Business

Prohibition-caused threats and violence by drug trafficking organizations are preventing some government oil workers from reaching installations in northern Mexico and costing state-owned Petroleos Mexicanos about $350,000 every day in lost production. That amounts to about $10.5 million per month, or about 2.3 percent of Mexico's $450 million per month average in monthly natural gas revenues.

Low attendance and a drop in donations have caused a financial crisis for the northeastern Mexican Diocese of Nuevo Laredo, which is located in an area plagued by drug prohibition violence. Weekly collections are no longer sufficient to pay for basic services, such as water and electricity.

Ford Motor Company is reporting sales of one of its truck models has dropped sharply in Mexico, and they say it's because of drug trafficking organizations.

With killings and disappearances to assert their authority, Mexico's prohibition-created drug trafficking organizations are beginning to interfere with everyday government activities in pockets of the country, keeping workers off their turf and interrupting some of the most basic services. Not only do they maintain checkpoints and kill police or mayors to control territory, they now try to keep everyone from mid-level officials to delivery truck drivers and meter readers out of rural areas they use to transport drugs, stash weapons and kidnap victims, and hide from authorities. In the process, they are blocking deliveries of gasoline, pension checks, farm aid and other services to Mexicans.

Harvard researcher John Halpern has formed a company he hopes will bring to market a drug based on his research into the effects of lysergic acid diethylamide on cluster headaches, a rare but devastating condition that is as bad as it sounds. Halpern, a noted expert in the long-term effects of drug use, said research suggests chemicals present in LSD are an astonishingly effective cure for cluster headaches. Entheogen’s drug does not cause triptastic visions, Halpern said -- it is based on BOL-148, a non-hallucinogenic LSD derivative developed in the 1950s and 60s for research into the effects of LSD on the brain, when such was last in vogue.

As Californians go to the polls Tuesday night, they won't just be deciding the future of marijuana in their state - the vote may also rattle the booming B.C. bud industry. If the law passes, B.C.'s illegal pot industry - which generates between $3 billion and $7 billion a year - could take a big hit, says Darryl Plecas, a criminology professor at B.C.'s University of the Fraser Valley.

Marijuana users can go online and see what kind of bargain they’re getting from their marijuana dealer. The site, which has been online since September, compiles averages of marijuana prices for each state. A representative from the website says that the goal of www.priceofweed.com is simply to give marijuana users tools for assessing prices.

Should people who take legally prescribed painkillers on the job be fired for failing a drug test? What companies consider an effort to maintain a safe work environment is drawing complaints from employees who cite privacy concerns and contend that they should not be fired for taking legal medications, sometimes for injuries sustained on the job.

In the last nine months, Eric Engstrom has been criss-crossing California as president and co-founder of Union Local 13, whose motto, “Don't Leaf Us Out,” describes the efforts to unionize marijuana cultivators, processors and distributors. Unionization of marijuana workers already is under way elsewhere. Members of Teamsters Local 70 in Oakland added nearly 40 new members in September when they organized the nation's first group of unionized marijuana growers — vowing to raise their wages from $18 per hour to $25.75 an hour within 15 months.