Phillip S. Smith, Editor
David Borden, Executive Director

don't cook meth in front of the kids

• 1. Editorial: Not Playing by the Rules, Not Making Sense

  Legislators and law enforcers should not disrespect the constitutional frameworks intended to limit their power.

• 2. Appeal/Book Offer: Race to Incarcerate, by Marc Mauer

  Support DRCNet with a much-needed donation and get your copy of this important book about the unprecedented rise in the use of imprisonment in the United States over the last 25 years.

• 3. Feature: Judge Throws Out Part of Alaska Marijuana Recriminalization Law, Up to An Ounce is Now Legal At Home

  Gov. Frank Murkowski's two-year effort to recriminalize marijuana in Alaska hit another roadblock Monday when a Superior Court judge struck down the part of the law he pushed through the legislature earlier this year.

• 4. Feature: Methamphetamine as Child Abuse Laws Gain Ground, But Do They Help or Hurt?

• 5. Law Enforcement: This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories

  Some New Jersey cops got too friendly with drug dealers, while a Pennsylvania park ranger and a New Mexico jail guard got caught trying to be drug dealers.

• 6. Law Enforcement: Goose Creek Agrees to Pay Up, Change Ways in Settlement of Notorious High School Drug Raid Case

  A federal judge Tuesday gave final approval to a landmark settlement in the infamous South Carolina school raid case. Included was a provision to enforce the Fourth amendment.

• 7. Sentencing: California Governor Signs Bill Amending Proposition 36, Is Immediately Sued

  Gov. Schwarzenegger Wednesday signed a bill to substantially alter the state's voter-approved "treatment not jail" ballot measure. One of the authors of the measure immediately filed suit to block the new law from going into effect.

• 8. Search and Seizure: Vermont Judge Says State Constitution Provides Protection Even if Federal Doesn't

  Though the US Supreme Court ruled last month that police officers who violate "knock and announce" search warrant rules can use the ill-gotten evidence against defendants, that's not good enough for at least one Vermont judge.

• 9. Sentencing: Justice Kennedy Lashes Out at Harsh Prison Terms

  US Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy told a gathering of judges in Southern California Sunday US sentencing practices were harsh and troubling.

• 10. Harm Reduction: San Diego Reinstates Needle Exchange Program

  The city of San Diego Wednesday rejoined the ranks of cities offering needle exchange programs as a public health service when the city council voted to reinstate the privately-funded program.

• 11. First Amendment: New Michigan Law Bans Methamphetamine Recipes on Internet

  Little noticed among the package of anti-methamphetamine bills signed last week by Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm was one that bans publication of recipes for cooking meth and provides civil sanctions for violating it.

• 12. Middle East: US Troops, Iraqi Police Seize Marijuana Plants

  US troops and Iraqi police seized and destroyed a bumper crop of marijuana plants last week, according to a report in Stars and Stripes.

• 13. Web Scan: WOLA on Mexico Drug Wars, Sentencing Project and Others Report to UN Human Rights Committee, CURE on Prisons in OAS

  WOLA on Mexican Drug Trade Violence and Corruption, Sentencing Project and Others Report to UN Human Rights Committee, CURE on Prisons in OAS

• 14. Weekly: This Week in History

  Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.

• 15. Weekly: The Reformer's Calendar

  Showing up at an event can be the best way to get involved! Check out this week's listings for events from today through next year, across the US and around the world!