<p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The following 10 events were among the most dramatic. Not only did they make headlines but they reflect larger themes—the extent to which drug war issues intersect with economic policy, military funding, public health, natural resources and the like. Taken together, they also reveal why the policy of prohibition, which has given rise to a trillion-dollar industry run by terrorist cartels, fuels the very war it is allegedly intended to end.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Yet those looking for good news can find it in the growing consensus among global organizations and people in high places, especially in Latin America, that the entire 40-year-old enterprise is a boondoggle of historic proportions. Most Americans agree: 82% of US adults,<a href="http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/lifestyle/general_lifestyle/november_2012/7_think_u_s_is_winning_war_on_drugs" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">according to one poll,</a> believe Washington is losing the drug war.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">1. Top Political Leaders Call for Drug War’s End</strong></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">In May, the London School of Economics (LSE) published a <a href="http://www.lse.ac.uk/IDEAS/publications/reports/pdf/LSE-IDEAS-DRUGS-REPORT-FINAL-WEB.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">report</a>, “Ending the Drug Wars,” <a href="http://www.lse.ac.uk/newsAndMedia/news/archives/2014/05/EndWarOnDrugsReport.aspx" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">signed</a> by notables including five Nobel prize-winning economists, Britain’s deputy prime minister and a former US Secretary of State.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">“The pursuit of a militarized and enforcement-led global ‘war on drugs’ strategy has produced enormous negative outcomes and collateral damage,” the report <a href="http://www.lse.ac.uk/IDEAS/publications/reports/pdf/LSE-IDEAS-DRUGS-REPORT-FINAL-WEB.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">concluded</a>. A “new global drug strategy should be based on principles of public health, harm reduction…and human rights.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Four months later, the Global Commission on Drug Policy upped the ante. Former UN secretary general Kofi Annan, former presidents Fernando Henrique Cardoso (Brazil), Ernesto Zedillo (Mexico) and Ruth Dreifuss (Switzerland), and others <a href="http://www.substance.com/world-leaders-call-for-the-transformation-of-our-drug-laws/12051/" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">called for</a> “governments to decriminalize a variety of illegal drugs and set up regulated drug markets within their own countries.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">On the one hand, these critiques draw crucial attention to the <a href="http://www.wola.org/publications/the_human_face" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">consequences</a> of current drug policies. On the other hand, suggesting that the drug war is a failure misses the point. It’s true the current model “has produced enormous negative outcomes”—but not for everyone. The <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175520/best_of_tomdispatch%3A_michelle_alexander,_the_age_of_obama_as_a_racial_nightmare/" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">US prison system</a> is thriving, for example. And the “drug war” is often <a href="http://zedbooks.co.uk/node/16683" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">invoked </a>to rationalize repressive measures stemming from conflicts over, say, land or resources. That happened in Mexico in the 1990s, when <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernesto_Zedillo" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">Zedillo</a>, now a Global Commission on Drug Policy member, was running the country.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">If the aim is to identify the roots of prison booms and political violence worldwide, we need to ask: Should we condemn current policy as a wholesale failure? Or as an initiative that <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2014/03/20/291934724/awash-in-cash-drug-cartels-rely-on-big-banks-to-launder-profits" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">benefits</a> people with power—the people these important reports want to persuade to abandon it?</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><b style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">2. Conflict in Ukraine Has Grim Consequences for Drug Users</b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">“The annexation of Crimea by Russia is likely to have far-reaching consequences for an already much marginalized group within society,” Andriy Klepikov, head of the International HIV/AIDS Alliance in Ukraine, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andriy-klepikov/annexation-of-crimea-what_b_5028478.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">wrote</a> in March. “Access to life-saving medical and HIV prevention services has been severely compromised [for the estimated 14,000 IV drug users].”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Ukraine has been a regional leader in needle exchange and substitution therapy, while Russia’s “extremely repressive drug laws [fail to] support any efficient programs for preventing HIV and hepatitis C among people who use drugs,” Klepikov said.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Russia’s policy is criminal. But US public health legacy in Ukraine is hardly laudable. Two decades ago, Washington “made aid in support of market reform” there “its chief priority,” George Mason University professor Janine Wedel <a href="http://janinewedel.info/" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">said</a>. The World Bank, the EU and USAID all <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=-h6r57lDC4QC&pg=PA476&dq=%22USAID%22+%2B+%22Ukraine%22+%2B+%22privatization%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=8S7qU_K2D4rmsAS1qYDAAw&ved=0CCUQ6wEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22USAID%22%20%2B%20%22Ukraine%22%20%2B%20%22privatization%22&f=false" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">helped</a> administer this reform, and a 1998 USAID briefing <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=-h6r57lDC4QC&pg=PA476&dq=%22USAID%22+%2B+%22Ukraine%22+%2B+%22privatization%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=8S7qU_K2D4rmsAS1qYDAAw&ved=0CCUQ6wEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22USAID%22%20%2B%20%22Ukraine%22%20%2B%20%22privatization%22&f=false" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">indicated</a> its “no. 1 objective was to transfer ownership of state enterprises to the private sector.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">This transfer exacerbated “the already difficult economic situation in the health care sector,” the World Health Organization (WHO)<a href="http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/96418/E84927.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">concluded</a>. One outcome was “drastically reduced living standards for…pensioners, disabled people and other vulnerable groups, leading to further worsening of population health.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The extent, then, to which Washington’s policies shaped the present conflict can certainly be debated—but not ignored, if we aim to get to the root of the problem.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">3. “El Chapo” Is Captured in Mexico</strong></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">A swarm of Mexican soldiers and cops <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/23/world/americas/joaquin-guzman-loera-sinaloa-drug-cartel-leader-is-captured-in-mexico.html?_r=0" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">closed in</a> on a beachfront apartment in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazatl%C3%A1n" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">Mazatlán</a> on February 22. Their target, Sinaloa Cartel boss and <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/doliaestevez/2013/03/05/mexican-drug-kingpin-el-chapo-out-of-billionaire-ranks/" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">former</a><em style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> Forbes</em> list billionaire “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joaqu%C3%ADn_Guzm%C3%A1n_Loera" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">El Chapo</a>” Guzmán, surrendered easily. Not a single <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/24/world/americas/astonishment-greets-seizing-without-a-shot-of-mexican-drug-lord.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">shot</a> was fired.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The event made great copy. The <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/worlds-top-drug-trafficker-arrested-in-mexico-us-official-says/2014/02/22/c001927c-9be0-11e3-ad71-e03637a299c0_story.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Washington Post </em></a>quoted Attorney General Eric Holder, who “called the arrest a ‘landmark achievement, and a victory for the citizens of both Mexico and the United States.’” But it was likely less of a triumph than it seemed.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">First, it’s unclear what impact Guzmán’s arrest has had. “The takedown of El Chapo is a thorn in the side, but not a dagger in the heart of the Sinaloa Cartel,” <a href="http://www.npr.org/2014/02/23/281543314/mexican-drug-kingpin-arrested" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">said</a> <a href="http://wmpeople.wm.edu/site/page/gwgray" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">George Grayson</a>, an expert on Mexican drug traffickers. Drug-related violence has continued in recent months—for example, look at its recent <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/an-oil-rich-area-south-of-texas-is-mexicos-newest-drug-war-crisis-zone/2014/05/30/7a42f324-20fb-44f1-89e3-86fe5e858f2c_story.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">expansion</a> into <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamaulipas" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">Tamaulipas</a>, just south of Texas.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Second, many <a href="http://blog.chron.com/narcoconfidential/2014/12/es-el-chapo-documentary-questioning-mexicos-biggest-arrest-opens-in-houston/" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">have questioned</a> the circumstances of El Chapo’s capture. Hector Berrellez, a retired DEA agent, <a href="http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/bill-conroy/2014/03/narco-villain-el-chapo-s-arrest-packaged-media-consumption" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">believes</a> the arrest was “arranged,” while ex-DEA director Phil Jordan <a href="http://youtu.be/OH6KY0YWydw?t=34s" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">commented</a> that for Chapo “to be taken down without one gunshot, should tell you something right away.” And journalist Anabel Hernández <a href="http://www.substance.com/drug-cartels-anabel-hernandez-narcoland-drug-war/" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">told me</a> that it’s “impossible to believe that El Chapo was alone in Mazatlán,” since the city “is not a territory of the Sinaloa Cartel. It is a territory of the <i style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">enemies</i> of El Chapo Guzmán.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Was Chapo’s capture a hollow victory or a hoax? We may learn the truth someday. For now, <a href="http://truth-out.org/news/item/13001-calderon-reign-ends-with-six-year-mexican-death-toll-near-120000" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">life</a> remains <a href="http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/9/4/amnesty-internationaltortureinmexico.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">awful</a> for <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/29/mexico-poverty_n_3673568.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">millions</a> of Mexicans.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><b style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">4. The WHO Strategizes to Fight China’s Tobacco Epidemic</b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The WHO, in an April 8 <a href="http://www.wpro.who.int/china/mediacentre/releases/2014/tobacco_health_warnings_in_china_en.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">briefing</a>, encouraged “China to use graphic warnings on cigarette packages to fight the tobacco epidemic,” <i style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The New York Times</i> <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/18/opinion/china-and-the-toll-of-smoking.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">reported</a>. The country’s tobacco habit is <a href="http://www.wpro.who.int/china/mediacentre/factsheets/tobacco/en/" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">severe</a>, killing around 1 million annually. Nearly 30% of adults there—53% of men—smoke.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Why did the epidemic emerge? A <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/25/health/smoking-stays-stubbornly-high-among-the-poor.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">long-term change</a> in US smoking patterns—thanks partly to <a href="http://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1413&context=jil" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">federal and state regulations</a>—helped prompt this Asian pivot, according to law professor <a href="http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/history/whiteb1.htm" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">Charles Whitebread</a>. Cigarette companies, <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1616807" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">confronted</a> with a restricted US market, began “shifting their operations out of the United States” and into China, Whitebread <a href="http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/history/whiteb1.htm" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">concluded</a>.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">But graphic warnings go only so far. How else does the WHO <a href="http://www.who.int/tobacco/control/measures_art_6/en/" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">propose</a> to curb smoking? At a <a href="http://www.frontline.in/static/html/fl2912/stories/20120629291206000.htm" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">2012 conference</a>, officials emphasized “price and tax measures to reduce the demand for tobacco,” among other initiatives.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">China may <a href="http://www.brecorder.com/world/southeast-asia/207491.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">adopt</a> these proposals. Its government is considering a hike in cigarette taxes, for example, while Beijing <a href="http://www.techtimes.com/articles/21144/20141128/beijing-bans-outdoor-smoking-in-public.htm" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">intends</a> “to ban smoking in all the city’s indoor public spaces, on public transport and in the workplace.” If a public health approach makes sense for a drug this <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/quit_smoking/how_to_quit/you_can_quit/nicotine/" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">addictive</a> and <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/health_effects/tobacco_related_mortality/" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">deadly</a>, then <a href="http://www.drugpolicy.org/marijuana-legalization-and-regulation" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">why not</a> for less perilous substances?</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">5. Is Indigenous Extinction the Legacy of “Plan Colombia”?</strong></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">UN official Todd Howland <a href="http://www.mining.com/mining-may-cause-extinction-of-most-colombian-indigenous-peoples-un-70351/" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">reported</a> in April that some 40 Colombian indigenous groups may soon be extinct. Expanded mining operations—a legacy of Washington’s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plan_Colombia" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">Plan Colombia</a>—threaten their communities.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">“Plan Colombia” prioritized <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plan_Colombia" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">eradication</a>, ostensibly to wipe out coca production. In this respect it <a href="https://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/feature/2012/colombia-report-2011-displacement-feature-3.htm" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">failed</a> <a href="http://witnessforpeace.org/downloads/An_Exercise_in_Futility.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">miserably</a>. A 2008 US governmental <a href="http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-09-71" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">report</a> noted that “coca cultivation and cocaine production levels [had] increased by about 15% and 4%, respectively” since the plan’s 1999 launch.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">When “Plan Colombia” began, the Colombian government also <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=IfTvKmRk5GAC&pg=PA1&dq=%22Plan+Colombia+sought+to+reclaim+control+of+territory%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=aguPVPnQNpPasASH1YLICA&ved=0CCEQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22Plan%20Colombia%20sought%20to%20reclaim%20control%20of%20territory%22&f=false" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">desired</a> to wrest national lands from guerrilla control. Empowered by<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/03/americas-drug-war-latin-america_n_2610624.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">billions</a> of US taxpayer dollars, Colombian forces successfully <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=IfTvKmRk5GAC&pg=PA24&dq=%22full+or+partial+control+of+about+90+percent+of+the+country+in+2007%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=sAyPVMyfDpH7sASE9oKQDA&ved=0CCEQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22full%20or%20partial%20control%20of%20about%2090%20percent%20of%20the%20country%20in%202007%22&f=false" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">held</a> “full or partial control of about 90% of the country in 2007”—up from around 50% in 1998.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The government <a href="http://www.irc.gov.co/irc/en/fiscalinformation/National%20Development%20Plan%202011-2014.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">promoted</a> mining activity on the newly secured land. Many mineral <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1598956774/gold-mining-in-el-choco-colombia" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">sites</a> coveted by multinationals are on indigenous<a href="http://earthfirstjournal.org/newswire/2014/10/04/historic-ruling-halts-mining-returns-50000-hectares-to-indigenous-peoples-in-colombia/" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">reservations</a>, which are now <a href="http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/large-scale-mining-full-report.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">at risk</a>. Their residents’ fate is <a href="http://www.wilderutopia.com/international/thirty-four-colombian-tribes-face-extinction/" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">bleak</a>, their cultures possibly <a href="http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/5852" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">slated</a> to vanish. “Native communities affected by mining projects are moving to the city, where their culture and language is lost.” Cecilia Jamasmie <a href="http://www.mining.com/mining-may-cause-extinction-of-most-colombian-indigenous-peoples-un-70351/" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">explained</a> for <i style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Mining.com.</i></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Colombia reminds us that “drug war” conflicts need to be examined alongside others—those <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/30/colombian-peace-talks-fail-farc-leaders-interview" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">pitting</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FARC" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">rebels</a> against the state, or residents against massive firms in a struggle for natural resources.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><b style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">6. The Greek Austerity-Driven Health Crisis Deepens</b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The impact of <a href="http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/23510-in-greece-austerity-kills" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">austerity</a> measures on health care in Greece has been grave. Public health outlays <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2014/02/austerity-addiction-athens-201422073558196613.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">plummeted</a> 25% after a <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2010/05/02/news/international/greece_bailout/" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">pair</a> of <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14239794" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">bailouts</a>imposed spending cuts.<b style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> </b><a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2014/02/austerity-addiction-athens-201422073558196613.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">Unemployment</a> is at 28%, and some 800,000 jobless men and women <a href="http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/23510-in-greece-austerity-kills" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">struggle</a> to survive without unemployment coverage. The number of sex workers has also <a href="http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-05-22/greek-prostitution-soars-150-youth-unempoyment-hits-75-some-areas" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">grown</a> <a href="http://greece.greekreporter.com/2012/09/19/crisis-making-prostitutes-of-many-greeks/" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">sharply</a> in recent years.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Little wonder many Greeks turn to drugs and alcohol to escape. But because of health cuts, efforts to numb despair often dead-end in other nightmares. Tania M.’s story, <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2014/02/austerity-addiction-athens-201422073558196613.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">related</a> in a dramatic <i style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Al Jazeera </i>report by <a href="https://fragkiskamegaloudi.wordpress.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">Fragkiska Megaloudi</a> earlier this year, is emblematic. Tania is in her mid-20s, and does sex work for drug money. She weathered sexual assaults. She had a son. He tested positive for HIV—Tania only then discovered she was ill. The news overwhelmed her, drawing her deeper into addiction. Her case reflects a national <a href="http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/23510-in-greece-austerity-kills" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">crisis</a>, with condom and syringe supplies for injecting drug users down 24% and 10%, respectively, as new HIV and TB cases among this group surge.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">University of Oxford Professor David Stuckler <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/may/15/recessions-hurt-but-austerity-kills" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">argues</a> that Greece’s public health disaster “is not an inevitable consequence of economic downturns,” but instead “amounts to a political choice.” “Investing in programs that protect the nation’s health is not only the right thing to do, it can help spur economic recovery.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><b style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">7. Uruguay’s Pot Legalizers Roll Out Plans—and a Party or Two</b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Uruguay <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/11/uruguay-cannabis-marijuana-production-sale-law" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">became</a> the world’s first country to legalize the production and sale of marijuana a year ago. And in May, it <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hannah-hetzer/uruguay-marijuana-market_b_5275735.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">publicized</a> the <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/06/world/americas/uruguay-marijuana-rules/" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">regulations</a>that will govern its marijuana market. President <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Mujica" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">José Mujica</a> contrasted Uruguay’s pot policies with Colorado’s, which he <a href="http://www.denverpost.com/marijuana/ci_25684993/uruguays-president-calls-colorado-pot-law-fiction" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">dismissed</a> as “a complete fiction.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The US marijuana model is one where “you prescribe it yourself,” he<a href="http://www.denverpost.com/marijuana/ci_25684993/uruguays-president-calls-colorado-pot-law-fiction" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">elaborated</a>—as opposed to the Uruguayan system, which regulates consumers. “We aren’t going to promote smokefests [sic], bohemianism, all this stuff they try to pass off as innocuous when it isn’t. They’ll label us old reactionaries. But this isn’t a policy that seeks to expand marijuana consumption.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">To that end, residents 18 and older will be able to <a href="http://www.drugpolicy.org/news/2014/05/uruguay-releases-regulations-world%E2%80%99s-first-national-legal-marijuana-market" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">choose</a> between three forms of access to non-medical weed; each buyer will register with the government and be restricted to 10 grams each week. By setting the price at $1 a gram, the state hopes to weaken illicit gangs by eliminating one of their revenue sources.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Although Uruguay’s pot legalization project has faced <a href="http://reason.com/blog/2014/10/17/uruguay-marijuana-legalization-may-not-l" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">public and political opposition</a>, leftist <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabar%C3%A9_V%C3%A1zquez" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">Tabaré Vázquez</a> won last month’s presidential<a href="http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/nov/30/ex-president-wins-uruguay-election-pot-plan-safe/" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">election</a>, meaning the new government will <a href="http://blog.mpp.org/prohibition/uruguays-marijuana-marketplace-still-safe-with-the-re-election-of-ex-president-tabare-vazquez/12022014/" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">proceed</a> with Mujica’s plan. By December <a href="https://www.theweedblog.com/uruguay-has-registered-1200-marijuana-growers/" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">some 1,200 users</a> had been registered, and <a href="http://forums.cannabisculture.com/forums/index.php?/topic/186723-uruguay-opens-its-first-marijuana-fair/" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">its first smokefest—”Expocannabis”</a>—took place on December 14.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">8. Amphetamine Stimulant Use Accelerates in Asia</strong></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime’s annual <a href="http://www.drugs.ie/resourcesfiles/ResearchDocs/Global/World_Drug_Report_2014_web.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;"><i style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">World Drug Report</i></a>, “national experts have indicated that in East and Southeast Asia, the use of ATS [amphetamine-type stimulants] has both increased and diversified.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">A Brookings Institution <a href="http://www.brookings.edu/research/opinions/2014/03/10-asia-ats-epidemic-zhang" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">paper</a> published in March reinforces these findings, explaining that “China has become increasingly a producing country of new synthetic substances, amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) in particular, as well as a final consumption market.” Some “38 percent of registered drug users, almost 800,000 people, were identified as users of ATS.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The ATS surge “has led to higher risks of contracting HIV and other blood-borne viruses,” the <i style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Guardian </i><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/05/amphetamine-south-east-asia-rise-hiv" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">reported</a>, citing a <a href="http://apddic.ancd.org.au/images/PDFs/Projects_and_initiatives/rp25-amphetamine-type-stimulants.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">study</a> concluding that Asia’s ATS users are “more likely to share and borrow needles than heroin users.” Punitive policies “and cloudy legalities surrounding needle distribution” only <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/05/amphetamine-south-east-asia-rise-hiv" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">worsen</a> the problem, promoting the risky conduct that helps spread disease.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Why the ATS boom? The <i style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Guardian <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/05/amphetamine-south-east-asia-rise-hiv" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">lists</a> </i>“growing wealth inequality, population displacement, political upheaval and corruption among ruling elites, among other factors. These social and economic problems likely mean that the drug problem will get worse before it gets better.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">9. Afghan Opium Cultivation Reaches Record Levels</strong></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">In October, the US military <a href="http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/10/21/afghanistan-opiumrecord.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">noted</a> that Afghanistan’s opium poppy cultivation is hitting record levels, and has almost <a href="http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/Afghanistan-drugs-US-10billion/2014/01/16/id/547454/" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">tripled</a> since 1994. “That’s despite more than a decade of American efforts to knock out the Afghan drug trade—at a cost of roughly $7.6 billion,” <i style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Mother Jones</i><a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/10/afghanistan-opium-poppy-heroin-record-levels" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">reported</a>.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">But has the US really been trying to curb Afghan drug production? “The last time opium trafficking and production was markedly reduced in Afghanistan was in 2000—the last year the Taliban was in power,” <i style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Al Jazeera</i>’s <a href="http://america.aljazeera.com/profiles/p/michael-pizzi.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">Michael Pizzi</a> <a href="http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/10/21/afghanistan-opiumrecord.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">writes</a>. In 2001, only <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=QdBrbBnED0oC&pg=PA263&dq=%22The+only+area+left+under+cultivation+in+any+meaningful+way+was+the+five+percent+of+the+territory+under+the+control+of+the+Western-supported+Northern+Alliance.%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=8iiPVLe1O6rGsQT344HABg&ved=0CB8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22The%20only%20area%20left%20under%20cultivation%20in%20any%20meaningful%20way%20was%20the%20five%20percent%20of%20the%20territory%20under%20the%20control%20of%20the%20Western-supported%20Northern%20Alliance.%22&f=false" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">one</a> of the country’s regions continued extensive cultivation: the 5% of the territory the Washington-allied Northern Alliance controlled. The US teamed with these warlords to <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=TYc-vuU9Jl4C&pg=PA38&dq=%22the+Tajik-led+Northern+Alliance%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=VYU8VJHKPLDfsAT3l4GQCA&ved=0CCwQ6wEwAg#v=onepage&q=%22the%20Tajik-led%20Northern%20Alliance%22&f=false" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">assault</a> the Taliban after 9/11.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Washington’s ensuing move to eradicate opium poppies <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Security-Watch/Backchannels/2014/0703/What-did-7-billion-spent-on-opium-eradication-in-Afghanistan-buy-More-opium" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">failed</a> to meet its publicized goals. In reality,<b style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> </b>“the US military was in the business of enriching warlords at the expense of others—and always at the expense of poor farmers,” said <a href="http://www.rand.org/about/people/b/blank_jonah.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">Jonah Blank</a>, a RAND Corporation expert. Pizzi <a href="http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/10/21/afghanistan-opiumrecord.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">points out</a> that the booming “illicit trade” is also “an important source of funding for the Taliban insurgency, and a major contributor to the country’s rampant corruption.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Afghan activist Malalai Joya <a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20091102_opium_rape_and_the_american_way?ln" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">declares</a> that her country “has become a world center for drugs” after years of US occupation. <a href="http://www.afghanwomensmission.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">Afghan Women’s Mission</a> co-director Sonali Kolhatkar <a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/entirely_predictable_the_us_is_leaving_afghanistan_20141106" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">argues</a> that “the US is leaving Afghanistan worse off than before.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">But according to a recent <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/25/us-afghanistan-usa-idUSKCN0J91BG20141125" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">disclosure</a>, Washington “is preparing to<i style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> increase</i> the number of troops it keeps in Afghanistan in 2015.” What that means for reform of the poppy policies remains to be seen.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><b style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">10. Drug-War Funded Mexican Authorities Attack, Abduct 43 Students</b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">On September 26, Mexican police <a href="https://news.vice.com/article/ayotzinapa-a-timeline-of-the-mass-disappearance-that-has-shaken-mexico" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">blocked</a> three busloads of students from the Rural Teachers’ College of Ayotzinapa in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iguala" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">Iguala</a>, then started shooting. “By all accounts, law enforcement agents limited their activities to firing on the students,” Laura Carlsen <a href="http://www.thenation.com/blog/185433/massacre-mexico" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">reported</a>. “No law enforcement officials protected the young people under attack.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Authorities <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/07/world/americas/43-missing-students-a-mass-grave-and-a-suspect-mexicos-police-.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">abducted</a> 43 students in the end. The fate of the majority remains unclear, though earlier this month at least one of them, Alexander Mora, was “identified among remains largely burned to ashes,” <em style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The</em> <i style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">New York Times</i> <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/07/world/americas/remains-of-student-in-mexico-identified.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">noted</a>. The discovery lends “considerable weight to a theory by prosecutors that the students were killed after being abducted by municipal police and turned over to a drug gang.” The gang then allegedly murdered the students “and burned their remains in a garbage dump.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/protests-mexico-over-missing-students-are-biggest-years-n233051" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">Protesters</a> <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/20/world/americas/mexico-missing-students-protests/" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">flooded</a> <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-30288706" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">streets</a> throughout Mexico—and <a href="http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/12/2/ustired2-mexico-protest.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">beyond</a>—in response to the kidnapping, demanding both “to learn the fate of the missing students” and “to bring those responsible to justice,” <i style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Al Jazeera </i><a href="http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/11/22/don-t-expect-an-aztecspringwithmexicoprotestsanalystswarn.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">reported</a>. Demonstrators also had broader demands, calling for the <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2014/12/mexico-protests-president-20141221252768334.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">resignation</a> of the current president, Enrique Peña Nieto, and for an end to <a href="http://www.latimes.com/world/mexico-americas/la-fg-mexico-city-demonstrations-20141120-story.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">corruption.</a></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Ayotzinapa exposed the rot at Mexico’s core—a rot progressing with the aid of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A9rida_Initiative" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">billions</a> of US taxpayer dollars. The story evinces an apparent collaboration between Iguala’s police and the local drug traffickers. And an explosive recent story in the Mexican news magazine <a href="http://www.proceso.com.mx/" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;"><i style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Proceso</i></a> cites “leaked government documents” to show that “Mexican federal authorities had real-time information” regarding the attack, “but did nothing to stop [it],” the <i style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Guardian </i><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/16/mexico-attack-students-43-missing" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(219, 24, 28); text-decoration: none;">reported</a>.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14902); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.75em; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px auto 2em; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Some Mexican and US officials may want the abduction considered an isolated atrocity, if not forgotten outright. But this unprecedented act of state violence may yet yield a sustained, national movement for social justice in 2015.</p>
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