Global Ganja Report

Dr. Ronni Gamzi, director-general of the Israeli Health Ministry, announced last week that the ministry will establish a unit to produce and oversee the supply of medicinal cannabis. The unit will begin operating in January 2012, to meet an anticipated exploding demand without resorting to imports.

This is pretty funny, given that the Taliban stone people to death for getting stoned. But it really appears that Osama bin Laden liked to get bombed as well as to bomb others. Hopefully, this will expose the jihadi fundamentalists as a bunch of hypocrites—like most puritans. From New York magazine's Daily Intel blog:

Yemen's opposition has repeatedly drawn tens of thousands to the streets to protest against President Ali Abdullah Saleh's three decades of autocratic rule in recent weeks, but by noon the protesters quietly vanish. Many head straight to the souk, or market, to buy bags of khat, the stimulant leaf that over half of Yemen's 23 million people chew daily. Some activists maintain, however, that khat serves as a social lubricant that helps fuel the opposition movement.

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)

Washington DC police arrested Orly Azoulay, veteran correspondent for the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Achronoth on charges of intention to distribute marijuana Oct. 2. Also arrested was Azoulay's husband, Howard Arenstein, a correspondent for CBS radio news. Police reportedly found 11 plants and six two-ounce marijuana bags in the home in northwest Washington, acting on a neighbor's tip.

More than 50 Israeli citizens have contacted State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss with a request that he look into "waste of tax money" on police searches and investigations of them for cannabis violations. "Investigate the disproportionate investment of resources in going after marijuana consumers," demands the letter.

Turkey's Anatolian Agency reports that 11,8 tons of hashish have been seized by special security services in the eastern province of Diyarbakir within seven months. A total of 137 police operations against hashish traffickers have been carried out, with 542 arrested and 90 remaining in custody. All confiscated drugs were reportedly destroyed. (Focus, Aug. 2)

With Israeli tokers already irritable over a cannabis drought (the result of a literal drought, which has impacted farmers throughout the Jewish state and Occupied Palestinian Territories), organizers of a planned legalization rally in Tel Aviv were dealt another blow when city authorities denied them a permit.