Global Ganja Report

The Supreme Court heard arguments Feb. 28 in DePierre v. United States, on whether the term "cocaine base" in the Federal Sentencing Guidelines is limited to "crack" or includes all forms of cocaine chemically classified as a base. The US First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston ruled that "cocaine base" refers to "all forms of cocaine base, including, but not limited to crack cocaine." Counsel for the petitioner argue that Congress did not intend "cocaine base" to refer to substances used in the crack-production process.

Mexican federal police on Feb. 28 announced the capture of Victor Torres Garcáa AKA Édgar Mauricia Barrera Corrales AKA "El Papirrin"—alleged leader of a drug network that calls itself "The Resistance." "El Papirrin" was detained in Uruapan, Michoacán, along with two associates, several guns and bags of drugs. La Resistencia is so-named because it was formed as an alliance of various cartels to resist the drive by Los Zetas to dominate Mexico's narco networks. "El Papirrin" was said to be a veteran of the Beltran Leyva cartel.

Seattle's The Stranger alterno-weekly reported Feb. 25 that immediately after the Seattle Times ran an editorial last week supporting a bill to tax and regulate cannabis, the newspaper got a phone call from White House Office of National Drug Control Policy director Gil Kerlikowske. The Drug Czar apparently wanted to fly to Seattle to talk personally the paper's full editorial board.

Dubbed the "Wal-Mart of Weed," the 10,000-square-foot weGrow store, set to open this weekend at 1537 Fulton Ave. in Sacramento, is the first franchise for a company that calls itself a supply and training destination for legal cannabis cultivators. The enterprise started in Oakland last year as a warehouse store called iGrow. Now the Oakland location is being reorganized as a distribution hub for a network of retail hydroponics outlets. The Sacramento store—billed as "the first honest hydro store"—is to be followed by weGrow stores in Arizona, Colorado, New Jersey and Oregon in coming months.

The lower house of Montana's legislature on Feb. 21 voted up the repeal of the state's medical cannabis law. The repeal bill now goes to the senate. The Senate Judiciary Committee is planning to work on a new bill to put in place a licensing and regulatory system for the medical cannabis industry, paid for by new licensing fees.

Mexican president Felipe Calderón Hinojosa's militarization of the struggle against drug trafficking is "a war from above" largely for the benefit of US interests, according to a letter published on Feb. 14 and written by Subcommander Marcos, the spokesperson of the rebel Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN), which is based in the southeastern state of Chiapas.

A New Zealand cancer patient facing a jail term for growing cannabis he uses to alleviate pain pledges to go on a hunger strike if he is imprisoned. Peter Davy, 51, of Timaru, pleaded guilty to cultivating cannabis, but says he uses the herb only for medicinal purposes for himself and his partner, who suffers from multiple sclerosis.

Oakland's Harborside Health Center, the self-proclaimed world's largest cannabis dispensary—handling an annual $22 million in transactions—is being audited by the US Internal Revenue Service. Since late last year, the IRS has been auditing 2008 and 2009 federal tax returns for the Oakland location, one of two outlets Harborside operates for 70,000 medical cannabis users. The other facility is in San Jose.