsettias; a cavalcade of mums in fall; potted spring bulbs all winter; pansies, petunias, plus many other colourful annuals; In spring, heavenly hellebores; exotic offerings such as anthuriums and alstroemerias.

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7 Canada: What's Next For First Couple Of Pot?Thu, 25 Jan 2018
Source:NOW Magazine (CN ON) Author:DiMatteo, Enzo Area:Canada Lines:141 Added:01/25/2018

THEIR FUTURE SEEMS HAZIER AFTER HIGH-PROFILE CONVICTIONS, BUT DON'T BET ON THE EMERYS FADING AWAY

For Canada's first couple of pot, Jodie and Marc Emery, it hasn't been happy trails of late. Their future in the marijuana legalization movement would seem hazier now after pleading guilty last month to trafficking and possession of the proceeds of crime that came with $195,000 in fines for each of them. The charges stem from high profile raids led by Toronto police last March at a number of Cannabis Culture dispensaries in Ontario and Vancouver, under the code name Project Gator. Three other business associates charged in the raids were fined between $3,000 and $10,000 each. Charges against 17 employees were dropped.

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8 Uruguay: Getting High In Uruguay Now Means Just A Stop At TheWed, 19 Jul 2017
Source:New York Times (NY) Author:Londono, Ernesto Area:Uruguay Lines:181 Added:07/22/2017

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay - The rules are a bit of a buzzkill. Drug users must officially register with the government. Machines will scan buyers' fingerprints at every purchase, and there are strict quotas to prevent overindulgence.

But when Uruguay's marijuana legalization law takes full effect on Wednesday, getting high will take a simple visit to the pharmacy.

As American states legalize marijuana and governments in the hemisphere rethink the fight against drugs, Uruguay is taking a significant step further: It is the first nation in the world to fully legalize the production and sale of marijuana for recreational use.

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9 US CA: PUB LTE:: Do You Want Better Streets Or A Bigger 'war OnFri, 23 Jun 2017
Source:Fresno Bee, The (CA) Author:Starry, Mike Area:California Lines:37 Added:06/23/2017

President Richard Nixon did not see the slaughter of innocents when he launched the "War on Drugs." Of course, his staff thought he did it to punish hippies, anti-war protesters and blacks. Politicians invent wars as diversionary tactics when they choose not to take care of their citizens. They will even tell lies to do so. See Vietnam's "Gulf of Tonkin Resolution" and Iraq's "weapons of mass destruction."

Now after 40 years and hundreds of thousands of deaths in Latin America, do U.S. citizens think they are free of this government crime? When politicians make activities illegal, they may create more problems than they solve. The dead who lived through alcohol prohibition could tell you.

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10 US: Questions For The DEA After Three Fatal ShootingsThu, 25 May 2017
Source:New York Times (NY) Author:Savage, Charlie Area:United States Lines:151 Added:05/25/2017

WASHINGTON - The Drug Enforcement Administration misled the public, Congress and the Justice Department about a 2012 operation in which commando-style squads of American agents sent to Honduras to disrupt drug smuggling became involved in three deadly shootings, two inspectors general said Wednesday.

The D.E.A. said in response that it had shut down the program, the Foreign-deployed Advisory Support Team.

Under the program, known as FAST, squads received military-style training to combat Taliban-linked opium traffickers in the Afghanistan war zone. It was expanded to Latin America in 2008 to help fight transnational drug smugglers, leading to the series of violent encounters in Honduras in 2012.

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11 US PA: Former Temple University Adjunct Helps Promote OpioidsThu, 29 Dec 2016
Source:Philadelphia Daily News (PA) Author:Avril, Tom Area:Pennsylvania Lines:67 Added:12/29/2016

[photo] Toby Talbot / APWith prescriptions dropping in the United States, companies have started to promote OxyContin and other opioid drugs in Latin America, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.

A former adjunct associate professor at Temple University has helped a leading maker of opioids promote potentially addictive pain medications in new foreign markets that have not yet seen an overdose crisis like that in the United States, a Los Angeles Times investigation has found.

The physician, Joseph V. Pergolizzi Jr., is based in Naples, Fla., and has not been affiliated with Temple since June 2014, the school said.

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12 Philippines: Predawn Services And The Pall Of The Drug War MarkSat, 24 Dec 2016
Source:Los Angeles Times (CA) Author:Kaiman, Jonathan Area:Philippines Lines:140 Added:12/25/2016

At 4:50 a.m., the stragglers dashed through Manila's darkened streets, hoping for a spot in the pews.

But they were too late. Hundreds of worshipers had already packed the Sto. Nino de Paz Community Greenbelt Chapel, a low, white dome in a sprawling outdoor shopping complex, for Friday's Simbang Gabi Christmas Mass.

So at least 100 more crowded on the pavement outside, singing "Glory to God" beneath a crisp crescent moon.

Christmas in the Philippines is a long, spirited and, to many, exhausting affair. About 90% of Filipinos are Christian, and they take the holiday seriously. Stores start playing Christmas music as early as September and don't stop until early January. Christmas trees spring up in malls and public parks. Carolers go door to door singing "Jingle Bells," "Silent Night" and "Ang Pasko Ay Sumapit", a lively Tagalog tune celebrating Jesus' birth. The holiday delicacy is lechon - -- whole suckling pig, a Filipino delicacy.

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13 US: Votes In 5 States Are Potential Turning Point For Legal MarijuanaTue, 25 Oct 2016
Source:New York Times (NY) Author:Fuller, Thomas Area:United States Lines:183 Added:10/28/2016

SAN FRANCISCO - To the red-and-blue map of American politics, it may be time to add green. The movement to legalize marijuana, the country's most popular illicit drug, will take a giant leap on Election Day if California and four other states vote to allow recreational cannabis, as polls suggest they may.

The map of where pot is legal could include the entire West Coast and a block of states reaching from the Pacific to Colorado, raising a stronger challenge to the federal government's ban on the drug.

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14 Philippines: Column: Necessary Evil?Mon, 29 Aug 2016
Source:Philippine Star (Philippines) Author:Pamintuan, Ana Marie Area:Philippines Lines:153 Added:08/29/2016

Judging from foreign media reports, the Duterte administration is attracting a lot of international attention, much of it for the wrong reasons.

President Duterte will probably tell the foreign media to go to hell, but it's the Philippines that's taking a hit from all the bad press.

So far, most foreign governments have refrained from publicly commenting on the drug-related mass killings, now about to shoot past 2,000. But I've been told that diplomats representing key global players are now touching base with certain administration officials, mainly to send word that the negative reports have started taking their toll on tourism and investments from their countries.

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15US CA: California Poised To Be Pot 'Epicenter'Wed, 24 Aug 2016
Source:Orange County Register, The (CA) Author:Wallace, Alicia Area:California Lines:Excerpt Added:08/24/2016

If Californians legalize marijuana under Proposition 64 in November, legal cannabis sales in the state likely will climb by $1.6 billion within the first year of implementation, according to a report released Tuesday.

That would put the state's medical and recreational market on track to hit $6.5 billion in revenue by 2020 up from $2.8 billion in 2015, industry research firms Arcview Group and New Frontier state in the report. And the researchers argue it would serve as a "watershed moment" for the industry in and outside the United States.

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16 Philippines: Column: The Global Drug Wars Have Failed, How CanMon, 15 Aug 2016
Source:Manila Times (Philippines) Author:Tatad, Francisco S. Area:Philippines Lines:261 Added:08/16/2016

Although President Duterte's police methods have drawn concern in various parts of the world, even those who deplore his methods at home are praying that his 'war on drugs' would somehow succeed. However, international experts who have done extensive studies on the global drug wars are deeply pessimistic; they describe the "war on drugs" as a failed strategy, and are calling for a major policy "rethink."

These experts have not condemned the extrajudicial killings, the shoot-on-sight and "surrender or else" orders in the present drug war, as some UN officials, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and certain international publications have. Their studies precede DU30's war by at least a couple of years.

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17 Indonesia: OPED: Beware, Death Penalty Is an Addictive PolicyFri, 24 Jun 2016
Source:Jakarta Post (Indonesia) Author:Fransiska, Asmin Area:Indonesia Lines:102 Added:06/24/2016

The World Health Organization defines addiction or dependency as a complex health condition that often requires long-term treatment and care. Sadly, that is the case with Indonesia's policy on drug crimes.

To address the global problem of drugs, world leaders and activists gathered on April 19-21 at the UN General Assembly Special Session on Drugs in New York. Most countries represented moved from criminalization to decriminalization for personal possession or use. Some opted to regulate drug markets for certain types of drugs, mostly marijuana. Almost all delegates from the EU, Latin America, UN organizations and the special rapporteurs against torture and the right to health agreed to abolish the death penalty for drug offenders.

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18 Mexico: Body Count Points to a Mexican Military Out of ControlFri, 27 May 2016
Source:Boston Globe (MA) Author:Ahmed, Azam Area:Mexico Lines:118 Added:05/27/2016

MEXICO CITY - In the history of modern war, fighters are much more likely to injure their enemies than kill them. But in Mexico, the opposite is true.

According to the government's own figures, Mexico's armed forces are exceptionally efficient killers - stacking up bodies at extraordinary rates.

Mexican authorities say the nation's soldiers are simply better trained and more skilled than the cartels they battle. But experts who study the issue say Mexico's kill rate is practically unheard-of, arguing that the numbers reveal something more ominous.

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19 US NY: LTE: Mexico And MarijuanaThu, 26 May 2016
Source:New York Times (NY) Author:Zinsmeister, Jeffrey Area:New York Lines:46 Added:05/26/2016

To the Editor:

Re "Legal Pot, Free Trade" (Op-Ed, May 21): Ioan Grillo's proposal for a Nafta-style market in legal marijuana mistakes a symptom of the organized-crime epidemic in Mexico - the illegal drug trade - for an underlying cause. Rather, the major driver appears to be the corruption infecting all levels of the Mexican state and economy.

Otherwise, it is hard to explain the Mexican government's chronic inability to keep organized crime from dominating so many legal businesses, like casino gambling, cigarettes and even something as banal as mining.

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20 US NY: OPED: Legalized Pot, Free TradeSat, 21 May 2016
Source:New York Times (NY) Author:Grillo, Ioan Area:New York Lines:113 Added:05/21/2016

Mexico City - WHEN the Mexican Army actually allows journalists to watch its soldiers in action, it's often to see them burning marijuana crops. It's strictly for show, but it's fun. You get to fly in a military helicopter over the Sierra Madre, then touch down to see troops posing with their rifles as they walk into green marijuana fields. And the highlight: You watch hundreds of pounds of grass go up in flames.

Mexican soldiers have been conducting this ritual for decades, and the photos have come to define the country's war on drugs. But amid a wave of drug policy reform, those photos may soon disappear from news pages and be relegated to historical archives.

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21 US NY: Global Debate On Drugs Heads To United NationsTue, 19 Apr 2016
Source:New York Times (NY) Author:Sengupta, Somini Area:New York Lines:131 Added:04/19/2016

UNITED NATIONS - Canada has promised to legalize marijuana. Mexico's highest court has allowed some citizens to grow cannabis for personal use. Colombia has reversed its decades-long policy of aerial spraying against coca, the raw ingredient in cocaine.

Even in the United States, once the chief architect of the global war on drugs, four states permit recreational marijuana sales. Other states have pro-legalization ballot measures pending. And a heroin epidemic has prompted the mayor of at least one city to propose establishing a supervised injection clinic.

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22 US HI: OPED: Rebels In The War On DrugsSat, 16 Apr 2016
Source:West Hawaii Today (HI) Author:Hari, Johann Area:Hawaii Lines:83 Added:04/16/2016

Once a decade, the United Nations organizes a meeting where every country in the world comes together to figure out what to do about drugs - and up to now, they've always pledged to wage a relentless war, to fight until the planet is "drug-free." They've consistently affirmed U.N. treaties written in the 1960s and 1970s, mainly by the United States, which require every country to arrest and imprison their way out of drug-related problems.

But at this year's meeting in New York City later this month, several countries are going to declare: This approach has been a disaster. We can't do this anymore. Enough.

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23US TX: Deadly DealFri, 15 Apr 2016
Source:Dallas Morning News (TX) Author:Corchado, Alfredo Area:Texas Lines:Excerpt Added:04/16/2016

Kingpin's Plea With U.S. Triggered Years of Bloodshed Reaching All the Way to Southlake Zetas Saw Gulf Cartel Leader As Traitor, Declared a War That Has Killed Thousands of People

A plea agreement between a Mexican drug kingpin and the U.S. government helped generate a violent split between two drug cartels that led to the deaths of thousands of people in Mexico and along the Texas border, a Dallas Morning News investigation has found.

A masked gunman fired multiple times at Juan Jesus Guerrero Chapa with a 9 mm handgun through the passenger window of his Range Rover at Southlake Town Square in May 2013. Three Mexican citizens were arrested more than a year later and charged with stalking, and aiding and abetting in the hit.

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24 US CA: OPED: Rebels In The War On DrugsSun, 10 Apr 2016
Source:Los Angeles Times (CA) Author:Hari, Johann Area:California Lines:141 Added:04/10/2016

The Decades-Old Consensus Built on Punishment Is Crumbling.

Once a decade, the United Nations organizes a meeting where every country in the world comes together to figure out what to do about drugs - and up to now, they've always pledged to wage a relentless war, to fight until the planet is "drug-free." They've consistently affirmed U.N. treaties written in the 1960s and 1970s, mainly by the United States, which require every country to arrest and imprison their way out of drug-related problems.

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25 US: Legalize It AllFri, 01 Apr 2016
Source:Harper's Magazine (US) Author:Baum, Dan Area:United States Lines:832 Added:04/01/2016

How to Win the War on Drugs

In 1994, John Ehrlichman, the Watergate co-conspirator, unlocked for me one of the great mysteries of modern American history: How did the United States entangle itself in a policy of drug prohibition that has yielded so much misery and so few good results?

Americans have been criminalizing psychoactive substances since San Francisco's anti-opium law of 1875, but it was Ehrlichman's boss, Richard Nixon, who declared the first "war on drugs" and set the country on the wildly punitive and counterproductive path it still pursues.

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26 US: Health Experts Call For Rethink On Drug LawsSat, 26 Mar 2016
Source:Herald On Sunday (New Zealand) Author:Ingraham, Christopher Area:United States Lines:120 Added:03/26/2016

Group says war on drugs has failed and suggests decriminalisation the first step to solving problems

A group of 22 medical experts convened by Johns Hopkins University and The Lancet have called this week for the decriminalisation of all non- violent drug use and possession.

Citing a growing scientific consensus on the failures of the global war on drugs, the experts further encourage countries and US states to "move gradually toward regulated drug markets and apply the scientific method to their assessment".

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27 UK: Urinals Are New Battleground In Britain's War On DrugsFri, 18 Mar 2016
Source:Independent (UK) Author:Milmo, Cahal Area:United Kingdom Lines:77 Added:03/18/2016

Samples Collected at Nightclubs Can Provide Data on Which Substances Are Being Used and Where

For decades, the war on drugs has been fought on fronts from the jungles of Latin America to the classroom. But now the struggle to understand the use of illegal substances has reached a new low - the nation's urinals.

Scientists in charge of tracking drug use across Europe, in particular the booming use of so-called "legal highs", have put forward proposals to use samples from urinals in locations such as nightclubs and music festivals to try to work out which illicit substances are being consumed.

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28 South Africa: Declaring War On DrugsThu, 10 Mar 2016
Source:Times, The (South Africa) Author:Savides, Matthew Area:South Africa Lines:64 Added:03/10/2016

Africa Has Become Vital Transit Hub for Narcotics

THE government is to urgently re-establish narcotics and firearm units to fight cocaine and heroin drug cartels using South Africa as a transit hub, Police Minister Nathi Nhleko said yesterday.

Speaking on the sidelines of the second Africa-Russia Anti-Drug Dialogue in Durban, Nhleko said although there was no concrete timeline yet in place for the units to be up and running, the SA Police Service and his ministry were working on having this done as soon as possible.

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29 Colombia: Mixed Legacy For War On DrugsFri, 12 Feb 2016
Source:Guardian Weekly, The (UK) Author:Brodzinsky, Sibylla Area:Colombia Lines:196 Added:02/13/2016

In Colombia, Peace Deal With the FARC in Sight

But Herbicide-Resistant Coca Production on Rise

In the lowlands surrounding the town of La Hormiga, coca was once king.

Fields of the bright green bushes stretched to the horizon in every direction and farmers were flush with cash. The surrounding municipality was the one with the most coca crops in the country that produced the most cocaine in the world.

This was "ground zero" for Plan Colombia, a massive multipronged effort funded by nearly $10bn in US aid that started in 2000. The plan aimed to recover a country that was in the grips of drug mafias, leftist guerrillas and rightwing militias, and whose institutions malfunctioned and economy faltered.

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30 UK: OPED: Drug CasualtiesWed, 10 Feb 2016
Source:Independent (UK) Author:Grillo, Ioan Area:United Kingdom Lines:263 Added:02/11/2016

Billionaire warlords, who started as small-time weed smugglers, have swathes of Latin America under their bloody rule, and the chaos is creeping north. But, says IOAN GRILLO, they owe their power to white-collar crooks from the States, who first set up their deadly networks

A chain of crime wars is currently strangling Latin America and the Caribbean, drenching it in blood. And the first link in the chain is found in the US. Specifically, in a Barnes and Noble bookshop in a mall in El Paso, Texas.

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31 UK: OPED: A New Deal on Drugs Is As Vital As a Deal on ClimateSun, 31 Jan 2016
Source:Observer, The (UK) Author:Clegg, Nick Area:United Kingdom Lines:122 Added:02/01/2016

Nick Clegg and Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka Set Out Their Vision Before a Forthcoming UN Summit

Standing on the podium at the United Nations in New York in June 1998, Kofi Annan declared: "It is time for all nations to say 'yes' to the challenge of working towards a drug-free world!" The leaders assembled at that meeting agreed: illegal drugs were to be eradicated from the face of the planet. They even set a deadline: 10 years to rid the globe of this scourge. A drug-free world by 2008.

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32 New Zealand: Review: The War Of DrugsSat, 30 Jan 2016
Source:Dominion Post, The (New Zealand)          Area:New Zealand Lines:82 Added:01/29/2016

Gangster Warlords, by Ioan Grillo, Allen & Unwin, $32.99

In May 2010 a state of emergency was declared in the Jamaican capital of Kingston. Schools and businesses were closed as armed vigilantes were seen patrolling the ghetto streets. In Tivoli Gardens, a west Kingston housing estate, gang members stockpiled weapons to prevent the arrest of their leader Dudus (Michael Christopher) Coke, revered locally as a Robin Hood figure but reviled in the US as a master of drug cartels.

Ioan Grillo's exploration of the drug trade in the Caribbean, Central and South America, a follow-up to El Narco (2011), charts the rise of newlook drug barons such as Dudus, who see themselves partly as combatants in a war zone, partly as an alternative state-within-a-state.

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33 US NY: OPED: Mexico's New Blood PoliticsSun, 17 Jan 2016
Source:New York Times (NY) Author:Grillo, Ioan Area:New York Lines:244 Added:01/17/2016

Mexico City - ON the morning of Jan. 2, a team of hired killers set off for the home of 33-year-old Gisela Mota, who only hours before had been sworn in as the first female mayor of Temixco, a sleepy spa town an hour from Mexico City. Ms. Mota was still in her pajamas as the men approached her parents' breezeblock house.

She was in the bedroom, but most of her family was in the front room, cooing over a newborn baby. As the family prepared a milk bottle, the assassins smashed the door open. Amid the commotion, Ms. Mota came out of her bedroom and said firmly, "I am Gisela." In front of her terrified family, the men beat Ms. Mota and shot her several times, killing her.

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34CN ON: Legalizing Pot Goes Against 3 TreatiesWed, 06 Jan 2016
Source:Ottawa Citizen (CN ON) Author:Blanchfield, Mike Area:Ontario Lines:Excerpt Added:01/11/2016

The Liberal government will have to do substantial work on the international stage before it can follow through on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's promise to legalize marijuana, new documents suggest.

That work will have to include figuring out how Canada would comply with three international treaties to which the country is a party, all of which criminalize the possession and production of marijuana.

Trudeau's plan to legalize, regulate and restrict access to marijuana is proving a complicated and controversial undertaking on the domestic front, in part because it requires working with the provinces.

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35 Canada: Legalizing Pot Could Violate International TreatiesWed, 06 Jan 2016
Source:Prince George Citizen (CN BC) Author:Blanchfield, Mike Area:Canada Lines:62 Added:01/11/2016

OTTAWA - The Liberal government will have to do substantial work on the international stage before it can follow through on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's promise to legalize marijuana, new documents suggest.

That work will have to include figuring out how Canada would comply with three international treaties to which the country is a party, all of which criminalize the possession and production of marijuana.

Trudeau's plan to legalize, regulate and restrict access to marijuana is already proving a complicated and controversial undertaking on the domestic front, in part because it requires working with the provinces.

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36 Canada: Trudeau Warned Of Legalizing PotWed, 06 Jan 2016
Source:Record, The (Kitchener, CN ON) Author:Blanchfield, Mike Area:Canada Lines:79 Added:01/11/2016

OTTAWA - The Liberal government will have to do substantial work on the international stage before it can follow through on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's promise to legalize marijuana, new documents suggest.

That work will have to include figuring out how Canada would comply with three international treaties to which the country is a party, all of which criminalize marijuana.

Trudeau's plan to legalize, regulate and restrict access to marijuana is already proving a complicated and controversial undertaking on the domestic front, in part because it requires working with the provinces.

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37 Canada: World Of Headaches When Pot Is LegalizedWed, 06 Jan 2016
Source:Lethbridge Herald (CN AB) Author:Blanchfield, Mike Area:Canada Lines:104 Added:01/11/2016

Canada will run afoul of global treaties, Trudeau warned

The Liberal government will have to do substantial work on the international stage before it can follow through on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's promise to legalize marijuana, new documents suggest. That work will have to include figuring out how Canada would comply with three international treaties to which the country is a party, all of which criminalize the possession and production of marijuana.

Trudeau's plan to legalize, regulate and restrict access to marijuana is already proving a complicated and controversial undertaking on the domestic front, in part because it requires working with the provinces.

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38 Canada: Grits Face Long Battle To Legalize PotWed, 06 Jan 2016
Source:London Free Press (CN ON) Author:Blanchfield, Mike Area:Canada Lines:69 Added:01/07/2016

MARIJUANA: Trudeau's plans could face stiff international opposition, especially from the U.S.,

OTTAWA - The Liberal government will have to do substantial work on the international stage before it can follow through on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's promise to legalize marijuana, new documents suggest.

That work will have to include figuring out how Canada would comply with three international treaties to which the country is a party, all of which criminalize possession and production of marijuana.

Trudeau's plan to legalize, regulate and restrict access to marijuana is already proving a complicated and controversial undertaking on the domestic front, in part because it requires working with the provinces.

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39 Australia: PUB LTE: Exposure to Crime Is the Only Fruit of OurFri, 27 Nov 2015
Source:Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) Author:Atkinson, Phillip Area:Australia Lines:40 Added:11/27/2015

I can anecdotally state that nearly every person in prison is there as the result of drugs: using, dealing or an act of madness fuelled by "something" ("War on drugs hurts those at risk: experts", November 26). Nearly everyone does "something". Beer o'clock, drinkies, shots after work, wine while making dinner, cones behind the shed, lines in the office, party pills before the parade - and then there is ice.

Organised crime steps in to make a market in anything declared illegal. The last thing major players in the drug game want is for any relaxation of laws. The consequence is globally savaging and individually ruinous.

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40 Canada: OPED: Why Easing Marijuana Laws Is A Good First StepWed, 25 Nov 2015
Source:Globe and Mail (Canada) Author:Glenny, Misha Area:Canada Lines:86 Added:11/26/2015

MISHA GLENNY Author of Nemesis: One Man and the Battle for Rio

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's commitment toward major drug law reform is a welcome if belated recognition that when it comes to marijuana, Canada has been an emperor with no clothes for several years.

For two decades, Canada has been a major producer, consumer and exporter of marijuana. As in the rest of the Western world, research indicates that less than 20 per cent of the product is interdicted by law enforcement. This is nowhere what is needed to dissuade marijuana producers and distributors, large and small, from engaging in their activities. Prohibition increases the value of the commodity and profits hit stratospheric levels unknown in legitimate business.

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41 Colombia: Colombia To Legalize Sale Of Medical PotFri, 13 Nov 2015
Source:Virgin Islands Daily News, The (VI) Author:Goodman, Joshua Area:Colombia Lines:60 Added:11/13/2015

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - Colombia's government plans to legalize the cultivation and sale of marijuana for medicinal and scientific purposes, officials said Thursday in a surprise shift by the longtime U.S. ally in the war on drugs.

The change is coming in an executive decree that President Juan Manuel Santos will soon sign into law. It will regulate regulating everything from licensing for growers to the eventual export of products made from marijuana, Justice Minister Yesid Reyes said.

With the new policy, Colombia joins countries from Mexico to Chile that have experimented with legalization or decriminalization as part of a wave of changing attitudes toward drug use and policies to combat it in Latin America. But unlike many of its neighbors, Colombia has long been identified with U.S.-backed policies to eradicate drug production and a sharp decline in levels of violence over the past 15 years is largely attributed to the no-tolerance policing.

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42 UK: Column: Until It Ends Its War on Drugs, Britain Will KeepMon, 09 Nov 2015
Source:Independent (UK) Author:Birrell, Ian Area:United Kingdom Lines:88 Added:11/08/2015

There can be no doubt that the daft war on drugs is devastating many of the world's poorest countries, from Africa to Latin America. But this has been ignored by major charities that claim to campaign for international development, presumably for fear of upsetting their donors. Now one has broken ranks, with the release of an important report from Christian Aid condemning what it calls "a blind spot in development thinking".

Christian Aid deserves credit for taking a stand, one which has caused internal palpitations. The report itself highlights the hypocrisy of successive British governments that have poured money into aid yet supported the prohibition ripping apart poor communities. One day they will see that sanctimonious talk of saving the world is not a solution to complex problems.

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43 UK: Editorial: Mexican WaiverFri, 06 Nov 2015
Source:Independent (UK)          Area:United Kingdom Lines:45 Added:11/07/2015

Marijuana Legalisation Will Help Poor 'Supply' Nations

An absurd status quo has held sway in Mexico, ever since the United States began to legalise marijuana, for medical, and, more recently, recreational use. The nation - encouraged by Washington - has some of the strictest drug laws in Latin America. But the vast majority of the marijuana it produces ends up in the US. So Mexican law enforcement officials - complying with the demands of their American counterparts - have been expending massive resources on preventing the growth and trafficking of a drug that is often, by the time it ends up being smoked within US borders, entirely legal.

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44Mexico: Mexico's Supreme Court Opens Door to LegalizingWed, 04 Nov 2015
Source:Alaska Dispatch News (AK) Author:Malkin, Elisabeth Area:Mexico Lines:Excerpt Added:11/06/2015

The Mexican Supreme Court opened the door to legalizing marijuana on Wednesday, delivering a pointed challenge to the nation's strict substance abuse laws and adding its weight to the growing debate in Latin America over the costs and consequences of the war against drugs.

The vote by the court's criminal chamber declared that individuals should have the right to grow and distribute marijuana for their personal use. While the ruling does not strike down current drug laws, it lays the groundwork for a wave of legal actions that could ultimately rewrite them, proponents of legalization say.

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45CN BC: Time To Legalize Marijuana?Wed, 28 Oct 2015
Source:Nanaimo Daily News (CN BC) Author:Bellaart, Darrell Area:British Columbia Lines:Excerpt Added:10/29/2015

Change of Government Brings Issue Back to the Forefront

Former Prime Minister Stephen Harper sparked considerable debate following an election campaign stop in Montreal where he described cannabis as "infinitely worse" than tobacco.

Many media organizations were quick to find experts willing to discredit the claim. Critics said it was out of step in a climate where a growing number of U.S. states are now legalizing the drug, while cashing in on the resulting tax windfall, and slashing police and prison costs. Some countries in Latin America are going the same way. And the new Liberal government successfully campaigned on a promise to legalize marijuana.

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46US: U.S. Cuts Off Some Funding To MexicoMon, 19 Oct 2015
Source:San Diego Union Tribune (CA) Author:Partlow, Joshua Area:United States Lines:Excerpt Added:10/19/2015

Anti-Drug Money Blocked Over Human Rights Concerns

MEXICO CITY - In a setback for its multibillion-dollar effort to help Mexico fight its drug war, the State Department has decided that Mexico failed to reach some human rights goals, triggering a cutoff of millions of dollars in aid.

The move, which has not been reported previously, affects a small portion of the annual anti-drug funds given to Mexico. But it is a clear sign of U.S. frustration. It comes as Mexico has been roiled by several cases of alleged abuses by security forces, including the disappearance of 43 students in the southern state of Guerrero last year.

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47 US: U.S. Cuts Aid Over Rights In MexicoMon, 19 Oct 2015
Source:Washington Post (DC) Author:Partlow, Joshua Area:United States Lines:155 Added:10/19/2015

Loss of $5 Million for Drug War

Move Comes Amid Numerous Abuse Cases

MEXICO CITY - In a setback for its multibillion-dollar effort to help Mexico fight its drug war, the U.S. State Department has decided that Mexico failed to reach some human rights goals, triggering a cutoff of millions of dollars in aid.

The move, which has not been reported previously, affects a small portion of the annual antidrug funds given to Mexico. But it is a clear sign of U.S. frustration. It comes as Mexico has been roiled by several cases of alleged abuses by security forces, including the disappearance of 43 students in the southern state of Guerrero last year.

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48 UK: OPED: EU Needs To Unite On Reform Of Drug PolicyFri, 02 Oct 2015
Source:Independent (UK) Author:Clegg, Nick Area:United Kingdom Lines:53 Added:10/03/2015

We are losing the war on drugs. But there are reasons to be hopeful. In recent years, a global movement for reform has been building. Led in particular by the governments of countries in Latin America that have suffered most, politicians and policymakers around the globe have started to question the status quo.

This isn't a headlong rush to legalisation, but a patient, rational debate about alternative approaches which might reduce overall harm. In the United States, zero tolerance and mass imprisonment has given way to a willingness to allow states to experiment with alternative regulatory models as Colorado, Washington, Oregon and others are doing with cannabis - and a growing disquiet at the injustice and social impacts of imprisoning hundreds of thousands of young, mainly black, men for drug offences.

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49US CA: Column: To Control Drugs, Accept Failure of 'War onThu, 01 Oct 2015
Source:Orange County Register, The (CA) Author:Rodriguez, Sal Area:California Lines:Excerpt Added:10/01/2015

America will never get control of illegal drugs or immigrants until it accepts the failure of the "war on drug."

For over four decades, the U.S. government has been on a quixotic mission to stamp out drug use through prohibition, mass incarceration and international interdiction. One trillion dollars and millions of arrests later, 49.2 percent of Americans aged 12 or older reported illicit drug use in their lifetimes, 16.7 percent in the past year and 10.2 percent in the past month, according to the 2014 National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

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50 US PA: Column: Why Do We Continue to Fight a War We Can't Win?Wed, 23 Sep 2015
Source:Daily Local, The (PA) Author:Stossel, John Area:Pennsylvania Lines:82 Added:09/23/2015

How many wars can we fight?

Our presidential candidates demand "stronger action" against both illegal immigration and illegal drugs. But those goals conflict. The War on Drugs makes border enforcement much harder!

America's 44-year-long Drug War hasn't made a dent in American drug use or the supply of illegal drugs. If it had some positive effect, prices of drugs would have increased, but they haven't. American authorities say drugs are more available than ever.

Drug prohibition, like alcohol prohibition, creates fat profits that invite law-breaking.

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