Middle
East:
US
Troops,
Iraqi
Police
Seize
Marijuana
Plants
7/14/06
https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/444/marijuana-in-iraq.shtml
US troops and Iraqi police
seized and destroyed a bumper crop of marijuana plants last week, according
to a
report in Stars & Stripes. Based on a military press release,
the report said soldiers from the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, which
has responsibility for most of northern Iraq, discovered the field in an
unnamed location.
According to the military
press release, the field contained "juvenile marijuana plants grown in
a series of furrows. The owner claimed he was growing sesame."
Police put the value of the field at $2 million. The crop was cut
down and destroyed, and the man arrested.
While drug use and trafficking
was rare under the repressive regime of Saddam Hussein, the chaos and violence
into which the country has descended since the US invasion in 2003, has
both increased
drug use and made the country more attractive to smugglers. That
is to be expected, complained Hamid Ghodse, head of the International
Narcotics Control Board, the United Nations body charged with monitoring
compliance with UN anti-drug treaties.
"Whether it is due to war
or disaster, weakening of border controls and security infrastructure make
countries into convenient logistic and transit points, not only for international
terrorists and militants, but also for traffickers," Ghodse
told the BBC in referring to Iraq last year.
"You cannot have peace, security
and development without attending to drug control," Ghodse added, staying
on point. But in Iraq, maybe we'd all be better off if everyone just
smoked some herb and chilled out.
-- END --
|
Issue #444
-- 7/14/06
Editorial:
Not
Playing
by
the
Rules,
Not
Making
Sense
|
Appeal/Book
Offer:
Race
to
Incarcerate,
by
Marc
Mauer
|
Feature:
Judge
Throws
Out
Part
of
Alaska
Marijuana
Recriminalization
Law,
Up
to
An
Ounce
is
Now
Legal
At
Home
|
Feature:
Methamphetamine
as
Child
Abuse
Laws
Gain
Ground,
But
Do
They
Help
or
Hurt?
|
Law
Enforcement:
This
Week's
Corrupt
Cops
Story
|
Law
Enforcement:
Goose
Creek
Agrees
to
Pay
Up,
Change
Ways
in
Settlement
of
Notorious
High
School
Drug
Raid
Case
|
Sentencing:
California
Governor
Signs
Bill
Amending
Proposition
36,
Is
Immediately
Sued
|
Search
and
Seizure:
Vermont
Judge
Says
State
Constitution
Provides
Protection
Even
if
Federal
Doesn't
|
Sentencing:
Justice
Kennedy
Lashes
Out
at
Harsh
Prison
Terms
|
Harm
Reduction:
San
Diego
Reinstates
Needle
Exchange
Program
|
First
Amendment:
New
Michigan
Law
Bans
Methamphetamine
Recipes
on
Internet
|
Middle
East:
US
Troops,
Iraqi
Police
Seize
Marijuana
Plants
|
Web
Scan:
Sentencing
Project
and
Others
Report
to
UN
Human
Rights
Committee,
CURE
on
Prisons
in
OAS
|
Weekly:
This
Week
in
History
|
Weekly:
The
Reformer's
Calendar
|
|
This issue -- main page
This issue -- single-file printer version
Drug War Chronicle -- main page
Chronicle archives
|
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