Marijuana Boom: The Rise and Fall of Colombia's First Drug Paradise by Lina Britto (2023, University of California Press, 332 pp., $29.95 PB)

The first time I smoked Colombian weed -- somewhere back around 1976 -- I toked up, scarfed down a bunch of Chips Ahoy cookies, and then had to pull over and puke on the side of the road. That stuff was so much stronger than the Mexican brick weed I was used to that it hit me like a trainwreck. Now, thanks to Colombian-born historian Lina Britto, I have a much clearer picture of who was behind that killer weed.

In Marijuana Boom, Britto adds elements of journalism, ethnography, and anthropology to her archival research to produce a rich, finely detailed portrait of northeastern Colombia, particularly the Greater Magdalena and the Guajira Peninsula, a long, skinny, mountainous arm poking out of Colombia into the Caribbean, and long a haven for maritime smuggling.

That is the heartland of the Colombian marijuana boom of the 1970s, but Britto situates the boom within a much larger and more complex context of national political projects to modernize and unify the country -- none of which succeeded in addressing issues of land tenure and social inequality, leading to repeated explosions of political violence and endemic social unrest. She also situates the marijuana boom squarely in the regional tradition of export agriculture booms, first bananas, then divi (a tree from which tannins for turning hides into leather can be extracted), followed by coffee.

And when the coffee boom petered out in the 1960s, all of the elements were in place for the next successful export commodity: marijuana. Marimba, as the locals called it (marijuana smugglers were marimberos), had been used and grown in Colombia for decades, having arrived with sailors making the circuits of the Caribbean. Thus, when American potheads freaked out by Richard Nixon's Operation Intercept shutting down the Mexican border (and access to Mexican weed) in 1969 went in search of alternate supplies and found good weed in northeastern Colombia, the social infrastructure was there to make marijuana the next export boom.

Sea-borne smugglers who had sharpened their skills on untaxed contraband coffee knew the routes, indigenous people of the Guajira and paisa emigrants from the Andean interior were ready to go to work growing the crops, and wealthy landowners, some politicians, and the politically connected were ready to invest the capital to reap the profits of prohibition. And an army of transporters, guides, middlemen, lawyers and bankers were there to help, too. Britto estimates that the business employed 150,000 people at its peak.

At its peak in the mid-1970s, the marijuana boom also had social legitimacy (and was a means of social mobility). The stuff had been made illegal in 1947, but being involved in the industry was still seen as being legitimate work -- not something criminal. While some marimberos got rich, many in the industry got merely the wages of agricultural workers, and in this sense, the marijuana boom merely replicated the social structures that had emerged in earlier agricultural booms.

Britto's analysis spans many levels -- from the granular detail of family vendettas in Barranquilla to the regional and national political projects and conflicts that shaped the nature of the boom to the international diplomatic level, where the desires of the United States loomed particularly large, and to the level of US domestic drug politics in the Jimmy Carter era. It was pressure from the US that led in 1978 to the Colombian government's first serious -- and ultimately successful -- effort to suppress the trade. Under sustained pressure from Colombian authorities aided by American dollars and expertise, within a couple of years the boom had gone bust.

And it largely vanished from the national imagination as Colombia was soon engulfed in the next drug boom, one that continues to this day: cocaine. But like the banana and coffee booms that created the infrastructure for the marijuana boom, the marijuana boom laid the groundwork for the much more violent and deadly cocaine trade.

Britto deserves kudos as well for her chapter on vallenato, the accordion-based cumbia offshoot that was the music of the marimberos. Rising stars in the pot trade cemented their social standing among their peers and society at large by sponsoring vallenato musicians and employing them to entertain at their parrandas, parties designed to show-off their wealth and generosity. The Colombia state has tried to recuperate and clean up vallenato as an important part of the country's musical patrimony, but it remains the music of the marimberos.

Marijuana Boom is a detailed, richly researched work that tells the story of a mostly forgotten era, but a boom whose suppression became the model for US and Colombian drug policy ever since.

That Minnesota marijuana legalization bill keeps rolling toward final passage, Colombia's president suspends a ceasefire with a rightist drug trafficking group, and more.

Marijuana Policy

Minnesota Marijuana Legalization Bill Advances Again, with Big Amendment. The House Commerce Finance and Policy Committee has approved the marijuana legalization bill, House File100, but only after members accepted an amendment that overhauls various aspects of the bill—mainly at the request of marijuana industry players. The industry is operating under a law enacted last years that allows low-THC edibles, and the amendment eliminates some of regulations in the current bill that don’t make sense in the low-dose hemp market. The Senate adopted a similar amendment last week, but there are differences that will have to be resolved in conference committee. For instance, the House bill now has a lower personal possession limit than the Senate bill and is more expansive when it comes to who qualifies as a social equity license applicant.

Opiates and Opioids

DEA Reports Widespread Threat of Fentanyl Mixed with Xylazine. The DEA is "warning the American public of a sharp increase in the trafficking of fentanyl mixed with xylazine. Xylazine, also known as "Tranq," is a powerful sedative that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved for veterinary use. "Xylazine is making the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced, fentanyl, even deadlier," said Administrator Milgram. "DEA has seized xylazine and fentanyl mixtures in 48 of 50 States. The DEA Laboratory System is reporting that in 2022 approximately 23% of fentanyl powder and 7% of fentanyl pills seized by the DEA contained xylazine." Xylazine and fentanyl drug mixtures place users at a higher risk of suffering a fatal drug poisoning. Because xylazine is not an opioid, naloxone (Narcan) does not reverse its effects. Still, experts always recommend administering naloxone if someone might be suffering a drug poisoning. People who inject drug mixtures containing xylazine also can develop severe wounds, including necrosis—the rotting of human tissue—that may lead to amputation"

.[Editor's Note: This sounds like a good argument for a "safe drug supply," or a "legal and regulated supply of drugs with mind/body altering properties, as the Canadian Association of People Who Use Drugs put it in their "Safe Supply: Concept Document."]

International

Taliban Announces Ban on Marijuana Cultivation. Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada announced on Sunday issued an official order prohibition marijuana cultivation across the country. According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Afghanistan is the world's second largest cannabis producer, after Morocco. The ban includes non-psychoactive hemp. "Cultivation in the whole country is completely banned and if anyone grows them, the plantation will be destroyed. The courts have also been ordered to punish the violators as per Sharia laws,"the statement reads.

Colombia President Suspends Ceasefire with Gulf Clan. President Gustavo Petro on Sunday suspended a ceasefire with the Gulf Clan, the country's biggest drug trafficking organization, after accusing it of attacking civilians. "I ordered the security forces to resume all military operations against the Gulf Clan,"he said on Twitter. "I will not allow them to keep sowing distress and terror in the communities,"Petro added. At the end of last year, Petro had declared a bilateral ceasefire with several armed drug trafficking groups, including the Gulf Clan, as well as the National Liberation Army (ELN) and FARC dissidents. It was the first step in Petro's "total peace" plan to end decades of violence through negotiation with the criminal groups. The Gulf Clan consist of former rightist paramilitaries and is estimated to control between 30 percent and 60 percent of the drugs exported from the country.

Peru Clash with Shining Path Remnants in Coca Valley Leaves Six Dead. Five Shining Path members and one army soldier were killed in a clash between the remnants of the 1980s leftist Shining Path insurgency and a military patrol in a coca-growing valley in the VRAE (Valleys of the Apurimac and Ene Rivers). The army patrol was looking for Victor Quispe Palomino, alias Comrade Jose. They didn't find him. Since the Shining Path was defeated militarily in the early 1990s, remnants of the group have remained in coca-growing areas in the VRAE where they are allied to cocaine trafficking groups. 

Four federal legislators file a bill to strengthen the drug war in the Caribbean, a Hawaii bill to ease the way toward the therapeutic use of psilocybin and MDMA passes the Senate, and more.

Marijuana Policy

Minnesota Marijuana Legalization Bill Wins More Committee Votes. The effort to legalize marijuana continued to bear fruit this week, with the House version of the bill, House File 100 being approved Monday by the House Human Services Policy Committee and the companion Senate bill being approved that sa me day by the Senate Transportation Committee. The actions mark the eighth approval by a House committee and the sixth by a Senate committee. With majorities in the House and Senate, as well as control of the governorship, the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party is confident the bill will become law this year. It looks like there are only four committee votes to go before the bill heads for floor votes in the two chambers.

Opiates and Opioids

Idaho Bill Would Lower Heroin Penalties, Create Mandatory Minimums for Dealing Fentanyl. A bill before the legislature, House Bill 67, would raise quantity thresholds and reduce sentences for heroin dealing while creating a mandatory minimum sentence for fentanyl dealing. The amount of heroin required for a trafficking charge would jump from two grams to seven in the bottom tier and from 10 to 14 grams in the middle tier. Sentences for the top tier of heroin trafficking offenses would drop from 15 years to 10 and sentences for the middle tier would drop from 10 years to five. The bill would also make possession of more than seven grams of fentanyl a felony chargeable as "trafficking." Those caught with more than seven grams would face a three-year mandatory minimum, while those caught with more than 14 grams would face a five-year mandatory minimum, and those caught with more than 28 grams would face a 10-year mandatory minimum. The Idaho Chiefs of Police, Idaho Sheriffs Association and the Idaho Prosecuting Attorneys Association are all in favor of House Bill 67.

Psychedelics

Hawaii Psilocybin and MDMA Research Bill Wins Committee Vote. The Senate Health and Human Services Committee has approved Senate Bill 1531, which is aimed at promoting research into the therapeutic uses of MDMA, psilocybin, and other alternative mental health treatments. The bill would create a Beneficial Treatments Advisory Council that would review the scientific literature on using such substances for mental health treatment as well as exploring state and federal regulations on them. The council would be required to develop a "long-term strategic plan to ensure the availability of therapeutic psilocybin, psilocybin-based products, and [MDMA] that are safe, accessible, and affordable for adults twenty—one years of age or older." A companion bill in the House has yet to move.

Drug Policy

Old School Prohibitionist Bill to Fight Caribbean Drug Trafficking Filed in Congress. On Monday, three Republicans and one Democrat, Sens. Rick Scott (R-FL) and Alex Padilla (D-CA) and Reps. Jenniffer González-Colon (R-PR) and Stacey Plaskett (R-VI) introduced the Caribbean Border Counternarcotics Strategy Act , which aims "to stop the illegal trafficking of deadly drugs in the Caribbean, specifically between Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands and Florida." The bill would "ensure the Federal government has a strategy in place to prevent the flow of illicit drugs through the Caribbean region and into the United States by codifying in statute the requirement for ONDCP to issue a Caribbean Border Counternarcotics Strategy—just as Congress has codified the requirement for the Southwest Border and the Northern Border Counternarcotics Strategies." It would also clarify that US territories are included in the definition of "state" and "United States." 

International

Colombian Government in Peace Talks with Leftist Rebels Who Demand "Alternative Drug Policies." The government of President Gustavo Petro and the country's largest remaining rebel group met in Mexico City to restart peace talks aimed at resolving a conflict dating back to the 1960s. The communist-inspired National Liberation Army (ELN) is calling for a "temporary, nationwide cease-fire" and that any agreement should include "an alternative anti-drug policy that is no longer based on repression and war." The ELN has a presence in some 200 Colombian township, mostly in areas of widespread coca cultivation and cocaine production. Like the larger FARC, which signed a peace agreement with the state in 2016, the ELN is involved in the drug trade and has replaced the FARC in many areas. But even though it is involved in the drug traffic, the ELN is adamant that it should not be treated like a drug trafficking organization but as a political force. This is the second round of talks since Petro took office last year. The first round did not achieve much. 

Delaware bills to legalize marijuana are moving, a North Carolina medical marijuana bill is filed, and more.

Marijuana Policy

Delaware Marijuana Legalization Bill Wins Committee Vote. The House Health and Human Development Committee on Wednesday approved House Bill 1, which would legalize marijuana. The vote comes just one day after another committee approved House Bill 2, which would set up a system of taxed and regulated marijuana commerce. Rep. Ed Osienski (D), sponsor of the bills, said he expected House floor votes in March.

DC Council Files Bill to Allow Legal Marijuana Sales. Despite an ongoing congressional ban blocking the District of Columbia from allowing legal marijuana sales, DC Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) and six other council members have introduced a revised bill, Bill 25-0052,  to create a regulated legal marijuana commerce market. DC voters legalized marijuana in 2014, but the congressional rider in place since then has thwarted efforts to allow legal sales. The bill would allow people 21 and over to possess up to an ounce of weed and grow up to six plants, three of which could be mature. It also creates a regulatory agency, which would approve licenses for cultivators, manufacturers, microbusinesses, retailers, and testing facilities, and sets a tax rate of up to 13 percent (6 percent for medical marijuana).

Medical Marijuana

North Carolina GOP Senators File Medical Marijuana Bill. On the first day bills could be filed in the new General Assembly session, Senators Michael Lee (R-New Hanover) and Bill Rabon (R-Brunswick) filed Senate Bill 3, which would legalize medical marijuana in the state. Known as the North Carolina Compassionate Care Act, the bill allows the use of medical marijuana for a specified list of debilitating conditions, including cancer, epilepsy, Crohn’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The pair filed a similar bill last year that passed the Senate but never got any traction in the House.

Drug Policy

Massachusetts Drug Decriminalization Bill Filed. Rep. Samantha Montaño (D) has filed HD 2741, which would eliminate a section of state stature that prescribes criminal penalties for drug possession. Instead of fines or jail, people caught with drugs would be required to participate in "a needs screening to identify health and other service needs, including but not limited to services that may address any substance use disorder and mental health conditions, lack of employment, housing, or food, and any need for civil legal services." Anyone who provided proof they had completed a screening within 45 days would see their citations dismissed.

New York Drug Decriminalization Bill Filed. Sen. Gustavo Rivera (D) has filed a bill, Senate Bill 2340, that would eliminate criminal and civil penalties for drug possession while also creating a task force that’d be responsible for studying and making recommendations about additional reforms. Under the bill, people caught with drugs could either pay a $50 fine or take part in a "needs screening to identify health and other service needs, including but not limited to services that may address any problematic substance use and mental health conditions, lack of employment, housing, or food, and any need for civil legal services." The bill also calls for a drug decriminalization task force that would be charged with making "recommendations for reforming state laws, regulations and practices so that they align with the stated goal of treating substance use disorder as a disease, rather than a criminal behavior."

International

Colombia Will Reduce Forced Coca Eradication Efforts. The government of President Gustavo Petro announced Tuesday that it will be reducing coca eradication efforts in what would be a major shift of policy for Colombia. A new National Policy will reduce forced eradication efforts by 60 percent as the government experiments with alternative approaches to the coca cultivation problem. The Petro government is considering implementing a program agreed to a part of the 2016 peace deal with the FARC that provides subsidies to coca farmers in exchange for voluntary eradication. Although that agreement was part of the deal, it was never implemented by former President Duque, who opposed the overall treaty.