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Drug War Chronicle, Issue #1087 -- 1/13/20
Phillip S. Smith, Editor, psmith@drcnet.org https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/1087

A Publication of StoptheDrugWar.org
David Borden, Executive Director, borden@drcnet.org
"Raising Awareness of the Consequences of Drug Prohibition"

Table of Contents:

1. THE TOP TEN INTERNATIONAL DRUG POLICY STORIES OF 2019 [FEATURE]
We're looking at 2019 through the rearview mirror now, but before we
turn our sights to 2020, it's worth taking a few moments to look back at
the last year in international drug policy. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2020/jan/09/top_ten_international_drug

2. BAD PRECEDENT: WHEN THE FOURTH AMENDMENT DOESN'T APPLY [FEATURE]
The 7th Circuit rules that drugs recovered during an illegal raid are
still admissable as evidence under a little known legal doctrine
elaborated by Antonin Scalia. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2019/dec/23/bad_precedent_when_fourth

3. THIS WEEK'S CORRUPT COPS STORIES
A pervy Florida cops heads to prison, a New Mexico narc is in trouble
for sampling forbidden substances, a Virginia narc pays for outing
snitches to drug traffickers, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2020/jan/08/weeks_corrupt_cops_stories

4. CHRONICLE AM: SAFE BANKING ACT CHALLENGE IN SENATE, FL MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION BILL COMING, MORE... (12/19/19)
A bipartisan pair of senators file a pair of marijuana bills, a key
Senate Republican is demanding changes in the House-passed SAFE Banking
Act, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2019/dec/19/chronicle_am_safe_banking_act

5. CHRONICLE AM: SD MMJ INITIATIVE QUALIFIES FOR BALLOT, NEW ZEALAND
PILL TESTING STUDY, MORE... (12/20/19)
South Dakota voters will get to decide on okaying medical marijuana next
year, Chicago legal sales are set to begin January 1, New Zealand's
government pays for a pill-testing study, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2019/dec/20/chronicle_am_sd_mmj_initiative

6. CHRONICLE AM: TRINIDAD & TOBAGO LEGALIZES, TRUMP SAYS HE CAN IGNORE CONGRESS'S MEDICAL MARIJUANA PROTECTIONS, MORE... (12/23/19)
No marijuana brews for Oregonians, Trinidad & Tobago legalizes
possession and cultivation, Trump asserts the power to enforce federal
drug laws in medical marijuana states, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2019/dec/23/chronicle_am_trinidad_tobago

7. CHRONICLE AM: PORTLAND DECRIMINALIZE NATURE SIGNATURE GATHERING GETS UNDERWAY, MORE... (12/24/19)
Portland, Oregon, sees a psychedelic decriminalization initiative begin signature gathering, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2019/dec/24/chronicle_am_portland

8. CHRONICLE AM: IL LEGAL MARIJUANA SALES BEGIN, FDA BANS FLAVORED VAPE CARTRIDGES, MORE... (1/2/20)
Legal marijuana sales get underway in Illinois, the Italian Supreme
Court gives the okay to personal marijuana cultivation, Colombia wants
to resume aerial spraying of coca crops with herbicides, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2020/jan/02/chronicle_am_il_legal_marijuana

9. CHRONICLE AM: TX MJ PROSECUTIONS HALVED, RANDOM DRUG TESTS FOR TRUCK
DRIVERS TO DOUBLE, MORE... (1/3/20)
New York's governor vetoes a bill easing access to medication-assisted treatment for opioid addiction for Medicaid patients, but not for
patients with private insurance; Illinois sold $3.2 million worth of
weed on day one of legalization, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2020/jan/03/chronicle_am_tx_mj_prosecutions

10. CHRONICLE AM: CA RACIAL PROFILING STUDY, VA GOVERNOR PUSHES FOR
MARIJUANA DECRIM, MORE... (1/6/20)
Virginia's Democratic governor is ready to push for pot
decriminalization as part of a broader criminal justice reform package,
federal opioid funds will soon be available to address meth and cocaine
as well, the Philippines' vice-president rips Duterte's bloody drug war,
and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2020/jan/06/chronicle_am_ca_racial_profiling

11. CHRONICLE AM: SOUTH DAKOTA MJ LEGALIZATION VOTE, MEXICO'S TOLL OF DISAPPEARED, MORE... (1/7/20)
The MORE Act gets another push, there will be no decriminalization of
marijuana in New Jersey during the lame duck session, a South Dakota
marijuana legalization initiative qualifies for the ballot, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2020/jan/07/chronicle_am_south_dakota_mj

12. CHRONICLE AM: MD MARIJUANA POLL, USAID BOLIVIA MISSION, ATLANTA PD
DISBANDS DOPE SQUAD, MORE... (1/8/20)
The Atlanta Police are shutting down their dope squad to concentrate on
violent crime, the Florida legislature and state attorney general try to
block a marijuana legalization initiative, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2020/jan/08/chronicle_am_md_marijuana_poll

13. CHRONICLE AM: MS MEDMJ INITIATIVE QUALIFIES FOR BALLOT, DPA
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR TO STEP DOWN, MORE... (1/9/20)
A search for a permanent new executive director is underway at the Drug
Policy Alliance, Mississippians will vote on a medical marijuana
initiative this year, New York's governor vows to legalize marijuana
this year (again), and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2020/jan/09/chronicle_am_ms_medmj_initiative

14. CHRONICLE AM: DECRIMINALIZE NATURE HITS DC, COLOMBIA COCA
ERADICATION FIGHT, MORE... (1/10/20)
Vermont lawmakers begin a push to tax and regulate marijuana sales, the Decriminalize Nature movement arrives in the nation's capital,
Colombia's president and governors disagree about aerial eradication of
coca crops, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2020/jan/10/chronicle_am_decriminalize

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================

1. THE TOP TEN INTERNATIONAL DRUG POLICY STORIES OF 2019 [FEATURE] https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2020/jan/09/top_ten_international_drug

(See our Top Ten Domestic Drug Policy Stories of 2019 feature here (https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2019/dec/18/top_ten_domestic_drug_policy).)

We're looking at 2019 through the rearview mirror now, but before we
turn our sights to 2020, it's worth taking a few moments to look back at
the last year in international drug policy. From marijuana law reform to
the push for drug decriminalization, from the coca fields of Colombia to
the poppy fields of Afghanistan, and from the killing fields of Mexico
and the Philippines, there was a lot going on. Here are ten of the
biggest international drug policy stories of 2019, in no particular order.

1. Marijuana Legalization and Decriminalization Advances

The wall of marijuana prohibition continued to crumble in 2019, albeit
at an achingly slow pace.

A lot of the activity was in Europe. In March, Switzerland (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-swiss-marijuana/swiss-may-let-5000-people-use-marijuana-legally-for-studies-idUSKCN1QH17A)
announced plans to let up to 5,000 people legally smoke marijuana in
pilot studies aimed at shaping rules for recreational use of the drug.

In the Netherlands (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-49508526), the government finally moved in August to address the longstanding "backdoor problem," where marijuana is allowed to be sold but there is no legal
source of supply. It announced a pilot program to begin in 2021 in which cannabis cafes in ten Dutch cities will be supplied with legally grown marijuana. The big cities of Amsterdam and Rotterdam opted out because
of worries that problems could arise if they all abandoned their illicit suppliers simultaneously.

In Denmark
(https://grizzle.com/copenhagen-legalize-recreational-cannabis/), the
city council in Copenhagen, the country's capital and largest city,
voted overwhelmingly in August to support a pilot program that would see marijuana sold legally across the city. The council has long pushed for
this, but now there is a new left-wing government, so perhaps it will be allowed to happen.

Also in August, Luxembourg (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/07/luxembourg-to-be-first-european-country-to-legalise-cannabis)
looked set to become the first European country to free the weed, as the government confirmed plans to legalize it, saying that residents 18 and
over should be able to use and purchase it within two years. In
December, though, the government said it will still be at least two
years, citing (https://today.rtl.lu/news/luxembourg/a/1446123.html)
"delays in working on policy related to the legislation."

And just at year's end, in Italy (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-italy-cannabis-ruling/italy-court-rules-home-growing-cannabis-is-legal-reigniting-dispute-idUSKBN1YV14H),
the Supreme Court ruled that the small-scale personal cultivation of
marijuana is legal, triggering calls for further legalization. The court declared that laws against growing drug crops should not apply to "small amounts grown domestically for the exclusive use of the grower."

And Israel (https://www.timesofisrael.com/partial-decriminalization-of-public-cannabis-use-to-come-into-effect/)
decriminalized marijuana possession as of April 1. Possession of small
amounts of marijuana in private homes is no longer to be treated as an
offense, criminal or otherwise, while public possession will generate a
fine of around $275, with that fine doubling for a second offense within
five years. Only people who commit a third public possession offense
within seven years will face the possibility of criminal prosecution.

In Australia (https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/25/asia/australia-cannabis-legal-intl-scli-hnk/), Canberra, the national capital, became the first city in the country to legalize marijuana personal use and cultivation. The law legalizes up to
50 grams and two plants per person, but not sales. It is set to go into
effect on January 31, 2020, but conflicts with national marijuana
prohibition, so stay tuned. And in nearby New Zealand (https://www.marijuanamoment.net/new-zealand-government-releases-details-of-marijuana-legalization-referendum/),
the governing coalition announced in May it would hold a binding
referendum on marijuana legalization during the 2020 elections. In
December, it unveiled a government web site
(http://www.referendum.govt.nz) with information on the proposed
legalization bill that will be put before the voters.

In the Western hemisphere, Uruguay and Canada have led the way on
marijuana legalization, but Mexico (https://mjbizdaily.com/supreme-court-gives-mexican-congress-until-april-30-to-legalize-cannabis/)
looks set to be the next over the line. After legislators there failed
to pass legalization by a Supreme Court-imposed deadline at the end of
October, the court gave them an extension until June 1 to get it done. Lawmakers got very close late in 2019 but were unable to close the deal
because of disputes among competing business interests. There was action
in Colombia (https://colombiareports.com/colombias-ruling-party-cornered-after-santos-alleged-to-support-bill-to-regulate-marijuana/),
too, where an opposition senator filed a legalization bill in August.
That bill is reportedly backed by former President Juan Manuel Santos,
but it is the votes of the Liberal Party that will determine whether it advances.

There was progress in the Caribbean, too. In Trinidad & Tobago (https://newsday.co.tt/2019/12/21/president-declares-ganja-bill-law-takes-effect-monday/),
non-commercial marijuana legalization went into effect in December,
allowing people to possess up to 30 grams and grow four plants. A
regulated marijuana marketplace is likely coming in 2020. In St. Kitts
and Nevis (https://timesofcbd.com/island-nation-st-kitts-and-nevis-to-introduce-new-cannabis-legalization-bill/),the
government in midsummer filed a bill to legalize marijuana for
"medicinal and scientific, religious, and recreational purposes." It
remains pending at year's end. A similar effort is underway in the
British Virgin Islands (https://bvinews.com/draft-bill-on-legalising-marijuana-in-bvi-being-reviewed-wheatley/),
where a draft bill to legalize marijuana is being reviewed by government officials.

2. Medical Marijuana on the Move

Acceptance of medical marijuana on the global stage continued to
increase in 2019, and the year got off to a good start in January when
the Israeli Cabinet gave final approval to exports (https://www.herald-dispatch.com/news/house-judiciary-panel-takes-up-bill-to-create-family-drug/article_bfccc9ef-432d-5265-99f3-d78e3658d729.html),
making it the third country, after Canada and the Netherlands, to do so.
The following month, the European Parliament approved a resolution to
advance medical marijuana (https://www.forbes.com/sites/javierhasse/2019/02/13/european-parliament-passes-cannabis-resolution-joins-who-in-supporting-medical-marijuana/#47465cdffd5b)
in countries that form the European Union.

Meanwhile, Thailand (https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/feb/20/maha-vajiralongkor-thailand-king-legalizes-marijua/)
formally embraced medical marijuana when King Maha Vajirlongkorn signed
a decree legalizing it and kratom; and later in the year, a member of
the country's ruling coalition government filed a bill that would allow
people to grow up to six plants for personal medicinal use. (https://www.physiciansweekly.com/thais-allowed-six-cannabis/)And in the Philippines (https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/699446/medical-marijuana-bill-refiled-at-house/story/),
a bill to legalize medical marijuana was reintroduced in 2019. Similar
bills have been filed each year since 2014. Last year, the bill passed
the lower house but failed to get out of the Senate.

In Latin America, Peru (https://www.peruviantimes.com/23/peru-approves-regulations-for-medicinal-marijuana/31095/)
joined the ranks of medical marijuana countries more than a year after
it became law when the government finally approved regulations to cover
its production and use. In Mexico (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mexico-drugs/mexicos-top-court-demands-regulation-on-medical-marijuana-after-long-delays-idUSKCN1V508B),
the Supreme Court in August gave the federal health ministry until
January to issue regulations on medical marijuana.

In the Caribbean, in August, Barbados (http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/2019-was-a-mixed-year-for-the-caribbean_183170)
introduced legislation to establish the legal foundation for a local
medical marijuana industry, joining Jamaica, St. Vincent and the
Grenadines as well as Antigua and Barbuda in approving marijuana
cultivation.

Medical marijuana was sort of on the move at the United Nations too. In
late January, the World Health Organization recommended the removal of marijuana from Schedule IV of the global drug treaties (https://faaat.net/blog/ecdd41-outcome/), the most restrictive category,
along with other related reclassifications of substances involving
marijuana's components or synthetic substitutes for them. This would
stop short of the kind of full stamp of approval WHO gives to many drugs
-- marijuana would not become an "essential medicine" -- but it would
eliminate a designation that some governments might find constraining in
terms of allowing medical use in their own countries. Most importantly,
it would be widely seen as recognition by the UN of marijuana as a
medicine (though international law does not ban medical use of marijuana
now).

The Commission on Narcotic Drugs -- the subset of UN member states that
sets drug policy for the UN -- was supposed to vote on the WHO
recommendations during its March meeting, but that didn't happen (https://mjbizdaily.com/un-commission-on-narcotic-drugs-delays-vote-who-cannabis-recommendations/)
because the recommendations were delayed at the end of 2018, leaving
several countries to complain that they needed more time to study them.

3. Drug Decriminalization on the Move

Beyond marijuana legalization, the decriminalization of drug use and
possession is probably the most significant means within current
political striking range for reducing the criminal justice harms of drug prohibition. Portugal, which decriminalized in 2001, remains a shining
example to emulate.

In Canada (https://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/canada-news-pmn/commons-committee-urges-feds-to-consider-decriminalizing-simple-drug-possession-2),
in May, the House of Commons Health Committee called on the federal
government to study Portugal's drug decriminalization and see how the
model could be "positively applied in Canada." The following month,
British Columbia nurses called urgently for decriminalization (https://www.straight.com/news/1282826/thousands-bc-nurses-call-province-save-lives-decriminalizing-drugs),
but in September, as he campaigned for reelection, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said decriminalization was not on the agenda (https://globalnews.ca/news/5946329/trudeau-liberals-decriminalize-drugs/), even though the national Liberal Party caucus in 2018 passed a
resolution calling to "reclassify low-level drug possession and
consumption as administrative violations" rather than criminal ones. The conversation is advancing north of the border.

The conversation is also advancing in the United Kingdom, where the
Scottish National Party formally endorsed drug decriminalization (https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-50036173), as
did the British Parliament's Health and Social Care Committee (https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-50147580) and Parliament's Scottish Affairs Committee (https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-50262647). Britain's
leading medical journal, The Lancet, came out hard for decriminalization
in a special drugs issue (https://www.thelancet.com/series/drug-use)
released in October. The following month, Britain's largest drug
treatment providers called for radical drug policy reforms, including
decrim. (https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/drug-policy-deaths-decriminalisation-addiction-treatment-heroin-a9215191.html)
But the ruling Conservative Party with Boris Johnson freshly installed
as prime minister, remains opposed -- for now.

It's not just Canada and Great Britain, either. In Mexico (https://www.marijuanamoment.net/mexicos-president-proposes-drug-decriminalization-with-legal-supply-via-prescription/),
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in May submitted a
decriminalization plan to Congress, while in Malaysia (https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2019-06-28/malaysia-plans-to-decriminalize-drug-use-to-battle-addiction),
the government announced in June that it planned to drop criminal
penalties for drug use and possession. The following month, in Colombia (https://www.marijuanamoment.net/new-york-city-council-passes-two-marijuana-reform-resolutions/),
the legislative opposition and the center-right block filed a bill to decriminalize there.

In Australia (https://www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/professional/decriminalisation-of-personal-drug-use-to-be-recom),
the New South Wales Special Commission of Inquiry into Ice
(methamphetamine) released recommendations in October calling for harm reduction approaches and decriminalization. In the United States (https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2019/sep/30/will_oregon_be_first_state), an effort to put a decrim initiative on the 2020 Oregon ballot got
underway in the fall, and a national movement (https://www.facebook.com/decriminalizenature/) to decriminalize
psychedelics got underway.

The push to decriminalize is also working its way through the global
drug control bureaucracy, as was evident in March when a key UN
organization called for global drug decriminalization (https://www.marijuanamoment.net/un-organizations-unite-in-call-for-international-drug-decriminalization/).
The UN Chief Executives Board (CEB), representing 31 UN agencies
including the Office on Drugs and Crime, adopted a position calling on
member states to adopt science-based, health-oriented approaches to drug
policy -- namely decriminalization. The policy shift -- or rather,
recognition of what the policies of UN agencies on this already were --
came in January but was not publicly announced.

4. Harm Reduction and Human Rights

Along with decriminalization, harm reduction and concern about human
rights gained momentum in 2019.

In March, a coalition of UN Member States, UN entities and leading human
rights experts meeting at the Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna
launched a landmark set of international legal standards around drug
policy (https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2019/mar/19/transforming_global_drug_policy):
the International Guidelines on Human Rights and Drug Policy (https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/librarypage/hiv-aids/international-guidelines-on-human-rights-and-drug-policy.html).
The following month, more than 300 NGOs called for harm reduction and
drug decriminalization (https://idpc.net/alerts/2019/04/ngos-call-on-world-leaders-to-address-global-health-and-human-rights-crisis)
at the 26th International Harm Reduction Conference in Lisbon.

In the United Kingdom, both the British Labour Party (https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/mar/04/labour-supports-trials-of-consumption-rooms-to-cut-drug-deaths)
and Parliament's Scottish Affairs Committee (https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-50262647) called for safe
injection sites, while in Ireland (https://www.98fm.com/news/bord-pleanala-overrules-city-planners-approve-injection-centre-dublin-8-942516),
a Dublin safe injection site was moving closer to reality at year's end.

In Australia (https://www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/professional/decriminalisation-of-personal-drug-use-to-be-recom),
the New South Wales Special Commission of Inquiry into Ice
(methamphetamine) recommended harm reduction approaches in October, and
the New Zealand (https://themusicnetwork.com/new-zealand-pill-testing/) government in December announced a pilot program to examine pill-testing
at festivals, marking the first time such a study will have been done in
the country.

5. Mexico Ravaged by Prohibition-Related Violence for Another Year

In January, Mexican authorities reported that the number of murders in
2018 hit an all-time high (https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/22/americas/mexico-murder-rate-2018/index.html) with more than 33,000, many of them directly linked to violence among
competing drug cartels and between cartels and the state. A lot happened between then and now, but at the end of 2019, this year's death toll was
at just under 32,000 (http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/world/nearly-32-000-homicide-victims-recorded-in-mexico-in-2019/article/564122).
At least it didn't get worse, but those numbers are still horrifying,
and the year-old administration of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador
hasn't been able to turn the corner yet. It's not for lack of trying or willingness to embrace new ideas.

In February, the Mexican Senate approved a plan for a new National Guard
to fight crime and drug trafficking (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mexico-politics-military/mexicos-national-guard-wont-be-military-led-in-government-step-down-idUSKCN1QA31C),
but only after amending it to ensure that the new security force is
headed by civilians, not the military, which has been linked to numerous
human rights violations.

In May, Lopez Obrador called for an end to Plan Merida (https://news.yahoo.com/mexico-president-says-no-us-security-plan-202731275.html),
under which the US provided security assistance to fight the drug war,
with the president saying he wants the US to end the anti-drug Merida Initiative and instead invest in economic development in southern Mexico
and Central America. Saying the plan "hasn't worked," Lopez Obrador
added that, "We don't want cooperation on the use of force, we want
cooperation on economic development. We don't want the so-called Merida Initiative."

In June, the murder rate topped 2,000 a month for this first time (https://worldview.stratfor.com/article/murder-mexico-drug-cartel-violence-midyear-2019),
a toll linked to the rise of the Jalisco New Generation cartel, which is seeking to supplant the Sinaloa cartel formerly headed by Joaquin "El
Chapo" Guzman, who is now serving a sentence in the US. In north-central Guanajuato (http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/world/nearly-32-000-homicide-victims-recorded-in-mexico-in-2019/article/564122)
state, the JNGC has been duking it out with yet another faction, the
Santa Rose de Lima cartel, leaving more than 3,200 dead in that state
alone by year's end.

By August, a Catholic bishop issued a call for dialogue between the
government and armed groups, including drug cartels (http://catholicphilly.com/2019/08/news/world-news/mexican-bishop-says-criminal-groups-seeking-an-exit-urges-dialogue/).
That was Bishop Salvador Rangel Mendoza of Chilpancingo-Chilapa
(Guerrero state), a key opium-growing region. Responding to the
government's announcement that it was in talks with so-called community
police groups and self-defense militias, but not the cartels, the bishop
chided the government, saying, "To get peace you have to dialogue, even
with Satan, with whomever it might be to get peace."

As cartel clashes raged through the summer and fall, the government
tentatively explored alternatives to continuing drug war. In September,
Lopez Obrador said he was considering a referendum on drug legalization (http://www.china.org.cn/world/Off_the_Wire/2019-09/21/content_75230056.htm), and in October, the ruling MORENA Party's leader in the Chamber of
Deputies, Mario Delgado Carrillo, proposed legalizing all drugs to
combat cartel violence. (https://www.marijuanamoment.net/key-mexican-lawmaker-proposes-legalizing-all-drugs-to-combat-cartel-violence/)
His comments were in response to one of the more brazen cartel actions
in 2019, when Sinaloa Cartel gunmen forced the release of El Chapo's son (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mexico-violence-sinaloa/cartel-gunmen-terrorize-mexican-city-free-el-chapos-son-idUSKBN1WW34M)
after he was captured by security forces in the cartel heartland city of Culiacan and they turned the city into a war zone until Ovidio Guzman
was freed, greatly embarrassing the government.

That same month, in another brazen attack, gun men from the JNGC
ambushed police in Michoacan, killing more than a dozen (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mexico-violence/more-than-a-dozen-police-killed-in-ambush-in-violent-mexican-state-idUSKBN1WT23A)
and leaving signed placards on their bodies warning police not to
support rival crime groups, such as Los Viagras.

In yet another act of gruesome violence -- and one that caught the
attention of Americans long bored with the violence south of the border
-- in November, cartel gun men killed nine women and children with dual US-Mexico citizenship (https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-mexico-war-us-army-troops-drug-cartels-twitter-a9185881.html),
prompting President Trump to suggest he could use the US military to
"wage war" against the cartels. Lopez Obrador declined that offer [Ed:
wisely, for them and for us].

6. Coca, Cocaine and Chaos in Colombia

According to both the UN (https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2019/06/27/cocaine-production-hit-record-levels-in-2017-infographic/)
and the US (https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/ondcp-reports-cocaine-production-colombia-leveling-off/),
Colombia accounted for around 70% of global cocaine production in 2017,
when the country produced 1,275 tons of cocaine, the most ever. In 2018, production declined by a tiny percentage, but remained near record high
levels. There are no figures available yet for 2019, but there is no
reason to suspect much has changed.

The high levels of coca cultivation and cocaine production have made a
return to aerial spraying of coca crops a key goal of the rightist
government of President Ivan Duque, who in March asked the
Constitutional Court to ease restrictions on spraying (https://www.wral.com/colombia-leader-asks-for-renewed-herbicide-use-to-fight-coca/18241829/),
which President Juan Manuel Santos banned after the World Health
Organization classified glyphosate as a likely carcinogen. That position
won the support of US Secretary of State Pompeo (https://colombiareports.com/us-secretary-of-state-doubles-down-on-backing-aerial-spraying-of-coca-fields)
in June, when, ignoring the global criticism of glyphosate and any other strategies for reducing cultivation, he called spraying "an important
tool they need" to reduce coca production.

But in July, the Constitutional Court upheld the ban (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-colombia-politics/colombia-court-upholds-conditions-for-restarting-aerial-coca-fumigation-idUSKCN1UE01Q),
although it also said spraying could resume if the government met
certain conditions. At the end of December, the government announced
plans to resume spraying (https://www.kxly.com/i/colombia-proposes-to-resume-aerial-spraying-of-coca-fields/),
publishing a draft law that would allow fumigation flights under
supervision of the national police. The proposal also calls for the
creation of an independent agency that would oversee complaints related
to aerial spraying including any potential impacts on rural communities.

Meanwhile three years after a peace deal between former President Santos
and the leftist guerrillas of the FARC was signed, violence and chaos in
the countryside are increasing. In March, coca farmers clashed with
police in Cordoba (https://colombiareports.com/protesters-clash-with-police-in-northern-colombia-as-farmers-return-to-coca-cultivation/),
saying they were returning to coca after two years of waiting for
economic and security assistance that never arrived. In April, a UN
report found massacres on the increase (https://www.insightcrime.org/news/analysis/uptick-colombia-massacres-shifting-criminal-dynamics/),
reflecting new criminal dynamics in key areas of the country.

In June, the government reported a jump in murders (https://www.insightcrime.org/news/analysis/bitter-fight-former-farc-areas-colombia-homicides/),
driven largely by battles for control over coca-growing areas that had previously been controlled by the leftist the FARC, leaving FARC
dissidents, other guerrilla groups, and criminal drug trafficking groups fighting over who will control the fields. And in August, a new report
from Human Rights Watch (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/08/colombia-border-venezuela-war-farc-report)
found that renewed fighting over control of the cocaine trade in the
Catatumbo region had forced some 40,000 people to flee their homes.
Human Rights Watch accused the Colombian government of "not meeting its obligations" to protect civilians in the area.

And speaking of the FARC, they're back. In June, a military intelligence
report said as many as a third of FARC fighters had picked up their guns
again (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-colombia-rebels-exclusive/exclusive-thousands-of-colombian-farc-rebels-return-to-arms-despite-peace-accord-military-intelligence-report-idUSKCN1T62LO).
They were joining dissident FARC groups operating in coca-growing
regions. Disarmed FARC rebels were supposed to have been reintegrated
into society, but that has been stymied by violence and discrimination.
At least 139 former FARC members have been killed since disarming.

A couple of month later, FARC dissidents made it official. In August,
dissident FARC leaders announced they were rejoining the path of armed
struggle (https://www.npr.org/2019/08/29/755425619/former-farc-leaders-announce-new-stage-of-fighting-upending-colombia-s-peace-dea).
Three years after an historic peace agreement between the leftist
guerrillas of the FARC and the Colombian state, the dissidents said that
the rightist government of President Ivan Duque had betrayed the peace
accord. Led Ivan Marquez (Luciano Marin), they said they were ready for
a "new stage of fightingm," citing the murders of more than a hundred
former FARC members and labor activists, as well as the government's
failure to provide sustainable development assistance to areas formerly
under their control. "The state has not fulfilled its most important

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