Drug War Chronicle

Timothy Garon, un músico de la región de Seattle, falleció ayer por la noche tras no recibir un trasplante necesario del Centro Médico de la Universidad de Washington en razón de su consumo de marihuana medicinal.

Culiacán en Sinaloa sirve de sede para una de las organizaciones más temidas del narcotráfico mexicano, el Cartel de Sinaloa. Esta semana, también fue sede de una conferencia innovadora sobre alternativas a la lucha contra la droga. Cuando terminó el miércoles por la noche, policías, soldados y narcos hacían de las suyas en las calles culiacanenses, dejando a dos policías y dos narcos muertos y proporcionando intervalos conmovedores a la conferencia.

Esta semana, altos funcionarios estadounidenses se fueron a Latinoamérica en una serie de viajes para hacer presión por la aprobación de la Iniciativa Mérida, el paquete de ayuda antidroga de $1.4 billón a México. Pero, en un foro sobre políticas de drogas en Culiacán, Sinaloa, sólo hubo objeciones al plan, especialmente a su énfasis en emplear a los militares mexicanos en la lucha contra la droga.

New York City decriminalized marijuana possession nearly three decades ago, but cops there still managed to arrest nearly 40,000 people for pot last year and 400,000 in the last decade.

New Haven's former top narc heads to prison, a Louisiana DARE officer goes down, a South Carolina jail guard gets caught shooting cocaine, and an Idaho deputy gets caught ripping off cash and drugs.

High US officials hit the road for Latin America this week in a series of trips to lobby for passage of Plan Mérida, the $1.4 billion anti-drug aid package for Mexico. But at a forum on drug policy in Culiacán, Sinaloa, there was little but objections to the plan, especially its emphasis on using the Mexican military in the drug war.

Culiacán, Sinaloa, is the home of one of Mexico's most feared drug trafficking organizations, the Sinaloa Cartel. This week, it was also home to a groundbreaking conference on alternatives to the drug war. As that conference ended Wednesday evening, cops, soldiers, and narcos went at it on the streets of Culiacán, leaving two cops and two narcos dead, and providing poignant punctuation to the conference.

Susan LeFevre got busted in Michigan at age 19 for small-time heroin sales. She copped a plea in hopes of leniency, but was instead sentenced to at least 10 years in prison. In 1976, she jumped the wall and fled to California, where she has led an exemplary life every since. Now, thanks to an anonymous tip, she has been tracked down and jailed pending extradition to Michigan. Should she now have to serve her time?

Seattle-area musician Timothy Garon passed away late last night after being denied a needed transplant by the University of Washington Medical Center because of his medical marijuana use.

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