Global Ganja Report

A wave of marijuana law reform is sweeping the US, with initiatives to legalize medicinal use in the forefront, and the traditionally staid East Coast starting to catch up with western states. A medical marijuana bill is gaining ground in New York's state legislature, with lawmakers touting the additional revenues it could bring from licensing fees for growers and dispensers. (WXXI, Rochester, March 23)

Wachovia Corp. on March 18 agreed to pay $160 million to settle federal charges that it failed to establish an adequate anti-money laundering program. The case stems from investigations into transactions with Mexican exchange houses—or casas de cambio (CDCs)—between 2004 and 2007.

The US Senate Judiciary Committee on March 11 unanimously approved a bill to reduce sentencing disparities for powder and crack cocaine offenses. The Fair Sentencing Act, introduced by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), is intended to bridge the gap between crack and powder cocaine sentencing by amending the Controlled Substances Act and the Controlled Substances Import and Export Act.

Nearly 90 people, including many members of the security forces, were sentenced in Morocco to prison terms for cannabis trafficking on March 5. The court in Casablanca handed down sentences of between three months and 10 years to most of the 87 defendants, who included 55 members of the navy, police, army and auxiliary forces. Four of the defendants were acquitted. The network, which was dismantled in a series of busts in January 2009, operated in the northern Nador region and exported more than 30 tons of hashish to Europe over several years. (Middle East  Online, March 5)

The DEA is said to be preparing a new crackdown on khat, the mildly psychoactive leaf grown in Yemen and the Horn of Africa, in response to a boom in domestic demand as more Somali, Ethiopian and Eritrean immigrants arrive in the US. In a joint raid with local police, US Customs and Border Patrol intercepted a 22-pound package of the leaf in Wisconsin's La Crosse County March 13. It was apparently bound for the Twin Cities area. (La Crosse Tribune, March 13)

A Dutch court fined the owner of the Netherlands' biggest cannabis-selling coffee shop 10 million euros ($13.3 million) on March 25 for keeping more than the maximum tolerated 500 grams (18 oz.) on the premises. Owner Meddie Willemsen, tried along with 15 staff of the Checkpoint coffee shop in Terneuzen, also received a 16-week prison term, although he was given credit for having served this time  after his arrest and released.

The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) March 9 denounced efforts by the UN International Narcotic Control Board (INCB) as it met in Vienna to meddle in United States marijuana law reform efforts. In a recent report, the INCB said it was "deeply concerned" that 14 state medical marijuana laws are sending the "wrong message to other countries."

At the 53rd meeting of the UN Committee on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna, which ended March 12, Russia blasted the US and NATO for their failure to halt drug trafficking from Afghanistan. Moscow's drug czar Victor Ivanov said at least 30,000 people died in Russia every year from heroin, 90% of it from Afghanistan. He blamed the Obama administration for ending a military drive to destroy opium poppy crops in Afghan fields.