Global Ganja Report

Billionaire financier George Soros has thrown his support behind California's Proposition 19 legalization measure with a $1 million donation just one week before the vote. The contribution is the single biggest donation from an individual other than Prop 19's main sponsor, Oakland medical cannabis entrepreneur Richard Lee.

Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos warned Oct 25 that approval of California's Proposition 19 could force nations worldwide to rethink their anti-drug policies. He also said legalized cannabis in California would make the fight against drug cartels tougher throughout Latin America. "Tell me if there is a way to explain to a Colombian peasant that if he produces marijuana we are going to put him in jail and that the same product is legal [in California]," Santos said during a radio interview. "That's going to produce a comprehensive discussion on the approach we have taken on the fight against drug trafficking." (AHN, Oct. 25)

California's referendum on legalizing cannabis is dividing Mexico's political establishment, The Guardian reports Oct. 24. President Felipe Calderón is leading critics of Proposition 19, who see it as a dangerous experiment that would undermine efforts against the cartels. He has repeatedly accused the US of hypocrisy in pressuring Latin America to confront the cartels, while doing little to rein in stateside consumption. The Guardian fails to note that Calderón himself signed a national decriminalization bill into law last year.

Medical marijuana patient advocates and other stakeholders staged a protest Oct. 14 as criminal proceedings began at the Terraine Courthouse in San Jose, Calif. The protest came in response to aggressive enforcement actions over the past two weeks by several police departments and the state Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement. The sweep, which resulted in the arrest of nearly two dozen medical marijuana patients and providers in Santa Clara County on Oct. 1 and 7, was dubbed Operation "Up in Smoke."

Mexican authorities announced the seizure of more than 105 tons of marijuana in the border city of Tijuana Oct. 19. The stash was discovered in coordinated pre-dawn raids in two of Tijuana's poor districts, Arroyo La Mar and Playas de Tijuana. Another raid took place in Rosarito, a popular destination for gringo tourists, some 16 miles south of Tijuana. When fire was exchanged, soldiers were called in to back up the police. The mota was found more than 10,000 color-coded packages with labels such as one depicting an exuberant Homer Simpson with the inscription "Voy de mojarra y que wey!" which roughly translates as "I'm going to get high, dude!" (CBS, Oct. 19)

US Attorney General Eric Holder stated Oct. 16 that the Department of Justice "strongly opposes Proposition 19," the pending cannabis legalization initiative in California. He wrote: "If passed, this legislation will greatly complicate federal drug enforcement efforts to the detriment of our citizens." He pledged to "vigorously enforce" the federal ban on possessing, growing or selling the drug if voters approve the ballot measure. Holder also indicated that the federal government might sue to overturn the measure if it is approved by voters on Nov. 2, writing that the DoJ "is considering all available legal and policy options."

After a widely publicized series of raids from Florida to New York City, on Oct. 5 the US Attorney's Southern District Office in Manhattan "announced the unsealing of an Indictment charging ten individuals and a complaint charging 40 individuals with participating in a massive marijuana trafficking ring that transported ton-quantities of marijuana from Florida and California for distribution in the greater New York area from the early 1990's to 2010."

In an exclusive interview with Global Ganja Report, leading California cannabis crusader Chris Conrad and his longtime activist wife Mikki Norris respond to the charges made by Dennis Peron and "Stoners Against Legalization" that Proposition 19 would create new felonies and overturn gains established by the state's medical marijuana statutes, Proposition 215 and SB 420. Conrad and Norris spoke with Global Ganja Report Sept. 16 at a Mexican restaurant in North Berkeley.