Middle East

Ganja Guide

karlis — Tue, 11 Oct 2005 00:00:00 -0700

POT PARADISE LOSTINTRO BY MARC EMERY

The year was 1993. I had been living the soft life of a jaded ex-patriot in the brilliant green lakeside villages of Sumatra, Indonesia. Most tourists go to Bali when in Indonesia, but I fell in love with West Sumatra.

Acquiring pot was a chore, and it was low-grade, hard to find, and overpriced. Occasionally I would complain to my Indonesian friends about the frustration of being unable to get good weed conveniently.

Drug war in Afghanistan

karlis — Thu, 26 May 2005 00:00:00 -0700

AfghanistanWill we ever suck from the hose of an Afghani desert opium hookah?

Will we again see the gooey-black sheen of traditional Afghani hashish, available as it used to be, in Dutch cannabis coffeeshops?

Pot and Terrorism in 2005

karlis — Wed, 12 Jan 2005 00:00:00 -0800

The New Year is generally considered a good time to look back over one's faults and consider changing for the better. Unfortunately, what is good medicine for the middle and lower classes is hardly sweet enough for the rulers of our world, who have been needing a good dose of self criticism since well before 9-11. But let's start there.

Moroccan hashish journey

karlis — Wed, 21 May 2003 00:00:00 -0700

For hardcore marijuana journalists, the kind of scribblers and photographers crazy enough to endure intrigue and danger in the seamy underworld of marijuana production and smuggling, going to Morocco is like making a pilgrimage to Mecca.

Former drug czar now a war critic

karlis — Sun, 06 Apr 2003 00:00:00 -0800

Former US drug czar Barry McCaffreyIf you watch war coverage from CNN, NBC, or other major media outlets worldwide, you often see a wizened, white-haired, steely-eyed man pontificating about what is happening in Iraq.

International Drug War correspondent muses on war

karlis — Sun, 09 Mar 2003 00:00:00 -0800

Outside the window of my American home, spring is preparing its annual art fair, with colorful flowers poking their heads through snow, and trees just beginning to show new leaves.
My neighbor's cheerful children are laughing and twirling as they cavort in their yard. On the street, huge SUV's, their drivers opulent and often porcine, roar past like speedy tanks.

Secret 9/11 documents

karlis — Thu, 05 Dec 2002 00:00:00 -0800

If the White House went after knowledge about what happened in 9/11 with as much ferocity as it looks for nukes and biological weapons in Iraq, we might know what really happened by now. The fact that the White House hasn't done so is creating some wondering. With the White House appointment of the notorious Henry Kissinger as head of the 9/11 inquiry, it seems unlikely that the American public will ever know the truth.

The geopolitics of Afghani hash

karlis — Wed, 20 Mar 2002 00:00:00 -0800

In the middle of the night, in mountains northwest of Kabul, Afghanistan, where American bombs and missiles have fallen like acid rain, a young man named Mahmoud is arranging a shipment of precious, psychoactive agricultural merchandise.

Cops pull khat's leash

karlis — Thu, 01 Jul 1999 00:00:00 -0700

Canadian Somalis are complaining about being targeted for their use of khat, a shrub whose stimulating leaves have been chewed and brewed in tea by Muslim cultures for centuries. Khat (Catha edulis) is enjoyed by about half of Canada's 50,000 strong Somali community, and is used socially by 80% of adults in some parts of East Africa.

Iran's drug war

karlis — Thu, 01 Jul 1999 00:00:00 -0700

An Iranian anti-drug official announced that 60% of Iran's prisoners are incarcerated for drug offences. This makes for a total of over 100,000 drug prisoners, out of Iran's population of 60 million.