Mexican police have confiscated a device called the "marijuana cannon," used as an effective tool for drug cartels according to the Associated Press.

The cannon was reportedly used to hurl bags of marijuana across the border fence into California, state police officials said this week.

The device was made up of a plastic pipe and a "crude metal tank" that used compressed air from the engine of an old car, police said to the Televisa Network.

The "cannon" fired cylinders packed with drugs that could weigh as much as 30 pounds.

Click here to see the "marijuana cannon."

The cannon was confiscated after U.S. officers told Mexican police that had been confiscating a large number of drug packages the last month or so. The packages appeared to have been produced in Mexico, which led police to start the investigation.

Mexican police have discovered a number of different border devices in the past decade or so.

Another cannon was used in a similar fashion and discovered by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials when they recovered over 30 cans of marijuana "scattered" in Yuma, Arizona near the Colorado River according to Yahoo.

"(Police) determined that the cans were fired from about 500 feet away with a pneumatic-powered cannon" and that a "carbon-dioxide tank was found nearby," according to a report by NBC News.

The debate on whether or not to legalize marijuana has remained "a point of contention" in the U.S. as many states become more accepting of the drug according to Zap2it.com. California was the first to legalize the drug for medical usage in the 1990ss, but the 2012 election marked the first time a state legalized the recreational use of the drug in both Washington and Colorado.

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