Global Ganja Report

At least 37 were killed as a prison in southern Venezuela exploded into rebellion, authorities said Aug. 16. The death toll at the facility in the jungle town of Puerto Ayacucho, Amazonas state, was first reported by the advocacy group Venezuelan Prison Observatory and later confirmed by the Interior Ministy. The violence began when inmates seized the facility and security forces were sent in to retake it.

Police in the Philippines killed 32 people in a wave of anti-drug operations north of the capital, Manila—making Aug. 16  the single deadliest day so far of President Rodrigo Duterte's ultra-deadly war on drugs. Over  100 were also arrested in the sweeps—overwhelmingly street-level dealers—and dozens of firearms reportedly seized. The operations were jointly carried out by National Police and Bulacan provincial authorities. Duterte expressed open enthusiasm for the bloodshed—and warned that it is just beginning. "There were 32 killed in Bulacan in a massive raid, that's good," he said in a speech. "Let's kill another 32 every day. Maybe we can reduce what ails this country."

The Philippines' ultra-hardline President Rodrigo Duterte met in Manila on Aug. 8 with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and came away gloating that the new administration in Washington is unconcerned with his blood-drenched "war on drugs," that has left perhaps 8,000 dead since he took office just over a year ago.

Far-right pundit Ann Coulter unleashed typical bombast in her latest tirade against cannabis legalization—and threw in some very unsubtle racism. Newsweek notes the verbal irruption at the nonpartisan forum Politicon on July 29. where Coulter was debating (to use a flattering term) cannabis advocate Ana Kasparian. When asked about the wave of state legalization initiatives, Coulter replied: "No. You can legalize all the drugs you want once there isn’t a welfare state, but no. Marijuana makes people retarded, especially when they’re young. We’ve got enough busboys. We’re bringing in busboys by the million through our immigration policy. We do not need a country of busboys. We're destroying the country."

Civil rights organizations in New York are trying to determine if police and school officials on Long Island helped federal authorities detain students in the country illegally on the basis of dubious claims of ties to Central American gangs. The controversy comes days after President Trump's inflammatory speech before law enforcement officers in Long Island's Suffolk County on July 28. There was a major outcry over Trump's urging of police to be "rough" with suspects in the speech. This outrage nearly eclipsed media coverage of his pledge in the speech to "destroy" the MS-13 gang network, calling its members "animals."

A dispute at a cannabis farm run by a local Rastafarian church in California's Yuba County escalated to a shootout Aug. 1, leaving one suspect dead and two sheriff's  deputies wounded. The outburst of violence brought dozens of law enforcement officers from across the region, the Sacramento Bee reports. It apparently began when police responded to reports of a trimmer at the farm uprooting and damaging plants after an argument with his employers.

An estimated 7,000 protesters marched on the Philippines' House of Representatives in the Batasan district of Manila July 24 as ultra-hardline President Rodrigo Duterte gave his second State of the Nation Address—in which he pledged to keep pursuing his bloody drug war. "The fight will not stop," said Duterte. "There is a jungle out there. There are beasts and vultures preying on the helpless. We will not be disheartened, we will not be cowed, we will not be overhelmed." He offered drug dealers and users a choice of "jail or hell."

Attorney General Jeff Sessions signed an order July 19 reversing limits on the federal civil asset forfeiture program that were instated under the Obama administration in 2015. The widely criticized civil forfeiture program allows law enforcement to seize cash and property from citizens who have not been charged with any crime. But under the Obama-era change, the feds respected the right of states to rein in the practice. With Sessions' change, that is now undone.