Global Ganja Report

Children are being trafficked into the UK to work in so-called "cannabis factories," according to a new police report. The "factories" are typically located in private houses, but sometimes in agricultural and commercial properties. A study for the Association of Chief Police Officers has found children are being used to tend crops, to illegally divert electricity for the factories, and to break into rival sites.

Morocco's royal navy intercepted two dinghies loaded with 2.725 tons of cannabis resin (locally known as chira) off the coast of Nador on Aug. 13. The four occupants of the boat, equipped with two 200-horsepower engines, managed to escape.

Authorities have uncovered a marijuana "megafarm" hidden in northern Wisconsin's Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. Oconto County Sheriff Mike Jansen estimated officers seized some 50,000 plants, but state Attorney General JB Van Hollen cautioned that authorities are still counting and the number currently stood closer to 10,000. Authorities are said to believe that a Mexican cartel, wanting to grow the product to closer to US markets, is responsible. Eight Latino men were reportedly arrested. (AP, Aug. 12)

Mexico's former president Vicente Fox wrote on his blog Aug. 8 that "we should consider legalizing the production, distribution and sale of drugs"—the most far-reaching stand for legalization yet in Mexico, where more than 28,000 people have died during the current administration's war against drug cartels. The proposal is sparking the predictable backlash from hardliners, as AP reports...

After three days of searching, Nuevo León state police on July 25 uncovered a total of 51 bodies from a clandestine narcofosa ("narco-grave") in a garbage dump in Benito Juárez municipality, outside Monterrey. There have been numerous such grisly findings in Mexico in recent months, but authorities say this was the biggest.

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)

By the end of 2011, 81 US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) special agents will be deployed in Afghanistan, up from 13 just three years ago, according to the agency's chief of operations Tom Harrigan. "Afghanistan is the most prolific producer of opium," said Harrigan. "We are working very closely with our Afghan counterparts. We're there to extend the rule of law." (Federal News Radio, July 23)

Costa Rica has granted the US military a six-month window to bring 7,000 Marines, five planes and 46 warships into its territory to help intercept north-bound narcotics. The permission, granted by a 31-8 vote of the Legislative Assembly on July 2, allows the US to use the country's territory through Dec. 31.