Albania cracks down on marijuana production in key southern village

By Benet Koleka LAZARAT Albania (Reuters) - The smoke from burning marijuana plants billowed from a dozen houses on Day Five of Albania's most serious move yet against a southern village, armed to the teeth, that has churned out weed on an industrial scale for more than 15 years. Lazarat has long blighted Albania’s efforts to shed the image of a Balkan badlands since it threw off communism in 1991. With the fruits of its labor turning up in Italy, Greece and, last year, Germany, Albania has come under increasing pressure from the European Union to crack down on drug producers long considered untouchable, out of reach of the law thanks to a web of corrupt connections to the police and politicians. Albania hopes to get approval later this month from each of the EU’s 28 member states to become an official candidate for inclusion in the group.

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