tagged w/ Drug Trafficking
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In this exclusive behind-the-scenes commentary, correspondent Mariana van Zeller talks about the making of "Gateway to Heroin," the follow up to her award-winning report "The OxyContin Express."
"Gateway to Heroin" premieres Monday, June 20 at 9/8c on Current TV.
"Vanguard" is Current TV's no-limits documentary series whose award-winning correspondents put themselves in extraordinary situations to immerse viewers in global issues that have a large social significance. Unlike sound-bite driven reporting, the show's correspondents, Adam Yamaguchi, Christof Putzel and Mariana van Zeller, serve as trusted guides who take viewers on in-depth real life adventures in pursuit of some of the world's most important stories.
For more, go to http://current.com/vanguard.
Current Media, the Peabody-and Emmy Award-winning television and online network founded in 2005 by Al Gore and Joel Hyatt, engages viewers with smart, provocative and timely programming -- stories that no one else is telling in ways that no one else is telling them. Current's programming shines a light where others won't dare and boldly explores important subjects -- opening minds, sparking conversations and forming deep connections with its viewers. The channel's audience is comprised of affluent, curious, social and connected adults who crave the kind of entertaining, enlightening, witty and informative programming found on Current's TV and online properties. Current is now available via cable and satellite TV in 75 million households worldwide -- 60 million households in the US -- through distribution partners Comcast (Channel 107); Time Warner ; DirecTV (Channel 358 nationwide); Dish Network (Channel 196 nationwide); Verizon and AT&T. In the UK and Ireland, Current is available on BSkyB (Channel 183) and Virgin Media (Channel 155), and in Italy, Current is available on Sky Italia (Channel 130). Viewers can also find Current online at http://www.current.com.In this exclusive behind-the-scenes commentary, correspondent Mariana van Zeller talks... more
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Two years after reporting the Peabody Award-winning Vanguard episode, "The OxyContin Express," correspondent Mariana van Zeller discusses the ongoing battle in Florida to regulate or limit sales of prescription pills, and the struggle for sobriety that one man she interviewed for the piece has faced in the time since.
In this season's premiere episode, van Zeller tracks OxyContin trafficking further up the east coast to Boston, where the high cost of black market pills has fueled a dramatic increase in addiction to cheaper heroin. "Gateway to Heroin" premieres Monday, June 20 at 9/8c on Current TV.
"Vanguard" is Current TV's no-limits documentary series whose award-winning correspondents put themselves in extraordinary situations to immerse viewers in global issues that have a large social significance. Unlike sound-bite driven reporting, the show's correspondents, Adam Yamaguchi, Christof Putzel and Mariana van Zeller, serve as trusted guides who take viewers on in-depth real life adventures in pursuit of some of the world's most important stories.
For more, go to http://current.com/vanguard.Two years after reporting the Peabody Award-winning Vanguard episode, "The... more
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London - The British and Iranian governments are often at odds about Tehran’s nuclear ambitions and alleged human rights abuses.
But when it comes to war on drugs, the two countries have put their differences aside to stop the stream of heroin that flows from Central Asia into Europe, a government source told Bright Magazine. More than 90 percent of the heroin sold in the UK is derived from Afghan opium.
Almost 30 percent of the heroin and half of the opiates produced in Afghanistan transit through Iranian borders, according to the latest United Nations World Drug Report. Millions of Iranian drug addicts consume about 15 percent of all the opiates smuggled into their country.
The UN Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) and other international organisations have credited Iran with “holding back a flood of heroin”. Iran alone is responsible for nearly a quarter of global heroin seizures and 60 percent of all opiates.
The commitment against narcotics came with a high death toll attached. More than 3,700 Iranian policemen died in the last 30 years, and several thousands were wounded in the effort of patrolling the 2,300-mile-long eastern border that runs from Turkmenistan to Pakistan.
Drug traffickers are often better funded and equipped than the Iranian forces. In one occasion, the traffickers crossed the border with 400 armed vehicles equipped with machine guns and rocket launchers, and attacked a military outpost, slaughtering 31 officers.
Read more on Bright Magazine - www.brightmag.orgLondon - The British and Iranian governments are often at odds about Tehran’s... more
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In what will likely be seen as something of a Freudian slip by the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton said recently in a Mexican news interview that the United States cannot legalize drugs as a means of fighting the black market because “there is just too much money in it.”In what will likely be seen as something of a Freudian slip by the US Secretary of... more
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TUCSON - Smugglers using a catapult to launch marijuana across the border were observed on a remote video surveillance system, and National Guard troops coordinated with Mexican authorities to disrupt the far-flung operation.
On Friday evening, National Guard troops operating a remote video surveillance system at the Naco Border Patrol Station observed several people south of the International Boundary Fence preparing a catapult and launching packages over the International Border fence, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Border Patrol agents working with the National Guard contacted Mexican authorities, who went to the location and disrupted the catapult operation. The camera showed the individuals fleeing the area before they could be intercepted by Mexican authorities.
The Mexican officials seized about 45 pounds of marijuana, a sport utility vehicle, and the catapult device.
"The Border Patrol's partnerships with Mexican authorities, the National Guard and the public enhance our efforts to address and disrupt the organized drug trafficking threat at the border and serves to degrade the capabilities of transnational criminal organizations," states Associate Chief Jose Cruz. "With their continued support and that of the public, we will continue to more effectively address threats before they cross the International Boundary."
http://www.kvoa.com/news/smugglers-catapult-pot-over-border-fence/
video
http://www.kvoa.com/player/?video_id=4469TUCSON - Smugglers using a catapult to launch marijuana across the border were... more
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It's not the real thing! Students at New York University quickly worked out that business cards with the famous Coca Cola logo weren't advertising a fizzy drink.
Hundreds of the cards were slipped into copies of Village Voice in corner honour boxes at the college dorms in the city.
The cards had been carefully paper clipped to each paper promoting a 24-hour drug delivery service.
All of them had a phone number where students could order their illicit take-out, said police.
On some nights, the dealers got as many as 170 calls for drugs.
But detectives got wise to the scheme after a tip-off from an informant and now the two enterprising drug peddlers accused of orchestrating the ring are behind bars on $1million bail each.
'I have seen loads of Craigslist cases,' said Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Laura Ward.
'But I've never seen something as inventive as this. So this is actually something a little different for me,' she added.
As well as the Coca Cola symbol, some cards had a picture of a livery car with the words 'Purple Rain...Up in Smoke'.
The pair had built up a regular clientele of some 200 customers, said city Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget Brennan and NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly in a joint press release.
A four-month investigation revealed that the service delivered marijuana and low-cost but high-grade cocaine to customers' doorsteps, targeting a clientele of university students and the bar crowd in the East Village and Lower East Side.
Thomas 'Biggie' Zenon and Miguel 'G' Guzman, both pleaded not guilty today in Manhattan Supreme Court to multiple counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance.
According to the press release, the delivery service was discovered several months ago after an anonymous tipster reported finding one of the calling cards in a paper.
Undercover officers made a dozen calls to buy cocaine and marijuana from the pair, who turned up with the drugs in their delivery cars.
The biggest two sales were for a half-ounce of cocaine at $1,000 each.
Guzman, 43, of North Bergen, NJ, was arrested last night as he allegedly got ready to make a delivery to a customer on the Upper West Side. He was carrying 16 grams of cocaine, more than $1,600 cash and four cell phones as well as a small stack of the Coca Cola cards.
Zenon, 40, was busted last night inside a restaurant in Washington Heights. Twenty bags of marijuana were found by police inside a coffee thermos in his car, as well as more Purple Rain cards, according to detectives.
Both men have convictions for drug sales dating back from 2003, officials said.
Defence lawyer Barry Weinstein argued that the bail amount was far too high. 'In all these months, they were unable to get an A1 sale out of these guys. These are not giants of industry,' he said.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1349521/The-police-beat-THIS-feeling-Two-arrested-drug-dealers-promote-business-Coca-Cola-business-cards.html#ixzz1BkXEbOSlIt's not the real thing! Students at New York University quickly worked out that... more
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Some 290 kilograms (639 pounds) of "high-grade cocaine" was discovered in a shipping container at a Hong Kong terminal, the government said in a statement Wednesday.
The cocaine, worth some HK $260 million (U.S. $33 million) was found December 29 at the Kwai Chung Container Terminal, "in a container arriving from South America and destined for the mainland," Hong Kong's Information Services Department said.
Hong Kong's customs department has recently stepped up inspections of "suspicious consignments from South America" at the terminal, the statement said.
Customs officers intercepted two containers that purportedly contained "wood working products" from a container vessel from Chile, officials said. "Following inspection using the X-ray system and drug detector dogs, officers found a batch of cocaine in one of the containers, concealed inside 88 pieces of hollowed-out wood planks," the statement said.Some 290 kilograms (639 pounds) of "high-grade cocaine" was discovered in a... more
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The drug czar has gone to great rhetorical lengths to convince the American people that our drug policy isn’t a war any longer, but you don't have to look very hard to see the violence that still erupts daily, not only in Mexico, but right here in our own communities. If you can handle it, I'd like you to take a look at just one example of the incredible violence police use when enforcing our drug laws.
That is how quickly lives are lost in the war on drugs. When police invade private homes in search of drugs, anything and everything can go wrong, and even the slightest misunderstanding becomes a matter of life and death. The victim in this case, Todd Blair, brandished a golf club in terror as armed men stormed his home in the night. We'll never know for sure if he realized they were police. But we do know that only a small amount of drugs were found in the raid that took his life.
That drugs and violence often go hand in hand isn't a mystery to many among us – the bloodshed gripping Mexico is old news by now – but this is a very different kind of drug war violence than the infamous turf wars of the cartels. This is a rare glimpse into the unbelievable level of force our own public servants unleash routinely in order to protect us from ourselves. This man was just a drug user. Whether he ever sold drugs is in dispute, but there's no question that he lived and died in poverty, and not from drugs, but from police who gunned him down in his own home.
So long as we rely on police to lead the fight against drug abuse, the consequences will unfold brutally all around us and people who could have been helped – not to mention innocent bystanders – will be lost to us forever. Mistakes and misunderstandings will continue to occur with deadly frequency, but to a very large extent, the tragic events that take place daily in the war on drugs are not mistakes at all; they are the real and inevitable results of the laws our police enforce and the orders they receive. If heavily-armed pre-dawn drug raids are standard protocol, then people getting shot dead in the dark obviously can't be considered a crime, and it shouldn't be called an accident either.
The movement to end the war on drugs isn't just about making drugs legal. It's also about making it illegal for police to kill our friends and family over small bags of contraband.
Blair had been under investigation for several months by the strike force on suspicion of dealing meth and heroin. Only a small amount of marijuana, and paraphernalia, was found in the home, Smith said, and a small vial of what appeared to be meth was in the dead man's pants pocket.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/speakeasy/2011/jan/18/brutal_drug_raid_killing_caughtThe drug czar has gone to great rhetorical lengths to convince the American people... more
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Mexico has been getting a bad name in the last couple of years; actually it's been awful. No matter where you turn for your news, it's about drug cartels, assassinations, beheadings, marijuana, cocaine, border crossings, fences, and in the case of a certain Arizona Governor, imaginary beheadings in the Arizona desert as a direct result of immigration. I suppose when the news is so bad, you can get to make up your own.
I have just returned from Mexico and I did not go there to report on anything political or about the implications of our foreign policy with this nation. However, what I discovered is that at times, the story attaches itself to your subconscious and follows you around. And whereas it may have been subtle at first, it becomes ubiquitous. And no matter where you go, signs of modern day poverty, child hunger, unemployment and other symptoms of globalization spill from the sidewalks. Young men walk on dangerous two-lane highways hoping to find a can or bottle to redeem which may have been tossed out the window by a visitor. At times, they walk alone, and at others, they queue up in threes.
There was no escaping the Acapulco headlines, horrific as they were, on January 8th, 2011. Sure, they were drug related, and the message was delivered personally by the notorious El Chapo Guzman. If Acapulco had been spared the 'smear' of violence, it was now on the map of areas to avoid.
Continue reading on Examiner.com: US/Mexico border drama: when the story finds you - National Foreign Policy | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/foreign-policy-in-national/us-mexico-border-drama-when-the-story-finds-you#ixzz1BGOSRI00Mexico has been getting a bad name in the last couple of years; actually it's... more
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Panamanian authorities seized 1,025 kilos (2,257 pounds) of cocaine in the Caribbean province of Colon, 80 kilometers (50 miles) northwest of the capital, a senior prosecutor said Tuesday
The seizure of the drug, found in 41 nylon bags, took place Dec. 31 in a mountainous area of the town of Cocle del Norte, chief counternarcotics prosecutor Nathaniel Murgas told a press conference.
“For the moment we have made no arrests. Investigations were carried out around the scene but we were unable to identify anyone linked to the drug consignment,” Murgas said.
He said that also confiscated in the operation was a 32-foot speedboat anchored to the banks of the Chiquero River, which had some 12 fuel tanks hidden inside.Panamanian authorities seized 1,025 kilos (2,257 pounds) of cocaine in the Caribbean... more
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Three suspects arrested after forming an international team which included six members of Dubai police.
Dubai Police arrested three suspects, between December 10 and December 12 accused of drug trafficking and money laundering, the three suspects are connected to an international gang that spans across the UAE, South Africa, United Kingdom, and The Netherlands and communicated through cryptic messages via telecommunication methods.
"We haven't found any drugs here but the involvement of the three suspects with drug trafficking crimes overseas is not acceptable and punishable according to the penal code article number 21," said Major General Khamis Mattar Al Mazeina, Deputy Chief of Dubai Police, during a press conference on Monday.
Dubai Police arrested the three suspects after forming an international team which included six members of Dubai police. The investigation took over a year in order to track the gang's modus operandi and their activities.
Three suspects were arrested in Dubai, (A.S) who is considered the mastermind and his accomplices (M.A) and (K.A). According to police sources, A.S who is of Asian origin but carries an European passport and other undisclosed passports which might be partially-forged was arrested in a European country and jailed for five years in drug-related crimes before coming to the UAE and resuming his activities.Three suspects arrested after forming an international team which included six members... more
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According to Wikipedia, Methylenedioxypyrovalerone hydrochloride is a drug with effects similar to meth and cocaine that is marketed as "bath salts," with names like Cloud 9, Ivory Wave, Ocean, Charge Plus, White Lightning, Scarface, Hurricane Charlie, Red Dove and White Dove.
Louisiana has now added the substance to the Controlled Dangerous Substance Act, making it illegal to possess, manufacture or distribute them in Louisiana.
Since the end of September, officials say Louisiana Poison Control has received 165 calls from people in crisis after snorting, smoking or injecting these dangerous substances.
According to the latest figures, 85 percent Louisiana Poison Control Center calls reportedly came from emergency room doctors or first responders caring for individuals suffering the traumatic side effects of ingesting the fake 'bath salts'.
These types of crises are being reported across the country, officials said.
The 165 calls in Louisiana, reportedly represents nearly 57 percent of calls recorded nationwide.
State officials say those who use these fake 'bath salts' are reportedly being treated for extreme paranoia, hallucinations, delusions, agitation, hypertension, chest pain, headache, and many report suicidal thoughts.
http://consumerist.com/2011/01/drug-masquerading-as-bath-salts-banned-in-louisiana-1.htmlAccording to Wikipedia, Methylenedioxypyrovalerone hydrochloride is a drug with... more
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New Az. State Rep wants to form the Arizona Militia to guard the border. Something all of us should consider, a State militia and Civil Defense accountable to the Governor. No sense in not being ready.
More on the Global Chessboard Series - Yes, another Border Patrol agent on the Arizona border was shot and killed by Mexican drug smugglers last month. There were eight attackers this time with four in custody Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was part of a border tactical unit (BORTAC) tracking armed drug smugglers 15 miles northwest of Nogales, Ariz., when the team was attacked with automatic weapons. The area is well-known as a major drug-smuggling corridor, and the smugglers are known to be armed with AK-47s and tactical battle weapons. The captured smugglers had AK-47s and backpacks filled with ammunition, food and radios. There are rumors that three of the captured four are members of the Mexican military, but that is unconfirmed. Yet, it would not be the first time Mexican police and military have been apprehended smuggling drugs into the United States.http://patriotsforamerica.ning.com/forum/topics/arizona-militiaNew Az. State Rep wants to form the Arizona Militia to guard the border. Something all... more
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Over the course of four months, Vanguard correspondent and executive producer Adam Yamaguchi was embedded with anti-drug task forces in the US and Mexico. During the shoot, hundreds of millions of dollars worth of narcotics were seized.
When California began marijuana eradication efforts in 1983, authorities seized fewer than 100,000 plants in the state. Last year, they seized more than seven million plants with a total value of $15 billion.
In "Marijuana Wars," Yamaguchi joins an elite task force as they survey and eradicate multi-million dollar marijuana fields run by Mexican drug trafficking organizations.
Cameras follow undercover operatives as they launch an operation to stop marijuana production by taking down the low-level planters, drug transporters and even the drug financiers themselves. The agents explain how the tentacles of Mexican drug cartels are reaching the east coast of the U.S., creating operation and distribution hubs--and bringing the war much closer to home.
"Vanguard," airing weekly on Current TV Mondays at 9/8c, is a no-limits documentary series whose award-winning correspondents put themselves in extraordinary situations to immerse viewers in global issues that have a large social significance. Unlike sound-bite driven reporting, the show's correspondents, Adam Yamaguchi, Kaj Larsen, Christof Putzel and Mariana van Zeller, serve as trusted guides who take viewers on in-depth real life adventures in pursuit of some of the world's most important stories.
For more, go to http://current.com/vanguard.Over the course of four months, Vanguard correspondent and executive producer Adam... more
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In "Marijuana Wars, Part 2," Vanguard executive producer and correspondent Adam Yamaguchi joins an elite task force as they survey and eradicate multi-million dollar marijuana fields run by Mexican drug trafficking organizations.
In this clip, Adam learns how undercover operatives prepare to go inside a Mexican drug trafficking organization, posing as land owners whose property could become a marijuana grow site.
"Vanguard," airing weekly on Current TV Mondays at 9/8c, is a no-limits documentary series whose award-winning correspondents put themselves in extraordinary situations to immerse viewers in global issues that have a large social significance. Unlike sound-bite driven reporting, the show's correspondents, Adam Yamaguchi, Kaj Larsen, Christof Putzel and Mariana van Zeller, serve as trusted guides who take viewers on in-depth real life adventures in pursuit of some of the world's most important stories.
For more, go to http://current.com/vanguard.In "Marijuana Wars, Part 2," Vanguard executive producer and correspondent... more
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In "Marijuana Wars, Part 2," Vanguard executive producer and correspondent Adam Yamaguchi joins an elite task force as they survey and eradicate multi-million dollar marijuana fields run by Mexican drug trafficking organizations.
In this clip, undercover operatives conclude a dramatic four-month investigation by luring growers and financiers -- who may be heavily armed -- into a trap.
"Vanguard," airing weekly on Current TV Mondays at 9/8c, is a no-limits documentary series whose award-winning correspondents put themselves in extraordinary situations to immerse viewers in global issues that have a large social significance. Unlike sound-bite driven reporting, the show's correspondents, Adam Yamaguchi, Kaj Larsen, Christof Putzel and Mariana van Zeller, serve as trusted guides who take viewers on in-depth real life adventures in pursuit of some of the world's most important stories.
For more, go to http://current.com/vanguard.In "Marijuana Wars, Part 2," Vanguard executive producer and correspondent... more
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In "Marijuana Wars, Part 2," Vanguard executive producer and correspondent Adam Yamaguchi joins an elite task force as they survey and eradicate multi-million dollar marijuana fields run by Mexican drug trafficking organizations.
In this clip, we see how the reach of drug trafficking isn't contained to California. In Gwinnett County, outside Atlanta, 71 people have been indicted as part of a trafficking take-down.
"Vanguard," airing weekly on Current TV Mondays at 9/8c, is a no-limits documentary series whose award-winning correspondents put themselves in extraordinary situations to immerse viewers in global issues that have a large social significance. Unlike sound-bite driven reporting, the show's correspondents, Adam Yamaguchi, Kaj Larsen, Christof Putzel and Mariana van Zeller, serve as trusted guides who take viewers on in-depth real life adventures in pursuit of some of the world's most important stories.
For more, go to http://current.com/vanguard.In "Marijuana Wars, Part 2," Vanguard executive producer and correspondent... more
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When Brazilian commandos raided the Rio De Janeiro slum yesterday they found something truly shocking at the city's most notorious drug gang hangouts - a Justin Bieber mural.It's not the music you would instantly connect with a bunch of South American drug barons but in the home of Pezao, one of the area's top traffickers, the police found a giant mural of the Canadian. Seems drugs do affect the mind after all. In the raid 2,600 police and army operatives swept through a Brazilian slum seizing 11 tons of marijuana and "a small arsenal" of weapons—including a missile—from a notorious drug gang. The clashes lead to at least 50 deaths. The hope was to weaken the Red Command drug gang and capture some of its notorious members—like Zeu, the drug lord behind the samurai-sword murder of Brazilian journalist Tim Lopes.
When Brazilian commandos raided the Rio De Janeiro slum yesterday they found... more
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In this scene from "Marijuana Wars, Part 1," Vanguard executive producer and correspondent Adam Yamaguchi embeds with MAVMIT, an elite task force that hikes into the California wilderness in search of marijuana grow sites operated by Mexican drug trafficking organizations.
California has become one of the leading producers of marijuana in the world--most of it produced by Mexican drug trafficking organizations. And the proceeds from marijuana have become a cash cow for traffickers, generating greater profits than cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin combined.
"Marijuana Wars Part 1" premieres Monday, November 22 at 9/8c on Current TV.
"Vanguard," airing weekly on Current TV Mondays at 9/8c, is a no-limits documentary series whose award-winning correspondents put themselves in extraordinary situations to immerse viewers in global issues that have a large social significance. Unlike sound-bite driven reporting, the show's correspondents, Adam Yamaguchi, Kaj Larsen, Christof Putzel and Mariana van Zeller, serve as trusted guides who take viewers on in-depth real life adventures in pursuit of some of the world's most important stories.
For more, go to http://current.com/vanguard.In this scene from "Marijuana Wars, Part 1," Vanguard executive producer and... more
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Vanguard correspondent Adam Yamaguchi went deep inside a long, intense investigation into marijuana trafficking -- but he didn't expect the contact high he got when Mexican authorities showed him their stash of seized drugs.
California has become one of the leading producers of marijuana in the world--most of it produced by Mexican drug trafficking organizations. And the proceeds from marijuana have become a cash cow for traffickers, generating greater profits than cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin combined.
"Marijuana Wars Part 1" premieres Monday, November 22 at 9/8c on Current TV, and "Part 2" premieres Monday, November 29.
"Vanguard," airing weekly on Current TV Mondays at 9/8c, is a no-limits documentary series whose award-winning correspondents put themselves in extraordinary situations to immerse viewers in global issues that have a large social significance. Unlike sound-bite driven reporting, the show's correspondents, Adam Yamaguchi, Kaj Larsen, Christof Putzel and Mariana van Zeller, serve as trusted guides who take viewers on in-depth real life adventures in pursuit of some of the world's most important stories.
For more, go to http://current.com/vanguard.Vanguard correspondent Adam Yamaguchi went deep inside a long, intense investigation... more
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