Opium's Afghan Impact Editor's note: Afghanistan supplies 93 percent of the world's opium, and the money often goes to fund the growing Taliban movement. This is the first of two stories exploring the impact of opium in Afghanistan. SHAHRAN, Afghanistan ---- For as long as anyone can remember, there was no need for paper money in this remote corner of the Hindu Kush. The common currency was what grew in everyone's backyard ---- opium. [continues 1682 words]
PORTLAND - A Norwegian woman facing deportation for a 12-year-old marijuana conviction is eligible for a pardon, a federal judge said Thursday. But Kari Rein's chance to prove that growing six plants of marijuana in 1992 is not an offense large enough to warrant losing her right to live in the U.S. will not come for another three months. Rein, 42, an Oregon resident since 1988, is entangled in a web of laws dating to 1996, three years after she performed 240 hours of community service and paid a $1,200 fine for growing marijuana in her Southern Oregon mobile home. [continues 376 words]
