Global Ganja Report

In Mexico's third mass shooting in less than a week, gunmen who arrived in SUVs opened fire Oct. 27 at a carwash in Tepic, capital of the Pacific coast state of Nayarit, killing at least 15. All but two of the victims worked at the carwash, and most were clients of the same drug treatment center, Alcance Victoria (Victory Outreach). Three victims wore matching T-shirts emblazoned with "Fe y Esperanza"— "Faith and Hope." (LAT, Oct. 28)

Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos warned Oct 25 that approval of California's Proposition 19 could force nations worldwide to rethink their anti-drug policies. He also said legalized cannabis in California would make the fight against drug cartels tougher throughout Latin America. "Tell me if there is a way to explain to a Colombian peasant that if he produces marijuana we are going to put him in jail and that the same product is legal [in California]," Santos said during a radio interview. "That's going to produce a comprehensive discussion on the approach we have taken on the fight against drug trafficking." (AHN, Oct. 25)

California's referendum on legalizing cannabis is dividing Mexico's political establishment, The Guardian reports Oct. 24. President Felipe Calderón is leading critics of Proposition 19, who see it as a dangerous experiment that would undermine efforts against the cartels. He has repeatedly accused the US of hypocrisy in pressuring Latin America to confront the cartels, while doing little to rein in stateside consumption. The Guardian fails to note that Calderón himself signed a national decriminalization bill into law last year.

At least 13 young people were shot dead and 15 wounded in an attack on a house party in Ciudad Juárez—the second such massacre in less than a week in the violence-torn Mexican city bordering Texas. Gunmen in three cars drove up to the home around 11 PM on Oct. 22 and began shooting, the Chihuahua state prosecutor's office said. The dead were 14 to 20 years old, and a 9-year-old was gravely wounded. On Oct. 17, gunmen similarly stormed two homes in Ciudad Juárez, killing nine young people. (AP, Oct. 23)

Mexican authorities announced the seizure of more than 105 tons of marijuana in the border city of Tijuana Oct. 19. The stash was discovered in coordinated pre-dawn raids in two of Tijuana's poor districts, Arroyo La Mar and Playas de Tijuana. Another raid took place in Rosarito, a popular destination for gringo tourists, some 16 miles south of Tijuana. When fire was exchanged, soldiers were called in to back up the police. The mota was found more than 10,000 color-coded packages with labels such as one depicting an exuberant Homer Simpson with the inscription "Voy de mojarra y que wey!" which roughly translates as "I'm going to get high, dude!" (CBS, Oct. 19)

The RAND Corporation has released a new study entitled "Reducing Drug Trafficking Revenues and Violence in Mexico: Would Legalizing Marijuana in California Help?" The headline for the Oct. 12 press release reads: "Legalizing Marijuana in California Will Not Dramatically Reduce Mexican Drug Trafficking Revenues." It states: "The study calculates that Mexican drug trafficking organizations generate only $1 billion to $2 billion annually from exporting marijuana to the United States and selling it to wholesalers, far below existing estimates by the government and other groups." It says the study also refutes the often-cited claim that marijuana accounts for 60% of gross drug export revenues of Mexican drug trafficking organizations, and notes that Proposition 19 would affect only one state in any case. But Jon Walker of the pro-legalization blog Just Say Now actually read the text of the study itself, and found some contrary findings:

The decapitated bodies of four men were hung from a bridge Aug. 22 in the south-central city of Cuernavaca, Morelos. The Beltran Leyva Cartel claimed responsibility for the killings in a message left with the bodies. The beheaded and mutilated bodies were hung by their feet from the Tabachines bridge in the south of the city, near an on-ramp to the Mexico City-Acapulco highway.

Venezuela and the US are both seeking the extradition of Walid Makled, a notorious drug lord known as "The Arab" or "The Turk," who was arrested in a joint operation by Colombian police and the DEA in the city of Cúcuta near the Venezuelan border Aug. 19. A federal court in Manhattan has indicted Makled on charges of drug trafficking—allegedly in cooperation with Colombia's FARC guerillas. Venezuela is meanwhile seeking him on multiple murder counts.