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Naked shooting suspect captured by MD police

MD naked man on ladder truck

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5/18/2013

The crew from PGFD Truck 831 eneded up with something that wasn’t on their grocery list when they made a stop for food Wednesday at a store in Calverton, Maryland. They found a naked man on the tip of the aerial ladder. Working with PGPD, firefighters maneuvered the ladder and eventually the man came down for a meeting with the police officers. It ended with a tasing.

According to PGFD, the person shouted threats and performed lewd acts to himself while climbing on the ladder bed. The man was taken to an area hospital after he [...]

In the footsteps of the ‘Ndrangheta, the most powerful branch of Italian mafia

Operazione Lancio

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By Tristan Dessert / France 24

In recent years, the ‘Ndrangheta has become the largest and most feared of the four criminal organizations in Italy, alongside the Camorra in the Naples area, Cosa Nostra in Sicily and Sacra Corona Unita in Apulia. Specializing in drug trafficking, the ‘Ndrangheta has globalized in recent years. Our reporter investigates in Calabria, the organization’s heartland.

The ‘Ndrangheta controls the majority of international cocaine traffic, with an estimated 80 percent monopoly on European imports of the white powder. The organisation pulls in 44 billion euros a year; that’s almost three percent of Italy’s [...]

Western leaders study ‘gamechanging’ report on global drugs trade

José Miguel Insulza

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Review by Organisation of American States on illicit drugs ‘could mark beginning of the end’ of prohibition

5/18/2013

by Jamie Doward / The Guardian

European governments and the Obama administration are this weekend studying a “gamechanging” report on global drugs policy that is being seen in some quarters as the beginning of the end for blanket prohibition.

Publication of the Organisation of American States (OAS) review, commissioned at last year’s Cartagena Summit of the Americas attended by Barack Obama, reflects growing dissatisfaction among Latin American countries with the current global policy on illicit drugs. It spells out the [...]

Russia: 80 Kg of Heroin Seized in Tajik Train

Border guards inspect a train en route to Moscow

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5/17/2013

MOSCOW, (RIA Novosti) – A total of 80 kg (over 176 lbs) of heroin were discovered on a train en route from the Tajik capital of Dushanbe to Moscow on Wednesday, the Russian Interior Ministry said on Thursday.

The ministry said that law-enforcers found a cache with plastic bottles “containing a dark gray substance, presumably heroin, weighting 80 kg in total.” The amount is equal to 800 000 average single doses, according to the Russian legislation.

Two train conductors, both of them Tajik nationals, were detained.

The train, popular among migrant workers, drew fierce criticism from various [...]

Argentina: Allegations of a network of corruption money involves former president Kirchner

Cristina Fernández de Kirchner with her husband Néstor Kirchner

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5/17/2013

The allegations were exposed in several chapters of a television program, ‘Journalism for all’ produced, directed and conducted by a well known Argentine investigative reporter Jorge Lanata.

The Sunday night program which has had record ratings is aired in a channel belonging to the powerful Clarin media group that has been targeted by President Cristina Fernandez for dismembering under a new Media Law. However the Clarin group has managed to contain the attack so far with a raft of delaying injunctions but the Argentine president is pushing through Congress a judiciary reform that could finally speed her [...]

Blog del Narco: author who chronicled Mexico’s drugs war forced to flee

Mexico Narco Blog

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5/17/2013

By Rory Carroll / The Guardian

The author of a pioneering blog about Mexico’s drug war has said that she has fled the country and that her blog partner has gone missing.

The young woman, using her pseudonym Lucy, said her colleague phoned her last week to say a single word – “run” – and then vanished, prompting her to flee to the United States and then Spain.

“I’m trying to think positively but I’m scared something terrible has happened. ‘Run’ was our codeword for when something was very wrong. We had never used it before.”

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Pot bacon comin’ to a store near you

pot pig

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Seattle Ranch Puts Weed in the Pigs’ Feed

5/16/2013

by Bryan Le / The Fix

The pigs at the BB Ranch in Seattle, Washington are getting high off a local marijuana dispensary’s supply—and they are also getting fat off it.

William von Schneidau, the ranch’s owner, is “puttin’ some weed to the feed, if you know what I mean,” he explains in a video (below).

“We’re actually feedin’ ‘em marijuana.”

These so-called “pot pigs” are following in the footsteps of their predecessors, “vodka pigs,” who have been fed with vodka grains from a local distillery for some [...]

Lawmakers Unveil Drug War “Exit Strategy”

Reps. O'Rourke and Jeffries

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5/16/2013

by Victoria Kim / The Fix

The Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) released a federal legislative guide today, titled An Exit Strategy for the Failed War on Drugs, calling for drastic reform.

It was released at a forum on Capitol Hill, cosponsored by Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX) and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY)—both of whom fought for local drug policy reform before becoming members of Congress.

“The US has approximately 5% of the world’s population but 25% of its prison population, largely resulting from failed policy decisions connected to the war on drugs,” says Jeffries, in a [...]

Inside San Pedro Sula – the most violent city in the world

Covered-up body of a man shot dead in San Pedro Sula

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5/16/2013

By Sibylla Brodzinsky / The Guardian

No matter the time of day or night, morticians stand guard by the gate of the city morgue, waiting for the next body to be released so they can offer their services to grieving families. In the most violent city in the most violent country in the world, they never have to wait for long.

“Satan himself lives here in San Pedro,” says one nervous mortician who asks to be identified only as Lucas. “People here kill people like they’re nothing more than chickens.”

Last year, an average of 20 people [...]

Legalized marijuana increases competition for Mexican drug cartels

marijuana in gas tank

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5/15/2013

by Angela Kocherga / KHOU 11 News

Mexican drug cartels fighting each other for smuggling routes face increasing competition in the U.S. where legalization in some states has increased the amount of marijuana available.

The drug war in Mexico may have helped U.S. growers gain a foothold in some regions.

“The majority of this weed is coming from California, a little bit of it is coming from Colorado,” said a narcotics officer with the El Paso Police Department who works undercover.

According to the DEA, the amount of marijuana from Mexico seized in the El Paso area [...]