Greater Middle East
ISIS burns cannabis, snorts coke?
As ISIS burns the cannabis fields of northern Syria, Kurdish fighters at Kobani claim that ISIS forces besieging the town are snorting cocaine to keep their spirits up.
Tag: marijuana
Greater Middle East
Lebanon’s hashish valley arms against ISIS
The Bekaa Valley's cannabis farmers, who armed to resist Lebanese army eradication efforts, now say they are ready to resist any ISIS incursion into their fastness.
South Asia
India: Bodo militants massacre tribal people
National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) militants shot dead at least 50 adivasis, or tribal people, in a wave of coordinated attacks across India's northeast state of Assam.
Iraq
ISIS burns Syrian cannabis fields
The farmers of northern Syria have been forced to grow cannabis, with all other economic activity disrupted by war. Now they face harsh privation as ISIS burns the cannabis fields.
Greater Middle East
Saudis crack down on Yemeni smuggling pipeline
Border Guard patrols along Saudi Arabia’s rugged mountain frontier with Yemen report mounting interceptions of hashish, weapons and other contraband.
Greater Middle East
Syria war fuels Lebanon hashish boom?
Afraid of war spilling across the border from neighboring Syria, Lebanon's government has halted cannabis eradication in the Bekaa Valley, allowing a dope-for-guns pipeline to flourish.
The Andes
Colombia: pressure grows to expand drug decrim
An official from the capital district government of Bogotá called upon Colombia’s national government to open debate on broadening the policy of drug decriminalization.
The Andes
Peru escalates cannabis crackdown
Cannabis took a greater share of total drug crops eradicated in Peru in 2013, and authorities hope to expand eradication this year—bringing the program beyond the remote coca zones.
Mexico
Blood avocados: Michoacán cartels co-opt ag-biz
Michoacán's blood-drenched Knights Templar cartel have amassed a land empire in the Mexican state, using the avocado industry to launder narco profits.
The Andes
FARC proposal to protect coca, cannabis growers
At the Havana peace talks with the Colombian government, the FARC rebels released a proposal to decriminalize and "regulate the production of coca, poppies and marijuana."
The Andes
Colombia: US suspends spraying after pilots downed
The US-funded glyphosate spraying in Colombia has been indefinitely suspended after presumed FARC guerillas shot down two fumigation planes—killing a US pilot.
Iran
Persian Gulf militarized —by drug war
In addition to the naval face-off over a global oil outlet, the Persian Gulf has seen escalating militarization by international forces in the guise of narcotics enforcement.