For those who advocate legalizing brain damage...

Superjuana! hybrid agitates Mexico

Lazaro Cardenas, Mexico - Thousands of soldiers sent to seize control of one of Mexico's top drug-producing regions have discovered widespread cultivation of a hybrid marijuana plant that is easy to grow and difficult to kill, officials said Tuesday.

The plants can only be killed by having their roots pulled, a slow and tedious task, Army Gen. Manuel Garcia said.

"Before we could cut the plant and destroy it, but this plant will come back to life unless it's taken out by the roots," Garcia said.

The hybrid first appeared in Mexico two years ago but has become the plant of choice for drug traffickers in western Michoacan state, a remote mountainous region that lends itself to drug production.

The plants resist chemicals that only burn the top leaves without hurting the root, making aerial fumigation impossible, Garcia said.

On Tuesday, dozens of soldiers wielding assault rifles swarmed 38 marijuana plantations, ripping plants out of the ground. As they flew back to their base, they spotted 32 new fields.

"For each 100 that you spot from the air, there are 300 to 500 more that you discover once you get on the ground," Garcia said.

Last week, President Felipe Calderon sent 7,000 soldiers and federal officers to restore order in his home state and deal a blow to drug trafficking in the region. The state has seen months of bloodshed from warring drug cartels that have carried out gruesome killings, including dumping five heads on a dance floor.

Calderon, who took office Dec. 1 after being elected on a law-and-order platform, has vowed to battle drug violence, which has claimed more than 2,000 lives nationwide this year.

Due to time constraints, we now move to futher action.

In the past week, soldiers and federal police in Michoacan state have found 1,795 marijuana fields covering 585 acres, security officials said.

Officials estimate the raids could cost the cartels as much as $626 million, counting the value of the destroyed plants as well as the drugs that could have been produced with opium poppies and marijuana seeds seized in the raids, the army said.
(Thanks to the Contra Costa Times for the heads up.)