Last month, a Costa Rican public security unit took part in regional “War Games” in Tolemaida, Colombia, where they competed in grueling challenges testing physical fitness, weapons marksmanship, aquatic skills and tactical capabilities. The event, dubbed “Fuerzas Comando,” is a United States Southern Command initiative aimed at fostering cooperation, trust, readiness and interoperability between international special forces and other military and police units.
Opponents of marijuana legalization are rapidly losing the battle for hearts and minds. Simply put, the public understands that however you measure the consequences of marijuana use, the drug is significantly less harmful to users and society than tobacco or alcohol.
In its most recent National Drug Control Strategy, released last week, U.S. officials promised a more humane and sympathetic approach to drug users and addiction. Out, the report suggests, are "tough on crime" policies.
The store, one of 25 licensed statewide this week, had 11 pounds (4,990 grams) of pot when it opened July 8 and sold out about 5 p.m. local time Thursday, owner James Lathrop said. With taxes, 2-gram bags sold for $46.77, he said.
The U.S. Coast Guard said Tuesday it had seized an estimated $110 million worth of cocaine during two recent operations in the Caribbean, one of which the organization confirmed took place between Colombia and Nicaragua.
Dwindling defense budgets have been a boon to drug trafficking networks in Latin America as U.S. intelligence and interdiction assets in the Caribbean have been pared down, the top U.S. commander responsible for the region said Thursday.
From the beginning, the U.S. government's decade-long crackdown on abuse of prescription drugs has run an unsettling risk: that arresting doctors and shuttering "pill mills" would inadvertently fuel a new epidemic of heroin use.
