In the first five months of the year, Iranian authorities may have executed nearly 250 people for drug offenses, according to multiple human rights organizations. That's almost two people a day. And despite the alarming frequency with which alleged drug offenders are being put to death in the country, the United Nations is readying a multimillion-dollar package to continue helping Iranian authorities with their anti-drug efforts -- a move that critics say stands in violation of the U.N.'s own human rights policy.

In “Weed the People,” Bainbridge Island author Bruce Barcott delivers a thorough and entertaining survey of the burgeoning legalization of marijuana in the U.S. Barcott appears April 15 at Seattle’s Elliott Bay Book Co.

‘Weed the People: The Future of Legal Marijuana in America’ by Bruce Barcott Time, Inc., 400 pp., $22.95

A village in southwestern Iran has recently gained quite a reputation for its vibrant marijuana trade, which has earned it the nickname “Little Amsterdam”. But residents of Ghalat, which is about 40 kilometres from Shiraz, aren’t just reaping in the profits. This small village is now suffering from insecurity and violent clashes with the police. 

The Islamic Republic has so many problems with heroin and meth, it may be ignoring the rise of weed – a fact that’s making many young Iranians very happy.