Corruption. Extradition. Border violence. Those were the standard talking-point topics by Texas lawmakers following Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán's brazen escape last week from a maximum-security Mexican prison.

Now, some advocates hope to add “drug policy reform” to the list, arguing that Guzmán’s catapult back to power of the Sinaloa cartel should lead to new discussions on how much outlawing drugs empowers the world's most ruthless drug lords.

RANCHO CUCAMONGA >> More than 4,000 pot plants and 100 pounds of cannabis were seized at a marijuana grow operation in the mountains north of here, according to the Sheriff’s Department.

The illegal grow operation negatively impacted the environment around Day Creek Canyon, authorities said Friday.

The sheriff’s marijuana enforcement team worked with the DEA and the state attorney general’s Campaign Against Marijuana Planting, formed to eradicate cultivation camps “that cause deforestation, damage to wildlife habitats, pose danger to our citizens, and hazardous-chemical pollutions,” according to the attorney general’s website.

Marijuana decriminalization and legalization initiatives are not only sweeping through the U.S. — countries across the world are beginning to signal the green light for cannabis policy reform.

Here are 10 countries where lawmakers and public sentiment are changing the tide on cannabis policy.

1. Jamaica

Jamaica — home to the Rastafarian movement — recently joined the list of countries to decriminalize marijuana, and this year it will be hosting the World Cannabis Cup in Negril Nov. 12-15.

Police in Mexico have seized nearly three tonnes of marijuana hidden in a house in Miguel Aleman, a town along the US border (Representational Image)

Police in Mexico have seized nearly three tonnes of marijuana hidden in a house in Miguel Aleman, a town along the US border in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas, officials said.

The house in Linda Vista district was being guarded by a man who fled as soon as he spotted officers approaching, the Tamaulipas Coordination Group said.

According to Zero Zero Zero by Roberto Saviano and Dreamland by Sam Quinones, the flow of Class A drugs around the world is now unstoppable, and traffickers have grown increasingly violent. If only the trade were regulated, all this could change

Rosalio Reta was 13 years old when recruited by a Mexican drug cartel. He was given a loyalty test — shoot dead a man tied to a chair — then moved into a nice house in Texas. Soon he was earning $500 a week for stakeouts and odd jobs, but the big money came from slitting the throats of the gang’s enemies, which paid a $50,000 bonus. Four years later he was arrested after 20 murders; his only remorse was over accidentally sparking a massacre that left him fearing his bosses might exact revenge on him.

Prohibition was a failure in the 1920s, and, for similar reasons, the so-called war on drugs has been a disaster. Forty years after U.S. President Richard Nixon declared this war, consumption worldwide is up, violence has increased and the rule of law has collapsed, especially in Latin America.

Basic economics tells us that when there is artificial pressure on supply, prices go up and margins increase — the perfect incentives for criminal activities. The same mistake was made in the United States almost a century ago with Prohibition. As early as 1925, some observers started to see that this policy, far from stopping crime, was leading to the formation of large networks of well-funded crime syndicates.

The world’s most notorious drug dealer vanished from a maximum security prison on Saturday, setting off a celebration worthy of the folk hero he’s become in parts of his native Mexico. But the escape of Joaquin Guzman could be a headache for American drug reformers—especially fans of marijuana legalization.

It’s hard to imagine anything slowing the roll of pot. The first aboveboard just-for-fun cannabis markets are up and running in Colorado and Washington. Voters in Oregon and Alaska are working on the same. A consistent majority of Americans say they support plans to legalize the drug elsewhere in 2016, according to polls by NBC News and others.

OAK HILLS: Another marijuana grow busted, Mexican nationals arrested

The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Marijuana Enforcement Team was busy on Wednesday, busting marijuana growing operations in Oak Hills and Piñon Hills.

The Oak Hills operation was carried out around noon on Wednesday. Investigators seized around 315 plants that ranged from two- to three-feet-tall.

Two people were arrested. Both were identified as residents of Mexico.

Let me come right our and say what you won’t tell
the American people. The War on Drugs is unwinnable.
It was unwinnable for Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan,
Bush, Clinton, Bush, and now Obama. At forty-four years,
it’s America’s longest war and there’s no end in sight.

Celebrated crime writer Don Winslow continues his secret history of the War on Drugs in his disturbing and important new novel, 'The Cartel'