Global Ganja Report

Tajikistan sealed its border with Afghanistan this week, after clashes with armed rebels left 48 dead. Security forces are now searching for Tolib Ayombekov, a former rebel who became a commander of the border guard after a 1997 peace deal and is now believed to have taken up arms again. Ayombekov has been a fugitive since he refused to show up for questioning about the July 21 murder of a local security official in southern Badakhshan province, or to turn over men under his command suspected in the slaying. A conflict over control of the cross-border traffic in Afghan opium is said to be behind the conflict. (IWPR, July 31; DPA, July 30; Registan, July 27; AP, July 25)

A Discovery News slideshow, "Ancient Cannabis: Uncovering a 2,700-Year-Old Stash," relates a recent archaeological find at Yanghai Tombs in the Huoyan Shan mountains (Xinjiang, China): the remains of a tribal shaman from the  Gushi culture, who was buried along with a medicine pouch, riding bridle, bows and arrows—and a wooden bowl containing cannabis.

Viktor Ivanov, head of Russia's Federal Drug Control Service, speaking before the State Duma June 30, said Moscow should re-criminalize drug use, confiscate land used for cannabis cultivation, and close the Central Asian border in order to combat trafficking.

Uzbekistan's special police force seized more than 46 kilograms (over 100 pounds) of opium and heroin in a raid on a a residential home near the border with Tajikistan, the Uzbek National Security Service announced March 20. One local resident was detained. The former Soviet Central Asian states are considered a major trafficking route for drugs from Afghanistan to Russia and Europe. An estimated 90% of heroin consumed in Russia is trafficked from Afghanistan via Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. (RIA Novosti, March 20)