during a police raid in Juárez City, Chihuahua, just four days after violently escaping prison. López Obrador has acceded to U.S. requests to extradite criminals to the U.S. In Michoacán, drug mafias have been extorting avocado producers, an ongoing issue especially following the rise in demand in the U.S. for the crop. In April 2020, at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, Mexican drug cartels had been handing out food relief in their core regions. López Obrador called on them instead to end the violence. Cartels have been acting with continued impunity in Mexico City, with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel targeting the chief of its police force, Omar García Harfuch for assassination in an early morning. He survived wounded, but two of his bodyguards and a civilian were killed. López Obrador's policy toward drug cartels has been criticized in the press in the United States on an ongoing basis. Since 2020, a gradual decrease in intentional homicides has been shown nationwide in Mexico. In the year 2020, the amount of reported intentional homicides was 0.4% less than 2019, further decreasing by 4.6% in 2021, and again in 2022 by 7.1%. López Obrador stated in his 6 January 2022 report that he plans to continue this trend throughout the rest of his presidency. Despite this, 2019 was one of the most violent years in Mexican history, with 34,690 reported intentional homicides. The reports conclude that nearly half of all intentional homicides in 2022 occurred in six out of 32 states and that 23 states showed a decrease as high as 13%. In the State of Zacatecas, which saw a sharp increase in total homicide rates in 2021 —of 41% in the first 11 months, making it the biggest statewide increase in the country on that year—, intentional homicides decreased by 13.76% and total homicides by 7.57% in 2022, according to the Executive Secretary of the National Public Security System (SESNSP). Though a nationwide decrease has been perceived, some areas have perceived an increase in 2022. In 17 out of the 50 "priority municipalities," where intentional homicides are concentrated, an average increase of 8.5% in such homicides was reported, whereas in 32 an average decrease of 24.3% was reported, with Cuernavaca, Morelos, being the only municipality with no reported changes. Plans to legalize the personal use of marijuana missed a 24 October 2019 SCJN deadline, which was extended to 30 April