Global Ganja Report

Total area planted with coca in Bolivia dropped by up to 13% last year, according to separate reports by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime and the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. Bolivia stepped up efforts to eradicate unauthorized coca plantings, and reported an increase in seizures of cocaine and cocaine base—even as the Evo Morales government expanded areas where coca can be grown legally. "It's fascinating to look at a country that kicked out the United States ambassador and the DEA, and the expectation on the part of the United States is that drug war efforts would fall apart," Kathryn Ledebur, director of the Andean Information Network, told the New York Times. Instead, she said, Bolivia's approach is "showing results." 

Arizona's 2010 voter-approved state law authorizing "the local cultivation, sale, and use, of medical marijuana" is not preempted by the federal Controlled Substances Act, according to the Superior Court of Arizona, Maricopa County. The ruling, issued earlier this month by Judge Michael Gordon, allows for the establishment of state-licensed medicinal cannabis dispensaries within Arizona—the first of which opened its doors last week. State-licensed medical marijuana facilities now operate in several states, including Colorado, New Jersey, New Mexico, and Maine.

The Obama administration will be going toe-to-toe in federal court Dec. 20 at 10 AM with the City of Oakland and California's largest medical marijuana dispensary, Harborside Health Center. US Attorney Melinda Haag filed forfeiture proceedings in July against Harborside's landlords to force the dispensary to close its two locations in Oakland and San Jose. Then, in October, the City of Oakland filed its own legal action against Haag and her boss, US Attorney General Eric Holder. Harborside serves thousands of patients, pays local, state and federal taxes, and has been legally operating in Oakland since 2006.

Montana medical pot grower Chris Williams,  who was sentenced this year to a mandatory minimum of 85 to 92 years in federal prison, will have most of his convictions dropped after more than 27,000 people petitioned the White House for his clemency. On Dec. 18, federal prosecutors agreed to drop six of eight of Williamss charges and dismiss the $1,728,000 in penalties awarded to the government if he waives his right to appeal. His convictions for possessing a firearm in connection with drug trafficking and one count of possession with intent to distribute marijuana will stand. He faces five years on the distribution charge and a mandatory minimum of five years for the firearm-related charge.

Employees of Waste Management, refuse collection provider for California's Nevada County, will help local law enforcment agencies keep an eye on the neighborhoods they serve, under a partnership announced last week. The crime watch program—dubbed WasteWatch—will have Waste Management drivers looking for evidence of illegal activity. "We welcome the extra eyes and ears in our neighborhoods," said Jeff Powell, an operations captain with the Nevada County Sheriff's Office, in a statement. "Waste Management drivers provide services in our community on a daily basis." (The Union, Grass Valley, Dec. 3)

The New York Times reports that White House and Justice Department officials are considering plans for legal action against Colorado and Washington in the wake of last month's legalization initiatives. The Obama administration declined to comment on the deliberations, but pointed to a press release the Justice Department issued on Dec. 5—the day before the initiative took effect in Washington—in the name of the US attorney in Seattle, Jenny A. Durkan.

The most enlightened cannabis connoisseurs—those who still have a link back to the values that defined the hippie culture—tend to be conscious consumers when it comes to food or computers or whatnot. They may buy organic tomatoes, boycott Taco Bell to support exploited farm workers in Florida, and petition Apple about the brutal conditions in their Chinese assembly plants. But do they pay as much attention to the source of their preferred smoking herb? 

Is there blood on your ganja?

The Cape Flats, a sprawling poor area on the outskirts of Cape Town, has emerged as the epicenter of South Africa's crime crisis, the country's key transshipment point for dagga (cannabis), tik (cystal meth) and heroin. Long-simmering gang wars over control of the traffic exploded into horrific violence this year, leading to political stand-offs over how to respond. Western Cape province has called a special commission of inquiry into police actions in the conflicted township of Khayelitsha following charges that corrupt and aggressive policing has enflamed violence and led to vigilantism. But national Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa says the inquiry is illegal and exceeds provincial powers. In July, a request from West Cape Premier Helen Zille for military troops to patrol the Flats was turned down by President Jacob Zuma. By then, some 25 people, including seven children, had been killed in drug-related violence in the Flats over the past five months. (IOL, Dec. 4; SABC, Nov. 27; The New Age, South Africa, Nov. 14; Times Live, Johannesburg, Nov. 8; AllAfrica, Oct. 4; The Economist, Aug. 11)