Global Ganja Report

There is growing support in Lebanon's cannabis-producing eastern region (the Bekaa Valley, for centuries a major hashish production zone) for a proposal from Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt for the government to legalize and purchase the crop from the area's struggling farmers, establishing a program of controlled distribution for medicinal purposes. Advocates of the proposal say the yearly eradication of the cannabis crop by the Central Drug Control Office has led to corruption, and is breeding resentment.

The US-funded Counter-Narcotics Justice Center (CNJC) in Kabul handles all of Afghanistan's large-scale drug cases—anyone arrested with more than two kilograms of heroin, 10 kilograms of opium, or 50 kilograms of hashish. It has sent hundreds to the city's notoriously harsh Pul-e Charkhi prison, and records show that nearly 98% of defendants are convicted. The conviction rate for drug offenses in the US judicial system is also very high, at 93% for federal cases in 2006—but that is largely due to plea bargains, and the ability of prosecutors to drop cases and judges to grant reduced sentences. In the CNJC there is virtually no leeway for prosecutors to drop cases that are too small or poorly evidenced. Defense attorneys say the high conviction rate means that just about every suspect who arrives at the court ends up in prison for a long time. (Joshua Hersh for Huffington Post, June 10)

Five bills have been introduced this year in Sacramento concerning cannabis and medical marijuana, winning varying degrees of support from activists and the cannabis industry. Most likely to pass is San Francisco Assemblyman Tom Ammiano's Assembly Bill 2312, which would regulate medical marijuana at the state level instead of letting each city and county take differing approaches to interpreting the law. AB 2312 would create a Board of Medical Marijuana Enforcement within the state Department of Consumer Affairs to approve or deny permits for growing, processing, testing, transporting, distributing and selling medical cannabis.

Jewish settlers from the Tapuch Junction area of the West Bank are suspected of purchasing hashish and cannabis from their Palestinian neighbors in the nearby village of Hawara. Israeli police investigating drug-smuggling across the "Green Line" that divides the West Bank from Israel detained several Palestinian youth at the village last week—and found that a confiscated client list included settlers from neighboring militant Jewish communities, including Yitzhar, Itamar and Har Bracha. Four Jewish clients were subsequently detained.

Long the main gateway to Europe for Moroccan hashish, Spain has over the past year emerged as one of the continent's main cannabis cultivation hubs, rivaling the Netherlands. Principal cultivation zones are Andalusia, Murcia, Catalonia, Aragon and especially Valencia—which the Guardia Civil describes as "a jungle of cannabis."

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)

Morocco's royal navy intercepted two dinghies loaded with 2.725 tons of cannabis resin (locally known as chira) off the coast of Nador on Aug. 13. The four occupants of the boat, equipped with two 200-horsepower engines, managed to escape.

The Control of Narcotics Substance Court in the Pakistani port of Karachi sentenced five men to life imprisonment on Aug. 6. The Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) arrested the five in a raid in Mauripur last July, seizing 5,195 kilograms of hashish. Special Judge Imdad Hussain Khoso sentenced all five to life terms and fines of 100,000 rupees.