Search Results: latin-america (10)

Phoenix-based Discount Tire Company and its billionaire owner, Bruce Halle, face a growing boycott movement after making a $1 million donation to help defeat Proposition 205, the ballot initiative to legalize recreational use of marijuana in Arizona.

In August, local immigrant-rights groups organized a boycott after Discount Tire stores posted “Re-Elect Sheriff Joe Arpaio” signs in their windows. An infamous foe of the Latino community, Arpaio is almost certain to facecriminal charges of contempt for violating a federal judge’s orders in connection with the landmark discrimination case Melendres v. Arpaio.

With marijuana still sitting unjustly on Schedule I of the controlled substances list here in the U.S., official in-depth studies on the specific effects that differing strains of weed can elicit have been limited, both in number and in scope.
Fortunately, the South American nation of Uruguay has recently legalized marijuana use on a national level, opening the door for a very willing and eager community of scientists and researchers to set up shop and begin to give ganja a long overdue honest lab-grade analysis.

Organization of American States logo.

Leaders and representatives of the 34 nations that make up the Organization of American States (OAS) held its annual general assembly meeting last Thursday in Guatemala to discuss a range of issues, with a debate about marijuana legalization expected to take center stage.With many of the OAS member-nations being wracked by drug war related violence, a debate over immediate solutions to curb illegal narcotics trafficking was considered to be a top priority by many attending and observing the 3-day meeting. Instead, the conference concluded with no specific judgment being given regarding the decriminalization or legalization of drugs like cannabis in the Western Hemisphere.

NTN

Front Page New York Times Article Describes Uruguay Government’s Proposal to Legalize and Sell Marijuana – Joining Argentina, Colombia, Guatemala, Belize and Others in Proposing Drug War Alternatives 
Ethan Nadelmann, DPA Executive Director: The Genie Has Escaped the Drug Prohibition Bottle
One by one, the dominoes are starting to sway.
Monday morning, the front page of The New York Times featured an article titled “South America Sees Drug Path to Legalization,” which discusses the growing debate on alternatives to the Drug War. Throughout Latin America, both former and current heads of state are demanding that the full range of policy options be expanded to include alternatives that help to reduce the prohibition-related crime violence and corruption in their own countries – and insisting that decriminalization and legal regulation of currently illicit drug markets be considered.

MercoPress
President Jose Mujica of Uruguay says his country will be the first in the world to legally supply marijuana

Uruguay Would Be First Country in World to Legally Supply Marijuana; Revenues Would Fund ‘Treatment’ and ‘Rehabilitation’
 
Ethan Nadelmann of Drug Policy Alliance: Bold Move by Uruguay Part of Growing Trend in Latin America; Moving from Whether to Legalize Marijuana to How
 
The government of Uruguay on Thursday announced that it will submit a proposal to legalize marijuana under government-controlled regulation and sale, making it the first country in the world where the state would sell marijuana directly to its citizens.
According to local media, the law would make marijuana legally available in government-authorized locations under certain criteria: there would be a national registry of consumers; sales would only be legal for adults over 18 years; there would be a maximum amount available per month per consumer (according to Toke of the Town‘s source in Uruguay, 40 joints per month); and strict quality controls would be ensured.

ColorLines
Mexico’s Drug War has claimed more than 50,000 lives in five years

After More Than 50,000 Prohibition-Related Deaths in 5 Years, Candidates Say Reducing Violence More Important Than Simply Seizing Drugs, Making Arrests
 
DPA Executive Director Ethan Nadelmann: Next President Should Show Bold Leadership and Follow Other Latin American Presidents’ Call for “All Options On The Table”
 
The top three presidents candidates in Mexico have all promised a significant shift in their country’s drug war strategy, according to a front page story in Monday’s New York Times. The candidates are pledging to prioritize a reduction in prohibition-related violence, which has led to more than 50,000 deaths since President Calderon launched a war on the drug traffickers in 2006, over conventional measures such as arrests and seizures. 

The Coming Crisis

President Obama to Attend Summit of the Americas in Colombia This Weekend: Discussions to Include Drug Decriminalization, Legal Regulation and Other Drug War Alternatives
 
First Time Ever that Sitting Presidents are Calling for All Options to Be Put on Table to Reduce Drug Prohibition-Related Crime, Violence and Corruption
  
This week, President Obama will join more than 30 other heads of state from throughout the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia for the Summit of the Americas. For the first time ever, a major focus of the summit – both in official meetings and behind closed doors – will be the need for alternative strategies to the failed war on drugs.
 
The urgency of the discussion is growing in light of the prohibition-related violence in Mexico that has killed more than 50,000 people since 2006, the growing war zones in Central America, and South American governments worn down by decades of disastrous U.S.-sponsored eradication and interdiction efforts that have bred institutionalized corruption and routine violence.

Graphic: Daily Mail
The half-mile marijuana smuggling tunnel connecting Mexico and the U.S. reportedly held several tons of marijuana

​Border police in Mexico and the United States have discovered another drug smuggling tunnel linking the Mexican city of Tijuana with California. The half-mile tunnel was used to smuggle marijuana into the U.S., police said.

It isn’t far from where authorities found a similar tunnel earlier this month, equipped with rails, ventilation and lights, reports the BBC.
Police are still investigating, but local media are speculating that the new tunnel — almost 2,600 feet long — could be even more sophisticated than the first.

Photo: Trends Updates
The entire state of Chiahuahua, where Ciudad Juarez is located, is out of control. Juarez itself is a virtual ghost town with no tourism, almost completely under the control of violent drug cartels.

​A Mexican newspaper in the midst of the country’s Drug War has asked cartels for guidance on whether, and how, it should publish stories on the conflict.

El Diario de Juarez has become known for its excellent reporting from the blood-soaked streets of border town Ciudad Juarez, a haven for the violent drug-smuggling cartels, reports the BBC.
But the murder of their 21-year-old photographer last week prompted the newspaper to run a front-page editorial asking: “What do you want from us?”

Graphic: TalkLeft
The United Nations wants us to stop questioning the almighty Drug War

​A fast growing movement in Latin America to relax the laws against marijuana and other illegal drugs may — horrors! — undermine the global Drug War, according to a United Nations group.

The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) said in its annual report, released Wednesday, that is is “concerned” that Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico have decriminalized possession of drugs, particularly marijuana, for personal use reports Lucia Baldomir at Bloomberg Business Week.
The decrim movement “poses a threat” to the “coherence and effectiveness” (as if it ever had any of either) of the international Drug War if not “resolutely countered,” according to the report, and besides that, it sends “the wrong message to the general public.”
Hey, INCB, I guess you think the “general public” doesn’t have any say in policy matters? Maybe you’re the one with the same old “wrong message,” there in your ivory tower in Vienna. Have you considered that maybe people are beginning to see the folly of locking people up for growing and using an herb?