Marijuana legalization in California was supposed to establish a safe, legal, and regulated cannabis market. But according to an investigative report, violent Mexican drug cartels have established a presence in the state, turning Northern California—the state's main growing region—into a “Wild West” of crime and environmental degradation, as well as the main supplier of an illegal black market. The report says that the gangs are responsible for exploiting workers, robbing and shooting adversaries, poisoning wildlife, and poaching water. The cartels have apparently abandoned Mexico, and recognizing America’s push toward legal cannabis—and more liberal attitudes north of the border—have moved their operations to California. Police in the region, which includes Mendocino, Humboldt, and Trinity counties, and is known as the Emerald Triangle, do not have the capacity to stop the violence or crackdown on illegal grow sites.
Meanwhile, the Mediterranean island nation of Malta has become the first member of the European Union to legalize marijuana, in the latest sign of a more liberal approach to the drug across the 26-member bloc. So far, EU nations have been less reluctant to legalize weed than many states in the U.S. While countries including Portugal, Spain, and the Netherlands have decriminalized pot, the market remains in a grey area in which possession of small amounts of cannabis can still be a civil offense and consumption sites, such as cafes, are tolerated. That may change this year with the new German government saying it wants to decriminalize marijuana and a growing legalization movement in Italy.
And finally, as Connecticut prepares to implement its marijuana legalization law, an opinion writer in the CT Post warns that the legislation may lead to many more recreational marijuana stores in disproportionately impacted areas where the bulk of the arrests and convictions for pot possession occurred in the last 40 years. That would lead to a ratio of about four times more pot shops per capita for communities of color than for the rest of the state, at a time when we are facing addiction, overdose, and opioid crises. Pointing out the potential risks of marijuana use, the writer wonders what the situation will be 15 years from now when the rate of marijuana use, brain damage, anxiety, paranoia, and suicidal ideation increase as a result.