police state

New York City's persistent cannabis dystopia

Posted on November 30th, 2017 by Global Ganja Report and tagged , , , .

New York CityNew York City, despite its liberal reputation, has long been the marijuana arrest capital of the USA. So many herbal advocates were heartened by the recent poll (carried out by Emerson College on behalf of the Marijuana Policy Project and Drug Policy Alliance) finding that 62% of New York's registered voters support legalizing and taxing cannabis to help close the state's budget gap, with 28% opposed. But some activists are quick to remind us that even as the public comes around on the question, all too little has changed on the city's streets.

Nicaragua: army assassination disguised as marijuana raid?

Posted on November 28th, 2017 by Global Ganja Report and tagged , , , .

Central AmericaThe International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women march in Nicaragua's capital Nov. 25 was ironically set upon by the riot police, with several women detained. The Managua march was emotionally charged, as it was led by Elea Valle—a campesina woman whose husband and two young sons were killed two weeks earlier in a raid by army troops on their home in the country's eastern rainforest.

Duterte backtracks on drug war de-escalation —surprise!

Posted on November 18th, 2017 by Bill Weinberg and tagged , , , .

South East AsiaJust a matter of weeks after the Philippines' President Rodrigo Duterte won rare favorable headlines by pledging to pull the National Police out of his ultra-deadly "war on drugs," he is already backpeddaling and threatening to send them back in—as cynics had predicted. Duterte made his threat Nov. 18 in a speech at a business event in his hometown Davao City (where he first honed his death-squad tactics when he served there as mayor). "The drug problem, if it becomes worse again, the police has to enter the picture," he said in his typically crude syntax. "I want it eradicated if possible."  

Duterte drug war de-escalation: how real?

Posted on October 16th, 2017 by Bill Weinberg and tagged , , , .

South East AsiaThe Philippines' notoriously ultra-hardline President Rodrigo Duterte won rare favorable international headlines Oct. 12, when he said he would pull his National Police force out of his brutal "war on drugs," which has now reached the point of mass murder, with an estimated 8,000 slain since he took office last year. The move came in response to a wave of public outrage after the police slaying of an unarmed youth in the working-class Manila suburb of Caloocan City in August.

Yet another deadly prison uprising in Mexico

Posted on October 11th, 2017 by Bill Weinberg and tagged , .

MexicoThe latest grim manifestation of the unrelenting prison crisis in Latin America comes from the northern Mexican state of Nuevo León, where authorities confirmed Oct. 10 that 16 inmates were killed, and 25 wounded, in an uprising at the Penal de Cadereyta facility.

Northern California sheriff appeals to feds in pot 'state of emergency'

Posted on October 10th, 2017 by Bill Weinberg and tagged , , , , , , , , .

CaliforniaIn California's far-north Siskiyou County, where last month supervisors voted to declare a "state of emergency" over illegal marijuana cultivation, the hardline Sheriff Jon Lopey has now appealed to US Attorney General Jeff Sessions for federal aid in his war on cannabis.

US-born jazz great denied entry to US on 50-year-old drug charge

Posted on October 10th, 2017 by Bill Weinberg and tagged , , , , , .

Alvin QueenBoth the absurdity of the war on drugs and the depravity of the current administration in Washington are illustrated by the maddening case of Alvin Queen, an internationally acclaimed jazz drummer who was denied entry to the US due to a minor drug arrest when he was still a teen—despite the fact that he was born in the country!

Indonesia unleashes 'shoot-to-kill' policy on drug suspects

Posted on October 5th, 2017 by Bill Weinberg and tagged , , .

South East AsiaIndonesian President Joko Widodo, following in the bloody footsteps of the Philippines' Rodrigo Duterte, has issued a "shoot-on-sight" policy for drug suspects. The hardline policy comes amid a sudden media blitz about the drug "state of emergency" in the archipelago nation. Amnesty International says it believes at least 60 drug suspects (including at least eight foreigners) have been killed by Indonesian police so far this year—compared with just 18 in all of 2016.

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