Global Ganja Report

Oakland City Attorney John Russo has withdrawn his legal counsel from plans to tax and license large-scale cannabis farms, and told the City Council to hire their own attorney.

The city's original cannabis cultivation ordinance set no limits on the size of the cultivation facilities, which would operate as stand-alone businesses separate from dispensaries. The council had hoped to start licensing the farms as early as last month, but suspended action on the licenses in December so the ordinance could be revised to more closely comply with state law.

In the past seven months, cannabis dispensaries have sprouted across Washington state, exploiting a loophole in the state's medical marijuana law that neither explicitly allows nor prohibits them. State tax officials estimate at least 120 are open, mostly in the Puget Sound area. Dozens more likely remain underground. Under pressure from all sides to "clear the haze," the Legislature is considering a bill, SB 5073, that would legalize, regulate and tax dispensaries and create the state's first authorized commercial cannabis farms. (Seattle Times, Jan. 29)

The security chief at Topo Chico prison in the northern Mexican city of Monterrey was assassinated Feb. 5, his mutilated body found in a plastic box in an abandoned car near the facility. Francisco Martínez Ramírez, who had worked there for three decades and was nearing retirement, had been abducted from his home the previous day. He is the third employee to be murdered in recent months at the prison, which has also been the target of a series of grenade attacks. (Diario de Coahuila, Feb. 6; BBC News, Feb. 5)

Campesino leaders report a wave of abuses against local indigenous peasants in the Guatemalan department of Alta Verapaz since a "state of siege" was declared there in response to the alleged presence of Los Zetas narco-network. Officially, authorities have arrested 22 "traffickers," and confiscated five small planes, 28 vehicles and 239 assault weapons. But the National Indigenous and Campesino Coordinator (CONIC) says army troops have invaded and occupied peasant villages where there has been no sign of drug trafficking.

On Jan. 26, coca growers and their supporters gathered in cities across Bolivia to hold peaceful demonstrations in support of their government's proposed amendment to the 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. The amendment seeks to decriminalize the traditional practice of coca leaf chewing. Coca growers' federations from the Chapare region gathered in Cochabamba's main plaza to collectively chew coca, distribute information, offer free samples of coca leaves, and show their solidarity with the Bolivian government's legalization proposal. (Andean Information Network, Jan. 26)

Authorities in the United Arab Emirates reported their biggest drug bust in 20 years, with Sharjah Province Anti-Narcotics Police seizing 2.5 tons of hashish. The sting operation dubbed "Eastern Wind" was carried out in cooperation with the coast guard. Twelve Iranians and two Pakistani were reported arrested. (Gulf News, Jan. 28)

State Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) introduced legislation Jan. 27 that would prevent California employers from discriminating against medical marijuana patients. Senate Bill 129 would not change current law, which prohibits employees from using medical marijuana at the workplace. According to Leno, his bill "simply establishes a medical cannabis patient's right to work." SB 129 would reverse a 2008 California Supreme Court ruling that granted employers the right to fire or refuse to hire workers with a physician's recommendation for medical marijuana. Advocates have estimated that more than 400,000 medical marijuana patients live in California.

Christopher Bartkowicz of suburban Denver was sentenced to five years in federal prison Jan. 28 after pleading guilty to three cannabis-related charges—despite his claim to protection under Colorado's medical marijuana law. Federal agents raided Bartkowicz's Highlands Ranch home last February and seized hundreds of plants growing in his basement. If he had gone to trial, Bartkowicz could have faced a life term because of a previous drug conviction. His release will be followed by eight years of supervision.