And so up in smoke went the equivalent of a few hundred million joints in what Mexican authorities called the largest seizure of the drug in the country’s history, a dash of hype befitting the elaborate ceremony to both get rid of it and highlight a success, any success, in a bloody, lingering drug war.

It had taken soldiers several hours to unload three tractor-trailers and a smaller truck filled with the 15,300 bales — wrapped in plastic and aluminum foil, with some labeled “yoyo” and “dog” and “wolf” or bearing the smiling image of Homer Simpson, apparent branding for distributors in the United States.

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