NAVOLATO, Mexico -- Jorge Aguirre Meza was a thin man who walked with a severe limp from a childhood bout with polio. But he stood tall against drug smugglers and bandit gangs of this flatland farming town of 75,000 people, and of his state of Sinaloa, which is now suffering Mexico's most widespread case of savage drug-related violence. And so on the night of Wednesday, Jan. 27, Jorge Aguirre Meza was riddled with bullets in front of his home and his 9-year-old daughter by two masked men with AK-47s, as he tried desperately to maneuver his Dodge Ram Charger out of his cul-de-sac. [continues 1500 words]
WASHINGTON, Feb. 26 (Kyodo) -- The United States suspects North Korea of promoting opium cultivation and engaging in the criminal trafficking of opiates and other narcotic drugs as ''a criminal state enterprise,'' according to a U.S. report released Friday. The 1999 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report referred to North Korea in connection to the drug activities for the first time. Opium is cultivated in the northern part of North Korea, near the boarder with China, said the report prepared by the State Department. [continues 308 words]
LEEUWARDEN, Netherlands, Feb 26 (Reuters) - A Dutch local authority has provoked a minor outcry by subsidising work experience for the unemployed in coffee shops selling marijuana. Soft drugs are technically illegal in the Netherlands but their sale in so-called coffee shops is tolerated under strict conditions, such as that marijuana should not be sold to minors. Social Affairs Minister Klaas de Vries said this week he was astonished by Leeuwarden council's decision to pay the wages of four people selling marijuana in some of the city's coffee shops. [continues 64 words]
WASHINGTON (AP) The United States and allied countries made "solid gains" in efforts to control narcotics trafficking in 1998, the State Department said today, citing progress in crop reduction, drug interdiction and other areas. In its annual report on the illicit drug trade worldwide, the department said the most encouraging development in 1998 was the continued downward trend in illicit coca cultivation. "The total coca crop remains at its lowest level in 10 years, even factoring in a sharp rise in cultivation in Colombia," the report said. [continues 462 words]
BOGOTA -- The U.S. decision to fully certify Colombia -- by far the world's No. 1 cocaine producer -- as an ally in the war on drugs is a crucial vote of confidence in President Andres Pastrana's young government, his foreign minister said Friday. ``It represents one more step in a new era characterized by the normalization of relations with the United States,'' Guillermo Fernandez de Soto told reporters. He said the nation would not fail in its efforts to fight drug trafficking ``so that Colombia can never again be treated by the community of nations as if it were a pariah.'' [continues 231 words]
The White House annually determines whether a nation is a cooperative partner in the war on drugs. If a country is not doing enough, it is decertified and faces econormc penalties. After President Clinton visited Mexico this week, he hinted he would once again declare our neighbor to the south a "full cooperating" partner in the drug war. Over the past several years, the White House has resisted pressure from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to withhold certification from Mexico. Many members of Congress also want Clinton to send a clear message by decertifying Mexico, as was done to Colombia. In reality, declaring Mexico "certified" or "decertified" may send a symbolic message but would have little impact on the drugs trade. [continues 276 words]
Surgeon general points to teen use, health risks WASHINGTON -- Cigars are as deadly as cigarettes and widely used by teenagers yet face virtually no federal regulation, government health officials said yesterday, recommending a mandatory national warning label for the first time. Requiring health warnings on cigarettes and smokeless tobacco but not cigars sends the wrong message, Surgeon General David Satcher said. "The absence of labels on cigars implies cigars are different and don't carry the same risk," Satcher said. Top officials at the Health and Human Services Department hope the report by its inspector general will push another agency, the Federal Trade Commission, to require such warning labels. The FTC has been considering the matter since April, but has yet to announce a decision. [continues 309 words]
But Skeptics Decry Certification WASHINGTON - The Clinton administration on Friday certified Mexico as a cooperating partner in the war on illegal drugs despite a decline in cocaine seizures, an increase in opium poppy production and chronic corruption in the Mexican judicial system. Clinton's decision, which spares Mexico and 25 other drug-problem nations from U.S. economic sanctions, drew criticism from lawmakers and prompted some to consider overturning his findings. Clinton's certification of Mexico "does not change the facts -- drug trafficking is worse than ever," said Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas. [continues 1255 words]
WHEN A FREELANCE WRITER for High Times magazine met with a prominent medical marijuana activist, he thought he was just getting a good story. He might be getting five years in state prison. On New Year's Day, Pete Brady interviewed California Libertarian Party gubernatorial candidate Steve Kubby at Kubby's house in Olympic Valley, near Lake Tahoe. On Jan. 21 the Chico-based writer was arrested for possession of marijuana by officers of the Butte County sheriff's department, according to information from the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws and the Web site www.marijuananews.com. Two days earlier Kubby and his wife, Michele, had been arrested by a four-agency antidrug task force. [continues 200 words]
