DEA Increases Quotas for Psychedelic Research, Sinaloa Cartel Infighting Death Toll Rises, More... (9/23/24)

New Hampshire lawmakers are already rolling out marijuana reform proposals for next year, peace has come -- at least for now -- to a troubled Colombian coca-producing province, and more.

Harvesting coca crops in Colombia. The Segunda Marquetalia guerrilla faction has imposed peace in Narino. (DEAMuseam.net)

New Hampshire Lawmakers File Initial Proposals on Marijuana Legalization, Expungement. Granite State lawmakers have filed about 170 Legislative Service Requests (LSR), which are precursors to actual bills, including at least two dealing with marijuana reforms. Rep. Kevin Verville (R-Deerfield) has filed an LSR to legalize cannabis for people over 21 and Rep. Jonah Wheeler (D-Peterborough) has filed a proposal to help people clear their record of marijuana possession offenses.

The House and Senate do not convene until January, but lawmakers can submit their proposals months in advance. The LSR's have titles but no actual legislative wording.

Last session, the Senate approved a marijuana legalization bill only to see it narrowly defeated in a 178-173 vote in the House.

Psychedelics

DEA Calls for Increased Production of Some Psychedelics For Research. The DEA has issued new quotas for the production of Schedule I and Schedule II controlled substances for research purposes. The new quotas would increase the production of ibogaine, psilocybin, and psilocyn, but would maintain current levels for marijuana, THC, and MDMA.

The news came in a pair of notices the agency will publish in the Federal Register on Wednesday. They outline its Aggregate Production Quotas (APQs) for controlled substances that can be used in approved studies.

For marijuana, the quota sits at 6.675 million grams, the same as it has been since 2023. Ditto for DMT (11,000 grams), MDMA (12,000 grams), LSD (1,200 grams), and mescaline (1,200 grams), for example.

But for psilocybin, the quota rises from 20,000 grams last year to 30,000 this year, and for psilocyn, the quota rises from 24,000 grams to 26,000 grams. Ibogaine went from 150 grams to 210 grams.

"These proposed increases are to support research and clinical trials by DEA-registered schedule I researchers," the notice about the new 2024 revisions says, "These proposed increases demonstrate DEA's support for research with schedule I controlled substances. The proposed increases reflect research and development needs as part of the process for seeking the FDA approval of new drug products."

"DEA is proposing a higher APQ for ibogaine than DEA granted for 2024 to support manufacturing activities related to the increased level of research and clinical trials with this schedule I controlled substance," the 2025 notice says.

International

Colombia Dissident FARC Faction Consolidates Control over Key Coca Growing Area. Segunda Marquetalia, a dissident faction of the leftist FARC guerilla group that refused to lay down its arms after a 2016 peace accord with the government, has consolidated control over Narino, one of the country's key coca-producing regions.

The area had been among the most violent in the country, but now Segunda Marquetalia has imposed calm in the area roughly the size of Belgium which produces about 40 percent of the country's coca crop.

"The change has been spectacular, the groups have united, the violence has reduced considerably," said Jerson David, the president of a local association of subsistence farmers who work in the coca fields. "Here, people grow coca according to the rules of the Segunda Marquetalia," he added.

Up until 2016, the main body of the FARC dominated the region, but after it agreed to the peace accord, "there was a rush to occupy this space and Narino became a cauldron of violence and competition around drug trafficking," explained Elizabeth Dickinson, an analyst for the International Crisis Group (ICG).

Formed by the chief FARC peace negotiator, Luciano Morin (AKA Ivan Marquez), one of the group's commanders had links with Mexican cartels that provided the cash to recruit fighters from other regions.

"The Segunda Marquetalia, with that influx of money and fighters, swept through Narino with remarkable speed," in the last two years, she said, defeating another FARC dissident faction, the Central General Staff (EMC) last year.

More than 30 massacres have occurred in Narino since 2016 and more than 130 community leaders have been killed. But now, under Segunda Marquetalia, peace has come to the region.

"What interests them is local control to facilitate illegal economic activity. Rather than fighting the army, they want to control the population," said Dickinson.

Mexican Cartel Faction Fight Sees Rising Death Toll. The death toll in factional fighting within the Sinaloa Cartel has risen to 53, with another 51 people missing since clashes began on September 9.

The fighting pits factions led by Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada against "Los Chapitos," a faction controlled by the sons of cartel founder Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. "El Chapo" has been imprisoned in the US for several years, and "El Mayo" has been in US custody since July, when he was kidnapped and delivered to the US by one of "El Chapo's" sons, who also turned himself in.

For the past two weeks, life in the state capital, Culiacan, has been disrupted by shootouts, vehicle blockades, and school and business closings linked to the violence. And brutalized bodies appear on the streets and roadsides.

The Mexican government has deployed hundreds of soldiers and police to the state, and Gov. Ruben Rocha Moya said last Friday at least 40 people had been arrested. (Rocha's role in the imbroglio is mysterious. Zembrada was allegedly kidnapped at Rocha's mansion, where a political rival was also reportedly killed the same day.)