Bolivia Police seized about 1.5 tons of marijuana, one of the biggest this year, that was destined for Chile and held that the drug was valued in international markets at $ 2.2 million, reported the government on Friday.

"Staff of the departmental head of Potosi (southwest) carried out the hijacking of 1,485 kilos 600 grams of marijuana," said Minister of Government (Interior), Carlos Romero, showing hundreds of packages in the form of bricks.

He added, according to the government news agency ABI- that "illegal goods in foreign markets have a cost of $ 2,227,500, taking into account that one kilo outside Bolivia is worth $1,500."

The seizure is one of the biggest this year.

I have just watched the closing plenary session of the 2016 UN General Assembly Special Session on the world drug problem here in New York. Presidents and Prime Ministers will now move on to the climate change summit that opens tomorrow, and the thousands of government and NGO delegates who have filled the UN building in Manhattan over the last 3 days will catch their flights back to all corners of the globe. So was it worth it – three years of preparation, tens of millions of dollars of travel and meeting costs, and countless hours of debate and negotiation. Is the international community any better placed to reduce the health, social and economic problems associated with illicit drug markets?

Across the Americas, the model of prohibition has fuelled inequality, bloodshed, and the mass violation of human rights. We need to understand why it has failed. 

In April 2016, the international community will convene for the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on the World Drug Problem (UNGASS). This event, held two years early due to the urgency of the drug situation and intensity of drug-related violence, presents an opportunity to question the fundamentals of international drug policy. Despite overwhelming evidence that a century-long quest to control human behaviour and drug markets through international treaties and national legislation has failed, there is little expectation of change. The vested interests in retaining the status quo are significant, with sclerosis legitimised through the recurrent exhortation to improve international co-operation.

Drug enforcement agents seized 419.5 kilos of marijuana hidden in a vehicle abandoned in a town in Oruro, a region in the Bolivian Andes, the commander of the FELCN drug enforcement agency, Col. Santiago Delgadillo, said.

The vehicle was found by FELCN agents in the town of Vichuloma, Delgadillo said in a press conference in Oruro.

The marijuana was smuggled into Bolivia from Paraguay and had a street value of about $692,000 in Chile, where it was suspected of being bound, the FELCN chief said.

The FELCN seized 750 grams of cocaine base paste in a separate operation in Caihuasi, another town in Oruro, and arrested three people suspected of smuggling the drugs into Chile.

The US has again "decertified" Bolivia over what it calls a failure to comply with international narcotics agreements, despite recent data showing the country has achieved an unparalleled decrease in coca cultivation compared to other Andean nations in South America.

The decision, while widely expected, was roundly criticized by drug policy experts, who called the move hypocritical given that the US may be in contravention of UN drug conventions due to legalized marijuana markets in several states.

In a notification to the Congress, Obama determined that Bolivia, Burma (Myanmar), and Venezuela "failed demonstrably" during the last twelve months to make sufficient or meaningful efforts to adhere to their obligations under international counter narcotic agreements.

MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE

SUBJECT:       Presidential Determination on Major Drug Transit or Major Illicit Drug Producing Countries for Fiscal Year 2016

Pursuant to section 706(1) of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Year 2003 (Public Law 107-228) (FRAA), I hereby identify the following countries as major drug transit and/or major illicit drug producing countries:  Afghanistan, The Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia, Burma, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Laos, Mexico, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela.