LAZARAT, Albania (AP) — Plumes of pungent pot smoke rose above the small but prosperous Albanian village of Lazarat on Wednesday as police sought to drive out the gangs that have turned it into Europe's largest illegal marijuana producer. 
 
 An Albanian police officers looks over the lawless village of Lazarat, 230 kilometers (140 miles) south of capital Tirana, Wendesday, June 18, 2014, combing houses for marijuana and cannabis. Near-continuous... (Associated Press) 
 
 An Albanian police officer destroys cannabis plants in the garden of a house in the lawless village of Lazarat, 230 kilometers (140 miles) south of capital Tirana, Wednesday, June 18, 2014. Near-continuous... (Associated Press) 
 
 Albanian police burn cannabis seized in Lazarat village, 230 kilometers (140 miles) south of capital Tirana, Tuesday, June 17, 2014. Hundreds of Albanian police, backed by armored vehicles, stormed a... (Associated Press) 
 
 Smoke rises from Lazarat village, 230 kilometers (140 miles) south of capital Tirana, Tuesday, June 17, 2014, allegedly from villagers burning their cannabis ahead of the police raid. Hundreds of Albanian... (Associated Press) 
 
 Albanian police burn cannabis seized in Lazarat village, 230 kilometers (140 miles) south of capital Tirana, Tuesday, June 17, 2014. Hundreds of Albanian police, backed by armored vehicles, stormed a... (Associated Press) 
 
 Albanian police seize marijuana in a storage building in the lawless village of Lazarat, 230 kilometers (140 miles) south of capital Tirana, Wednesday, June 18, 2014. Near-continuous gunfire rings out... (Associated Press) 
 
 Albanian police enter the lawless village of Lazarat, 230 kilometers (140 miles) south of capital Tirana, Wendesday, June 18, 2014, combing houses for marijuana and cannabis . Near-continuous gunfire... (Associated Press) 
 
 Albanian police enter the lawless village of Lazarat, 230 kilometers (140 miles) south of capital Tirana, Wednesday, June 18, 2014, combing houses for drugs. Near-continuous gunfire rings out from the... (Associated Press) 
 
 Albanian police seize marijuana and cannabis in a storage building in the lawless village of Lazarat, 230 kilometers (140 miles) south of capital Tirana, Wednesday, June 18, 2014. Near-continuous gunfire... (Associated Press) 
 
 Albanian police enter the lawless village of Lazarat, 230 kilometers (140 miles) south of capital Tirana, Wednesday, June 18, 2014, combing houses for drugs. Near-continuous gunfire rings out from the... (Associated Press) 
 
 Albanian police search houses in Lazarat village, 230 kilometers (140 miles) south of capital Tirana, Wednesday, June 18, 2014, looking for cannabis and also suspects who shot against them. Near-continuous... (Associated Press) 
 
 Until 10 years ago, Lazarat was a regular farming community. Now it rakes in billions of euros every year from the plants that are openly cultivated in fields and house gardens. 
 
 Set in a green plain overlooked by high hills, this sprawling village of 5,000 is believed to produce about 900 metric tons of cannabis a year, worth some 4.5 billion euros ($6.1 billion) — just under half of the small Balkan country's GDP. 
 
 The lucrative business has left its mark. Flashy cars and expensive homes dot the village, where many residents were left unemployed after the political purges that followed changes of government in Albania in the late 1990s. Ironically, many had previously worked for the customs service, policing nearby border crossings with Greece. 
 
 The marijuana-farming has grown constantly since then, encouraged by strong demand in neighboring Greece and Italy. Albania itself has become a major transit point for other drugs coming in to Europe from Asia and Latin America. 
 
 Authorities use to leave the drug gangs pretty much to their own devices, as police visits tended to be met with gunfire. But the new Socialist government came to power last year aiming to stamp out the marijuana economy as it keeps trying to seek membership in the European Union. The country's application for candidate member status in the 28-nation bloc has been turned down three times, with organized crime and corruption always cited as a stumbling block. 
 
 In the government's most ambitious effort so far, hundreds of police were deployed this week to Lazarat as part of a nationwide anti-drug operation— only to be met by dozens of heavily armed men firing rocket-propelled grenades, mortar shells and heavy machine gunfire. 
 
 With local television broadcasting the events live, police and the Interior Ministry urged residents to stay indoors and warned others to stay away from the area, some 230 kilometers (140 miles) south of the capital, Tirana. 
 
 Police chief Artan Didi told reporters police were targeting a "very well-structured and organized criminal group that is keeping the village in its claws." 
 
 By late Wednesday, some 800 police had brought nearly half the village under control, gingerly advancing into gang-defended areas. So far they have seized and burned 11.3 tons of marijuana packed in sacks and 70,000 plants and destroyed two marijuana laboratories. Police also seized considerable amounts of ammunition from the more than 30 houses searched. 
 
 Interior Minister Saimir Tahiri vowed to persist until "every square centimeter in Lazarat is under state control." 
 
 Smoke from burning marijuana rose above the village — allegedly from fires set by locals to burn their plants as the police closed in. 
 
 Despite the heavy gunfire, casualties were light, with one policeman and three villagers suffering light gunshot wounds. 
 
 The alleged gang leader surrendered to police after protracted negotiations, authorities said in a statement Wednesday. A further eight people were arrested on suspicion of attacking and robbing a television news crew. 
 
 Police said continuous gunfire was still coming from one house, where they believed more than ten gang members were holed up. 
 
 Albania, a small mountainous country on the Adriatic coast opposite Italy, has just over 3 million people. It was for decades Europe's most isolated country until a student uprising toppled the communist regime in 1990 and Albanians emigrated en masse to Greece, Italy and other western countries. 
 
 Another uprising in 1997 led to the extensive looting of military installations, flooding Albania with weapons. 
 
 The former ruling Democratic party issued a statement saying that, while they support the anti-drug operations, the government's response was too heavy-handed in the village. 
 
 The ruling Socialists say Lazarat — a Democratic party stronghold — previously had benefited from links with the country's political elite. 
 
 "Time is over for the links of the world of crime in Lazarat with parliament, with politics, with those they exploited," Tahiri said. "What you are seeing today is the best example of our determination to install the rule of law in every corner of Albania." 
 
 ___ 
 
 Llazar Semini reported from Tirana. ||||| In its quest to join the European Union, Albania is trying to destroy a large chunk of its economy: About 800 police officers have been deployed to seize bags filled with marijuana and burn plantations around the village of Lazarat, which has been producing about 900 metric tons of the stuff a year, according to one estimate. 
 
 The socialist government of Prime Minister Edi Rama apparently hopes that the destruction of the pot will help win over EU officials, who have expressed concern about a number of problems in the deeply corrupt, lawless, predominantly Muslim country. One issue is the custom of blood feuds, a phenomenon the Albanian authorities have found hard to quantify, even though it has severely damaged the country's reputation. Another is a commercial dispute between Albania and the Czech power company, CEZ AS, an investor in its power distribution system. Then there is the trafficking: Albania is not only a major growing nation but also a transit hub for African and Middle Eastern drugs that flow into neighboring Greece and Italy and from there to other European nations. 
 
 Although Albanian officials have been promising to fix all this, they have focused on one theme: Europe should accept Albania to send a positive signal to the Balkans. 
 
 "We are far from being angels but everyone has made a clear choice -- to make peace for the sake of the European perspective," Rama said in a recent speech. 
 
 This has been a convincing argument for the Europeans, who are likely to grant Albania candidate status next week -- a huge credibility boost for Rama and his nation that, judging from the experience of Turkey, doesn't necessarily bring the country any closer to EU accession. No matter what European bureaucrats say, Albania is in much worse shape both economically and in terms of rule of law than even Bulgaria, the EU's poorest member. 
 
 If Albania can be accepted as a candidate, why not Ukraine? Despite the armed conflict raging in its eastern regions, it is at least not a haven for drug trafficking or bloody medieval traditions. Foreign investors are more welcome under pro-business President Petro Poroshenko than under any other eastern European government. The EU won't dare make the move, of course, for fear of further provoking Russia. 
 
 To avoid the appearance of a double standard, Brussels should consider legalizing marijuana throughout the EU. Then Albania, with its well-developed cannabis industry, could be welcomed to the union as a country with a legitimate, honorable specialization. At prevailing prices in Colorado, which recently legalized recreational use of marijuana, the annual output of Lazarat would be worth about $7.6 billion, equivalent to almost a third of Albania's gross domestic product at purchasing power parity. The legalization in Colorado has brought in $7.3 million in taxes in the first three months and hasn't led to a perceptible rise in crime. 
 
 If Europe wants prospective members to meet its economic standards, it should allow them to do what they do best. 
 
 To contact the author of this article: Leonid Bershidsky at lbershidsky@bloomberg.net. 
 
 To contact the editor responsible for this article: Marc Champion at mchampion7@bloomberg.net. ||||| Image copyright AP Image caption Police have laid siege to the village of Lazarat since Monday 
 
 Albanian police have seized more than 10 tonnes of marijuana in a major operation against cannabis growers in the southern village of Lazarat. 
 
 Police say about 800 officers were needed to bring most of the village under control by Wednesday evening. 
 
 One officer and two civilians were hurt in an exchange of gunfire, they add. 
 
 Lazarat produces 900 tonnes of cannabis annually, worth 4.5bn euros ($6.1bn; £3.6bn) - equivalent to almost half of Albania's gross domestic product. 
 
 What the Albanian press say Albanian newspapers Shqiptarja and Panorama report that one of the drug suspects arrested in Lazarat had been pardoned by the president in 2006 after serving only one month of a 23-year prison sentence for trafficking drugs and wounding a police officer. Opponents of the government hint at corruption, saying narcotics traffickers need to be ousted from public posts. The chair of the opposition Democratic Party, Lulzim Basha, calls the anti-cannabis operation a "pseudo-campaign", saying "this is not a fight against drugs, but rather a fight for seizing new markets". But an editorial in Koha Jone believes the police operation will restore public confidence in the rule of law. A week ago, Albania's interior minister discussed the drug problem with EU envoys. He offered better monitoring of crops and raising awareness among the public as solutions, according to the press. 
 
 Police have besieged the village, about 230km (140 miles) south of the capital Tirana, since Monday. 
 
 They were met with heavily armed men firing rocket-propelled grenades and mortar shells. 
 
 Smoke was seen rising above the village, with some witnesses saying it was caused by locals burning marijuana plants before police closed in. 
 
 The operation is still in progress. The alleged gang leader surrendered and 10 others were still holed up inside a house, AFP news agency reports. 
 
 Interior Minister Saimir Tahiri told AP news agency that the operation would continue until "every square centimetre in Lazarat is under state control". 
 
 The operation comes as part of the new Socialist government's campaign to stamp out the marijuana economy in its bid to become part of the European Union. 
 
 Image copyright Reuters Image caption Cannabis plants were openly being cultivated in fields and house gardens in the village 
 
 Image copyright AP Image caption Local TV broadcast the police operation live, with residents warned to stay indoors
– There's a new war in the Balkans: Albanian police versus the farmers who have made the country Europe's biggest producer of illegal marijuana. After years of turning a blind eye to the trade that rakes in billions of dollars a year—almost half the country's GDP—hundreds of police officers backed by armored vehicles have been deployed to the pot-farming village of Lazarat and are battling villagers armed with RPGs, mortars, and machine guns, the AP reports. The government says it is now in control of around half the village and has burned 11 tons of marijuana, a small fraction of the 900 tons the village is believed to produce every year. The crackdown, which has only injured one police officer and three villagers despite the heavy gunfire, is part of the new Socialist government's attempt to stamp out the trade and boost its bid to join the European Union, the BBC reports. At Bloomberg, Leonid Bershidsky says he has a better idea. "Brussels should consider legalizing marijuana throughout the EU," he writes. "Then Albania, with its well-developed cannabis industry, could be welcomed to the union as a country with a legitimate, honorable specialization."