We are currently importing the Drug War Chronicle archives into our new website management system. In the meantime, you can still access all of our back-issues at http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/archives.shtml.
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Maine has become the latest state to approve state-licensed medical marijuana dispensaries. It joins New Mexico and Rhode Island. But locally-allowed (or not) dispensaries are the rule in California, Colorado, and Washington. Both paths have their pluses and minuses.
Nearly a quarter of a million American veterans were behind bars in 2004, many of them for drug abuse-related offenses, a new report finds. While the military, the Veterans Administration, and other agencies are taking some steps to help them, there is much more that could -- and should -- be done.
The British government seems to think that if drug policy is not supported by science, you need to trash the science -- and the scientist -- not the failed policy. It fired a leading voice for science- and evidence-based drug policies last Friday for what amounted to heresy against official dogma.
Breckenridge, Colorado, a Rocky Mountain ski town, just voted overwhelmingly to legalize marijuana under municipal ordinance. Denver did that in 2005.
No break in Mexico's prohibition-related violence as the death toll since December 2006, when President Calderon called in the army, has now topped 15,000. The latest victims include a US soldier gunned down in a Ciudad Juárez strip club with five other people.
For years, federal prosecutors on the US-Mexican border have been so swamped with smuggling cases that they refuse to prosecute busts under 500 pounds. Local prosecutors can't handle the overflow, either, so now, the US is sending busted Mexican pot smugglers back home to be prosecuted.
Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) is floating an amendment to Jim Webb's bill to create a commission on criminal justice reforms. Grassley's amendment would bar any talk of legalization or decriminalization.
The drug war corrodes the integrity of law enforcement in multiple ways, as we see this week: Testilying, sexual extortion, thievery, and the usual just plain old corrupt practices.
A new poll of likely California primary voters has a majority in favor of maintaining marijuana prohibition, but the pollster said that should not be read as suggesting legalization initiatives will necessarily go down to defeat. Different polling questions and populations provide different results, he said.
Dutch authorities at all levels are tightening the screws on the country's famous cannabis coffee shops, and now a prominent coffee shop owner is on trial for violating the rules about how much he can have on hand.
"America's Giving Challenge" is offering prizes ranging from $500 to $50,000 to nonprofits who get the largest number of gifts from supporters between now and November 7 (TOMORROW). Any gift of $10 or higher -- made through the "Causes" program, which is linked in to Facebook -- counts equally toward the prize, and gifts can be made up to once a day. StoptheDrugWar.org is a contestant, and we're asking for your help by participating and by spreading the word.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
Every now and then authorities discover an electrified, air-conditioned tunnel underneath our border with Mexico or Canada, presumably built for drug smuggling. How many such tunnels go undiscovered? And does it take more than one successful smuggling operation to pay for a tunnel's construction?
For the first time in nearly a century, the California legislature took up marijuana legalization on this week. A Wednesday hearing on a legalization bill previewed the battle lines and arguments that lie ahead.
If you're interested in the border or Mexico's drug war or drug culture or drug economy, or in drug law enforcement, we've got a book you need to read. University of Texas-El Paso sociologist and anthropologist Howard Campbell provides a vivid, rich, and nuanced portrayal of drugs and the drug war in El Paso-Juarez that couldn't be more timely.
"America's Giving Challenge" is offering prizes ranging from $500 to $50,000 to nonprofits who get the largest number of gifts from supporters between now and November 7. Any gift of $10 or higher -- made through the "Causes" program, which is linked in to Facebook -- counts equally toward the prize, and gifts can be made up to once a day. StoptheDrugWar.org is a contestant, and we're asking for your help by participating and by spreading the word.
Mexico's wave of prohibition-related violence grinds on, and Ciudad Juárez remains the epicenter.
More crooked jail guards, and a trooper who must have had a whopper of a habit.
Rep. Sam Farr (D-CA) has reintroduced the Truth in Trials Act, which would allow medical marijuana providers prosecuted under federal law to introduce medical evidence during their trials.
New Hampshire will not become the 14th medical marijuana state -- at least, not yet. An effort to override Gov. Mark Lynch's veto fell two votes short in the state Senate Wednesday. Supporters vow to keep working.
The DEA suffered its first spilled blood in Afghanistan Monday when three of its agents were killed in a helicopter crash that also took the lives of seven US soldiers. The chopper was returning from a drug raid when it went down.
Medical marijuana caregivers must actually know the patients for whom they are growing pot, the Colorado Court of Appeals has ruled. The opinion, if upheld on appeal, could put a crimp in the state's fast-growing medical marijuana industry.
In an address to an international health conference in Vietnam, the UN's top health rights official slammed forced "rehab camps" and called for decriminalizing drug use. As many as half million people could be locked up in punitive, old-school mass detoxification camps.
If you are trying to figure out which Latin American country will be the first to legalize marijuana, you can probably eliminate Chile. Support for legalization there is in the teens -- and declining.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
Every two years drug policy reformers from across the United States and around the world come to the International Drug Policy Reform Conference to listen, learn, network and strategize together for change. This year the conference is in Albuquerque, in November, and StoptheDrugWar.org is a partner.
Do you read Drug War Chronicle? If so, we need your feedback to evaluate our work and make the case for Drug War Chronicle to funders. We need donations too.
Apply for an internship at DRCNet and you could spend a semester fighting the good fight!
"Marijuana Debate! Former Judge vs. Several Complete Idiots," "Efforts to Stop Drugs at the Border Have Become a Joke," "It's Not Just Marijuana -- DEA is at War With Other Medicines Too," "A Marijuana Blog That's the Opposite of All the Others," "Obama Isn't Plotting to Legalize Marijuana, But Everyone Else Is," "Former Drug Czar Lies About His History of Attacking Medical Marijuana," "It's Official: The Media is in Love With Marijuana Legalization," "An Historic Hearing on Marijuana Legalization in Sacramento," "Our Side: San Diego ASA Protests State Narcs Lobby Awards," "Heroin Maintenance Comes to Denmark" and "Nice Article on Wisconsin's Medical Marijuana Bill and the Movement Supporting It."
The Justice Department this week formalized earlier statements from Attorney General Eric Holder that the federal government would not go after medical marijuana patients and providers in compliance with state laws. But in places where state law is contested terrain -- California, in particular -- plenty of confusion remains.
Modesto, California, is a sleepy, dusty, economically struggling small city in California's Central Valley. With high levels of methamphetamine and other injection drug use, it is a locale crying out for needle exchange programs. But local officials disagree, and when activists did it anyway, they got busted. Now, they're fighting back.
"America's Giving Challenge" is offering prizes ranging from $500 to $50,000 to nonprofits who get the largest number of gifts from supporters between now and November 7. Any gift of $10 or higher -- made through the "Causes" program, which is linked in to Facebook -- counts equally toward the prize, and gifts can be made up to once a day. StoptheDrugWar.org is a contestant, and we're asking for your help by participating and by spreading the word.
For Mexico, drug prohibition is the deadly gift that keeps on giving. A thousand people have been killed in the past 40 days, and this year's death toll has now passed 6,000. And it seems to be accelerating.
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Vicente Fox sicced the army on the so-called drug cartels when he was president of Mexico, but now he says his predecessor, Felipe Calderon, has gone too far down that path. It's time for the troops to return to the barracks, he said over the weekend.
The world as we know it may indeed end in 2012, if the trend line in recent Gallup polls on marijuana legalization is any indication. More than half the people in the West now want to free the weed, and the figure is up to 45% nationwide.
A California Superior Court judge is blocking the city of Los Angeles from enforcing its moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries. This as local prosecutors declare that all dispensaries are illegal, and as their numbers continue to grow.
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime has issued a dire new report warning that the Afghan opium trade is spreading addiction, disease, and insurgency. Too bad it doesn't address the role of global drug prohibition in exacerbating all these problems.
According to a pair of recent opinion polls inspired by a presidential committee that recommended easing up on soft drugs and prostitution, Romanians favor the latter more than the former.
Drug users are organizing in Asia. After two years of meetings, the Asian Network of People who Use Drugs (ANPUD) has been created in the vein of "nothing about us without us."
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
"Medical Marijuana Isn't a Trojan Horse, the Drug War is a Trojan Horse," "The Daily Show's Best War on Drugs Moments," "Christian Science Monitor Thinks Arresting Cancer Patients Will Stop Marijuana Legalization," "John Stossel and Bill O'Reilly Debate Drug Legalization," "Oakland Airport's Awesome Marijuana Policy," "Cartoon: The First Time I Smoked Pot," "Obama's New Medical Marijuana Statement: What Just Happened?," "Do You Know Your Rights When Dealing With Police?," "Has Anyone Seen Former Drug Czar John Walters Lately?," "Washington Post Story on Crack Sentencing Bill."
Every two years drug policy reformers from across the United States and around the world come to the International Drug Policy Reform Conference to listen, learn, network and strategize together for change. This year the conference is in Albuquerque, in November, and StoptheDrugWar.org is a partner.
Apply for an internship at DRCNet and you could spend a semester fighting the good fight!
The hemp industry is growing weary of waiting for the right to grow hemp in this country. It has filed lawsuits, it has a bill in Congress, and it is asking the Obama administration to treat hemp the same way it treats medical marijuana. But nothing is happening, so now, the movement is turning up the heat with civil disobedience.
Maine is poised to become the next medical marijuana state to adopt a dispensary system with a measure on the ballot in next month's elections. Despite opposition, including from some unexpected quarters, the initiative appears set to pass handily.
Ciudad Juarez continues to earn the title of Mexico's drug war murder capital, but there was plenty of prohibition-fueled killing to go around this past week.
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Is this the year we finally see an end to the infamous crack/powder cocaine sentencing disparity? A bill to do just that has passed the House Judiciary Committee, and now, Sen. Dick Durbin and nine cosponsors have introduced companion legislation in the Senate.
A sheriff shaking down motorists under the guise of asset forfeiture gets a slap on the wrist, and so does a narc who stole the cash from a drug raid. A drug investigation nets two New Jersey cops -- among others -- and another Florida deputy goes down for extorting a pot grower. And sometimes, a cop may not be as corrupt as she first seems.
On Wednesday, a Massachusetts bill that would legalize marijuana got a hearing before the legislature's Joint Revenue Committee. That's a start.
Medical marijuana patients and supporters in Wisconsin have been pushing for action in the legislature this year. Now, a bill is set to be introduced.
The forces of reaction are on the move in Perth. Claiming a mandate from a year-old election, Western Australia Premier Colin Barnett wants to turn back the clock on marijuana law reform, and he's got some more ugly surprises in store, too.
Faced with high levels of methamphetamine use, the New Zealand government is moving to require prescriptions for cold and flu medications containing pseudoephedrine, and just in time for the swine flu. It's got some other anti-meth measures coming, too.
West Africa has become an important transshipment point for cocaine headed from South America to Europe. They also grow a lot of marijuana there. Now, the Liberian government wants to crack down, and it's reading from the old US drug war playbook.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
Every two years drug policy reformers from across the United States and around the world come to the International Drug Policy Reform Conference to listen, learn, network and strategize together for change. This year the conference is in Albuquerque, in November, and StoptheDrugWar.org is a partner.
Apply for an internship at DRCNet and you could spend a semester fighting the good fight!
"Why Does PayPal Have a Problem With Medical Marijuana?," "Awesome: Protesters Plant Hemp at DEA Headquarters, Get Arrested," "What's the Actual Value of a Marijuana Plant?" "Where NOT to Hide Your Stash," "Oakland Cannabis Tax on Lehrer News Hour Last Night," "Senators Sponsor Bill to Lower Crack Cocaine Penalties," "Busy Night on the Medical Marijuana Front."
Whether the Obama administration has ushered in a new era when it comes to the federal government and medical marijuana is arguable. One thing that isn't is that victims of Clinton and Bush era raids remain behind bars or facing prosecution. There are beginning to be moves afoot to right that lingering wrong.
The House has passed a measure that would end the federal ban on funding needle exchange programs, but it includes a provision barring them from operating within a thousand feet or schools, parks, and other public places. Advocates are working to ensure that a good bill comes out of the House-Senate conference committee at the end of the appropriations process.
Another week, another grim death toll in Mexico. September was the bloodiest month this year.
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Cops busted for testilying, a deputy arrested for demanding a bribe from a pot grower, a jail guard arrested for smuggling pot into the prison, and a Michigan town still doesn't know who stole drug buy money from the police department.
As many as 1,500 Rockefeller drug law prisoners could walk out of prison early after reforms passed in April went into effect this week. But that still leaves 12,000 more behind bars in the Empire State.
All of the attention has been on California, but it's Massachusetts where the state legislature will hold a hearing on a marijuana legalization bill next week.
Global Marijuana March organizer Dana Beal and two friends are in hot water after being busted while heading east through Nebraska last week.
First, the Texas DA collaborated in a racially discriminatory and lawless asset forfeiture rip-off scheme directed at innocent motorists. Now, facing a civil lawsuit, she wants to use the very money she helped rip-off to pay for her defense. The ACLU has cried foul.
The Obama administration earlier this year gave up the delusion that eradication of poppy crops was a viable response to widespread Afghan opium production. But now the Russians, with soaring addiction rates because of Afghan heroin, are urging that the poppy fields be sprayed.
Marijuana production and consumption has been a bone of contention in the South Pacific island republic of Fiji for years. Now, some comments from a leading NGO are heating up the controversy again.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
Every two years drug policy reformers from across the United States and around the world come to the International Drug Policy Reform Conference to listen, learn, network and strategize together for change. This year the conference is in Albuquerque, in November, and StoptheDrugWar.org is a partner.
"Drug Czar's Office Reevaluating Marijuana Policy: 'We're trying to base stuff on the facts,'" "Washington Post Punches Marijuana Prohibition in the Teeth," "Irony Alert: Drug Czar Complains About Media Bias," "A Lesson in Etiquette for Drug Policy Activists," "1000 Feet from Everywhere," "Hearings on Massachusetts 'Tax and Regulate' Bill in Boston Next Week," "New York Rockefeller Drug Law Reforms Go Into Effect Today."
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Canada's "Prince of Pot" is in jail in Vancouver, awaiting extradition to the US to accept a five-year plea bargain for selling marijuana seeds to US customers. But if anyone thinks that is going to shut up Emery and his supporters, they should think again.
Hundreds of people came to San Francisco last weekend for the annual NORML conference. The organizers can be forgiven if it seemed a bit California-centric because so much related to marijuana policy is occurring in the Golden State. With the clamor for marijuana reform gaining decibels by the day, the atmosphere was headier than ever.
Mexico's foreign minister said this week that the high death toll in his country's drug war was a sign his government's policy was correct. If that's the case, he just got more confirmation, as the body count continues to rise.
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We've got two weeks worth of corrupt cops again: dope-peddling cops, dope-stealing cops, cops who rip off motorists, cops who rip off their departments, cops who take bribes, cops who squeal to dealers.
We would be remiss if we didn't mention Boston's annual Freedom Rally, the first since Massachusetts voters passed a state decrim law.
Libertarian Free Staters are staging daily pot-smoking civil disobedience protests in Keene, New Hampshire, and this week, the protests spread to Manchester.
The Bush administration warned Congress and the public that we had to allow federal agents to do surreptitious "sneak and peek" searches in order to fight terrorism. Funny how that worked out.
Nearly 40,000 died of drug-related causes in 2006, the vast majority of them overdoses. Dying on drugs is rapidly gaining on dying in car wrecks as America's leading accidental cause of death -- a grim demonstration of the failure of prohibition.
More than a year after the DEA quietly reported that a veterinary anti-parasitic agent was showing up in cocaine, and after at least two US deaths linked to the tainted drug, federal public health officials have finally issued an alert warning doctors, treatment centers, and public health professionals of the menace.
It's been 20 years since Janet Reno established the first drug court in Miami. Now, there are more than 2,100 of them, but the nation's leading criminal defense attorneys' group says they are distorting justice and need serious reforms.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
Every two years drug policy reformers from across the United States and around the world come to the International Drug Policy Reform Conference to listen, learn, network and strategize together for change. This year the conference is in Albuquerque, in November, and StoptheDrugWar.org is a partner.
San Diego may be a gleaming, coastal California city, but when it comes to medical marijuana, it's more like Fresno-by-the-Sea. The latest round of dispensary raids has patients and advocates fuming and looking for ways to extract political revenge and gain a little justice.
The number of marijuana arrests last year declined for the first time since 2002, the FBI said in its Uniform Crime Report this week. The overall number of drug arrests also fell slightly. The down-tick seems to be the result not of enlightened policing, but of law enforcement agencies feeling the budgetary pinch.
The Higher Education Act's "Aid Elimination Penalty," or anti-drug provision, is poised for further watering down after the House of Representatives passed a bill that would limit it to people with drug sales -- not drug possession -- convictions. But the provision's author, Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN) kept fighting almost until the end.
To kick off our autumn fundraising drive, StoptheDrugWar.org is pleased to offer the exciting new book, "Marijuana is Safer -- So Why Are We Driving People to Drink?," as our latest membership premium -- donate $36 or more and we'll send you a copy for free! Things are happening, and the importance of your support at this time could not be greater.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon's war against drug cartels reached a milestone late last week, but not the kind he's looking for: This year's prohibition-related death toll has gone over the 5,000 mark.
More fun for the Philly narcs, a New Jersey ICE employee goes down, and a Brooklyn drug squad supervisor gets off easy.
The State Department and President Obama have issued the annual, congressionally-mandated list of countries not complying with US drug war objectives. The only countries listed as not in compliance are three with which the US has chilly relations, while countries like Afghanistan and Pakistan, elements of whose governments are deeply implicated in the drug trade, get a pass.
And then there were two: Pennsylvania's Board of Pharmacy has issued new regulations allowing pharmacies to sell syringes without a prescription. That leaves Delaware and New Jersey as the only states that don't.
Minneapolis has become the largest US city without a drug squad after the chief axed it as part of an effort to reduce a $5 million budget gap.
Indonesia has a new drug law, but it looks pretty much like business as usual for Southeast Asia, home of some of the world's harshest drug laws.
Faced with thousands of drug tourists flooding into their towns each week, the mayors of two Dutch border towns ordered their cannabis coffee shops to quit selling marijuana as of Wednesday. Coffee shop owners went to court last week to block it, but so far with no luck.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
Do you read Drug War Chronicle? If so, we need your feedback to evaluate our work and make the case for Drug War Chronicle to funders. We need donations too.
Every two years drug policy reformers from across the United States and around the world come to the International Drug Policy Reform Conference to listen, learn, network and strategize together for change. This year the conference is in Albuquerque, in November, and StoptheDrugWar.org is a partner.
"Former Mexican President Proposes Legalizing Drugs in Mexico AND the US," "The Marijuana Ads That ABC, FOX, and CBS Refused to Show You," "The Weekly Standard Cheers on Mexican Drug War Bloodshed," "No Matter How Bad You Think the Drug War Is, It's Worse," "Using Drug Laws to Steal From Innocent People," "US Forest Service Apologizes for Racist Marijuana Warning," "Drug War Violence is Destroying Mexico's Economy," "The Manhattan DA's Race: The Princess of Darkness vs. Two Former Coke-Snorting Assistant DAs," "A Victory in the House of Representatives," "ALERT: Crucial Vote on Souder's Law Happening Tomorrow -- YOUR PHONE CALLS NEEDED!," "Drugs the Most Numerous Arrest Type in '08, Though Down Slightly from '07, FBI Reports," "Room for Debate on Mexico's Drug Decriminalization Law."
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Medical marijuana patient Will Foster's nightmarish odyssey in the American gulag continues. Now the one-time poster boy for sentencing reform is back behind bars in Oklahoma, where parole officials are using some funny numbers to try to extend his sentence.
An Associated Press story at the end of August raised the alarm about levasimole-tainted cocaine, but the problem has been emerging for years. Now, while waiting for the feds to act, harm reductionists and public health workers grapple with how to respond.
To kick off our autumn fundraising drive, StoptheDrugWar.org is pleased to offer the exciting new book, "Marijuana is Safer -- So Why Are We Driving People to Drink?," as our latest membership premium -- donate $36 or more and we'll send you a copy for free! Things are happening, and the importance of your support at this time could not be greater.
Anti-medical marijuana zealot San Diego DA Bonnie Dumanis has struck again. A series of raids yesterday resulted in 31 arrests and 14 dispensaries shuttered. The DEA was there, too.
This year's Mexican drug wars body count is closing in on 5,000, with more than 200 added to the death toll last week.
Man, the Chronicle takes a week off and look what happens: We've got more corrupt cops, sheriffs, ICE agents, and prison guards than you can shake a stick at. And a state prison mental health counselor, too.
It was strike two Monday for the Church of Cognizance and its argument that its members have a religious right to use marijuana. The Arizona Supreme Court rejected that claim from a church member. Last year, a federal court rejected a similar claim from church founders Dan and Mary Quaintance, who are currently in federal prison.
A young Georgia pastor who gave a ride to a woman drug suspect being tailed by undercover narcs is dead. There are many questions.
If you're a cop and you slug an innocent bystander in the face for no reason during a drug raid, it's going to cost your employer big time. At least that's what happened a couple of weeks ago in Minneapolis.
More than a decade ago, Colombia's Constitutional Court ruled that drug possession was not a prosecutable offense. Now, President Uribe is moving to undo that, but the country's Supreme Court has put a roadblock in his path by upholding that ruling.
Holland's conservative coalition government can't find the political will to kill the famous cannabis coffee houses, but it is set to try to turn them into "members only" establishments in a bid to thwart "drug tourism."
Every two years drug policy reformers from across the United States and around the world come to the International Drug Policy Reform Conference to listen, learn, network and strategize together for change. This year the conference is in Albuquerque, in November, and StoptheDrugWar.org is a partner.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
"Prominent Drug Warrior Admits Anti-Drug Propaganda is Exaggerated," "How Much More Proof Do You Need That Lying About Marijuana Doesn't Work?," "Insane Hospital Worker Punishes Medical Marijuana Patient," "Bison Will Eat Marijuana Grown on Contaminated Chemical Weapons Site," "Confused Drug Warrior Predicts 'The End of Medical Marijuana,'" "Confused Drug Warrior Thinks Drugs Are Legal in Mexico," "What Would You Do If You Found a Giant Bag of Weed at the Beach?," "Will Foster is Back in Prison in Oklahoma and Needs Your Help," "Resignation of Mexico's Attorney General Won't Change Much," "Pain Activist Facing Fines in Free Speech Case," "10 Rules for Dealing with Police."
Apply for an internship at DRCNet and you could spend a semester fighting the good fight!
Do you read Drug War Chronicle? If so, we need your feedback to evaluate our work and make the case for Drug War Chronicle to funders. We need donations too.
LEAP is seeking a Director of Development who will manage and grow all aspects of its philanthropic support and outreach, and guide the advancement team and the organization through its next stage of development.
The drug policy wheel is turning, and the US and its hard-line repressive drug policies are becoming increasingly isolated in the hemisphere as in the past week alone 150 million Latin Americans came under one form of decriminalization or another.
Canadian cannabis entrepreneur and legalization advocate Marc Emery is just weeks away from a US federal prison term. But if US and Canadian authorities think they can shut him and his supporters up, they are in for a surprise.
Here's the latest on the prohibition-related carnage wracking Mexico.
We have a Deep South trio of dirty cops this week.
The Obama administration said it wouldn't raid medical marijuana providers who act in accordance with state law, but a bust last week raises a few questions.
In the latest ugly twist in the Will Foster saga, the medical marijuana patient has been extradited back to Oklahoma so the Sooner State can extract a few more pounds of flesh -- and a few more years in prison for growing a plant.
Who has the lowest marijuana possession fine in the nation? Denver is poised to take that honor.
The cops need to get a warrant before asking power companies to record electricity usage, an Alberta court says.
Here's the latest twist on Dutch efforts to deal with "drug tourism." Maybe Belgium, France, and Germany should just change their laws instead.
Some legal highs in Britain soon won't be so legal.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
Every two years drug policy reformers from across the United States and around the world come to the International Drug Policy Reform Conference to listen, learn, network and strategize together for change. This year the conference is in Albuquerque, in November, and StoptheDrugWar.org is a partner.
As part of our summer fundraising drive, DRCNet is pleased to offer Ryan Grim's exciting new book, "This Is Your Country on Drugs: The Secret History of Getting High in America," as our latest membership premium. Things are happening, and the importance of your support at this time could not be greater.
Do you read Drug War Chronicle? If so, we need your feedback to evaluate our work and make the case for Drug War Chronicle to funders. We need donations too.
Apply for an internship at DRCNet and you could spend a semester fighting the good fight!
A research report from the North American Opiate Maintenance Initiative (NAOMI) published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine finds that heroin is more effective than methadone for some hard-core addicts, but also that Dilaudid may work just as well. The report should only add to rising pressure to expand opiate maintenance programs in the US.
Three prominent marijuana reform activists have penned a very valuable new book, "Marijuana Is Safer -- So Why Are We Driving People to Drink?" They make a compelling argument, and they do it very nicely.
Last weekend's Seattle Hempfest is likely to have been the biggest one yet, as multitudes swarmed the waterfront for the two-day bash. But there are critics aiming at it, including a leading drug reformer and a former Hempfest organizer.
Every two years drug policy reformers from across the United States and around the world come to the International Drug Policy Reform Conference to listen, learn, network and strategize together for change. This year the conference is in Albuquerque, in November, and StoptheDrugWar.org is a partner.
As part of our summer fundraising drive, DRCNet is pleased to offer Ryan Grim's exciting new book, "This Is Your Country on Drugs: The Secret History of Getting High in America," as our latest membership premium. Things are happening, and the importance of your support at this time could not be greater.
A bill that decriminalizes the possession of small amounts of drug for personal use is now the law of the land in Mexico. Although there was some doubt President Calderon would approve it, it appeared in the official gazette Thursday. It also includes provisions to allow the state and localities to go after small-time drug dealers, a power previously reserved to the federal government.
There seems to be no end in sight to prohibition-related violence in Mexico. In fact, it just keeps getting worse.
A quiet week on the corrupt cops front, but the two stories we do have share a common theme: problems with snitches.
The Obama administration wants to eliminate the Safe and Drug-Free Schools competitive grants program because it is ineffective. So does the House of Representatives. But can proponents revive it in the Senate or conference committee?
Largely impelled by tireless medical marijuana advocate Carl Olsen, the Iowa Pharmacy Board Wednesday held the first in a series of public hearings about possibly rescheduling marijuana so it could be used as a medicine under state law.
Despite tough pot laws and harsh public condemnations of marijuana use in the media, Japan continues to see increasing numbers of marijuana arrests.
The death penalty for a couple pounds of pot?!?! It happened in Malaysia this week, and it's not the first time, either.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
Do you read Drug War Chronicle? If so, we need your feedback to evaluate our work and make the case for Drug War Chronicle to funders. We need donations too.
Apply for an internship at DRCNet and you could spend a semester fighting the good fight!
The US is employing a new tactic in Afghanistan: Killing or capturing drug traffickers linked to the Taliban (though not those linked to the Karzai government). Is that even legal under international law? The US military says it is, but not everyone agrees.
The Chronicle reviews a journalistic treatment of the Mara Salvatrucha gang and an anthropological treatment of a group of homeless middle-aged heroin addicts. We found one much more satisfying than the other.
As part of our summer fundraising drive, DRCNet is pleased to offer Ryan Grim's exciting new book, "This Is Your Country on Drugs: The Secret History of Getting High in America," as our latest membership premium. Things are happening, and the importance of your support at this time could not be greater.
Every two years drug policy reformers from across the United States and around the world come to the International Drug Policy Reform Conference to listen, learn, network and strategize together for change. This year the conference is in Albuquerque, in November, and StoptheDrugWar.org is a partner.
It's been another bloody couple of weeks of prohibition-related violence in Mexico. Here's the latest on that and other drug war developments south of the border.
The Chronicle may have taken a week off, but corrupted law enforcers didn't take time off from their illicit enterprises, and there was no letup in corrupt cops stories. Here's this week's motley crew.
Does taking a hit off a joint merit a death sentence? A Hawaii insurance carrier thinks so, and it's not alone.
Oregon has become the latest state to pass legislation enabling the farming of industrial hemp and, like North Dakota, they don't need no stinking federal licenses. But the DEA tends to disagree about that.
This press release from the group Vote Hemp describes an absurd situation in which confused Capitol Hill police seized legal hemp fibers that a lobbyist had planned to use to help alleviate such confusion.
North Carolina is about to join the ranks of states and localities that have banned salvia divinorum. A bill has passed the legislature and awaits the governor's signature.
Talk of marijuana legalization is definitely in the air in California, but none of the announced major party gubernatorial candidates want to add to it. Yet.
We knew Dubai was tough on drugs; we've seen the horror stories about unwary travelers busted for microscopic amounts of dope and routinely sent off to prison for four years. But this is ridiculous.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
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"What Will the Cartels Do After Drugs Are Legal?," "The Drug Cartels Have Their Own (Stolen) Oil Company," "Drug Traffickers Plot to Kill Mexico's President," "Police Will Do Anything to Arrest People for Marijuana, Part II," more...
A bill that would eliminate the crack/powder cocaine sentencing disparity by punishing federal crack offenses the same way it punishes powder offenses has passed a key committee vote and is headed for the House floor. Companion legislation is brewing in the Senate.
It appears increasingly likely that Californians will have a chance to vote on marijuana legalization next year. Two initiatives have been filed, one that would create legalization, one that would create semi-legalization. Is now the right time? Opinion in the movement is divided.
To kick off our summer fundraising drive, DRCNet is pleased to offer Ryan Grim's exciting new book, "This Is Your Country on Drugs: The Secret History of Getting High in America," as our latest membership premium. Things are happening, and the importance of your support at this time could not be greater.
Hardly a day goes by without another body being found in Mexico's prohibition-related violence, and the Mexican government is under increasing fire as the death toll rises. Now, thanks to upcoming journalist Bernd Debusmann Jr., the Chronicle will be watching and summarizing events on a weekly basis.
A potentially very ugly scandal is brewing in the DC suburbs, a Pennsylvania cop gets busted just after buying some smack, a California prison guard was peddling PCP, and a former Miami-Dade cop cops a plea in an Ecstasy sting.
As a state senator concerned with racial profiling, President Obama championed a bill requiring Illinois law enforcement agencies to report on traffic stops. The latest annual report is out and it's pretty much the same old story: Blacks and Hispanics are much more likely to be asked to consent to searches, but cops are much more likely to actually find contraband if the driver is white.
California's Proposition 36 "treatment not jail" law is likely to lead to neither treatment nor jail as its funding gets slashed by 83% because of the state's budget crisis.
Maine marijuana activist Don Christen is getting ready to do eight months behind bars after the state Supreme Court rejected his appeal in a marijuana cultivation case where he argued he was growing for patients.
With Cook County (greater Chicago) Board President Todd Stroger saying he will not veto last Tuesday's passage of a marijuana decriminalization ordinance, it looks like decrim is a done deal -- at least in unincorporated areas of the county. The move also gives towns and cities in the county the option to adopt decrim as well.
In 2005, voters in Denver approved the legalization of possession of up to an ounce of marijuana, though local authorities have since ignored that vote. Now, voters in the Colorado ski town of Breckenridge will get the same opportunity. A local initiative is headed for this November's ballot -- unless the town council just goes ahead and approves it first.
Somebody opened fire on Colombian soldiers and coca eradicators Monday, leaving of a toll of dead, wounded, and missing. There are plenty of suspects.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
Do you read Drug War Chronicle? If so, we need your feedback to evaluate our work and make the case for Drug War Chronicle to funders. We need donations too.
"Want to Prevent Marijuana Growing on Public Land? Legalize It," "More Evidence That Marijuana Prevents Cancer," "Trick Question on the DEA Job Application?," "Cop Accidentally Reveals the Wisdom of Marijuana Legalization," "Drug Czar Gets Caught Lying and Contradicting Himself," "Mexico's Drug War is Eventually Going to Collapse," "Drug Warriors for Sensible Drug Policy," "Should Employers Provide Reimbursement for Medical Marijuana Costs?," "Crack Sentencing Reform Bill Passes Full Judiciary Committee," "More Big News: Needle Exchange Legislation Passes US House of Representatives," "Glorious Kyrgyzstan -- the Best Harm Reduction Program in Central Asia."
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As Congress approaches its August recess, it's time to take a look at the fate of drug reform legislation under the Democrats. No bills have reached the president's desk just yet, but the prospects are impressive on a number of key fronts.
Medical marijuana supporters in Colorado won a major victory Monday night as the state Board of Health voted down a Department of Public Health and Environment proposal that would have strictly defined caregivers and limited them to providing for no more than five patients.
Drug war-related corruption extends beyond cops and deputies, and this week is a good example. We've got a federal probation agent in trouble, a US Navy police officer in trouble, a prosecutor heading for prison, as well as a crooked narc and an Ecstasy-dealing deputy. Unusually, what we don't have this week is a dope-smuggling prison guard.
What a difference control of Congress makes! For years, pressure has been building to redress the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine. Now, finally, a bill that would do that is moving in the House, and while it's a Democratic bill it's getting strong bipartisan support. Things are looking good in the Senate too.
The Higher Education Act's infamous "Aid Elimination Penalty," or anti-drug provision, the brainchild of Indiana Republican Rep. Mark Souder, just got slimmed down as a House committee Tuesday voted to restrict its application only to students convicted of selling drugs, not those convicted simply of drug possession.
Spoken like a true drug czar -- Gil Kerlikowske does his best John Walters impression and succeeds pretty well.
The US war on opium poppy production in Afghanistan turned literal Tuesday when US war planes attacked and destroyed a giant pile of poppy seeds in Helmand province. That'll show those seeds!
Oakland's medical marijuana dispensaries asked the voters to tax them, and the voters said "Okay." A measure creating a first-of-its-kind special business tax on medical marijuana sellers passed by a lopsided margin in pot-friendly Oakland.
Albany, New York, sheriff's deputies suspected Tunde Clement was carrying drugs when he got off a bus from New York City in March 2006. They searched his backpack. Nothing. They strip-searched him. Nothing. Then the took him to a hospital, forcibly sedated him, and shoved a camera up his butt. Now, the county and the hospital are paying for their misdeeds.
Could decriminalization be coming to Chicagoland? The Cook County Board has approved it, but the Board president is making noises like he may veto it.
You've heard of medical marijuana vending machines in Los Angeles, right? Well, the UK one-ups LA with methadone vending machines in its prisons.
The trusted and beloved news anchor spoke out about more than one war in his lifetime.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
Do you read Drug War Chronicle? If so, we need your feedback to evaluate our work and make the case for Drug War Chronicle to funders. We need donations too.
"Obama's Drug Czar Says Marijuana Is Dangerous and Isn't Medicine," "How Bush's Drug Czar Fooled the Media and the American People," "Apple's New Marijuana Feature for iPhone is a Smart Business Move," "Undercover Cop Arrested for Selling Drugs to an Undercover Cop," "New York Times Struggles With Marijuana Addiction," "Congressional Drug Warriors Huddle in the Corner, Plot Comeback," "Tax Us: Oakland Voters Approve Medical Marijuana Dispensary Tax -- Dispensaries Supported It," "Patients Defeat Effort to Restrict Medical Marijuana in Colorado," "Colorado Hearing on Proposed Medical Marijuana Caregiver Restrictions Going on Now -- You Can Listen In," "Breaking: House Subcommittee Votes to Reduce Crack Cocaine Penalties to Powder Cocaine Level," "Breaking: House Committee Votes to Eliminate Financial Aid Loss Penalty for Drug Possessors," "Walter Cronkite on the Drug War."
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The Interfaith Drug Policy Initiative is hiring a new executive director. IDPI mobilizes religious denominations and organizations, clergy, and other people of faith to promote drug policy reform proposals under serious current consideration in Congress and the states, while building public support for replacing drug prohibition with reasonable regulation.
A report from the California Board of Equalization estimating that the state could take in $1.4 billion a year by legalizing and taxing marijuana is only adding to the mounting pressure for legalization in the Golden State, which is saddled with a $26 billion budget deficit.
Colorado's medical marijuana program is taking off, with the number of patients, recommending physicians, and dispensaries all on the rise. But a state agency has proposed rule changes that could blunt the growth, endanger the new-style dispensaries and make it more difficult for patients to obtain their medicine. There should be fireworks at Monday's public hearing on the proposal.
Ryan Grim has produced an entertaining, enlightening, and absorbing social history of drug use in America. We have checked it out, and we think you should too.
Shem Walker was trying to run scruffy ruffians off of his stoop. Now, he's dead. Adam Stogner didn't want to let a deputy see what he had in his mouth. Now, he's dead. Demarco Washington didn't want to go back to jail on a drug charge. Now, he's dead. And so is an unnamed man who allegedly pointed a gun at police during a predawn drug raid.
Eleven years after DC voters overwhelmingly approved a medical marijuana initiative, Congress is finally butting out. The House yesterday approved the annual District appropriations bill without the Barr amendment, which had barred the District from implementing that vote.
A provision of the federal code that has stymied AIDS and Hepatitis prevention efforts in favor of the drug war may soon be history.
It's a corrupt cops twofer for New Jersey, another twofer for Indiana, a two-for-one special on Texas deputies, and a lone prison guard in Florida.
As part of the Merida Initiative to provide Mexico with more than a billion dollars in anti-drug aid, Congress imposed human rights conditions on Mexico. Now, Human Rights Watch is urging the Obama administration to withhold some of that aid until Mexico deals with human rights abuses by its military.
America's drug war in Latin America is a bipartisan affair. The Obama administration is negotiating with the Colombian government to create a major anti-drug base there to replace the one in Manta, Ecuador. Oh, and it also has nice force projection capabilities.
It's not just Marines pouring into Afghanistan this summer. As the Obama administration shifts its emphasis from poppy eradication to targeting traffickers, the DEA is expanding operations there big-time.
Hawaii's Republican Gov. Linda Lingle vetoed a bill that would have created a task force to study problems and issues with the state's medical marijuana program. Now, the legislature has overridden that veto.
Another public opinion poll shows support for marijuana legalization approaching -- but not quite reaching -- majority status. The reform movement has come a long way, but the numbers suggest it still has a ways to go.
When 136 people died after drinking illicit alcohol in India's Gujarat state, critics were quick to call for an end to alcohol prohibition there. The state government isn't listening to them.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
Do you read Drug War Chronicle? If so, we need your feedback to evaluate our work and make the case for Drug War Chronicle to funders. We need donations too.
"Ethan Nadelmann Challenges NAACP to Oppose the Drug War," "The Mexican Drug War is Losing Public Support," "Man Tries to Swallow Drugs, Gets Choked to Death by Police," "Congress Slashes Funding for Anti-Drug Propaganda," "Pablo Escobar's Pet Hippos Are Still Alive (And Causing Big Problems)," "How to Win a Marijuana Debate on Television," "'The Potent Smell of Marijuana Legalization is In the Air'," "No One Takes the Drug Czar's Office Seriously (Not Even the President)," "An Epidemic of Botched Drug Raids in Maryland," "I Was Turned Away Again Trying to Visit Medical Marijuana POW Will Foster in Jail Last Night," "I Visited Imprisoned Medical Marijuana Patient Will Foster in Jail Last Night," "New Hampshire Governor Vetoes Medical Marijuana Bill, A Handful of Additional Votes Needed to Override," "Big News: House Subcommittee Approves Legislation Eliminating the Needle Exchange Funding Ban."
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South Dakota's loudest voice for marijuana law reform has just been silenced. In imposing a sentence for a marijuana possession conviction, a Rapid City judge has ordered Bob Newland to shut up about legalizing it.
The Marijuana Policy Project has a TV ad campaign supporting the taxation and regulation of marijuana running in California. But don't be surprised if you haven't seen it -- several major TV stations don't want you to.
You see it all the time: A kindergartener arrested for kissing a classmate, a middle school student strip-searched in a desperate hunt for Ibuprofen, a high schooler jailed for bringing a joint to school. It's all part of the "War on Kids," according to a new documentary by that name. We review it this week.
A crooked Chicago cop goes to prison and a pair of jail guards get stung.
It's not just teachers, health care, and parks that are facing the budget axe in California. Some state narcs could be out of a job, too.
Do you read Drug War Chronicle? If so, we need your feedback to evaluate our work and make the case for Drug War Chronicle to funders. We need donations too.
Things are getting very bloody in Afghanistan as thousands of US Marines pour into Helmand province, the country's opium capital, in a bid to drive out the Taliban.
Mexico's prohibition-related violence is very ugly, and it's not just the narcos committing atrocities. The Mexican military has been accused of more than 2,000 human rights abuses, ranging from theft and robbery to rape, torture, and murder as it wages war on the so-called cartels.
Since cannabis went back to being a Class B drug in England, London police have been ticketing and fining marijuana users like crazy. But funny thing -- they aren't bothering to pay the fines.
The Danish government cracked down on the Christiania enclave's famous "Pusher Street" six years ago. But now, with the hash trade spreading across the city and fomenting gang violence, "Pusher Street" doesn't seem so bad in retrospect, and Copenhagen officials are pondering whether to open Amsterdam-style coffee shops.
The future of Holland's pragmatically tolerant approach to cannabis sales is up for debate this year. A government commission has recommended making the coffee shops "members only," but also legalizing the supply of cannabis to the coffee shops. Neither is likely to fly within the broader European Union context.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
"Snitch Exposed in Charlie Lynch Case," "South Dakota Judge Sentences Marijuana Reform Activist to Shut Up," "California TV Stations Try to Censor Marijuana Debate," "New Michael Phelps Ad Tries to Capitalize on Marijuana Controversy," "Jim Webb's Quest to Reform the War on Drugs Gains Momentum," "Excellent Drug Policy Book Available for Free."
Bryan Epis was the first medical marijuana provider to be prosecuted by the federal government, and he is one of dozens of people whose fate is still caught up in the federal system despite recent policy shifts by the Obama administration. Bryan is asking all of us to take action to help those who have risked much to help patients.
Apply for an internship at DRCNet and you could spend a semester fighting the good fight!
The Interfaith Drug Policy Initiative (IDPI), based in Washington, DC, is seeking a new executive director to lead efforts toward non-punitive, non-coercive drug policies nationwide.
The Marijuana Policy Project is hiring fall interns to work in their State Policies and Federal Policies departments.
Faced with a growing Taliban insurgency fueled by opium and heroin profits and inflamed by the destruction of farmers' fields, the US last weekend announced a dramatic shift in its Afghan anti-drug strategy. The US will abandon what has been a pillar of its anti-drug strategy worldwide: eradication.
Portugal has been getting good press over its decriminalization approach to drug use, including from unexpected places like the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. Now, some Portuguese lawmakers are ready to take the next step. A bill to legalize the possession, cultivation, and sale of marijuana is being prepared.
With US and NATO policies for dealing with the Afghan poppy group undergoing quite radical shifts -- giving up on eradication, treating traffickers as terrorists -- Gretchen Peters' exposé of the links between the traffic in prohibited drugs and the Taliban and Al Qaeda couldn't be more timely or more informative.
Do you read Drug War Chronicle? If so, we need your feedback to evaluate our work and make the case for Drug War Chronicle to funders. We need donations too.
It's been a relatively quiet week on the corrupt cops front, with just two stories, but one of them is a real doozy.
Here comes the National Guard! The Obama administration is planning to send 1,500 National Guard troops to the Mexican border to support drug war law enforcement there.
Relations between Bolivia and the US just got a little rockier as the Obama administration declined to restore trade preferences, citing Bolivia's "encouragement" of coca cultivation, and Bolivian President Morales responded with hard words.
Thanks to last minute action by the state Senate, Rhode Island will create a commission to explore all aspects of marijuana prohibition, decriminalization, and legalization. It will issue a report seven months from now. And Gov. Carcieri can't veto it.
"It's about rope, not dope" was the message as the Oregon House passed a bill allowing for industrial hemp production. It already passed the Senate, and the governor is expected to sign it, but it passed by veto-proof majorities if he doesn't. Still, the federal prohibition on hemp production in the US remains an enormous obstacle.
Cops who confiscate legally permitted marijuana or plants from patients and growers in California could pay out the nose for their violations of the constitution, a California appeals court has ruled in the first decision of its kind. That just might rein in some of those renegade, recalcitrant departments who want to ignore a law they don't like.
Voters in Oakland will decide whether to impose a whopping 1500% tax increase on dispensaries, and it's not an attack on them. In fact, it was the dispensaries' own idea. Talk about your good citizens.
Bryan Epis was the first medical marijuana provider to be prosecuted by the federal government, and he is one of dozens of people whose fate is still caught up in the federal system despite recent policy shifts by the Obama administration. Bryan is asking all of us to take action to help those who have risked much to help patients.
"New Study: Marijuana Doesn't Increase Your Risk of Going Crazy," "Innocent Teenage Girls Forced to 'Jump Up and Down' During Marijuana Search," "Can You Name One Good Thing About the War on Marijuana?," "Opponents of Marijuana Legalization Will Say Anything," "A Surprise Encounter with Former Drug Czar John Walters," "Obama Seeks Volunteer Drug War Soldiers," "An Awesome Marijuana Debate on the McLaughlin Group," "US Admits Failure, Calls Off Opium Eradication in Afghanistan," "Boring Drug War Reporting from the Mainstream Press," "Marijuana Expo Draws 20,000 to LA Convention Center," "I Went to Visit Will Foster in Jail a Couple of Nights Ago."
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
The killing of Tarika Wilson, an unarmed mother holding her child, and the maiming of that child, is an inevitable consequences of the overuse of SWAT teams and the growing paramilitarization of the drug war.
Apply for an internship at DRCNet and you could spend a semester fighting the good fight!
When he got a 93-year sentence for a small medical marijuana grow in Oklahoma, Will Foster became a poster child for drug war abuses. A national campaign helped free him, and he headed for the friendlier climes of northern California, which released him from parole after three years. But Oklahoma wants him back, and now Foster has been in jail in California for the past 15 months fighting extradition. He needs your help.
As the United Nations issues its annual World Drugs Report, UNODC head Antonio Maria Costa finally notices his anti-prohibitionist critics and fights back. The critics are glad to engage. More importantly, Costa's attack signals that the legalization movement is gaining momentum.
At least 16 Asian nations and an equal number of others, including the US, apply the death penalty to certain drug offenses. It's time for that to stop, said human rights and harm reduction organizations, and they are using UN anti-drug day to pressure both the international community and offending countries to act now.
A Prince Georges County, Maryland, SWAT team raided a mayor's house last summer, shot his two dogs, and manhandled the mayor and his mother-in-law because they thought they were marijuana traffickers. They weren't, and the cops have acknowledged as much. Now the county sheriff has investigated the incident and concluded his boys did nothing wrong. The mayor disagrees -- and he's going to court.
With movement to reduce or end the sentencing disparity between federal crack and powder cocaine offenses growing, the Obama administration has come down firmly in favor of eliminating the disparity altogether.
There has been some concern that the US Supreme Court would let an Arizona school district get away with strip-searching a junior high school girl while looking for some ibuprofen tablets. It didn't.
You go, Barney! Congressman Barney Frank has introduced a bill that would decriminalize the possession of up to nearly a quarter-pound of marijuana and the not-for-profit distribution of up to an ounce. It's a start.
More drug corruption in Philly, more fallout from the Kathryn Johnston killing in Atlanta, and yet another crooked border guard.
Attempting to appease the opposition of Democratic Gov. John Lynch, the New Hampshire legislature has approved a medical marijuana bill that forbids patients from growing their own -- they would have to go to a "compassion center." Will that be enough to satisfy the governor?
Coca and cocaine production are down slightly in South America, thanks largely to Colombia's continuing manual and aerial eradication campaigns, the UN reports. But despite the billions spent to suppress the trade, a gram of coke now costs about half of what it did 20 years ago.
South Korean authorities and public opinion take a hard line toward marijuana, so when a leading actress speaks out for legalization, the outrage is palpable.
Bryan Epis was the first medical marijuana provider to be prosecuted by the federal government, and he is one of dozens of people whose fate is still caught up in the federal system despite recent policy shifts by the Obama administration. Bryan is asking all of us to take action to help those who have risked much to help patients.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
"LEAP Confronts the Drug Czar at a Press Conference," "Supreme Court Upholds Fourth Amendment in Strip Search Case," "United Nations Argues for Decriminalization," "United Nations Admits That Drug Legalization is Gaining Support," "You Don't Need Drug Laws to Punish People Who Steal," "Police Raid Innocent Elderly Couple, Blame It on the Weather," "Police Applaud Themselves for Raiding Innocent People and Killing Dogs," "Marijuana Debate on CNN," "Is DEA Illegally Forcing Agents to Serve in Afghanistan?"
The killing of Tarika Wilson, an unarmed mother holding her child, and the maiming of that child, is an inevitable consequences of the overuse of SWAT teams and the growing paramilitarization of the drug war.
Do you read Drug War Chronicle? If so, we need your feedback to evaluate our work and make the case for Drug War Chronicle to funders. We need donations too.
Apply for an internship at DRCNet and you could spend a semester fighting the good fight!
It's summer in Afghanistan, and that means more fighting, more casualties, and this year, more drug war. Western militaries are now aiming directly at drug trafficking networks that fund the Taliban, and the Taliban isn't taking it lying down.
There are serious plans afoot for a marijuana legalization initiative in California for the November 2010 elections. Is it time to take advantage of apparent momentum for reform, or is the move premature and potentially counterproductive?
Bryan Epis was the first medical marijuana provider to be prosecuted by the federal government, and he is one of dozens of people whose fate is still caught up in the federal system despite recent policy shifts by the Obama administration. Bryan is asking all of us to take action to help those who have risked much to help patients.
Rhode Island will become the third medical marijuana dispensary state and the first to expand an existing program to include dispensaries. This after the both houses of the legislature overwhelmingly overrode a veto by chronic medical marijuana obstacle Republican Gov. Donald Carcieri.
The stench emanating from Philadelphia's Narcotics Field Unit grew even more rank this week, an Arizona cop steals cash to feed his pill habit, and two Indianapolis cops turned thugs are headed for prison.
Rep. Barney Frank has reintroduced a bill to protect medical marijuana patients and providers and move pot from Schedule I to Schedule II. Will it get any further in a Democratic Congress than it did in Republican ones?
One congressman marches resolutely backwards into the last century with a bill proposing 25-year sentences for people peddling kind bud. The "kush super-marijuana" turns good citizens into "zombie-like" creatures and must be stopped, suburban Chicago US Rep. Mark Kirk warns.
For years, heroin offenders in Louisiana faced draconian sentences of life without parole. The legislature changed that a few years ago, but didn't act to free the remaining "heroin lifers." It may get around to it this year.
Explicitly acknowledging the medicinal use of the herb, the Croatian Supreme Court has thrown out marijuana possession charges against a war veteran who used it to treat PTSD.
The marijuana movement has a ways to go in Chile, according to a new poll. Only about 20% support legalization, and it's about the same for medical marijuana.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
Do you read Drug War Chronicle? If so, we need your feedback to evaluate our work and make the case for Drug War Chronicle to funders. We need donations too.
"FOX News Says Marijuana Will Eat Your Soul," "The Feds Are Giving Themselves New Drug War Powers," "Sharks Filled With Cocaine!!!," "How Many Innocent People Are in Jail on Drug Charges?," "Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Are Coming to Rhode Island," "'Tough on Drugs' Politics Just Aren't as Popular Anymore," "An Embarrassing Interview with the Drug Czar," "Video: Milton Friedman on Marijuana Legalization," "Video: Crack Sentencing Reform Petition Delivered to Congress -- Former Prisoners, Family Members and Advocates Speak Out," "Video on Abuse of the Environment -- and of People -- in Colombia's Drug War, from 'Witness for Peace.'"
The killing of Tarika Wilson, an unarmed mother holding her child, and the maiming of that child, is an inevitable consequences of the overuse of SWAT teams and the growing paramilitarization of the drug war.
Apply for an internship at DRCNet and you could spend a semester fighting the good fight!
The Canadian House of Commons voted Monday to adopt US-style mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses, including small-time marijuana grows. The only chance to defeat the measure now lies with the Canadian Senate, an unelected body not generally known for second-guessing the House.
The Obama administration used an Albuquerque press conference to unveil and tout its latest proposals for dealing with Mexico's drug trafficking organizations and the prohibition-related violence around them, but is it anything other than more of the same old same old?
These days, the treasure of the Sierra Madre isn't gold, but pot and opium. And nobody down there seems to feel like they need any stinking badges, not even the cops. In "God's Middle Finger," journalist Richard Grant takes a wild trip through the cordillera. Tired of dry old books about drug policy? Try this one for a change of pace.
It never ends. Another week of greedy jail guards and thieving policemen. This whole cops robbing drug dealers thing is getting kind of old, too.
At the request of Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), the House Appropriations Committee has added language to the Justice Department appropriations bill asking the Obama administration to clarify its stance on DEA raids on medical marijuana providers in states where it is legal.
In a hangover from the Clinton and Bush administrations' war against medical marijuana, California dispensary operator Charles Lynch was sentenced to a year and a day in prison Thursday. That was well below the mandatory minimum five-year sentence required by federal law, and Lynch remains free on appeal, but advocates say he should not have been punished at all.
Rhode Island is about to become the third medical marijuana state to authorize its distribution through dispensaries after a bill passed both houses with veto-proof majorities.
Drug overdoses -- both licit and illicit -- are the second leading cause of accidental death for adults in the US. Now, a member of Congress wants to do something about it, and the Drug Policy Alliance has some ideas.
In a bid to deal with the state's gargantuan budget deficit, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to cut funding for HIV/AIDS programs and Proposition 36 treatment programs. Protests over the former broke out this past week in cities across the state.
More than a quarter of American adults polled in a recent survey don't think simple drug possessors need to go to jail. That's a start.
As the Senate debated the FDA tobacco regulation bill it approved yesterday, one Republican senator called his colleagues hypocrites and urged them to support an outright ban. Was it just posturing?
The killing of Tarika Wilson, an unarmed mother holding her child, and the maiming of that child, is an inevitable consequences of the overuse of SWAT teams and the growing paramilitarization of the drug war.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
"Charlie Lynch Sentenced to Jail for Medical Marijuana," "Rhode Island Senate Votes to Open Medical Marijuana Dispensaries," "Wrong Door Drug Raids Are No Laughing Matter," "Congress Calls on DOJ to Better Explain Medical Marijuana Policy," "No More $$$ = No More Prisons," "Khat Is a Harmless Plant. So Why is DC Trying to Prohibit It?," "Holder Renews Pledge to Respect Medical Marijuana Laws," "Drug War Robots Are Not the Answer," "Bad Cops Caught on Camera," "Canadian House Passes Anti-Crime Bill with Mandatory Minimums for Pot, Other Drug Offenses."
Apply for an internship at DRCNet and you could spend a semester fighting the good fight!
New York Republicans and prosecutors lost the battle over Rockefeller drug law reform in April. They were back this week with a last-ditch effort to repeal one of the new law's key provisions. But with the governor and Democrats in the Assembly standing firm, it looks like it ain't gonna happen.
Taxi drivers' wake-me-up or terrorist drug threat? The herbal stimulant khat is popular with elements of America's immigrant East African population despite being banned by federal law. Now, Washington, DC, home to one of the nation's East African immigrant communities, wants its law to be as severe as federal law. A battle is brewing.
Cops pocketing drug money, cops ripping off drug dealers, cops protecting drug dealers, cops stealing dope, and, of course, another dope-smuggling jail guard.
Medical marijuana legislation saw progress in two more states this week, as bills advanced in New Jersey and Delaware. But the New Jersey bill just got more restrictive, too.
The Rhode Island legislature is well on its way to passing the medical marijuana dispensary bill by overwhelming veto-proof margins. Take that, Gov. Carcieri!
Is the Veterans Administration changing its tune on medical marijuana? Well, not exactly, but now it looks like at least they won't throw you out of their pain management programs if you're a registered user in a state where it's legal.
Louisiana proponents of random, suspicionless drug testing are smarting after being handed a pair of defeats in the past 10 days.
The killing of Tarika Wilson, an unarmed mother holding her child, and the maiming of that child, is an inevitable consequences of the overuse of SWAT teams and the growing paramilitarization of the drug war.
A British drug reform advocacy group is bound to shock some sensibilities with its new bus-side ad campaign, but that's precisely the point.
Canada's Conservative government is hard-line on drug policy issues. It wants mandatory minimum sentences for drug crimes and it is in court to try to block Vancouver's safe injection site. But now, it is funding a heroin maintenance pilot project--again.
Germany is about to become the latest country to move heroin maintenance from pilot program to permanent. In the US, we maintain our addicts behind bars.
In its first review of Canada's asset forfeiture laws, the Canadian Supreme Court has ruled that judges must look at the circumstances of each case in deciding whether full, partial or no forfeiture orders should be issued. In the US, prosecutors make forfeiture decisions.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
"Drug Smuggling Scientists Are Always Ahead of the Game," "If Pawlenty Wants to Be President, He Should Reconsider His Opposition to Medical Marijuana," "States Don't Need Federal Permission to Legalize Marijuana, Part II," "Top Anti-Drug Researcher Changes His Mind, Says Legalize Marijuana," "Rogue Philly Drug Cops Add Molestation to Their List of Crimes," "If There's No 'War on Drugs' Anymore, Then What's the Helicopter For?," "Yes, the Case Against Marc Emery is Political," "LAPD Raids Its Own Officer in Weird Botched Investigation," "Legalizing Drugs is an Idea That Speaks for Itself," "Orange County Seniors Demand Medical Marijuana Access."
Americans for Safe Access (ASA), the largest national member-based organization of patients, medical professionals, scientists and concerned citizens promoting safe and legal access to cannabis for therapeutic uses and research, is seeking a Legal Coordinator to work from its office in Oakland, California.
Safe injection facilities for drug users have proven effective in Europe, Canada, and Australia. Now, harm reductionists and public health advocates are beginning a campaign to bring one to New York City.
Canadian courts have repeatedly told Health Canada that not allowing medical marijuana providers to grow for more than one patient was unjustifiable, so the agency now says providers can grow for two people. That's not what advocates wanted to hear.
Another jail guard goes down, a California cop takes the bait, an NYPD officer gets slapped, a Massachusetts cop gets busted, a Massachusetts trooper cops a plea, and a Houston drug test watcher gets greedy. Just another week in the drug war.
The killing of Tarika Wilson, an unarmed mother holding her child, and the maiming of that child, is an inevitable consequences of the overuse of SWAT teams and the growing paramilitarization of the drug war.
A federal law that makes it a felony to use a communication device to sell drugs cannot be used against personal use drug buyers, the US Supreme Court ruled this week.
The Illinois Senate has passed a medical marijuana bill. It now heads to the House, which could act this week, or defer action to the fall.
With Republicans in the minority, this might be the year New York passes a medical marijuana law. It's one committee vote closer today, but the clock is ticking.
A new Rasmussen poll shows support for marijuana legalization at 41% nationwide. That's in line with some recent polls, and suggests that while we're not quite over the hump yet, we're getting there.
As part of an urban renewal and anti-crime plan for central Amsterdam, authorities there want to cut down the number of cannabis coffee shops in the city's famed Red Light district.
Pusher Street may be history, but the residents of Copenhagen's Christiania are still fighting for their right to remain. They lost a court battle this week, but the end is not here yet for the countercultural enclave.
Mexico's Social Democratic Party advocates drug legalization -- and somebody doesn't want to hear it. At least four of the party's candidates have been attacked ahead of July's elections, and the party suspects the drug cartels.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
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"New Drug Czar Doesn't Care About Medical Marijuana," "If Pure THC Pills are FDA-Approved, What's the Big Deal About Marijuana Potency?," "Research Proves Marijuana is Not a 'Gateway Drug'," "Drunk Reporter Debates Marijuana Legalization In a Bar," "Christian Science Monitor Advocates Teaching Kids to Support the Drug War," "The Worst Argument Against Medical Marijuana," "Cool 'History of Weed' Video from Showtime 'Weeds' Program."
Americans for Safe Access (ASA), the largest national member-based organization of patients, medical professionals, scientists and concerned citizens promoting safe and legal access to cannabis for therapeutic uses and research, is seeking a National Field Coordinator to work from its office in Oakland, CA.
The US Supreme Court has refused to hear appeals from two California counties challenging the state's medical marijuana law. San Diego and San Bernardino counties had refused to implement an ID card program, arguing that federal drug laws preempted the state's medical marijuana law, but no court was buying.
Minnesota should be the 14th medical marijuana state after a watered down bill passed the legislature Monday. But it won't be -- Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty has promised to veto the bill. Look for an end run around the governor next year.
Drug War Chronicle reviews historian Paul Gootenberg's "Andean Cocaine," and finds its methods and its results most useful.
Our new video draws attention to the overuse of SWAT teams. The accompanying petition calls for their use to be limited to emergency or especially high-intensity situations only.
There's an embarrassment of riches for the corrupt cops folder this week. We've got pot-dealing sheriffs, we've got corner-cutting DEA agents, we've got sticky-fingered cops, and of course, we've got dope-peddling prison guards. And that Philadelphia narc squad scandal just keeps growing.
California cannabis activist and medical marijuana grower Eddy Lepp was sentenced to a mandatory minimum 10-years in federal prison Monday for growing 20,000 plants beside a Lake County highway.
Rhode Island is another step closer to allowing medical marijuana dispensaries after the House passed a bill this week. The Senate passed it last month, and both chambers passed it by veto-proof majorities.
Who woulda thunk it? Former Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo, who never saw a border that didn't need a fence, says it's time to talk about drug legalization.
What is probably the country's first successful effort to begin to rein in rampaging SWAT teams has become law in Maryland. Too bad it took a widely publicized drug raid gone bad to get it done.
Watch out if you're about to go looking for hash on the streets of Oslo. The police are going to be looking for you.
If you're headed out to go clubbing or see a concert in South Australia, be forewarned: The cops just might walk up and have a drug dog check you out.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
"FBI Director Gets Humiliated Trying to Defend Marijuana Prohibition," "Marijuana is Illegal, But It Doesn't Have to Be," "Mexican Jailbreak Proves the Cartels Can Do Whatever They Want," "What's So Funny About Trying to Legalize Marijuana?," "Illinois Sheriff Caught Selling Lots of Marijuana," "Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty Wants to Send Dying Cancer Patients to Jail," "US Supreme Court Kills Effort to Overturn State Medical Marijuana Laws," "Michael Phelps and Marijuana Legalization," "Pete Guither Will Correct Your Incoherent Editorial for Free."
Minor corrections to two of last week's article, "Free Speech: ACLU Backs Pain Activist's Effort to Quash Subpoena Issued in Kansas Case" and "The Global Marijuana Marches, Part II."
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Critical Resistance (CR), a national grassroots organization working to end the prison industrial complex, seeks a New Orleans Chapter Organizer.
There are, have been, or will be medical marijuana bills in 19 states this year. We take a look at which ones are likely to actually have a chance of passage this year.
Last weekend was round two of this year's Global Marijuana Marches. Rome stole top honors with more than 100,000 people -- possibly as many as 300,000 -- but Athens and Madrid also drew thousands. Down in Brazil, thousands more marched in various cities, while others were blocked by government issued bans.
Our new video draws attention to the overuse of SWAT teams. The accompanying petition calls for their use to be limited to emergency or especially high-intensity situations only.
The war on marijuana has claimed another victim: a 77-year-old man shot dead in a pre-dawn raid aimed at his adult son after shooting at the intruders. A police officer was wounded, too.
A suburban Pittsburgh cop gets probation, two Kentucky cops cop pleas, and a Massachusetts cop gets arrested at work. Just another week in the drug war.
Kansas federal prosecutor Tanya Treadway may have picked on the wrong woman when she went after the Pain Relief Network's Siobhan Reynolds for criticizing her prosecution of a local pain management physician. Now, the ACLU has joined Reynolds in fighting off a Treadway subpoena aimed at chilling her free speech rights and seeing what the doctor's defense is up to.
A state marijuana decrim effort was defeated by an ardent Republican legislator. It's also a case of how "careless lips sink ships."
When Health Canada failed to act, the Canadian Veterans Ministry stepped up. Now, Canadian veterans using medical marijuana have their costs covered just as with any other approved medication.
Colombian President Álvaro Uribe has already presided over years of drug war directed at his own country, he's busily trying to recriminalize drug possession, and now he wants to throw peasant coca farmers in jail. This is a man out of step with his region.
Cannabis coffee shops in the Dutch border province of Limburg will become "members only" next year as local mayors seek to inhibit "drug tourism." There are other restrictions, too.
Thanks to your help, our "Changing Minds, Laws & Lives" 09 campaign has gotten off to a great start! Your support is still needed -- two exciting new t-shirts about drug prohibition are among the gifts we'd like to send you as our thanks.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
"Increased Marijuana Potency is an Argument for Legalization, Not Against It," "Wall Street Journal Thinks Americans Still Love the Drug War," "New Drug Czar Says 'War on Drugs' Mentality is Over," "CNBC Attacks Schwarzenegger for Endorsing Marijuana Legalization Debate," "DEA Agent Indicted for Framing 17 Innocent People," "Who Put Stephen Baldwin in Charge of Opposing Marijuana Legalization?," "Former Mexican President Calls for Drug Legalization Debate," "Obama Claims to Support Needle Exchange, While Telling Congress to Ban It," "The States Don't Need Federal Permission to Legalize Marijuana," "How Much Money is Marijuana Legalization Worth?"
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The Mexican Congress has passed a bill that would decriminalize the possession of "personal use" amounts of illegal drugs. Some of the other provisions in the measure are not so nice.
If it's the first week in May, it must be time for the Global Marijuana March. Thousands took to the streets across the globe last weekend, and thousands more will do the same next weekend.
Marijuana's rise in the polls continues... and now we have a national poll showing majority support for legalization.
Thanks to your help, our "Changing Minds, Laws & Lives" 09 campaign has gotten off to a great start! Your support is still needed -- two exciting new t-shirts about drug prohibition are among the gifts we'd like to send you as our thanks.
La semana pasada fue una de esas ocasiones impresionantemente raras en que no topamos con ningún artículo sobre policías corruptos. ¡No hay por qué preocuparse! Esta semana han regresado de lo lindo. Cae otro alguacil fronterizo, quiebra una comisaría de policía de Carolina del Norte, un policía de Arizona se pone codicioso y pillan a otros dos agentes penitenciarios emprendedores.
There's been another California medical marijuana dispensary raid with the DEA involved, but so far, it looks like the real culprit is a crusading sheriff in Bakersfield.
Bryan Epis, one of a handful of people convicted in federal court for supplying medical marijuana under California's Proposition 215, is facing 10 years in prison. A three-judge panel of the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that should stick, but an appeal is pending.
In 2006, South Dakota became the only state to reject a medical marijuana legalization initiative. This year, the legislature ignored its opportunity to do something, so now proponents are gathering signatures for a retry in 2010.
Two-thirds of British Columbia voters favor marijuana legalization, according to a new poll. Now, if only someone would clue in the political parties that claim to represent them.
It's getting harder and harder to get prosecuted for drug possession in Argentina. The Argentine courts' slow drift toward decriminalization continued this week.
Jimmy Carter once let Evo Morales pick some peanuts on his Georgia farm. Now, Morales has invited Carter to pick some coca leaves on his farm in Bolivia's Chapare.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
"Obama No Longer Supports Needle Exchange Programs That Reduce AIDS," "Gil Kerlikowske is the New Drug Czar," "The Drug Czar's Office Doesn't Know What to Say about Marijuana Legalization," "Will Legalization Actually Reduce the Black Market? Of Course," "Another Medical Marijuana Raid in California," "Arnold Schwarzenegger Calls for Marijuana Legalization Debate," "Ethan Nadelmann vs. Steven Colbert, Round Three," "Support for Marijuana Legalization is Huge in Canada," "Support for Marijuana Legalization Continues to Grow in America," Phil Smith previews: "Hello? Mexico on the Verge on Decriminalizing Drug Possession..."
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Many drug policy reformers saw 1996 and the passage of two favorable state ballot initiatives as the "end of the beginning" for our cause. Does the increasing amount of good news in 2009 mean that this is the "beginning of the end"?
Marijuana legalization seems to have entered the mainstream in the first part of 2009. Drug War Chronicle asks some reform movement players just what's going on -- and what isn't.
After more than two decades of the crack/powder cocaine sentencing disparity and all its racially pernicious effects, pressure is mounting to eliminate it. And now, for the first time, it is the position of the US Justice Department that that should be the case.
With an economic crisis requiring sensible budget cuts, a Constitution-friendly administration and more people joining the drug policy reform movement than ever before, StoptheDrugWar.org has a unique opportunity to make our case.
Two of Canadian "Prince of Pot" Marc Emery's former employees have pleaded guilty to marijuana conspiracy charges in Seattle in return for probation in Canada, but the fate of Emery himself remains up in the air.
Rachel Hoffman was murdered by violent criminals after Florida police coerced the small-time marijuana seller into becoming an informant, and sent her out with $13,000 to buy cocaine and guns. Now, the Florida legislature is attempting to pass a bill that would limit police use of informants, but the cop lobby has already managed to weaken it.
New Hampshire is on the verge of becoming the 14th medical marijuana state after a bill passed the state Senate this week. Now the question is whether the Democratic governor will sign it.
A bill that would establish "compassion centers" for medical marijuana patients has passed the Rhode Island Senate -- again. Gov. Donald Carcieri vetoed a similar bill last year; it's unclear what he will do if the bill passes the House this year.
The Minnesota Senate has approved a medical marijuana bill. It now moves to the House, but Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) appears poised to veto if it it passes.
Confronted with an unregulated substance enjoyed by young people, the Colorado legislature is responding with a reflexive prohibitionist posture. BZP, meet the drug war.
Mexico's Senate has passed a bill decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of all drugs. It still has to pass the Chamber of Deputies, and the clock is ticking.
A decade ago, Ontario's conservative government passed a law limiting disability benefits to people disabled by alcohol or drug addiction. Now, a provincial court has ruled that violates the province's human rights code.
The latest brainchild of Maastricht, Holland, Mayor Gerd Leers, in his never-ending campaign to clean up problems associated with cannabis cafes on the country's borders with France, Belgium, and Germany, is to make the cafes member-only.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
"In Case You Haven't Heard Enough Cops Talk About Legalizing Drugs This Year...," "Obama Goes to War Against Afghan Opium," "Seriously, Don't Try to Eat Your Marijuana if You're Pulled Over," "Mexican Senate Votes to Decriminalize Drug Possession," "Obama Supports Ending the Cocaine Sentencing Disparity," "Rhode Island Senate Votes to Create Medical Marijuana Dispensaries," "New Hampshire Senate Votes to Legalize Medical Marijuana," "Minnesota Senate Votes to Legalize Medical Marijuana," "Rep. Engel Introduces Bill to Create Independent Drug Policy Commission," "The Federal Government Grows Some of the Worst Marijuana in America," "Even Cowboys Want to Legalize Drugs," "Jim Webb Says Marijuana Legalization is 'On the Table'."
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Did an Arizona school administrator go too far in subjecting a 13-year-old girl to a strip search in a quest to track down alleged contraband Ibuprofen? The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case that asks just that Tuesday.
From sea to shining sea, America's cannabis nation celebrated its rhizomatic annual 4/20 holiday again this week. Much weed was smoked and a good time was had by all. But should we really be celebrating?
With an economic crisis requiring sensible budget cuts, a Constitution-friendly administration and more people joining the drug policy reform movement than ever before, StoptheDrugWar.org has a unique opportunity to make our case.
More crooked prison guards, more crooked cops, and -- in a first for this newsletter -- a crooked Fish and Wildlife officer.
The cops can't search your car after they arrest you unless they have a warrant or probable cause, the Supreme Court has ruled.
Prosecutors in one California county have called a halt to small time drug prosecutions. They just can't afford them, they said.
A medical marijuana bill in New Hampshire is one Senate floor vote away from passage after it was approved by a Senate committee Thursday. The state House has already passed it.
Voters in Maine will have a chance to approve a medical marijuana bill that provides for dispensaries, among other things, this November. The legislature had its chance, but punted.
The nation's first salvia possession case has ended not with a bang, but a whimper. At least no one is going to jail.
Mexican and Colombian drug traffickers are hiring middle men to process coca paste into refined cocaine in Bolivia.
By refusing to hear a government appeal of two lower court decisions, Canada's Supreme Court has ended the government monopoly on the medical marijuana supply and opened the way for multi-patient grows.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
"Sentencing Postponed in the Charlie Lynch Trial," "Opposing Medical Marijuana is Politically Risky," "Poking Around in a Teenager's Panties is a Sick Crime (Unless It's a Drug Search)," "Wow, These 4/20 Celebrations Are Surprisingly Safe," "If You Think the Drug War Protects Young People, Read This," "Obama's Fraudulent Pledge to Respect Medical Marijuana Laws," "Supreme Court Restricts Warrantless Vehicle Searches," "The Mainstream Media Wishes You a Happy 4/20," "Baptist Pastor Assaulted After Refusing Police Search."
Common Sense for Drug Policy is seeking an editorially-skilled individual to maintain and grow its network of web sites, including the in-depth online presentation on drug policy issues, DrugWarFacts.org.
The Drug Policy Alliance is seeking a Publications Manager to work from its New York City office.
The movement's longest-running grant program is continuing this year and is seeking proposals.
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Is Mexico ready to decriminalize marijuana possession? The Mexican Congress devoted a three-day forum to the notion this week, even as Presidents Obama and Calderón met to plot a better drug war on the border.
The medical marijuana advocacy group Americans for Safe Access argued in federal appeals court Tuesday that a federal law requires government agencies to make accurate, objective statements -- not misinformation -- when it comes to medical marijuana. But Obama administration lawyers disagree.
With an economic crisis requiring sensible budget cuts, a Constitution-friendly administration and more people joining the drug policy reform movement than ever before, StoptheDrugWar.org has a unique opportunity to make our case.
More problems for the Philly narcs, another border guard goes down, so does a Puerto Rican husband and wife team, and a TSA guard gets popped. Just another week of drug-related law enforcement corruption.
A significant change in the impact of our drug policies may have occurred in the last few years. The number of African Americans doing time for drug charges is down, both percentage-wise and in raw numbers. Not so for whites.
A Michigan cop shot college student Derek Copp in the chest during a drug raid last month in which police seized only a small amount of marijuana (at least according to Copp's lawyer; the cops aren't talking). Now they're coming after him with drug possession charges.
The federal prosecutor going after Kansas physician Dr. Steven Schneider and his wife is now aiming at the couple's activist defenders as well. Siobhan Reynolds of the Pain Relief Network has been served a subpoena by a federal grand jury for obstruction of justice in the case, but vows not to cooperate.
The Obama administration has nominated a well-respected addiction researcher to be the number two man in the drug czar's office. Are we in for a bout of drug treatment now?
Drug possession has been legal in Colombia since 1994. But now, a teetotaling President Uribe wants to go back to the bad old days.
Last August, the Peruvian government embarked on a campaign to regain control of one of the country's key coca-growing areas. It's not working out very well so far.
Dancing in karaoke clubs would be banned under a Vietnamese government effort to reduce Ecstasy use. "Behavior with less danger to society," such as swaying to the beat, however, would be okay.
This new release from Samuel Goldwyn Films examines the true events that occurred in Hearne, Texas, to show how the drug laws and enforcement practices target African-Americans, and how the justice system often uses threats and intimidation to steer people toward guilty pleas, regardless of their innocence or the evidence against them.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
"CU-Boulder Reminds Students to Have a Massive Pot Party on 4/20," "Obama Declares War on American Drug Users," "Obama Creates New 'Border Czar' Position, Cartel Leaders Laugh in Unison," "We'll Pay You $14 Billion to Legalize Marijuana," "In the Future, Opposing Legalization Will Be Political Suicide," "Mexican Ambassador Says Marijuana Legalization Should be Seriously Discussed," "FOX News Says Marijuana Activists are 'Internet Trolls.'"
Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) is seeking a responsible, proven leader committed to drug policy reform and grassroots activism to lead the organization with vision and confidence.
The Marijuana Policy Project is hiring for several positions in Washington, DC and Nevada.
Common Sense for Drug Policy is seeking an editorially-skilled individual to maintain and grow its network of web sites, including the in-depth online presentation on drug policy issues, DrugWarFacts.org.
Correction to 4/3/09 danger of drug enforcement story, and accompanying discussion.
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By some measures, drug courts are a success. They reduce recidivism and drive down criminal justice system costs, most observers agree. But when it comes to whether they are a desirable response to drug use, that's a different story.
Michigan voters approved a medical marijuana initiative in November. This week, it took effect.
"Cool Madness" is a riveting account of the federal trial California medical marijuana patient and provider Dr. Mollie Fry and her husband, Dale Schafer. If you believe federal medical marijuana trials have anything to do with justice or fairness after reading her account, I have some bridges you might be interested in.
Another crooked judge, another dirty border guard, more problems for Philly's narcs, and a guilty plea in Detroit.
Support for marijuana legalization has gone over the 50% mark in California for the first time, according to a new poll. It comes as the California Assembly ponders a legalization bill, and the poll itself hints that a legalization/tax and regulate initiative may be coming down the pike.
We really get tired of writing the same old story about record prison and jail populations every year, but it's that time again.
Ohio's law criminalizing salvia divinorum went into effect Tuesday, but the first arrest under it came Monday. Go figure.
A grassroots petition drive to get medical marijuana on the 2010 ballot in Florida is underway. Organizers need almost 700,000 signatures and $5 million for the drive and the election campaign, and they're counting on web-based activism to get them there.
The British government contends that drug legalization could not possibly have enough benefits to justify switching from prohibition, but it has never provided the evidence. Now, a new study that actually has done a comparative analysis finds the UK could be saving billions a year by legalizing.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
Common Sense for Drug Policy is seeking an editorially-skilled individual to maintain and grow its network of web sites, including the in-depth online presentation on drug policy issues, DrugWarFacts.org.
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Police say that aggressive drug raids are good at protecting police, but two dramatic officer deaths that were caused by those tactics suggest the opposite. So do the statistics -- only three law enforcement officers died conducting drug raids last year. At least that many citizens were killed, and who knows how many dogs.
By the time you read these words, the New York legislature has probably passed long-awaited reforms to the Rockefeller drug laws. Or not. An agreement between the state Assembly, Senate, and governor has been reached, but it ain't over until it's over -- and it ain't over yet.
Oaksterdam wants to pay more taxes! The unusual gesture could help Oakland raise revenues in tough times and win more legitimacy for the city's marijuana industry.
What's up with Pennsylvania? Yet more ugliness from the Keystone State, as well as the all too predictable border guard in trouble and jail guard with a bad habit.
With many American farmers struggling to make ends meet, the "Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2009," introduced this week by Representatives Barney Frank (D-MA) and Ron Paul (R-TX), would open up new opportunities for them to compete in the global industrial hemp market.
A West Virginia bill that would have mandated random drug tests of people seeking unemployment benefits or food stamps met its deserved fate this week, dying without action in the legislature's House Judiciary Committee. But similar bills remain alive in a handful of states.
Just what an expectant mother with a drug problem needs: To be arrested and go to jail. That's what one Missouri bill would do. Over in Tennessee, legislators showed some common sense by refusing to act on similar bills.
Will Connecticut be the next state to decriminalize marijuana possession? A bill is moving in the legislature, but a Republican governor is making veto noises -- again.
Minnesota's medical marijuana bill won its fourth and final Senate committee vote Thursday. It's won that many House committee votes, too. Floor votes loom, but so does the grim visage of a veto-wielding Republican governor.
Canada's Conservative government is pushing a pair of tough on drugs and crime bills that would institute mandatory minimum sentencing, but the Liberals and the NDP are starting to push back.
Mexico's drug war took a strange turn last week as authorities took the battle to a pair of folk saints. Shrines to Santa Muerte and San Malverde were destroyed in Tijuana and on the highway south from Texas to Monterrey.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
"Why Does Everyone Think Marijuana Legalization is Politically Risky?," "The Media's Approach to Marijuana Coverage Has Changed Dramatically," "'So How's This War on Drugs Going?'," "The Drug Czar's Office Doesn't Know What to Say About Marijuana," "Obama Doesn't Know What to Say About Marijuana," "Joe Biden's Daughter Allegedly Caught on Video Snorting Cocaine," "Maryland House Passes Bill to Monitor Use of SWAT Teams," "There are Many Different Kinds of Marijuana, But They're All Illegal," "Legislative Deal Made on Rockefeller Drug Laws," "How Dangerous is Drug Law Enforcement for Police? A: Apparently Not Very."
Common Sense for Drug Policy is seeking an editorially-skilled individual to maintain and grow its network of web sites, including the in-depth online presentation on drug policy issues, DrugWarFacts.org.
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As Mexicos's plague of prohibition-related violence continues unabated, Washington is moving to beef up the border and the Mexican repressive apparatus. But for the first time, US officials are openly admitting that some of it is our fault, possibly opening the way for the discussion of drug legalization to move in from the margins.
The latest SAMHSA drug treatment statistics show that 288,000 people entered treatment for marijuana in 2007. Only one in six sought it; more than half were ordered there by the courts. Given continuing problems with cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and other drugs, is this how we want to spend our treatment dollars?
Reform of New York's draconian Rockefeller drug laws is almost a done deal, the New York Times reported Thursday. But the devil is in the details, and advocates are biting their nails.
California medical marijuana dispensary operator Charles Lynch was supposed to be sentenced to federal prison Monday. It didn't happen, and Lynch can thank Attorney General Holder for signaling a change of federal policy toward such prosecutions.
The Justice Department will/will not raid medical marijuana providers in states where it's legal. Who knows? Attorney General Holder said last week the DEA would only go after dispensaries violating state law, but this week, the DEA hit a San Francisco dispensary that appears to be operating legally. Confusion and concern abound.
Narcs gone wild, narcs cheating on their pay, narcs stealing dope, narcs lying on the stand, a perverted sheriff heads to prison, and that's just the half of it.
Sen Jim Webb (D-VA) has become a hero for drug reformers in the short time he's been in the Senate. Now, his latest effort is sure to earn him more kudos.
A number of states are considering bills to require drug testing to receive public assistance or unemployment benefits. Kansas is the first one where such a bill has won approval in even one chamber.
Medical marijuana is on the move in the statehouses -- bills advanced this week in Illinois, Minnesota, and New Hampshire.
Massachusetts has become the second state in as many months to see marijuana legalization bills come before the state legislature. This one would tax by grade for commercial sales, but also permit untaxed personal cultivation.
In a memo to judges, Indonesia's Supreme Court has ordered them to send small-time drug users and possessors to treatment instead of prison.
If a lonely shepherd wants to get high while out with his flock, that's no skin off the state's nose, the Italian Supreme Court has ruled.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
"Obama Won't Say Why He Opposes Marijuana Legalization," "Obama Insults Online Community for Supporting Marijuana Legalization," "Uh-Oh! Medical Marijuana Raid in San Francisco," "Yet Another Chance to Ask Obama About Marijuana Laws," "Marijuana Legalization Bill Introduced in Massachusetts," "If You Hate Gun Control, You Can Thank the Drug War for Causing it," "The Fine Line Between Drug Raids and Armed Robberies," "Sentencing Postponed in Charlie Lynch's Medical Marijuana Trial."
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Lives are being lost because when someone ODs on drugs, friends fearful of arrest of themselves or the victim hesitate to seek help. In 2007, New Mexico became the first state to pass a Good Samaritan law protecting people calling for help in ODs. This year, similar bills are popping up around the country.
Faced with economic crises, fiscal shortfalls, and growing welfare and unemployment rolls, some state legislators are proposing a really bad idea: drug testing welfare and/or unemployment recipients. But there is a broad array of organizations lined up against them. Oh, and there's that pesky Constitution, too.
The Obama administration may have signaled an end to the federal war against medical marijuana in California, but there is unfinished business from the Bush era crusades. A tragic case in point is that of Morro Bay dispensary operator Charles Lynch, who faces years in federal prison when he is sentenced Monday.
This week, we have some drug cops whose misbehavior may not reach the standard of corruption, but is certainly worth noting. And then we have the usual corrupt cops.
For the second time in three weeks, Attorney General Holder has said there will be no more DEA raids on medical marijuana dispensaries in states where it is legal -- as long as they are operating under state laws. But that still leaves some wiggle room.
Congress wants the Obama administration to "do something" about the prohibition-related violence ravaging Mexico. But that "something" just looks like more drug war.
Tired of the same old coca products? Now you can try coca beer! Coming soon to a bar near you... but only if you live in Peru, China, South Africa, Argentina, or Venezuela.
There is outrage in western Michigan after an unarmed university student was shot and seriously wounded in a drug raid last week. And what did the cops find? "A few tablespoons full" of marijuana.
A medical marijuana bill in New Hampshire has passed a key committee vote and is now headed for the House floor. A similar measure failed there by a handful of votes two years ago.
The Hawkeye State turns a deaf ear to the entreaties of medical marijuana patients. A bill that would have helped has died without action.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
Scott Morgan brings us: "Former Drug Czar Doesn't Care If You Grow Marijuana," "Behind Bars in the Land of the Free," "The Debate Over Medical Marijuana Should Have Ended a Decade Ago," "Is it Even Intellectually Possible to 'Oppose' Medical Marijuana?," "Police Dispatcher Fired for Giving Medical Marijuana to Sick Relative," "Ron Paul Murders Stephen Baldwin in Marijuana Legalization Debate," "Police Lobby for Harsh Marijuana Laws," "Pennsylvania Liquor Store Employees Will Now be Nicer to You," "Police Shoot Unarmed Marijuana Suspect."
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The UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) met in Vienna this week to draft a political declaration and plan of action to guide international drug policy for the next decade. While the prohibitionists prevailed in the end, the voices of dissent are growing ever louder and more powerful.
Ibogaine received concerted attention for its addiction treatment and other properties at a recent conference in Boston. Here's a report.
A US congresswoman from California suggested Thursday that it could be time for a marijuana legalization pilot program. Her home state would be an apt place to try it, she said.
From murder most foul to ripping off Crimestoppers, our corrupt cops run the gamut this week.
The New York Assembly passed a Rockefeller drug law reform bill last week. Now, the Senate has decided to submerge Rockefeller reform within a broader budget package in a bid to avoid having to take individual votes on it. Meanwhile, as if supporters needed any more ammunition for reform, another damning report is out this week.
The Obama administration has named Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske as the new drug czar... or is it Joe Biden?
Like the Grateful Dead before it, the jam band Phish has legions of loyal fans, many of whom enjoy their music with a little herbal or chemical alteration. It was a field day for cops as the band played a three-night show in Virginia.
Tenaha, Texas, lies between Houston and the casinos of Shreveport across the Louisiana line. The town thought it hit the jackpot with a sleazy policing scheme, but now it may be coming up snake eyes.
Marijuana prohibition doesn't achieve its stated goals, it costs a lot of money, and use levels would be similar under a relaxed regime, a pair of University of Washington researchers report.
The Minnesota medical marijuana bill has passed another pair of hurdles as it makes its way toward a hostile governor.
People suffering drug overdoses sometimes die because their companions either delay seeking medical assistance or fail to act at all for fear of getting arrested themselves. New Mexico has a law providing limited immunity for people in those circumstances. Now, a Washington legislator hopes to make his state the second to pass such a law.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
"New Drug Czar Appointed, Makes Ridiculous Remark," "Ten Years Later, the United Nations Anti-Drug Efforts Have Accomplished Nothing," "NBC Insults Marijuana Users," "Propaganda Alert: Marijuana Makes You Bad at Video Games," "Are Republicans Turning Against the Drug War?," "Federal Prosecutors Seem Confused About Obama's Medical Marijuana Policy," "Why Are Democrats Barking About Rush Limbaugh's Drug Use?," "Police Officer in Cowboy Hat Talks Drug Legalization on Al Jazeera," "Drug Policy Reform Video and Poster Contest Winners Announced," "Contemplating Marijuana Legalization."
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Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) is seeking a highly motivated, well-organized individual to help promote alternatives to the failed War on Drugs.
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More than 35 years after their passage, New York's Rockefeller drug laws appear to be on their last legs. But it's not a done deal yet, and the battle over what the final reform package will look like continues in Albany.
Those field drug test kits police use to test for the presence of illegal drugs are so unreliable they should be banned, researchers said Tuesday. A Hershey's candy bar, Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap, and Tylenol are just a few of the common items that generate false positives. Air was another.
It's jail and prison guards gone wild this week, and a veteran California cop whose pill problem got the best of him.
Observers of the drug war have long known about its racial disparities, but a new report from Human Rights Watch makes them glaringly obvious.
The Pew Center on the States has released a report noting that 1 in 31 Americans is either in jail or prison or on probation or parole. Although two-thirds of them are probationers or parolees, it is prisons that are gobbling up the corrections budget. That needs to change, the report said.
South Dakota has become the 14th state to ban salvia divinorum, based on little more than YouTube videos and the fear that somebody somewhere might be getting high for a few minutes.
When investigating a DC area cocaine dealer, police installed a GPS tracking device on his vehicle without bothering to obtain a search warrant. Now two leading civil liberties groups are urging a DC appeals court to rule such actions a violation of Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures.
The effort to legalize medical marijuana in Minnesota is taking up where it left off last year. A bill has now passed two Senate committees, and action in the House is expected shortly. But the Republican governor is still threatening to veto it.
An Illinois House committee has narrowly approved a medical marijuana bill. Now it's on to the next votes.
Some 7,500 Mexican soldiers are flooding into Ciudad Juárez in a bid to blunt prohibition-related violence that has left about 2,000 people dead there since January 2008. Meanwhile, the head of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff is headed to Mexico for talks on increased cooperation between the two neighbors.
The influx to Dutch border towns with cannabis coffee shops of tens of thousands of Europeans each week from countries with more repressive cannabis policies has led to myriad problems in those border towns. Now, mayors of two of them say they will simply shut them down.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
If Obama Supports Medical Marijuana, What About Hemp?," "Field Tests for Identifying Drugs Are Proven Wildly Inaccurate," "SWAT Raids on Innocent People are Bad," "How Come the Dutch Smoke Less Marijuana Than Americans?," "California DMV Agrees to Let Medical Marijuana Patients Drive," "Maybe a Quirky Folk Song Will Lead to Marijuana Legalization...," "Mexican President Surprised to Learn That the Drug War is Super Violent," "Man Uses Fake Money to Buy Fake Drugs," "Former Drug Warrior Now Lives With his Parents."
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US Attorney General Eric Holder announced Wednesday that there would be no more DEA raids on medical marijuana dispensaries in states where it is legal. That is a huge victory, but the victory will not be complete as long as a single person remains in or threatened with federal prison for helping sick patients.
For the first time since California criminalized marijuana in 1913, a bill has been introduced to regulate and tax its legal sale and production.
The three Atlanta narcs whose phony drug raid ended with the death of a 92-year-old woman were sentenced to prison Tuesday. Has the Atlanta Police Department learned its lesson? The sentencing judge certainly hopes so.
A pair of cops turned thugs in St. Louis are jeopardizing a pile of drug convictions, a cop turned thug in Dallas will stay behind bars until trial, a Customs and Border Patrol officer heads to prison, and a Massachusetts town still can't find pot that went missing from its police department half a decade ago -- but it's trying.
Just a couple of weeks after dishing out a few billion dollars more for the drug war in the emergency stimulus bill, Congress is at it again in the 2009 omnibus appropriations bill. More money for Byrne JAG grants, more money for Plan Mexico, and just a tiny bit less for Plan Colombia.
The New Jersey senate passed a medical marijuana bill Monday, and the governor said Wednesday he would "absolutely" sign it. But it has to get through the Assembly first.
Salvia divinorum must be some pretty potent stuff. It's driving legislators loco all across the country as they insist on banning it simply because somebody, somewhere might get high on it.
Heroin maintenance programs in Switzerland and Germany have produced positive results there. Can it work in the US? Drug policy expert Peter Reuter looked at the prospects for Baltimore.
Kellogg may have miscalculated when it dumped Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps after the infamous bong photo surfaced. Not only did it stir up a boycott from marijuana activists, it now looks like it's hurting the food giant's reputation.
India's health minister wants to ban a dangerous drug... alcohol.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
"Medical Marijuana Raids are Officially Over," "NJ Senate President Embarrasses Himself With Bad Pot Joke," "Colombia Threatens Obama With Cocaine Crisis if he Doesn't Give Them Money," "Kellogg's Stock Takes Big Hit After Phelps Bong Controversy," "Cops Going to Prison for Botched Drug Raid That Killed Elderly Woman," "Disabled Iraq Vet Loses Home Because of Marijuana Arrest," "Is a "Grow Your Own" Marijuana Policy Better Than Legalization?," "New Jersey Senate Approves Medical Marijuana Bill," "California Legislator Files 'Tax and Regulate' Marijuana Legalization Bill in Wake of Poll Showing Majority West Coast Support."
The Marijuana Policy Project is seeking a Communications Director for its office in Las Vegas.
The Rhode Island Patient Advocacy Coalition (RIPAC), a grassroots medical marijuana community of patients, caregivers, and advocates, is seeking an executive director to head its office in Providence.
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The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) has released its latest annual report on the global drug situation. It calls for increased efforts against marijuana, warns of an increasingly violent drug trade, and worries about the Internet. Critics charge the agency is stuck in the last century.
"Dope Menace" is a visually stunning, very well-informed journey to the heart of America's mid-century obsession with pulp paperbacks, especially those with drug themes. If you have an interest in drugs and popular culture, you're going to want to check this one out.
There is majority support for legal marijuana on the West Coast, according to a new Zogby poll. The East Coast isn't far behind.
Uniformed cops, jail guards, narcs, and assistant police chiefs -- all gone bad this week.
The economic stimulus bill will be stimulating the drug war, too. There's more than $3 billion in there for law enforcement, and much of that is destined for enforcing drug prohibition.
When a Maryland SWAT team raided an innocent mayor's house and killed his dogs, the outrage was palpable. Now, some Maryland legislators have filed a bill that would begin to hold SWAT teams accountable.
Is New Jersey poised to become the next medical marijuana state? The state Senate will vote on it on Monday.
The federal budget deficit is reaching astronomical proportions, and the DEA administrator took a $123,000 plane ride to Colombia?!?!
A marijuana decriminalization bill in Washington state was approved by a Senate committee Wednesday, but there has to be similar action in the state House by next week, or it's dead for the session.
Does meth use equal child abuse? The New Mexico House thinks so.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
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Bush administration holdovers are ordering raids on state-authorized medical marijuana clinics, despite President Obama's pledge to stop them. Please ask the new president and attorney general to take corrective actions sooner rather than later.
"Study: Marijuana Users Less Likely to Get Injured Than Non-Users," "Police Raid Innocent Couple Because Their Son Had a Misdemeanor Marijuana Charge," "Maryland Legislation Seeks to Address Out-of-Control SWAT Raids," "Drug War Protestors Block Traffic Along Mexican Border," "Legalizing Marijuana Doesn't Mean We Have to Legalize Horrible Crimes," "Drug War Logic 101," "Sheriff Lott Gives up on Charging Michael Phelps," "A Failed Drug Strategy Isn't the Only Way DEA Wastes our Money," "Ryan Frederick Update," "Increasing Violence in Mexico is Not a Sign of Progress in the Drug War."
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As commander-in-chief, President Barack Obama must now oversee our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. As President, he is also responsible for another war, one that has gone on much longer and been more costly in terms of dollars spent and lives lost -- the war on drugs.
The Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy issued a report Wednesday calling for harm reduction, treating drug use as a public health issue, and decriminalizing marijuana. The report was an intervention aimed as much at Washington as at Vienna, where the UN meets next month to plot global drug strategy.
The Michael Phelps bong photo story has taken on a life of its own. It has garnered huge media coverage, much of it openly critical of the marijuana laws and official attitudes toward pot smokers. Now, drug reformers, sensing an opportunity to advance the cause, have organized a boycott of Kellogg cereals for refusing to renew his endorsement contract.
There may be something rotten in the dope squad in Philly, something definitely was rotten in Beantown, and yes, another jail guard goes down.
The drug reform community was hoping for a public health person -- not a cop or soldier -- to be named as drug czar. A cop is what we got, but a cop from a liberal town. Will an (arguably) progressive police chief as drug czar be as good?
California has been addicted to mass incarceration for the past quarter-century. Now, it looks like some federal judges are going to make the state go cold turkey. Tens of thousands of prisoners could be set free because California can't or won't pay to treat them as the Constitution requires.
The FDA is moving to tighten prescribing rules for extended-release and patch opioid pain medications. That means it could be harder for patients to obtain drugs like OxyContin and Duragesic, but it's not a done deal yet.
Medical marijuana is moving again in Minnesota. A bill this week passed a Senate committee, despite crazed testimony from LaRouchites and Christian conservatives.
Denmark is about to become the latest European country to cut to the chase and embrace heroin maintenance for particularly recalcitrant smack users.
Once again, the British government has ignored the recommendations of its own advisory committee to down-schedule a drug. Last year, it was marijuana. This time, it's Ecstasy. And it looks like next time, the same thing will happen with LSD. It's making some wonder whether the government wants evidence-based drug policies or not.
Dutch banks have been snubbing coffee house accounts, closing existing ones and refusing to open new ones. Now, the Dutch government says the coffee houses are legal businesses and the banks must deal with them.
Bush administration holdovers are ordering raids on state-authorized medical marijuana clinics, despite President Obama's pledge to stop them. Please ask the new president and attorney general to take corrective actions sooner rather than later.
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"Police Are Trying Very Hard to Bust Michael Phelps for Smoking a Bong," "USA Swimming Deserves Condemnation for Suspending Michael Phelps," "There Are So Many People in Jail, They Literally Don't Fit," "Has Obama Made a Good Choice for Drug Czar?," "Marijuana Probably Won't Give You Cancer in Your Testicles," "Crazed Sheriff Arrests Eight in Phelps Bong Investigation," "Call Kellogg's Today: Here's the Number," "SNL Slams Kellogg's for Dissing Marijuana Users," "Boycott Kellogg's! Fight Corporate Demonization of Marijuana," "Good Kathleen Parker Editorial on Michael Phelps."
The Marijuana Policy Project is seeking an experienced Online Content Manager to develop and manage MPP's online communications strategy from its Washington, DC office.
On the campaign trail, President Obama pledged repeatedly to end the DEA raids on medical marijuana dispensaries in California. The DEA hit four more in the LA area Tuesday, and the administration responded in the media Wednesday night.
With a budget crisis and a change in New York leadership, a politically perfect storm for reform of the state's draconian drug laws seems to be brewing. With the Rockefeller drug laws finally be repealed, after 35 years?
Bush administration holdovers are ordering raids on state-authorized medical marijuana clinics, despite President Obama's pledge to stop them. Please ask the new president and attorney general to take corrective actions sooner rather than later.
As violent intruders were battering down his door one night last January, Ryan Frederick picked up his rifle and shot through it, killing one. Now he's most likely going to prison for 10 years. Another misbegotten SWAT-style drug raid gone bad -- for everybody.
It's jail guards gone wild this week, plus a very sleazy Texas sheriff, some entrepreneurial Fresno narcs, and the latest problems with the evidence room in Galveston.
The South Dakota legislature has killed a medical marijuana bill, while the House has passed a bill to ban salvia divinorum.
An FDA panel has advised removing Darvon and its generic relatives from the market, citing safety and effectiveness issues. But banning the widely used opioid pain reliever could cause more problems than it solves.
The New Hampshire legislature will once again decide on marijuana decriminalization. Last year, it passed in the House, but died in the Senate.
Marijuana decriminalization will be on the Vermont legislature's agenda this session. A bill was filed Tuesday.
Last week, the US NATO commander in Afghanistan wanted to go after any and all drug traffickers as if they were enemy combatants. Now, faced with a rebellion by his commanders, he has had to back down.
Canada's medical marijuana laws have been declared unconstitutional in part, and now Health Canada has one year to get it right, a British Columbia judge has ruled.
A Tokyo magazine publisher keeps putting out issues that seem to tell people how to grow marijuana, and local authorities there are grumbling. The tempest comes as Japanese pot arrests are at an all-time high.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
"The Drug Czar's Blog Should be Used for Good Instead of Evil," "White House Says Medical Marijuana Raids Will End," "Michael Phelps Faces Possible Prosecution for Bong Hit," "Ryan Frederick Found Guilty of Voluntary Manslaughter," "The Killing of Cheye Calvo's Dogs is a Story That Won't Go Away," "Ryan Frederick Trial Goes to the Jury," "Medical Marijuana Raids Continue, Time for Action from Obama," "Support for Marijuana Legalization is Growing in America," "The Bong Hit Heard Around the World," "Joe Biden's Drug Policy Record -- a Review," "Medical Marijuana Research Has Taken a New Direction This Century," "Gwinnett County Georgia SWAT Team Blowing It Big Time," "The Drug War's Dangerous Distortion of Medical Standards," "What Happened to the Drug Czar's Blog?"
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The Rhode Island Patient Advocacy Coalition (RIPAC), a grassroots medical marijuana community of patients, caregivers, and advocates, is seeking an executive director to head its office in Providence.
Every now and then a drug warrior is a little too honest. That was the case this week for the UN's anti-drug chief, who claims the illegal drug trade propped up the global financial system in 2008. If he's right, doesn't that mean we should stop persecuting drug users or even most sellers -- since we seem to need their help to get by?
As governors and legislators ponder deflated budgets at statehouses around the country, opportunities are emerging to move forward on long-stalled prison, sentencing, and drug reform issues.
When New Mexico passed a medical marijuana law in 2007, that law allowed for nonprofit entities to provide medical marijuana for qualified patients. Now, nearly a year and a half later, the state Department of Health has issued regulations for those nonprofits. It is progress, but not enough for some.
Let's hear it for the global drug trade! It's been propping up the international financial system, said Antonio Maria Costa, head of the UN Office on Drugs and crime.
The US general who commands NATO forces in Afghanistan wants to give NATO troops the authority to treat any drug traffickers as military targets. NATO is saying no, thanks.
Faced with anger and ridicule over its drug testing policies, the World Chess Federation decided it didn't want to punish one of game's most popular figures for missing a drug test after all.
Another jail guard gets caught, a Michigan narc cops a plea, so does an Arizona cop, and a North Carolina deputy is going to prison.
President Obama has appointed a long-time federal drug war bureaucrat acting director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. It feels more like stay the course than change for the better, at least for now.
A Nebraska man prosecuted for selling salvia -- even though it isn't illegal there -- has been acquitted, but moves to ban the psychedelic member of the mint family are ongoing across the land.
The House passed the economic stimulus bill Wednesday, including $3 billion for Byrne grants and $1 billion for COPS. But as the bill heads to the Senate, more than a dozen national organizations are calling for the funding to be cut -- and replaced by programs that will actually do some good.
The US Supreme Court has chipped away at the Fourth Amendment yet again, this time in a case involving the frisking of passengers in vehicles stopped for traffic violations.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
"How Not to Legalize Marijuana," "Obama Appoints Temporary Drug Czar," "Mexican Drug Cartels Dissolve Corpses in Vats of Acid," "The World's Smallest Marijuana Joint," "Norm Stamper is Awesome," "Matt Fogg is Awesome," "Ryan Frederick Trial," "Video: Drug Tourism in the Netherlands -- Is It Really Only the Problem of the Dutch?," "Video: SSDP and LEAP Talk Drug Legalization at El Paso City Council."
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In one of the few actions that won it kudos from drug reformers and civil rights groups, the Bush administration tried for years to zero out the Byrne grant program, which funds multi-jurisdictional anti-drug task forces. Now, as part of the economic stimulus bill, Congress wants to give it more money than ever.
Massachusetts voters approved a decriminalization initiative by a two-to-one margin in November. Now, decrim foes are fighting back with local ordinances banning public consumption, but they are finding that once again they have a battle on their hands.
The incoming Obama administration has made its agenda available online. When it comes to drug policy, there's some good, some bad, and some things missing.
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No crooked jail guards this week, but we do have a nice variety of law enforcement and prosecutorial misbehavior.
The DEA raided another California dispensary Thursday, marking the first raid on President Obama's watch. Obama vowed during the campaign to end them, and activists are hoping it's just Bush administration holdovers at work. What is Obama going to do?
With the number of medical marijuana states growing at the rate of one a year, and with Michigan last November becoming the first state in the Midwest to embrace therapeutic cannabis, two Upper Midwest state legislatures are about to grapple with the issue -- again.
One Montana legislator wants to make medical marijuana patients who get into a traffic accident or get pulled over for a violation to have to automatically submit to a drug test. It doesn't appear to be a popular idea.
Activists in Kalamazoo, Michigan, are laying the groundwork for making it the next town or city to pass an ordinance making adult marijuana possession offenses the lowest law enforcement priority.
Is it okay for middle school authorities to strip-search a girl in search of a couple of Ibuprofen tablets? The Supreme Court will decide.
A Harris County, Texas, judge began a lonely crusade two years ago to get the legislature to reduce drug possession penalties. Now, it's not so lonely as some of his colleagues sign on.
Ever eager to charge at windmills in the name of the war on drugs, two US senators have reintroduced a bill that addresses a non-existent menace and threatens to increase prison sentences for people who aren't the intended target.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
"CNBC's Marijuana, Inc: Propaganda, Pot Porn, or Both?," "DEA's Medical Marijuana Raids Continue Under Obama Administration," "Drug Smuggling Robots are the Future," "Marijuana, Inc. Tonight on CNBC," "Drug Policy at WhiteHouse.gov," "Barack Obama is the President."
The Hungarian Civil Liberties Union is now accepting submissions for "Unintended Consequences -- Global Drug War Poster and Video Contest," part of a campaign to raise awareness of the UN's ten-year review of global drug control efforts.
For many politicians, any intelligent discussion about what the drug laws are actually doing to us is more reality than they can take. For others, the reality is too awful to not discuss.
After years of delay and obstructionism, the DEA has finally acted on the request of a UMass researcher to grow marijuana for FDA-approved research. The response: Get lost!
President-elect Obama met with Mexican President Felipe Calderón on Monday. Mexico's drug wars were high on the agenda, but it seems unlikely, given Obama's list of pressing issues, that Mexico will get any higher priority than it has in recent years.
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A Dallas deputy gets busted, so does a Sacramento jail doctor, and a crooked cop in Miami is headed for prison.
In the face of ominous warnings from US Rep. Silvestre Reyes and the city's state legislative delegation, the El Paso City Council has backed away from last week's resolution calling for a national debate on drug legalization. But some council members aren't too pleased with the heavy-handed interference.
A Washington state cop who was smeared and fired because he was an outspoken advocate of drug law reform has won a big settlement.
The drug reform movement is not a monolith, and the rumored nomination of former Minnesota congressman, recovering alcoholic, and recovery advocated Jim Ramstad is showing where some of the fissures lie. But with an acting director appointed this week from ONDCP's current ranks, and with Ramstad himself jockeying for a different post, the exercise may be an intellectual one.
The drug treatment and prevention group Join Together has joined together with the controversial National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA).
A trio of Democratic Party state legislators filed a Washington state marijuana decriminalization bill Wednesday.
Canadian marijuana reform advocates are not going to be able to use deficiencies in Canada's medical marijuana program to invalidate the broader pot law -- at least not in British Columbia.
Philippines President Gloria Arroyo has named herself drug czar, declared war on drug traffickers, and started off by ordering the random drug testing of high school students. But she's just beginning.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
"Another Chance to Pressure Obama for Drug Policy Reform," "If You Think Alcohol Should be Legal, You're an Alcoholic," "Marijuana Law Reform No Longer a Political Liability, It's a Political Opportunity," "Cop Fired for Supporting Marijuana Decriminalization, Wins $815,000 Settlement," "Supreme Court Strikes Another Small Blow Against Exclusionary Rule," "El Paso City Council Threatened With Funding Cuts for Proposing Drug Legalization Debate," "Ducking Drug War Questions at Change.gov," "Bush Appoints Interim Drug Czar," "DEA Blatantly Blocks Medical Marijuana Research."
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Marijuana reform advocates have been seeking to have it rescheduled out of Schedule I since 1972. This week, the DEA rejected the latest petition to seek rescheduling, but that just sets the stage for the next moves. Meanwhile, another petition is moving through the bureaucratic process.
The Michigan bureaucrats charged with drafting rules and regulations for the state's new, voter-approved medical marijuana program need to go back to the drawing board, patients and advocates demanded at a Monday hearing.
With Mexico's prohibition-related violence within earshot, the El Paso City Council Tuesday passed a resolution calling for a national debate on drug legalization. But then, the mayor vetoed it. An override vote is set for next week.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has been keeping an eye on the border. Now, he reveals that he has plans for a "surge" if Mexico's prohibition-related violence spills over into the US.
A former Border Patrol agent cops a plea, another jail guard gets busted, a mystery is solved in Alabama, and one remains in Minnesota.
Ohio becomes the latest state to criminalize salvia divinorum (and its users). The ban goes into effect in 90 days.
Word is CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta has been offered the position of US surgeon general. A 2006 editorial he penned for Time magazine, opposing marijuana law reform initiatives on the ballot in two states, suggests Gupta may not be great news for drug reform.
The Arizona Supreme Court will decide whether there is a religious right to use and possess marijuana.
Drug testing in chess? You've got to be kidding. That's what the players think, but the chess federation is dead serious, and now it finds itself in something of a pickle.
In recent years, South American cocaine traffickers aiming at lucrative European markets have made West Africa a favorite stop-over. Now, the narcs are following them.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
What Are the Worst Arguments Against Legalizing Drugs?," "Drug War Debate Continues in El Paso," "If the Drug War is so Great, How Come You Don't Wanna Talk About It?," "The Drug War is Basically an Employment Program for Criminals," "Metro Threatens Flex Your Rights with Legal Action, ACLU Defends," "Obama's Surgeon General Hates Marijuana (But Sort of Supports Medical Use)," "High Times Should Give Me a Job," "The Drug Cartels are Becoming More Powerful Than the Government," "The Drug War Only Causes Violence. It Can't Create Peace."
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As we wave goodbye to 2008, it's worth taking a moment to look back at the biggest drug policy stories of the year. It's a definite mixed bag, but better than most recent years. Following this story is another that looks forward into 2009 -- also likely to be a mixed bag, but with more signs of life to bring hope to drug reformers.
Will 2009 be a happy New Year for positive drug policy changes? Here, we take a look at what could -- or couldn't -- be coming down the pike, as well as some festering issues that aren't going to go away.
New year, same old same old. Another jailer gone bad, another deputy with problems, and a murky tale from Tennessee involving cops, docs, guns, and pills.
Marijuana is decriminalized in Massachusetts effective today. Hash, too.
Don Christen has jousted with Maine authorities over marijuana for years. Now, he's just won a major victory in court.
West Virginia's Kanawha County school board wanted to subject teachers to random, suspicionless drug testing, but a little thing called the US Constitution got in the way.
It's been a little more than six months since social pot dealer Rachel Hoffman was intimidated into becoming a snitch and sent off to buy cocaine and guns from men who killed her. Now, her family is suing the Tallahassee Police Department and seeking legislation to protect other young victims of predatory policing.
Under existing jurisprudence and guidelines, people in Holland can grow up to five marijuana plants without fear of prosecution. Now, a court has ruled that no matter how big the harvest, if you grow five or less, you're safe.
The Peruvian government managed to defeat the bloody Shining Path insurgency in the early 1990s. Now, the profits from prohibition are helping to bring it back to life.
The herbal drug "Spice" is becoming popular with recreational users seeking a high, but authorities in various countries are moving to ban it, claiming it contains a dangerous synthetic cannabinoid.
"Another Botched Drug Raid: Officers Shot, Mistaken for Burglars, No Drugs Found," "Fixing Our Criminal Justice System Isn't Political Suicide. Stop Saying That.," "Arizona's Attorney General Talks Marijuana Legalization," "An Easy Way to Ask Obama About Drug Policy Reform," "Merry(juana) Christmas! (Colbert/Willie Nelson video)," "Bush Endorses Harm Reduction Group... Sort Of," "Harm Reduction and Allan's Diplomatic Faux Pas, on the Final Day of the UN Drug Treatment Conference, Vienna."
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The National Drug Intelligence Center is out with its National Drug Threat Assessment 2009. If the authors would read their own words, they would realize they are making a strong argument for ending drug prohibition.
A New Jersey Senate committee Monday approved a medical marijuana bill, sending it to the Senate for a floor vote.
Our web site traffic continues to grow and grow, but that is only one of the things we are doing. Please make a generous donation before year's end to support our programs in 2009.
Two cops are headed for prison in New Mexico, and one in California.
The Buckeye State is on the verge of becoming the latest to ban salvia divinorum.
The ACLU's Northern California affiliate has filed a lawsuit challenging the Shasta County school district's newly-expanded student drug testing policy.
One of Holland's largest banks is washing its hands of the marijuana business, saying it will close down the accounts of coffee shop owners because that's the responsible thing to do.
Plans are afoot in the British Isles to push "problem drug users" into treatment and onto the job market, but the government is going to have to do more, a new report says.
Thanks to some widely publicized busts, despite miniscule use levels, marijuana is sparking concern in Japan. The rhetoric will be familiar, and it provokes the question: Is it time for Nippon NORML?
A new administration in Washington could mean better relations with Venezuela, including renewed cooperation with the DEA, Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez said Sunday. But cooperation is a two-way street...
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
Help build the movement and inform the public by running a StoptheDrugWar.org banner on your web site.
"Am I a Hippie Who Doesn't Understand Politics?," "The Profit Motive for Arresting Marijuana Users," "Vienna UN Drug Treatment Meeting Day Two: The Clockwork Orange Brainwashing Day," "Shooting Down Innocent People in Airplanes Won't Win the Drug War," "Day One at the UN Drug Treatment Meeting -- Slightly More Interesting Than Predicted," "When it Comes to Marijuana Laws, Obama's Website Should be Called Same.gov," "High School Seniors Are Using Lots of LSD This Year," "More on the Ryan Frederick Case," "New Jersey Medical Marijuana Bill Gets Favorable Committee Vote," "Why Should You or Anyone Care About This Week's UN Anti-Drug Meeting?," "The Real Reason Obama Won't Support Marijuana Legalization," "Asserting Your Rights Doesn't Mean You're Getting Away With Something."
StoptheDrugWar.org (DRCNet) is seeking volunteers in the DC area to help with our membership drive; and from anywhere to help with a writing-based project on which work has already begun.
Apply for an internship at DRCNet for this spring (or summer), and you could spend the semester fighting the good fight!
Recent reports from Holland have given the impression that the coffee shops are under pressure and could even be shut down. Don't believe it.
The Kanawha, West Virginia, school board wants to randomly drug test teachers. But that's stretching the law, and neither the teachers' unions nor the ACLU are going to let it happen without a fight.
StoptheDrugWar.org (DRCNet) seeks tax deductible donations as year's end approaches for our educational programs -- especially our web site, on which readership continues to go up and up.
StoptheDrugWar.org (DRCNet) is a nonpartisan organization, and no major party nominee for US President has yet supported enough of our mission to change that. Nevertheless, the views expressed in President-Elect Obama's books, speeches and campaign appearances are mostly positive, and enactment of them would make a major difference in drug policy and help many thousands of people. We need your help and your participation to fight this important fight at this time of opportunity.
Sodomizing SOB NYPD cops get indicted, a New York Health Department narc gets in trouble, so does a Michigan State Police narc and a Texas jail guard, and Rod Blagojevich isn't the only thing crooked in Chicago.
Pennsylvania housewife Christine Korbe heard what she thought were robbers breaking into her home at dawn on November 19. She opened fire from a stairway, shooting an FBI agent serving a drug arrest warrant on her husband before calling 911 to report a break-in. Now, in the latest example of overly aggressive drug raids gone bad, the FBI is dead, and Korbe is facing murder charges.
After Atlanta narcs gunned down 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston in a bad drug raid, local officials sought to ease public outrage and concern by creating a Civilian Review Board to investigate abuses. Now the cops are trying to gut it.
Americans can rest secure in the knowledge that our country maintains its role as the world's leading jailer. According to a new Bureau of Justice Statistics report, we have an all-time record 2.3 million people behind bars, and that includes more than half a million drug offenders.
The Montana Meth Project, with its scary graphic images of the consequences of using the drug "just once," has been widely touted as a successful prevention effort. Not so fast, say researchers who have reviewed the results.
The death toll in Mexico's prohibition wars has passed 5,000 this year, making it comparable to the death tolls in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The German agency that regulates medicine has issued an exclusive license to a Belgian firm to import and distribute medical marijuana to a handful of patients who have won exceptions to the country's drug laws. The bud should be in pharmacies by next month.
People have grown cannabis for centuries in Morocco's Rif Mountains, and Moroccan hash has been a hit in Europe for decades. Now, after five years of trying to suppress the crop, the discussion over possible legalization has hit the public airwaves there.
Help build the movement and inform the public by running a StoptheDrugWar.org banner on your web site.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
"You Can Help Encourage Obama to Answer Questions About Our Marijuana Policy," "DEA Says it Has a Policy of Not Arresting Medical Marijuana Patients," "Southeast Asia Plans to be Drug-Free by 2015," "Don't Consent to Police Searches or Answer Incriminating Questions," "America's Meanest Prosecutor Refuses to Resign," "Elderly People Who Grow Pot in Albania," "Can Both Sides of the Drug War Debate be Completely Wrong?," "The Discovery of 2,700-Year-Old Marijuana is Pretty Cool," "Are Cocaine Users Killing the Rainforest?"
StoptheDrugWar.org (DRCNet) is seeking volunteers in the DC area to help with our membership drive; and from anywhere to help with a writing-based project on which work has already begun.
Apply for an internship at DRCNet for this spring (or summer), and you could spend the semester fighting the good fight!
Alcohol Prohibition was repealed 75 years ago today. Are there lessons to be learned, and is it going to take another 75 years to end drug prohibition?
South Dakota has the dubious distinction of being the only state to defeat an initiative that would legalize medical marijuana, but that's not stopping advocates there. They have a bill ready for the legislature; now all they need are some sponsors.
Pictures from prohibition days -- enforcers, violators, activists -- courtesy the Hagley Museum and Library, a collection chronicling American enterprise and the legacy of the du Pont family, in Wilmington, Delaware.
StoptheDrugWar.org (DRCNet) is a nonpartisan organization, and no major party nominee for US President has yet supported enough of our mission to change that. Nevertheless, the views expressed in President-Elect Obama's books, speeches and campaign appearances are mostly positive, and enactment of them would make a major difference in drug policy and help many thousands of people. We need your help and your participation to fight this important fight at this time of opportunity.
StoptheDrugWar.org (DRCNet) seeks tax deductible donations as year's end approaches for our educational programs -- especially our web site, on which readership continues to go up and up.
A big corruption bust in Chicago, an ugly story out of upstate New York, and a sticky-fingered narc in Michigan, plus a former Schenectady police chief cuts a deal and heads for prison.
Last year, a California appeals court ruled that state and local police are not required to enforce federal drug laws. Now, the US Supreme Court has declined a chance to overturn that ruling.
A callous DC judge sentenced wheelchair-bound Jonathan Magbie to 10 days in jail for marijuana possession after he told her he would keep using it to ease his ills. He died before he made it halfway through his sentence, and now, DC and a local hospital will have to pay out the nose for their sins.
The Chicago suburb of Chicago Heights has decriminalized marijuana possession.
Voters in Switzerland Sunday easily approved prescribing heroin to addicts, but rejected marijuana legalization.
You can't sell or grow magic mushrooms in Holland anymore.
More people were executed for drug offenses or sentenced to death for them last month. American citizens might want to note the involvement of the US military or anti-drug agents in a pair of these cases.
"DC Pays Dearly After Letting a Medical Marijuana Patient Die in Jail," "Not Arresting Marijuana Users is Too Confusing For Police," "Medical Marijuana Debate: MPP vs. ONDCP," "LEAP Celebrates the Repeal of Alcohol Prohibition," "Tainted Cocaine is a Consequence of Drug Prohibition," "Random Drug Testing Won't Save the Children From Heroin," "Swiss Voters Approve Heroin Prescriptions, But Reject Marijuana Decriminalization," "Police Use Newspaper Ads to Recruit Snitches."
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
The Marijuana Policy Project is seeking a Communications Assistant for the organization's main office in Washington, DC.
StoptheDrugWar.org (DRCNet) is seeking volunteers in the DC area to help with our membership drive; and from anywhere to help with a writing-based project on which work has already begun.
Apply for an internship at DRCNet for this spring (or summer), and you could spend the semester fighting the good fight!
Campus drug reform activists from around the country -- and beyond -- gathered last weekend in College Park, Maryland, for SSDP's 10th annual international conference. They lobbied, they listened, they learned, and now they're heading back home well-energized to apply the lessons they learned.
Harvard-trained sociologist Peter Moskos was interested in police socialization, so he joined the Baltimore PD and hit the mean streets of the city's Eastern District for more than a year as a uniformed officer. The book he wrote based on his experiences is an illuminating gem.
Earlier this month we wrote seeking support for StoptheDrugWar.org (DRCNet)'s lobbying programs, to help us lobby the Obama administration and Congress on causes near and dear to the hearts of drug reformers with which the President-Elect has said he agrees. We also seek tax deductible donations to our educational programs, especially our web site, on which readership continues to go up and up.
An Indiana prosecutor gets slapped again over shady asset forfeiture practices, a Texas trooper gets caught with the coke, and so does a North Carolina cop.
As his term comes to a close, President George Bush has begun to exercise his pardon power, and a handful of drug offenders have benefited.
The California Supreme Court has made it more difficult for people to qualify as medical marijuana caregivers. That should push patients toward co-op and collective dispensaries -- except in areas where there aren't any.
Dutch pot politics is heating up again, with mayors looking for a way to solve the "backdoor problem" with their coffee shops, and some in the conservative government wanting to see the coffee shops just go away.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
The drug war records of some key Obama picks -- Biden, Emanuel, Holder -- are prompting wailing and gnashing of teeth among some drug reformers, but others suggest it's better to keep working quietly on progress than obsess on the past.
With national elections just days behind them, some 300 Colorado marijuana reform activists wasted no time getting down to brass tacks as they met in Denver for the 2008 Colorado Marijuana Reform Seminar and Boot Camp.
Earlier this month we wrote seeking support for StoptheDrugWar.org (DRCNet)'s lobbying programs, to help us lobby the Obama administration and Congress on causes near and dear to the hearts of drug reformers with which the President-Elect has said he agrees. This week we are seeking tax deductible donations to our educational programs, especially our web site, on which readership continues to go up and up.
A trio of bad apples from Arizona, including a DARE officer with a penchant for sexual assault, made the news this week, while the city of Berwyn, Illinois, found itself in a bit of hot water over the way it used asset forfeiture funds.
Who knew? Marijuana decriminalization is polling above 50% in Arkansas. Arkansas!
The California Department of Motor Vehicles is jerking the drivers' licenses of medical marijuana patients, saying they are "drug abusers." Now, Americans for Safe Access has filed a lawsuit to make them cut it out.
There were municipal elections across British Columbia Saturday, and drug reformers continued to hold power in Vancouver, were returned to the mayoralty in Grand Forks, and won a seat on the city council in Victoria.
While the conservative Dutch national government would like to see cannabis coffee shops go away, the mayors of the towns that have them beg to differ. In fact, most of them want to see production as well as sales tolerated.
The Australian state of New South Wales has joined Canada, China, and various European countries in allowing the cultivation of industrial hemp. Tough luck, American farmers.
Bolivia's President Evo Morales said yes to Obama, but no to the DEA at the UN this week
British attitudes toward drug users, sellers, and drug reform are heading in the wrong direction, according to a new poll.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
After eight years of Republican rule and the Bush presidency, drug policy and related reformers are ready for change. They have some concrete ideas, too. Here's a look at them and the prospects for change in Washington.
With the Bush administration preparing to leave town, so is drug czar John Walters. Now the question is who will replace him... and should he be replaced at all?
Last week we wrote seeking support for StoptheDrugWar.org (DRCNet)'s lobbying programs, to help us lobby the Obama administration and Congress on causes near and dear to the hearts of drug reformers with which the President-Elect has said he agrees. This week we are seeking tax deductible donations to our educational programs, especially our web site, on which readership continues to go up and up.
Crooked policing sparks lawsuits in Oakland and New Haven, another jail guard goes down, so does a Border Patrol inspector, a Louisiana narc gets busted for burglary, and an Illinois cop gets caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
Do drug defendants have the constitutional right to cross-examine the laboratory analysts who prepare crime lab reports? That was the question before the Supreme Court in oral arguments Monday.
Texas is the latest state to see an effort to ban salvia divinorum with a bill introduced this week. Another bill would limit its sales to adults, but it's not the one getting attention.
People busted with dirty pipes or needles in Cleveland will no longer face felony drug possession charges -- unless they try really hard.
A pair of would-be North Dakota hemp farmers were in a federal appeals court Wednesday as they resumed their bid to get the federal government out of their way.
Five years ago, the Thai government waged a "war on drugs" that left nearly 3,000 people dead in less than three months. Now, it has declared a new drug war, and human rights groups are issuing warnings.
The lower house of the Czech parliament has approved reforms to the penal code that would decriminalize marijuana possession and separate "hard" and "soft" drugs.
The Swiss will vote November 30 on whether to decriminalize marijuana and whether to continue the government's ongoing four pillars drug strategy, complete with prescription heroin.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
The Marijuana Policy Project is seeking a Legislative Analyst to work in its State Policies Department in Washington, and a Campaign Manager for an Upcoming Ballot Initiative in Arizona.
Marijuana won big in Tuesday's election. Every state and local initiative on the ballot won, and by impressive margins, despite the best efforts of cops, prosecutors, and the drug czar.
California's "treatment not jail" Proposition 5 is defeated and so is one "tough on crime" initiative, but another one won favor with Golden State voters. Meanwhile, dueling "tough on crime" initiatives also passed in Oregon.
StoptheDrugWar.org (DRCNet) is a nonpartisan organization, and no major party nominee for US President has yet supported enough of our mission to change that. Nevertheless, the views expressed in President-Elect Obama's books, speeches and campaign appearances are mostly positive, and enactment of them would make a major difference in drug policy and help many thousands of people. We need your help and your participation to fight this important fight at this time of opportunity.
Another NYPD bad apple, a probation officer with a bad habit, and more jail guards ending up on the inside looking out.
Who will replace drug czar John Walters in an Obama administration? The early speculation centered on LAPD Chief William Bratton, but now he has removed himself from consideration.
New regulations that stipulate how much medical marijuana Washington state patients can grow and possess are now in effect.
At ten years out, Students for Sensible Drug Policy is stronger than ever. Please come out for this special conference and alumni reunion.
The US has spent $6 billion on Plan Colombia since 1999. The goal was to reduce coca and cocaine production by half. They didn't even come close, a new GAO report reveals.
Two of Mexico's top drug fighters were killed Tuesday in an unexplained plane crash in Mexico City. The Mexican press is rife with speculation they were assassinated.
The Philippines Supreme Court has ruled on the constitutionality of random, suspicionless drug testing. It's fine for students and workers, but not for politicians or criminal defendants, the court held.
Already chilly relations between Bolivia and the US grew even chillier this weekend, as Bolivia's President Morales told the DEA to take a hike.
Copenhagen's counterculture enclave of Christiania has been under attack by the conservative Danish government, but now its residents are fighting back in the courts as well as the streets.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
"MSNBC Notices Popular Support for Marijuana Reform," "Will Obama End the Medical Marijuana Raids?," "Drug Czar Appointment Watch: William Bratton Says 'No Thanks'," "A Mandate For Marijuana Reform," "Medical Marijuana Wins in Michigan," "Mark Souder Re-elected in Indiana," "Huge Win for Marijuana Decriminalization in Massachusetts," "Drug Czar Mixes Cannabis, Caffeine, and Cartography With Catastrophic Results," "Could the Next Drug Czar be William Bratton?," "Mexico's Top Drug Cop Resigns Amidst Corruption Controversy," "If You're in California, Support Treatment-Not-Incarceration for Drug Offenses," "If You're in Michigan, Support Medical Marijuana," "If You're in Massachusetts, Support Marijuana Decriminalization."
Apply for an internship at DRCNet for this fall (or spring), and you could spend the semester fighting the good fight!
StoptheDrugWar.org (DRCNet) is seeking volunteers in the DC area to help with our membership drive; and from anywhere to help with a writing-based project starting next month.
Do you read Drug War Chronicle? If so, we need your feedback to evaluate our work and make the case for Drug War Chronicle to funders. We need donations too.
Support the cause by featuring automatically-updating Drug War Chronicle and other DRCNet content links on your web site!
A new way for you to receive DRCNet articles -- Drug War Chronicle and more -- is now available.
Visit our new web site each day to see a running countdown to the events coming up the soonest, and more.
With the elections a few days from now, we reprint our review from four weeks ago of drug policy and sentencing reform initiatives going to the ballot in several different states.
"Prince of Pot: The US v. Marc Emery" is a new documentary on Canada's most famous marijuana activist. We review it this week.
It's back to the drawing board for the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act. Initiative organizers have suspended signature-gathering in the face of weak support in initial polling.
StoptheDrugWar.org (DRCNet) is seeking volunteers in the DC area to help with our membership drive; and from anywhere to help with a writing-based project starting next month.
Apply for an internship at DRCNet for this fall (or spring), and you could spend the semester fighting the good fight!
One cop offers bribes, one cop takes bribes, two cops take drugs and money. Just another week in the drug war.
Montana courts cannot bar medical marijuana patients from taking their medicine while on probation or parole, the state Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.
"Dying to Get High," by sociologists Wendy Chapkis and Richard Webb, is a groundbreaking work that provides an in-depth portrait of one of the country's most well-known medical marijuana collectives.
Flooded with marijuana users from more repressive neighboring countries, some Dutch border town mayors are shutting down all their cannabis coffee shops. Other mayors are looking for a better solution.
Did Afghan opium production drop 6% this year or 31%? The US and the UN disagree, but it may be a moot point with the Taliban sitting on a huge stash that can be easily converted into a war chest.
The head of the legislative assembly in Mexico's federal district (Mexico City) has introduced legislation that would decriminalize small-time marijuana possession and allow for the establishment of businesses to sell small amounts.
Drug czar John Walters supports Mexico's drug decriminalization plan?!?! That's what he said last Friday, but there may be less to this than meets the eye.
Washington and Bogotá have both been talking up improvements in Colombia's human rights situation. But there is still plenty to be deeply concerned about, Amnesty International said in a report this week.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
"Flex Your Rights Protests Random Searches in DC," "Telemarketers Refuse to Make 'Soft on Crime' Attacks Against Obama," "The Drug Czar Can't Stop Panicking About Medical Marijuana," "The Perfect Argument for Medical Marijuana in Michigan," "Corruption at the Top Levels of the Mexican Drug War," "Rumors of NYPD Sexually Assaulting a Marijuana Suspect," "Random Searches in Our Nation's Capital," "$5 Million to Catch One Drug Trafficker?," "Will Mexico's Drug War Violence Come to the US?," "'Economically, our Criminal Justice Policies are Cutting Our Throats'."
Do you read Drug War Chronicle? If so, we need your feedback to evaluate our work and make the case for Drug War Chronicle to funders. We need donations too.
Right now, all eyes are on November 4, but leading drug reform groups are already looking down the road to 2010 and beyond.
The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) held its 37th annual national conference in Berkeley, California. Here's a report.
StoptheDrugWar.org (DRCNet) is seeking volunteers in the DC area to help with our membership drive; and from anywhere to help with a writing-based project starting next month.
Thank you to the many Drug War Chronicle readers who have submitted feedback. Here is what a few of you have had to say.
"Dying to Get High," by sociologists Wendy Chapkis and Richard Webb, is a groundbreaking work that provides an in-depth portrait of one of the country's most well-known medical marijuana collectives.
Cops dealing drugs, cops stealing money. More of the same old same old.
With election day less than two weeks away, the drug czar and California's prison guard union are trying to defeat California's groundbreaking treatment-not-jail Nonviolent Offender Rehabiliation Act (NORA) initiative.
The drug czar's National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign is an expensive failure, a new study has found.
For the second time in three years, students at Florida State University have approved an initiative calling on administrators to equalize penalties for marijuana possession and underage alcohol consumption on campus.
Earlier this month, DEA agents strip-searched 147 Chinese nationals arriving in Saipan on vacation. The government of the Northern Mariana Islands is most unhappy.
Research results from the North American Opiate Maintenance Initiative (NAOMI) are in, and the researchers say heroin maintenance is safe, effective, and economical.
Four out of every five pounds of pot grown in the Netherlands is destined for export, says a top Dutch cop, and the black market trade is generating violent crime as well as big profits.
Iran has announced it will not execute drug offenders who are minors. Meanwhile, it continues to execute drug offenders who are adults.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
Mexico Violence, Jail or Not to Jail for Relapse, Drug War for Budget Cutting, the Marijuana War on Young People, by Talvi, Newman, Conason and Armentano on Alternet, Huffington Post and Salon.
The Marijuana Policy Project is hiring for six exciting positions -- one in Arizona, five in Nevada preparing for a 2012 ballot initiative.
"Smoking Pot Won't Make You Stupid, But Stupid People Do Smoke Pot," "Parents Are Using Drug Dogs on Their Own Children," "Wow, I Almost Forgot It Was Drug Free Work Week," "Why Do Prison and Alcohol Lobbies Oppose Drug Treatment?," "Giuliani Robocall Attacks Obama on Drug Sentencing," "The Drug War is Destroying Mexico Right Before Our Eyes," "Could Mexico City Become the Next Amsterdam?," "The Drug War Sends White People Into Treatment, While Black People Get Felonies," "Drug Czar Tells Cartels to Surrender or Die," "More Drug War = More Violence," "Further Evidence That the Drug War Doesn't Protect Children," "DEA Thrills Schoolchildren With Awesome Drug War Parade."
Do you read Drug War Chronicle? If so, we need your feedback to evaluate our work and make the case for Drug War Chronicle to funders. We need donations too.
Support the cause by featuring automatically-updating Drug War Chronicle and other DRCNet content links on your web site!
A new way for you to receive DRCNet articles -- Drug War Chronicle and more -- is now available.
Visit our new web site each day to see a running countdown to the events coming up the soonest, and more.
The drug war in Afghanistan is about to heat up. NATO has agreed to target drug traffickers and heroin labs aligned with the Taliban and Al Qaeda insurgency, and the US is quietly planning to put American soldiers on the ground with poppy eradication teams and their Afghan army protectors. The question is: Will any of this work?
Michigan's medical marijuana initiative appears headed for victory in November, but now an organized opposition of the usual suspects has emerged, and the drug czar and his minion came to the state this week to try to derail it.
"Dying to Get High," by sociologists Wendy Chapkis and Richard Webb, is a groundbreaking work that provides an in-depth portrait of one of the country's most well-known medical marijuana collectives.
More rogue cops in New York City, a Texas sheriff gets busted, some sticky-fingered narcs in Ohio, a would-be pot-growing cop in Florida, and yes, another prison employee busted for getting the inmates high.
For the fifth consecutive election cycle, Massachusetts marijuana reform activists are putting local public policy questions on the ballot. So far, questions regarding decriminalization, medical marijuana, industrial, and tax and regulate have a winning streak of 41-0. This year, it's four more about medical marijuana.
Will federally-mandated drug testing come to the coal fields? The Mine Health and Safety Administration wants it to, but workers' unions say it is unnecessary and unconstitutional.
A lawsuit filed by a Long Island woman who was strip searched after being busted for a marijuana stem -- with the search allegedly watched by ogling male cops via video -- can go forward, a federal appeals court has ruled.
The president of Honduras has joined a growing chorus of Latin America leaders calling for drug legalization, or is it decriminalization?
UNODC chief Antonio Maria Costa trotted out some tired old arguments last week in Mexico City as he warned of "drug crime," but ignored the role of prohibition in facilitating it.
Marijuana will be rescheduled as a more serious drug in Britain beginning January 26. First-time possession offenders will still get warnings, but a second offense will bring a fine, and a third offense will result in arrest. There is a loophole, but this is still a step backward for Albion.
Human Rights Watch has issued a new report charging that millions of people around the world are suffering needlessly from treatable pain, and international drug control laws are part of the problem.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
"Study: Drug Czar's Billion Dollar Anti-Drug Ad Campaign is a Failure," "Another Complete Failure From the Drug Czar," "Legalizing Marijuana Would Stop Growers From Destroying Our Forests," "Drug Cop Admits His Career Was Built Around Lies and Wrongful Convictions," "Police Steal Money from Elderly Medical Marijuana Patients," "Laser-Guided Missiles Aren't the Answer," "Travel Alert: Mexico Unsafe Thanks to War on Drugs."
The Marijuana Policy Project has job openings in Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
The Advisory Council for the Fair Sentencing of Children, a coalition of organizations working to ending the sentencing of juveniles to life without the possibility of parole in the United States, is hiring.
Do you read Drug War Chronicle? If so, we need your feedback to evaluate our work and make the case for Drug War Chronicle to funders. We need donations too.
Support the cause by featuring automatically-updating Drug War Chronicle and other DRCNet content links on your web site!
A new way for you to receive DRCNet articles -- Drug War Chronicle and more -- is now available.
Visit our new web site each day to see a running countdown to the events coming up the soonest, and more.
Drug reform hasn't been much of an issue in the presidential campaign, but there are differences between the major party candidates -- and much larger differences between them and a trio of minor party candidates with solidly radical drug reform proposals. For whom to vote?
In 2002, the Office of National Drug Control Policy set goals of reducing marijuana and overall drug use. Despite artful manipulation of the numbers, ONDCP has failed at its stated goal, but it has managed to drive into treatment thousands of pot smokers who didn't need it.
"Dying to Get High," by sociologists Wendy Chapkis and Richard Webb, is a groundbreaking work that provides an in-depth portrait of one of the country's most well-known medical marijuana collectives.
A Wyoming cop gets sentenced for stealing his canine officer father's training dope, a prosecutor in Indiana is in the hot seat over asset forfeiture, and another prison guard gets busted.
Spurred by YouTube videos and reports of increasing use, a bill that would ban salvia divinorum has passed the Massachusetts House of Representatives.
A decade ago, Washington voters approved a medical marijuana law. Now, the state Department of Health has set quantity limits.
A cocaine shortage is leading to a wave of killings in Cincinnati. Local officials are close to making the link between prohibition and the violence, but they're not there yet.
Relations between the US and Bolivia continue to worsen. Late last week, Bolivia barred DEA surveillance planes from overflying the country, and on Saturday, President Morales scorned US anti-drug policy.
Peruvian government efforts to crack down on coca growers in some parts of the country are causing them to expand into indigenous regions in the central Peruvian jungle. Local residents are not pleased.
In two separate cases, Malaysian courts have sentenced three men to death for trafficking less than two pounds of marijuana. Meanwhile, executions of drug offenders continue apace in the Middle East.
Judges in the Netherlands narrowly favor legalizing marijuana, according to a new poll.
Drug testing violates personal privacy. Now, at least one widely-used drug testing kit has been proven to be a scam too.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
Election day is just over a month away. Here's a breakdown of drug policy reform and sentencing initiatives (not all of them good) on various state and local ballots November 4.
Canadians go to the polls in national elections this month, but there has been little talk of drug reform, and two pro-reform parliamentary candidates were forced off the ballot after videos of past drug use surfaced on YouTube.
"Dying to Get High," by sociologists Wendy Chapkis and Richard Webb, is a groundbreaking work that provides an in-depth portrait of one of the country's most well-known medical marijuana collectives.
Crooked policing runs the gamut this week: from a former chief of police busted for dope dealing, to a cop nailed for acting as a middleman in a bribery scheme, to some lying cops being scrutinized by a federal judge, to a crew of rogue detectives costing their employer a nice settlement, to another rogue cop who's been on the lam for the last five years.
An Iowa man with chronic nasal congestion has run afoul of his state's law aimed at cracking down on meth cooks.
A poll released Thursday finds that 76% of likely voters think the drug war is failing and 27% say the solution is to legalize some drugs.
Salt Lake City marijuana dealer Weldon Angelos got 55 years because he had a gun with him during a couple of deals and more at home. Now, in the wake of the Supreme Court's recent 2nd Amendment decision, a group of attorneys is filing a new appeal.
The biggest sentencing reforms in years were signed into law by Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell last week, but the killing of a policeman by a parolee is now blocking all parole releases.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) has vetoed a bill that would have provided employment protection for medical marijuana patients.
An Idaho Republican state legislator is threatening to introduce a medical marijuana bill next session. That would bring the state in line with neighbors Washington, Oregon, Nevada, and Montana.
As part of a package of security measures aimed at fighting his country's powerful drug trafficking organizations, Mexican President Felipe Calderón this week moved to decriminalize drug possession.
A British drug policy think-tank has released a report saying that marijuana is less harmful than alcohol or tobacco and should be regulated, not prohibited.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
"Mark Souder vs. The New Drug War Politics," "Calvina Fay vs. The New Drug War Politics," "New Poll: Democrats and Republicans Agree That the Drug War is a Failure," "Police Discover World's Largest Marijuana Plants," "The Drug War Bailout," "Police Defend the Right to Choke Marijuana Suspects," "SWAT Raids Often Target Innocent People," "Nasal Congestion Sufferer Arrested for Buying Too Much Cold Medicine," "When Police Mistake Chocolate For Hash…"
Do you read Drug War Chronicle? If so, we need your feedback to evaluate our work and make the case for Drug War Chronicle to funders. We need donations too.
Support the cause by featuring automatically-updating Drug War Chronicle and other DRCNet content links on your web site!
A new way for you to receive DRCNet articles -- Drug War Chronicle and more -- is now available.
Visit our new web site each day to see a running countdown to the events coming up the soonest, and more.
Lawyers understand medicine better than doctors, and drug dogs have extra-sensory perception, some judges today seem to think. Judges should know better, and with people's health and freedom on the line have no excuse for not doing better.
Unleashed by a pair of US Supreme Court rulings, the Bush administration has been pushing random suspicionless drug testing of students. They've been having some success, but have also engendered a vigorous opposition movement.
Families Against Mandatory Minimums this week released polling data showing surprising levels of support for reform of our draconian mandatory minimum sentencing structure.
"Dying to Get High," by sociologists Wendy Chapkis and Richard Webb, is a groundbreaking work that provides an in-depth portrait of one of the country's most well-known medical marijuana collectives.
From sea to shining sea, cops, jail guards, and court officers go bad. This week, in addition to the usual rogues' gallery of corrupt cops, we get an abusive one, too.
Suffering a budgetary hangover after years of "tough on crime" and mandatory minimum sentencing policies, the Pennsylvania Senate voted last week to divert nonviolent drug offenders to treatment, among other reforms. The House is expected to pass the bill soon.
The use of drug dogs to search vehicles during traffic stops is becoming increasingly popular with police. But now, some Florida attorneys are challenging the reliability of the dogs because some have been shown to "hit" consistently on cars -- even when no drugs are on board.
In convicting a properly certified medical marijuana patient of cultivation, a Washington state judge has decided she's a doctor, not just a lawyer.
The Marines in Okinawa and a US Air Force fighter wing in England have banned salvia divinorum. They're not the first military bases to act against the legal hallucinogen.
Mexico's high levels of prohibition-related violence are taking their toll on public confidence south of the border. But they are also making Mexicans more amenable to thinking about legalization, according to a new poll.
Holland banned tobacco smoking in public places, including coffee shops, effective July 1. Now one Amsterdammer who couldn't break his habit of mixing tobacco into his joints has been cited.
Kosovo won its independence from Serbia after a US-NATO intervention in 1999. Now it boasts the cheapest dope in the Balkans.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
The Criminal Justice Policy Foundation (CJPF) is seeking a part-time Program Manager to work directly with its president in downtown Silver Spring, MD.
"Poll Shows Strong Support in Mexico for Drug Legalization," "Rachel Hoffman Fallout: One Officer Fired, Others Reprimanded," "Police Kill Really Small Dog, Claim it Threatened Them," "New Developments in the Ryan Frederick Case," "Idiot Proposes Lengthy Prison Sentence for George Michael," "Cop Fired For Choking Marijuana Suspect," "Salvia is Potent, But is it Dangerous?," "Obama's Contradictory Position on the Drug War," "Another Sign That Medical Marijuana Laws Are Working."
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The FBI's annual Uniform Crime Report is out. Serious crime is down across the board, but drug arrests held roughly steady. Marijuana arrests actually increased by 5% to more than 872,000 -- nearly 90% of them for simple possession.
In its annual act of diplomatic hubris, the US government this week released its list of "major" drug producing and trafficking countries. Only three of them -- all political foes of Washington -- were found wanting.
"Dying to Get High," by sociologists Wendy Chapkis and Richard Webb, is a groundbreaking work that provides an in-depth portrait of one of the country's most well-known medical marijuana collectives.
A Texas constable and probation/parole officers in Massachusetts and North Carolina are in the spotlight this week.
With less than two months before Massachusetts voters go to the polls to vote on a marijuana decriminalization initiative, initiative supporters have filed criminal complaints against the organized opposition.
A Nebraska shop-keeper must stand trial for selling salvia divinorum, even though it's not illegal in Nebraska.
The government must obtain a search warrant based on probable cause before forcing wireless service providers to divulge historical cell phone tower location information, a federal district court hearing a drug trafficking case has ruled.
Brazilian police are killers, both on and off the job, according to a new report from the UN's Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial, summary, and arbitrary executions.
Britain's advisory panel on drug policy is about to undertake a review of the scheduling of ecstasy as a Class A drug, the most serious classification. The move comes after several reports saying the popular stimulant should be downgraded.
Holland may be famous for its marijuana coffee houses, but pot cultivation remains illegal -- unless you are a patient who can demonstrate a medical necessity, the Dutch Supreme Court has ruled.
Marijuana has been used in ayurvedic medicine in South Asia for thousands of years. Now, authorities in Sri Lanka are seeking to authorize gardens to supply ayurvedic demand.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
"Study: Decriminalizing Marijuana Doesn't Increase Use," "Happy Constitution Day!," "Drug Czar Embarrassed By Marijuana Arrest Rates," "A New Record for US Marijuana Arrests," "Mark Kleiman vs. 'Drug Policy Reform'."
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Coming off a summer symposium that brought together experts in criminal justice and sentencing issues, the US Sentencing Commission has announced that it is making alternatives to incarceration one of its priorities for the coming year. With a record 200,000-plus people in federal prison -- more than half of them drug offenders -- that is a good thing.
In November, California residents will vote on a massive, complicated "treatment not jail" initiative known as the Nonviolent Offender Rehabilitation Act (NORA) and appearing on the ballot as Proposition 5. Battle lines are now being drawn.
The Higher Education Act (HEA) drug provision bars students with drug convictions from obtaining financial aid for specified periods. The John W. Perry Fund was created to help some of those students and to raise awareness of the injustice of the provision. This year, it is helping two students stay in school.
"Dying to Get High," by sociologists Wendy Chapkis and Richard Webb, is a groundbreaking work that provides an in-depth portrait of one of the country's most well-known medical marijuana collectives.
We have cops and prison guards getting into drug war trouble from coast to coast this week, from San Diego to Chicago and from Florida to Maryland.
California medical marijuana and marijuana legalization activist Eddy Lepp faces from 10 years to life in prison after being convicted by a federal jury of growing more 24,000 plants.
It's official -- An initiative making adult marijuana possession offenses the lowest law enforcement priority in Fayetteville, Arkansas, will be on the November 4 ballot. But local prosecutors and law enforcement officials say it doesn't matter.
Medical marijuana users all too frequently run into problems with medical practitioners who consider them nothing more than drug abusers. Now, a West Virginia victim of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is suing the doctor and clinic that dismissed him because he used pot to alleviate his symptoms.
Mexican President Felipe Calderón staked his political reputation on doing battle with the drug cartels. Now, with prohibition-related violence at record levels and violent common crime also on the rise, he is looking for more money to save his legacy.
Washington's war of words against Venezuela over its anti-drug interdiction efforts continued this week, as John Walters called the country a "global threat" because it does not cooperate in US anti-drug efforts.
Anti-drug vigilantism is not unknown in India or some other parts of the world, but it's not usually cheered on by the press. This week, it was in India's Orissa state.
An Irish judge has dismissed drugged driving charges against a young man based solely on the presence of marijuana in his system. That's not sufficient to prove impairment, he ruled.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
"Jonathan Caulkins vs. The Boring Drug War Debate," "If Salvia Isn't Toxic or Addictive, What's the Argument for Banning it?," "How to Use Drugs Without Ruining Our Lives," "Jurors Fight Back Against the War on Medical Marijuana," "Smoke a Joint, Get Your Boss Fired," "If the Drug War Makes Sense to You, Nothing Else Will."
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Every now and then authorities discover an electrified, air-conditioned tunnel underneath our border with Mexico or Canada, presumably built for drug smuggling. How many such tunnels go undiscovered? And does it take more than one successful smuggling operation to pay for a tunnel's construction?
Washington and Caracas traded barbs over Venezuelan cooperation (or the lack thereof) with US drug fighters this week.
With "On Speed: The Many Lives of Amphetamine," historian of science Nicholas Rasmussen has written a fascinating and enlightening history of America's favorite stimulant, and the role of drug companies, the medical profession, and consumers in making it that way.
"Dying to Get High," by sociologists Wendy Chapkis and Richard Webb, is a groundbreaking work that provides an in-depth portrait of one of the country's most well-known medical marijuana collectives.
A cop with a pain pill habit gets in trouble. So does yet another jail guard.
With the nomination of Sarah Palin as the Republican vice-presidential candidate, both major party tickets now include acknowledged former drug users. But there is little sign either party is going to do anything groundbreaking on drug policy reform.
The annual National Survey on Drug Use and Health is out. While some drugs are less popular than last year, others are more popular, and overall use levels remain largely unchanged.
The Los Angeles City Council has extended its year-old moratorium on new medical marijuana dispensaries for another six months.
A lowest law enforcement priority initiative for adult marijuana possession offenses in Fayetteville, Arkansas, seems set for the November ballot as organizers hand in nearly a thousand additional signatures. They needed 300 valid ones.
The marijuana reform group SAFER is accusing the NFL of hypocrisy over a huge fine imposed on one player for minor marijuana possession while the league makes hundreds of millions from alcohol advertising. It has an online petition you can sign.
A leading Australian drug researcher has dared to suggest young people might be better off taking small doses of ecstasy rather than getting stinking drunk on a regular basis, and that has excited cries of blasphemy!
Mexican President Felipe Calderón called out the army to put the hurt on drug trafficking organizations. But with a rising prohibition-related death toll, as well as public impatience with common crime, his policies may be putting a bigger hurt on himself.
"Victim's Rights in the War on Drugs," "Palin Pick Makes Medical Marijuana a Problem Issue For McCain," "Police Raid Wrong Address, Hit Innocent Man With the Butt of a Shotgun," "Prosecutor Getting Nervous in the Ryan Frederick Case," "Republicans Promise to Continue the Drug War," "BREAKING: People Smoke Pot at Outdoor Concerts," "$20,000 Bond for One Ecstasy Pill," "How Much More Public Support Does Medical Marijuana Really Need?"
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After more than a decade of conflict and confusion over California's medical marijuana laws, state Attorney General Jerry Brown Monday issued a series of guidelines for patients, providers, and police designed to specify just what is and is not allowable under the law.
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime reported this week that Afghan opium production has decreased slightly this year. While the West praised the findings, independent observers were much less sanguine.
"Dying to Get High," by sociologists Wendy Chapkis and Richard Webb, is a groundbreaking work that provides an in-depth portrait of one of the country's most well-known medical marijuana collectives.
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A key Coast Guard anti-drug fighter gets caught doing cocaine, plus the usual array of miscreants in blue.
Washington voters approved medical marijuana a decade ago, but confusion over what constitutes an allowable quantity of medicine and plants continues. Now, the state health department is trying to set rules, and patients aren't happy with what it's proposing.
For a decade, Congress has barred the city of Washington, DC, from spending money to fund needle exchange programs in an effort to slow the spread of HIV/AIDS. That ban was lifted earlier this year, and now the money is beginning to flow.
Somebody at the National Asian Peace Officers Association conference this week didn't want their members to hear from anti-prohibitionist cops. LEAP wants to know who and why.
Police in Scotland engineered a crackdown on heroin in Dundee, only to find they had created a crime wave.
This month, Iran has once again led the way in executing drug offenders.
Australians showed strong support for medical marijuana and harm reduction measures in a national survey. Marijuana legalization? Not so much, at least not yet.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
"How Much More Public Support Does Medical Marijuana Really Need?," "New Medical Marijuana Regulations Are a Good Thing," "Police Cannot Identify Good Marijuana," "'Extremely Small Amount' of Marijuana Causes Panic Throughout Massachusetts," "California Attorney General Tells Police to Uphold Medical Marijuana Laws," "Biden is a 'Moderate' on Crime Issues?," "Joe Biden's Awful Record on Drug Policy."
Do you read Drug War Chronicle? If so, we need your feedback to evaluate our work and make the case for Drug War Chronicle to funders. We need donations too.
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In Hawaii County (the "Big Island") this week, city councilmembers respect their constituents so much that they approved a marijuana reform initiative for the ballot despite insufficient signatures. In Denver, police continue to flout not one but two similar laws that that city's voters passed. Why hasn't the police chief been fired for it?
There was a drug checkpoint on a Louisiana highway last week. Only one problem: they're illegal. Now the local cops are backtracking furiously and claiming it was really a legal highway safety checkpoint. And the drug dogs were there to help read drivers' licenses?
Seattle's annual Hempfest, the world's largest marijuana "protestival," took place last weekend. Here's a brief report.
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Kenneth Rau of Bismarck, North Dakota, the first man in the US arrested for possession of salvia divinorum, caught something of a break last week when prosecutors dropped the most serious charge against him. But he still faces five years in prison for $32 worth of salvia leaves he bought on eBay.
Cops "misplacing" money, cops providing help to a pot crew, a court security officer peddling pain pills, and a jail guard getting caught bringing in the goodies. Just another week in the drug war.
A November initiative that would decriminalize small-time marijuana possession in Massachusetts is now polling at over 70%.
The California Supreme Court will try to settle once and for all the issue of limits on the number of plants or amount of marijuana patients may possess.
An initiative that would make the enforcement of marijuana laws against adults the lowest law enforcement priority on Hawaii's Big Island will go to the voters in November.
"Dying to Get High," by sociologists Wendy Chapkis and Richard Webb, is a groundbreaking work that provides an in-depth portrait of one of the country's most well-known medical marijuana collectives.
Faced with rising levels of violence as Mexican drug traffickers, police, and soldiers engage in a multi-sided struggle for supremacy, Mexico's left-leaning Democratic Revolution Party may be about to call for legalization of the drug trade -- in both the US and Mexico.
Poland treats marijuana possession toughly, but that could change if a movement now underway succeeds.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
"Panels Calls For Reduced Marijuana Enforcement During Democratic National Convention," "California Legislature Passes Employment Rights Bill for Medical Marijuana Patients," "Excellent Video: The Human Cost of Marijuana Prohibition," "College Presidents Call for Debate on Lowering the Drinking Age," "Pet Mountain Lion Gets Man Arrested for Marijuana," "Stephen Colbert's Top 7 Drug Moments," "If You Oppose Marijuana Laws, But Support Other Drug Laws, Read This," "Canadian Health Minister Attacks Doctors for Supporting Safe Injection Sites."
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A recent article in Time made important points about the difference between the coca plant and its legal uses, vs. the international cocaine trade and efforts to fight it in Bolivia. Unfortunately, the article stopped there and didn't ask the next logical -- and desperately needed -- question.
Kenneth Rau is the first person in the US to face prison time for possessing salvia divinorum. Prosecutors have offered him five years in prison if he cops a plea. Otherwise, he faces up to 20.
Thanks in part to growing web site traffic, StoptheDrugWar.org's media coverage is increasing in both frequency and importance. Financial support from our readers makes up a critical part of our budget -- please read this update and then make a generous donation to ensure that this work can continue.
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A tough week for jail and prison guards, and some Virginia deputies could find themselves in trouble.
The people who managed to overturn Mendocino County's groundbreaking Measure G, which barred prosecution of anyone growing fewer than 25 plants, are feeling emboldened. Now, they have hatched a new scheme to further tighten the screws.
Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader unveils a strong drug policy platform and suggests the government should target corporate criminals instead of drug offenders.
Libertarian Party presidential candidate Bob Barr uses the raid on the home of the mayor of Berwyn Heights, Maryland, to issue a broader critique of drug law enforcement.
"Dying to Get High," by sociologists Wendy Chapkis and Richard Webb, is a groundbreaking work that provides an in-depth portrait of one of the country's most well-known medical marijuana collectives.
Britain's prohibition establishment suffered a high-ranking defection when a former Tony Blair drug policy coordinator went over to the other side in an online comment that has excited considerable British media attention.
French police are cracking down on drugged drivers, and they unveiled a new tool in their kits this week: saliva testing.
For all the mouthing off by government officials about methamphetamine abuse, it took an NGO to take the obvious step of getting everybody who's working on the problem together to talk about it.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
"The War on Drugs in 100 Seconds," "Another Top Drug War Official Calls for Legalization," "Stephen Colbert's Latest Outrageous Attack on Medical Marijuana," "Bob Barr Condemns Violent, Dog-Murdering Drug Raid," "Mexican Cartels Have Begun Kidnapping Americans," "Mayor Calvo Says Botched Drug Raids Are Commonplace," "TV Networks Refuse to Allow Discussion of Marijuana Laws," "The Real Reason SWAT Teams Kill Dogs and People," "Cartoon: Dogs as SWAT Team Target Practice."
The Marijuana Policy Project is hiring a Membership Coordinator and a Membership Assistant to work out of the organization's Washington, DC office.
Do you read Drug War Chronicle? If so, we need your feedback to evaluate our work and make the case for Drug War Chronicle to funders. We need donations too.
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Federal prosecutors won another conviction against a California medical marijuana dispensary operator this week. It's easy pickings when the defense can't mention medical marijuana, and it raises issues about how to deal with local law enforcement officials who work with the feds to get around state law.
A Lima, Ohio, police sergeant who shot and killed an unarmed woman and wounded her infant son during a SWAT raid was acquitted on all counts this week. He only faced eight months, anyway. But this story isn't over -- relatives have now filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city and the shooter.
"Dying to Get High," by sociologists Wendy Chapkis and Richard Webb, is a groundbreaking work that provides an in-depth portrait of one of the country's most well-known medical marijuana collectives.
Apply for an internship at DRCNet for this fall (or spring), and you could spend the semester fighting the good fight!
A Boston cop goes to prison for being muscle for drug dealers, and a Miami-area cop and two prison guards get caught up in a massive Oxycontin and health fraud scandal.
In a victory for California's medical marijuana law, a state appeals court has rejected a challenge to the law from San Diego County. But it isn't over yet. The county said Tuesday it would appeal to the state Supreme Court.
The National Multiple Sclerosis Society is calling for more research on medical marijuana. While that's only a half-step on the society's part, it's a half-step forward.
The Arizona Court of Appeals has rejected a religious defense for marijuana use and possession.
Argentina's president last week called for the decriminalization of drug possession, lending her support to a bill introduced last year by her justice minister and giving an implicit nod to a series of recent Argentine court decisions that have rejected punishing drug users.
In a bid to regularize the situation of coca growers, one Peruvian department earlier this year moved to legalize the crop. This week, the country's highest constitutional court overturned that move, saying only the national government can set drug policy.
Drug user activists handed out brochures called for the legalization of drug use in some of Jakarta's most notorious dope-dealing hot-spots this week. It was the second user demonstration this summer in Indonesia.
DEA trainers are in Vietnam this month to show Vietnamese how to have a drug war American-style, but the UN's man on the scene doesn't find that particularly helpful.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
"An Excellent Column on Marijuana Prohibition From Reuters," "Florida Prosecutor Stands Up For Rachel Hoffman, Refuses to Work With DEA," "After Killing His Dogs, Police Admit Mayor Calvo Was Probably Innocent," "DEA Secures Another Medical Marijuana Conviction by Lying in Court," "Police Are Confiscating Cars for Minor Drug Crimes," "Cop Acquitted After Killing Unarmed Mother and Shooting Her Baby," "Marijuana Offers Hope For Battling Colon Cancer," "Hey Politicians, Reforming Marijuana Laws is Smart Politics," "More Video of Drug Reformers and Their Encounters with the 'Other Side' at the UN in Vienna Last Month"
Do you read Drug War Chronicle? If so, we need your feedback to evaluate our work and make the case for Drug War Chronicle to funders. We need donations too.
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County police near Washington brought marijuana to a local mayor's home, then sent a SWAT team in because of the marijuana. Now the family's two dogs are dead. Another day in the drug war.
For the first time in decades, there is a marijuana decriminalization bill before Congress. No one thinks it will pass this year, but you have to start somewhere.
A study released this week shows a dramatic increase in "fatal medical errors" related to self-administered prescription drugs, especially when other drugs and/or alcohol are involved. But the study is raising as many questions as answers.
Apply for an internship at DRCNet for this fall (or spring), and you could spend the semester fighting the good fight!
Prison guards get busted as cocaine traffickers in Louisiana and New Jersey, and a pair of North Carolina cops plea to helping out the local cocaine trade.
Another year, and another report showing racial profiling by Illinois law enforcement. Now, civil rights groups want the governor to end the policy of allowing consent searches by state troopers.
Rep. Jose Serrano (D-NY) and 25 cosponsors have filed a bill that would lift the 20-year-old federal ban on funding for needle exchange programs.
Although Washington state has a medical marijuana law and the city of Seattle has a lowest law enforcement priority ordinance, Seattle police two weeks ago raided a medical marijuana co-op, seizing patient records and 12 ounces of medicine. The co-op got the records back, but now the DEA has seized the marijuana.
An initiative that would decriminalize possession of up to 35 grams of marijuana in Joplin, Missouri, is in a last-minute push to get the number of valid signatures required to make the November ballot.
An initiative that would make adult marijuana possession offenses the lowest law enforcement priority is in the signature-gathering phase in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
A pair of Iranian physicians who are internationally known harm reduction practitioners have been arrested by Iranian authorities. No reason has been given, they are being held incommunicado, and there is a petition drive underway to secure their release.
The Bolivian government announced late last week that it would fund its own anti-drug units in a bid to reduce foreign (read: US) influence over its coca and cocaine policies.
A leading independent British commission has examined the UK's war on drugs and found it ineffective and misguided.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
The Justice Policy Institute (JPI) is seeking a dedicated and experienced Executive Director for its Washington, DC office.
The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) is hiring a State Legislative Affairs Director for its Washington, DC office.
"Marijuana Laws Killed Two People This Week," "SWAT Team Kills Mayor's Dogs in Botched Drug Raid," "Drug-Sniffing Turtle Discovers Marijuana," "Six More Drug War Disgraces," "US Drug War Funding Supports Human Rights Violations in Mexico," "Isn't it Already Illegal to Traffic Drugs in a Submarine?," "Drug Raid: Police Shoot Man, Find Nothing But Codeine Syrup," "Everyone Should Know the Story of Rachel Hoffman," "Concerned Citizen Launches "Drugs Bring Death" Campaign," "Drug Dealing, Entrepreneurship, and Drug Prohibition," "Hey, Dirtbags, Ya Wanna Know What Cops Think About Frank's Decrim Bill (and You)?"
Do you read Drug War Chronicle? If so, we need your feedback to evaluate our work and make the case for Drug War Chronicle to funders. We need donations too.
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A former State Department official who fought the Afghan drug war has taken to the New York Times to tell why the failure of the program is everybody else's fault not his.
With South Dakota's annual Sturgis Motorcyle Rally just a few days away, state law enforcement is gearing up for unwary travelers. Eric Sage was one of their victims last year. He's not going this year, but he just filed a civil suit over his mistreatment.
Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN) has made a political career out of being "tough on drugs." Now, in an election year where Obamamania has already swept his district, a newly-formed political action committee wants to make him pay for it.
Apply for an internship at DRCNet for this fall (or spring), and you could spend the semester fighting the good fight!
StoptheDrugWar.org's executive director recently did a 25-minute debate on drug legalization on a network that airs across Europe and the Middle East. Video is online here.
Three cases of crooked cops in Florida this week, and a pair of asset forfeiture abuse situations in St, Louis and Muncie, Indiana.
Last year, Hawaiian teachers agreed to a labor contract that included random drug testing. Now, with one eye on costs and the other on the Constitution, they are balking, and the Republican governor is most unhappy.
If a police officer smells marijuana coming from a car, that's not enough evidence to arrest everyone in it, the Washington state Supreme Court has ruled.
Research from Italy suggesting that whole-plant marijuana extracts provide more effective pain relief than isolated compounds from the plant should be welcome news for medical marijuana supporters.
The man who until last month was in charge of US anti-drug efforts in Afghanistan accuses the Karzai government of involvement in the drug trade. He's not too happy with the US military and NATO, either.
The resort to the ultimate sanction for drug offenders continues apace in China and Saudi Arabia.
Health officials in Quebec are planning to open a safe injection site in Montreal, then Quebec City, and maybe more.
South Australia has now criminalized the possession of high intensity lights, reflectors, and anything else that might be used to grow marijuana. You now have to prove you weren't going to grow pot to avoid prosecution instead of the state having to prove you were.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
"Needle Exchange Saves Lives. Why Are We Still Arguing About It?," "A Revealing Remark From the Deputy Drug Czar," "The Drug War Doesn't Reduce Drug Use. Drug Users Reduce Drug Use.," "In New Orleans, You Can Get 5 Years in Prison for a Joint of Marijuana," "Police Kill Dog During Drug Raid, Find No Drugs," "Barack Obama Proposes 'Shifting the Model' on the Drug War," "Video Highlights from Vienna Drug Policy NGO Forum," "Drug Smugglers Use Hurricane for Cover."
Drug War Chronicle is seeking information on serious police misconduct or misjudgments in the treatment of informants. Confidentiality will be protected.
Do you read Drug War Chronicle? If so, we need your feedback to evaluate our work and make the case for Drug War Chronicle to funders. We need donations too.
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Meeting in Vienna last week, representatives of more than 300 non-governmental organizations concerned with various aspects of drug policy crafted a consensus document calling for a fundamental shift in global drug control.
Two sociologists take on medical marijuana and Santa Cruz's Wo/Men's Access to Medical Marijuana (WAMM) collective. We review their efforts and find them worthy.
StoptheDrugWar.org's executive director recently did a 25-minute debate on drug legalization on a network that airs across Europe and the Middle East. Video is online here.
Apply for an internship at DRCNet for this fall (or spring), and you could spend the semester fighting the good fight!
A North Texas officer snitches for the Zetas, a Louisiana cop gets a package of pot from Mexico, a New Jersey Transit cop gets popped with pounds of pot, a Mississippi cop gets nailed for stealing from the dope fund, and an Ohio narc goes to prison for stealing cocaine.
Washington has a medical marijuana law and Seattle has a lowest law enforcement priority ordinance, but that didn't stop Seattle cops from seizing hundreds of patient files from a Seattle co-op.
You can't strip search a school girl to see if she's carrying a low-grade pain reliever, the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled. The only shocking thing about this verdict is that five out 11 of the justices disagreed.
Voters in Switzerland will have a clear choice on drug policy as they go to the polls November 30.
Austria's parliament has taken a first step toward making medical marijuana available. A bill it approved allows a state agency to grow it.
Italy's highest court has recognized the religious use of marijuana in a case involving an Italian Rastafarian.
Indonesia had not executed anyone for four years as its high court considered a constitutional challenge to the death penalty for drug offenders. But the challenge is over, the death penalty remains, the executions have started again, and there are more on tap.
Selling equipment used to grow marijuana is not in itself a crime, a British appeals court has ruled.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
The Marijuana Policy Project has openings for an Office Administrator/Bookkeeper, a Director of State Policies, a Membership and Events Fellow, and a State Policies Intern in their headquarters in Washington, DC.
Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) is seeking a highly motivated, well-organized Outreach Director for its Washington, DC or San Francisco office to assist with strengthening the student movement to end the failed War on Drugs.
Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM) seeks a Media Relations Director to prepare and disseminate information on FAMM's federal and state campaigns through newspapers, periodicals, television and radio and other forms of media.
"Drug Testing Advocate Gets Busted For Drugs," "U.S. Drug Warriors Interfere With Vienna Drug Policy Summit," "Former Staffer Accuses Drug Czar's Office of Faking Statistics," "Opponents of Marijuana Reform Can't Keep Their Story Straight," "The Link Between Sagging Pants Laws and the Drug War," "Prosecutors Spend Confiscated Drug Money on Margarita Machine, Win 'Best Margarita' at County Fair," "Save the Children, Legalize Drugs," "How Many Patients You Say??... Well Here Are Their Names, Addresses, and Card Numbers."
Drug War Chronicle is seeking information on serious police misconduct or misjudgments in the treatment of informants. Confidentiality will be protected.
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Another major study has shown that drug policy doesn't affect drug use rates, and we already know the drug war doesn't affect sales. But we know the harm that prohibition does. So what's the point?
Who profits from drug prohibition? With this article we begin our occasional series on Vested Interests of Prohibition, and we begin with a law enforcement establishment grown fat off drug war bounty.
An international survey covering 54,000 people in 17 countries representing all regions of the globe has found that the US leads the world in cannabis and cocaine use rate despite decades of harsh policies aimed at users. That strongly suggests harsh drug policies don't necessarily result in lower use rates, the researchers said.
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Drug War Chronicle is seeking information on serious police misconduct or misjudgments in the treatment of informants. Confidentiality will be protected.
Cops in LA and New York get caught lying about drug busts, a couple of Indiana cops get in trouble, an Alabama cop is headed for prison, and, of course, more jail guards get caught.
The Massachusetts State Secretary has certified for the November ballot an initiative that would decriminalize marijuana possession in the Bay State.
Oregon already has decriminalization and medical marijuana. Now, some state activists have launched an initiative campaign to allow for taxed and regulated sales to adults. If they can get the required signatures, the measure will be on the 2010 ballot.
A pain patients' and doctors' advocacy group has filed a lawsuit challenging opioid prescribing guidelines promulgated by the state of Washington.
Grand juries are usually noted for their compliance with prosecutorial desires, but at the end of their terms, they get to issue reports on what they experienced and recommendations for improvements. A Georgia grand jury foreman has used that opportunity to call for marijuana legalization.
Over the years, the Texas legislature has developed a reputation for producing some less than bright ideas, among other unsavory qualities. This week, one Texas legislator seemed determined to win this year's crown.
Last year, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa, whose father had done time in US jails as a drug courier, vowed to release hundreds of low-level drug mules serving long sentences. Now, the country's legislative organ has turned that vow into reality.
Instability fostered by the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 has led to the embattled country becoming a key conduit for Afghan opium to Europe and the Middle East. Drug use rates are rising, too.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
"If Police Don't Find Anything During a Drug Raid, Should They Have To Fix the Damage?," "'Clearly there's no LSD, and how long does it take to test a chocolate-chip cookie for marijuana?'," "Do Pharmaceutical Companies Support Marijuana Prohibition?," "Police Refuse to Take Responsibility For Botched Drug Raid," "Police Discover World's Most Expensive Marijuana," "Congressional Black Caucus Members Try to Ban Menthol Cigarettes," "Almost Any Drug Offense Can Keep You from Becoming a Citizen or Getting a Green Card."
The Foundation for Research on Sexually Transmitted Diseases, a harm reduction agency in New York City, is hiring.
Do you read Drug War Chronicle? If so, we need your feedback to evaluate our work and make the case for Drug War Chronicle to funders. We need donations too.
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US federal drug prohibition began with the Harrison Narcotics Act in 1914 -- close to a century ago. And yet the Taliban last year could earn a hundred million dollars from the opium trade, and there's not a single drug free high school in our country. When will the failed and not very noble experiment be ended, so we can start to clean up the mess it's left for us?
The AMA's med student branch, the Medical Student Section, overwhelmingly passed a resolution supporting medical marijuana at the AMA national convention earlier this month. With the other large national med student group, the American Medical Student Association, already supporting it, it looks like therapeutic cannabis has a future in US medicine.
In a bid to defeat the iconic dope-dealer lurking in the schoolyard shadows, New Jersey was one of many states to pass a "drug-free school zone" law. Now, the state Assembly has passed a bill that will be the first step in undoing it.
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Drug War Chronicle is seeking information on serious police misconduct or misjudgments in the treatment of informants. Confidentiality will be protected.
An Ohio jailer, a Connecticut cop, and a pair of Florida deputies get busted, a Louisiana cop goes on trial, a Texas constable cops a plea, and so does a Texas US Border Patrol Agent.
Two weeks ago, we reported on the battle over Mendocino County's Measure B, which would rein in the county's liberal cultivation laws. Now the results are in: B won in a squeaker.
Some well-known Puerto Ricans are calling for the legalization, taxation, and regulate sale of marijuana in a bid to reduce the prison population and keep kids away from unsavory elements.
Hashish growers on the Greek island of Crete ambushed police on Sunday. They also did it last fall. Once again, a manhunt is underway. And once again, the Greek media is talking about "Greece's Colombia."
Coca grower unions in Bolivia's Chapare region have told USAID to get lost. They'll seek assistance from Venezuela's Hugo Chávez instead, they said.
The US and European Union are threatening to stop helping Iran fight to stem the tide of Afghan opium and heroin -- heroin destined not only for the Islamic republics but also for the veins of users in places like Berlin and London. It's part of the high-wire pressure act aimed at stopping Iran's nuclear program.
The Taliban is profiting from prohibition. The Islamic insurgents made $100 million last year taxing poppy farmers, UNODC head Antonio Maria Costa said this week.
China celebrates Anti-Drug Day with more executions and death sentences, but there have been more of both elsewhere this month, too.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
"Nation's Mayors Take a Stand for Harm Reduction," "And the Winner of the War on Meth is…Cocaine," "Our Drug War Alliances in South America Are Crumbling," "Trained Pigeons That Smuggle Drugs and Cell Phones Into Prison," "They're Drug Testing Our Sewage," "Don Imus: Critic of Racial Profiling?," "George Will's Weak Defense of Our Embarrassing Incarceration Rates," "Rising Coca Cultivation In Colombia Is Driving the UN Drug Czar Crazy."
Do you read Drug War Chronicle? If so, we need your feedback to evaluate our work and make the case for Drug War Chronicle to funders. We need donations too.
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In a historic US Congress Joint Economic Committee hearing Thursday, Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) opened up discussion on the Hill of the economic costs of US drug policy.
A former Navy officer and drug fighter turned drug reformer is running for the state House of Representatives in Connecticut. He's calling for safe injection sites, opiate maintenance, and taxed and regulated marijuana sales, and he could use your help.
A Chicago SWAT raid of a social club and the killing of a homeowner in a Florida SWAT raid that netted less than an ounce of marijuana are the latest incidents to put heavy-handed police tactics in the spotlight.
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Drug War Chronicle is seeking information on serious police misconduct or misjudgments in the treatment of informants. Confidentiality will be protected.
Trouble in the Hoosier State this week, with some Indy cops busted for ripping off pot dealers and selling their wares and a Muncie drug task force being investigated over its asset forfeiture practices. Also, a Wyoming jailer steals his cop father's drug dog pot stash, and a Massachusetts cop cops a plea.
For the second year in a row, the New York Assembly has passed a medical marijuana bill. But the state Senate must act by Monday, when the legislature recesses, or the effort to enact a medical marijuana law in the Empire State will be dead for this year.
A Massachusetts man has gotten a medical marijuana distribution initiative on the ballot in Ferndale, Michigan. Is he positioning himself to cash in when (and if) voters approve a statewide medical marijuana initiative in November?
Opponents of medical marijuana sometimes argue that allowing it will encourage kids to smoke pot. But new report coauthored by SUNY Albany researcher Dr. Mitch Earleywine has found that teen marijuana use has actually declined in states that have medical marijuana laws, and more markedly than national averages.
A Dutch ban on tobacco smoking in public venues has Amsterdam's coffee shop owners worried. Smoking marijuana remains okay, but those Euro-style tobacco-laced joints will be forbidden.
Coca production in the Andes was up last year, the UN reported this week. The biggest percentage increase was in Colombia, where years of US-funded herbicide spraying have failed to stop farmers.
The Law, Constitution, and Justice Committee of Israel's Knesset (parliament) has approved a measure that would ban the sale of bongs, or water pipes often used to smoke marijuana. It has two more readings to go and then a floor vote to become law.
The Mexican army undertook Operation Join Together Chihuahua in March, as thousands of troops poured into the Mexican border state. As has been the case elsewhere in Mexico, the arrival of the troops has been followed by a growing chorus of human rights complaints.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
"Dutch Smoking Ban Could Improve Marijuana Quality," "Drug Cops Shouldn't be Paid With Confiscated Drug Money, But They Are," "Increased Pot Potency Just Proves That Marijuana Laws Have Failed," "Why You Shouldn't Try to Eat Your Marijuana if You're Pulled Over," "U.S. Government Stopped Research After Finding That Marijuana Slowed Cancer Growth," "Mexican Drug War Analysis: It's Not Going Well."
The Marijuana Policy Project is seeking a seasoned professional to fill the position of Director of State Policies in MPP's headquarters in Washington, DC. The Director of State Policies manages MPP's grassroots and direct lobbying efforts in all state legislatures.
Do you read Drug War Chronicle? If so, we need your feedback to evaluate our work and make the case for Drug War Chronicle to funders. We need donations too.
Support the cause by featuring automatically-updating Drug War Chronicle and other DRCNet content links on your web site!
A new way for you to receive DRCNet articles -- Drug War Chronicle and more -- is now available.
Visit our new web site each day to see a running countdown to the events coming up the soonest, and more.
For the past three years, a select group of heroin addicts in Vancouver and Montreal have received pharmaceutical grade heroin as part of a pilot heroin maintenance program. Now, the NAOMI program is winding down, the researchers are assembling their reports, and the addicts are back on the streets.
California's Mendocino County has grown rich off of marijuana, but problems have come with the prosperity. Now, everyone is waiting to see whether last week's still undecided election will mean the county takes a step backward from its liberal cultivation laws.
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Drug War Chronicle is seeking information on serious police misconduct or misjudgments in the treatment of informants. Confidentiality will be protected.
Another year, another all-time high in US prisoners, and the drug war continues to make a major contribution. This is getting really old.
Busy, busy. Border guards going down, prison guards going down, more cops in trouble, and more investigations of a perjury-condoning prosecutor in Detroit.
The Oregon Court of Appeals has rejected an employer's firing of a medical marijuana patient who did not use on the job, saying it violates state anti-discrimination laws.
Veteran activist Dana Beal of Global Marijuana March fame spent more than a week behind bars in Illinois, arrested on money-laundering charges after police found $150,000 in cash. But he bailed out Thursday after the original charge vanished, to be replaced by an obstruction of justice charge. The cash is still in custody.
The Merida Initiative anti-drug assistance package for Mexico and Central America passed the House this week, but Mexico is balking at human rights and other conditions in the Senate version of the bill. Will the Senate sacrifice human rights on the altar of the drug war?
What may have been the largest drug bust ever took place in Afghanistan this week. But while NATO claimed it dealt a hard blow to the Taliban, profits from the lost hash are miniscule compared to what the group rakes in from the opium trade.
The Argentine government is working on a rewrite of its drug laws, but courts there aren't waiting for the politicians. In April, two federal tribunals in Buenos Aires declared the drug possession laws unconstitutional, and now more courts have followed suit.
A Scottish think-tank tasked by Parliament with figuring out how to reduce drug-related harm has called for marijuana legalization, safe injection sites, and opiate maintenance.
"Will John McCain Avoid Running a 'Tough-On-Crime' Campaign?," "World Record Marijuana Crop Gets Blown Up By Fighter Jets," "Two More Horrible Drug Raid Disasters," "Bob Barr's Newfound Drug War Opposition Shows That Anything is Possible," "Vietnam Orders Police to Win the Drug War by August," "Stop Making Excuses and Go Watch 'The Wire'," "People are Getting Themselves Arrested Just So They Can Sell Drugs in Jail," "The Drug War is a War on Communities of Color," "George Bush and Cocaine: How the President Might Save His Approval Rating."
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
Do you read Drug War Chronicle? If so, we need your feedback to evaluate our work and make the case for Drug War Chronicle to funders. We need donations too.
Support the cause by featuring automatically-updating Drug War Chronicle and other DRCNet content links on your web site!
A new way for you to receive DRCNet articles -- Drug War Chronicle and more -- is now available.
Visit our new web site each day to see a running countdown to the events coming up the soonest, and more.
Summer music festival season is here, and with it, the annual exercises in drug law enforcement aimed at festival-goers and highway travelers in general. Here are a few tips for avoiding trouble.
In a surprise ruling, the British Columbia Supreme Court has held that Canada's federal drug law is unconstitutional as applied to Vancouver's safe injection site. The site will therefore stay open despite the wishes of the Harper government.
A Brazilian appeals court in São Paulo has ruled that drug possession is not a crime. The ruling only applies to one case, but has set an important precedent.
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A Connecticut prison guard gets busted, a pair of JFK airport Customs inspectors do too, an Arizona Border Patrol agent cops a plea, and a Connecticut narc heads to prison. Just another week in the drug war.
A California appeals court has declared a 2004 law setting limits on the amount of marijuana patients may possess unconstitutional because it seeks to amend a voter initiative, and only the voters can do that.
In January, the California Supreme Court ruled that employers could fire employees who tested positive for marijuana even if they were legal patients under California law. Now, a bill that would undo that ruling has passed the state Assembly.
For 30 years, residents of Hawaii's Big Island have endured the annual helicopter swoops and marijuana field raids of "Operation Green Harvest." But last week, the local government said "no thank you" to the state and federal funding that support the operation.
For the second time in less than a year, voters in Hailey, Idaho, have passed a trio of marijuana reform municipal initiatives. The first time around, city officials rejected them. Now what will they do?
A new study from the Drug Policy Alliance finds that New Jersey is spending more than $330 million a year to imprison drug offenders. The study comes as the state legislature ponders a first baby step toward reforming its tough drug sentencing laws.
People are being killed in prohibition-related violence in Mexico at a rate 50% higher than last year. Mexico's attorney general claims that's a sign of success in the drug war.
Citing an alleged link between marijuana use and mental illness, the Australian Medical Association is calling for tougher marijuana penalties. That goes against its earlier position that criminal laws don't work as a deterrent and can in fact be harmful to drug users.
"Barbara Kay Says Mean Things About Marijuana Users and the Reform Movement," "Another Ryan Frederick Update," "McClellan: Bush Partied So Much, He Couldn't Remember Whether He Tried Cocaine," "If the Drug War Reduces Violence, Please Explain What's Happening in Mexico," "Japanese Customs Hid 5 oz. of Marijuana in Passenger's Bag, Now They Can't Find It," "Ryan Frederick Formally Charged With First Degree Murder."
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
With the application deadline fast approaching, Drug Policy Alliance has approximately $1.2 million to allocate during its 2008 Promoting Policy Change grant cycle.
Do you read Drug War Chronicle? If so, we need your feedback to evaluate our work and make the case for Drug War Chronicle to funders. We need donations too.
Support the cause by featuring automatically-updating Drug War Chronicle and other DRCNet content links on your web site!
A new way for you to receive DRCNet articles -- Drug War Chronicle and more -- is now available.
Visit our new web site each day to see a running countdown to the events coming up the soonest, and more.
Nearly a year after it went into effect, New Mexico's medical marijuana program is registering and providing ID cards to patients, but its innovative provisions for state-licensed, -owned, or -operated marijuana production and distribution are stalled in the regulatory process.
No one ever said it was going to be easy to get medical marijuana bill through state legislatures, and recent events in Minnesota and Rhode Island reinforce the notion that it's a lengthy, arduous process. But it isn't going to happen at all if you don't try, and that's what one Ohio legislator is doing.
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On opposite sides of the country, crooked cops are headed for long prison sentences, and another Atlanta narc is going to the big house. Meanwhile, a Customs and Border Protection agent in San Diego and a jail guard in the Florida panhandle get busted.
The DEA agent helped police in a Missouri do some COPS-style raids earlier this year. There was only one problem: He wasn't a DEA agent. Now the people busted are suing.
Attorneys for Dr. Stephen Schneider, a Kansas physician indicted by the feds as a "pill mill" operator, have now filed a motion seeking dismissal of the indictment and challenging the constitutionality of the Controlled Substances Act.
Faced with high rates of opiate addiction and a rising overdose toll, the Massachusetts Senate is considering funding a pair of "secure treatment centers" for arrested drug users.
Move over, Sicilian Mafia. The Calabrian mob, grown rich and powerful off trafficking in black market cocaine, are the new tough guys in Europe.
The Chilean government recently reclassified marijuana as a "dangerous drug" like heroin or methamphetamine, but one senator is crying foul.
Colombia's vice-president went to London to attend events related to a new British campaign against cocaine consumption, but while he was there, he suggested maybe legalization should be part of the discussion.
The British Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, the government body charged with setting drug policy, has a new chairman this week, and he has said he wants to downgrade Ecstasy to a less serious drug classification.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
Do you read Drug War Chronicle? If so, we need your feedback to evaluate our work and make the case for Drug War Chronicle to funders. We need donations too.
"Rachel Hoffman's Family Issues an Urgent Call for Change," "If You Write Bad Pro-Drug War Editorials, We Will Find Them and Embarrass You," "The Obama Campaign Responds to My Criticism of His Position on Marijuana Decriminalization," "Informant Identified in Fatal Maple Tree/Marijuana Mix-up," "Virginia Senator Jim Webb Speaks Out Against Marijuana Laws," "New British Drug Czar Supports Reducing Penalties for Ecstasy," "Drug Czars Say the Darndest Things," "Dick Morris Tells John McCain to Propose Harsher Cocaine Laws," "'You Don't Want This!'"
Support the cause by featuring automatically-updating Drug War Chronicle and other DRCNet content links on your web site!
A new way for you to receive DRCNet articles -- Drug War Chronicle and more -- is now available.
Visit our new web site each day to see a running countdown to the events coming up the soonest, and more.
As the US Congress begins to move toward passing a massive anti-drug aid package aimed mainly at the Mexican military, abuses by soldiers in the drug war there have prompted a serious legal challenge.
Time is running out for Vancouver's InSite, the only officially-sanctioned safe injection site in North America. The Conservative government of Canadian Prime Minister Harper has until June 30 to re-authorize the program, which it dislikes, and InSite supporters are now engaged in a major campaign to ensure its continued existence.
The killing of a Florida State University student who became an informer after being busted on drug charges has provoked angry protests by her friends and fellow students.
Clergy are speaking out against the war on drugs! Donate $16 or more (or whatever you can afford) and we'll send you a copy.
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The evidence goes missing in Galveston, a pill-hungry cop goes down in Oklahoma, a pill-peddling cop gets popped in New Jersey, and another pill-peddling cop goes to prison in Indiana.
The Republican National Committee Wednesday attacked Sen. Barack Obama for suggesting he would end DEA raids on medical marijuana providers in states where it is legal. Given broad popular support for medical marijuana, it is not at all clear that this will be a winning issue for the GOP.
Regina McKnight was the first woman in South Carolina charged with murder for having a stillborn child after using drugs while pregnant. Now, after almost a decade behind bars, the state Supreme Court has overturned her guilty verdict, saying she had poor legal representation and was the victim of shoddy science.
More than 100 people, including several top federal police commanders, have been killed in surging prohibition-related violence in Mexico in recent days as the so-called drug cartels strike back hard against police, soldiers, and each other.
Canada's Conservative government wants to crack down on marijuana, but it's out of step with the population. According to a new poll, 53% want to legalize it.
The new tough line on marijuana signaled last week by the British government when it reclassified the herb may not be so tough after all. The British Sentencing Guidelines Council says small-scale sales and cultivation should be punished by probation and fines in most cases.
The Vietnamese National Assembly is considering decriminalizing drug possession. But with most drug users sent to detox camps under administrative regulations instead of criminal charges, it might not make much difference in the real world.
Two Thai citizens have been sentenced to death in Malaysia over 75 pounds of marijuana, and nine convicted drug sellers go to the gallows in Iran.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
It's not exactly "stop the presses" material, but two new reports from Human Rights Watch and the Sentencing Project provide even more confirmation that America's drug war is racially biased and waged mainly against black Americans.
In more than 200 cities worldwide, activists celebrated the Global Marijuana March on Saturday. But in a handful of places, there was trouble, with local authorities trying to repress the marches. Here's a report.
Will SDSU's Drug Bust Reduce Drug Availability on Campus in the Future? Advocates Urge Media to Look Beyond the Surface, Ask Critical Questions About Raid's Long-Term Implications for Drug Trade (or Lack Thereof)
Clergy are speaking out against the war on drugs! Donate $16 or more (or whatever you can afford) and we'll send you a copy.
Belated justice comes for two crooked cops, one in Dallas and one in Long Beach.
Alabama lawmakers declined to ban salvia divinorum, letting two bills die this week, but a prohibition on the psychedelic plant went into effect in Kansas.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) has sent the DEA a letter demanding that it explain its raids on medical marijuana patients and providers in California. He's threatening to hold hearings, too.
A conservative Oregon political operative who specializes in "tough on crime" ballot initiatives has given up plans for an initiative that would undo the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act -- at least for this year.
The Texas attorney general has issued an opinion that a law passed last year to allow a needle exchange program in San Antonio does not protect exchange workers from arrest under state paraphernalia laws, so the Lone Star State's first officially-sanctioned needle exchange is dead -- for now.
As expected, the British government announced Wednesday it would reclassify marijuana as a more dangerous drug, thus theoretically increasing maximum jail sentences for pot smokers. In so doing, the government rejected the recommendation of its own advisory panel that marijuana stay a Class B drug.
Marijuana is big business in the Netherlands -- a conservative estimate says that the government collects $600 million a year in tax revenues from the coffee shops.
Iran complains that the West is ignoring opium production in Afghanistan, and some US Marines inadvertently help Tehran make its case.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
"Drug Cops Raid Innocent Man, Shoot Him 5 Times, Then File Bogus Charges," "Mississippi Drug War Blues: The Case of Cory Maye," "British Prime Minister Ignores His Own Experts and increases Penalties for Marijuana," "Judge Says Stun Guns Can't Be Mentioned in Autopsies," "John Conyers Demands Answers From DEA Over the Medical Marijuana Raids," "Don't Use Text Messages to Advertise Your Cocaine Prices," "Man Dies After Being Denied a Liver Transplant For Using Medical Marijuana," "Bloody Culiacan," "Dia Mundial de la Marijuana (Global Marijuana Day), Mexico City," "Will SDSU Drug Bust Coverage Ask the Critical Questions?," "Marijuana: UK’s Police and Drug Policy Experts Object to PM’s Reefer Madness," "Nobody is Safe from Drug Prohibition’s SWAT Teams."
Do you read Drug War Chronicle? If so, we need your feedback to evaluate our work and make the case for Drug War Chronicle to funders. We need donations too.
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High US officials hit the road for Latin America this week in a series of trips to lobby for passage of Plan Mérida, the $1.4 billion anti-drug aid package for Mexico. But at a forum on drug policy in Culiacán, Sinaloa, there was little but objections to the plan, especially its emphasis on using the Mexican military in the drug war.
Culiacán, Sinaloa, is the home of one of Mexico's most feared drug trafficking organizations, the Sinaloa Cartel. This week, it was also home to a groundbreaking conference on alternatives to the drug war. As that conference ended Wednesday evening, cops, soldiers, and narcos went at it on the streets of Culiacán, leaving two cops and two narcos dead, and providing poignant punctuation to the conference.
Seattle-area musician Timothy Garon passed away late last night after being denied a needed transplant by the University of Washington Medical Center because of his medical marijuana use.
Clergy are speaking out against the war on drugs! Donate $16 or more (or whatever you can afford) and we'll send you a copy.
Susan LeFevre got busted in Michigan at age 19 for small-time heroin sales. She copped a plea in hopes of leniency, but was instead sentenced to at least 10 years in prison. In 1976, she jumped the wall and fled to California, where she has led an exemplary life every since. Now, thanks to an anonymous tip, she has been tracked down and jailed pending extradition to Michigan. Should she now have to serve her time?
New Haven's former top narc heads to prison, a Louisiana DARE officer goes down, a South Carolina jail guard gets caught shooting cocaine, and an Idaho deputy gets caught ripping off cash and drugs.
The US Sentencing Commission announced that changes in the crack cocaine sentencing guidelines would be retroactive, allowing current prisoners a chance at a sentence cut. In the month since prisoners began to be able to apply for cuts, some 3,000 have received them.
New York City decriminalized marijuana possession nearly three decades ago, but cops there still managed to arrest nearly 40,000 people for pot last year and 400,000 in the last decade.
The Dutch are about to ban magic mushrooms. The cabinet passed a proposal and sent it to parliament, where it is expected to be approved.
In contrast with the US Supreme Court, which held that a drug dog sniff did not constitute a search, the Canadian Supreme Court ruled last week that it does, and that random drug dog searches are unconstitutional.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
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Americans for Safe Access is looking to hire a field coordinator for their Oakland, California headquarters.
In what is most likely the first salvia arrest in the county, a North Dakota man with an interest in herbalism and spirituality faces years in prison for $32 worth of salvia leaves he bought on eBay.
A bill that would legalize the medical use of marijuana will be introduced next week in the Mexican Chamber of Deputies. It is part two of a three-part marijuana reform package; a decrim bill was introduced last fall, and an industrial hemp bill is pending.
Clergy are speaking out against the war on drugs! Donate $16 or more (or whatever you can afford) and we'll send you a copy.
A perverted Oklahoma sheriff gets indicted, an Atlanta narc goes on trial, an Indiana jail guard goes to jail, a Santa Fe narc doesn't -- and a cop who made these pages three years ago is found not guilty.
Florida is about to become the next state to ban salvia divinorum as a bill to do so passes the state Senate and heads for the governor's desk.
A Florida judge has thrown out racketeering and conspiracy charges against 23 defendants in the Tampa Latin Kings case, citing the FBI and Tampa police use of a snitch who committed crimes and basically created the conspiracy.
An Argentine federal appeals court has ruled that simple drug use or possession should not be a criminal offense and has thrown out thousands of pending possession cases. The country's high court could still overturn the ruling, but it is line with the position of the Argentine government.
The Iranian government may be widely viewed as Islamic hard-liners, but when it comes to drug use, they are taking an increasingly pragmatic approach. Now, it's syringes in vending machines for a nickel.
The head of the Dutch police union says it's time to just legalize cannabis, and a Dutch mayor wants to start regulating growing.
Both Saudi Arabia and Iran have been busy executing drug offenders recently, but now the Saudis are taking some heat from Syria over their treatment of Syrian drug offenders.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
"Virginia v. Moore: Just Another Dumb Ruling, Not a Full-blown 4th Amendment Crisis," "The Heroin Addict President Can't Save Us From the Bombs of Xyzistan," "Drug Czar Creates Handy Guide For Teens on Where To Obtain Prescription Drugs," "Police Admit Humiliation After 4/20 Celebration at UC Santa Cruz," "4/20 Gets Bigger Every Year," "How Can We Debate Them if They Don't Even Know What Decriminalization Means?," "A Great 4th Amendment Ruling in Alaska," "Mexico City: Goths and Rockeros and Jipis, Oh My!," "European Pressure: Turkey Must Fight Drug War, or Else," "Marijuana: Lead-Laced Pot Newest Prohibition-Related Disaster."
Do you read Drug War Chronicle? If so, we need your feedback to evaluate our work and make the case for Drug War Chronicle to funders. We need donations too.
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There are many unintended consequences of prohibition which have yet to be brought to light, and many impossible-to-predict harms from prohibition we have yet to see. This week we learned about a new one.
Salvia mania continues across the land, as state and city legislators pass laws without waiting for evidence and North Dakota makes its first-ever bust for the plant -- a felony.
With the leading Democratic and Republican contenders hewing to the mainstream, on drug policy we take a look at what the alternatives have to say. Last week, it was the Libertarians; this week, it's the Green Party and the Nader candidacy.
Clergy are speaking out against the war on drugs! Donate $16 or more (or whatever you can afford) and we'll send you a copy.
Problems in the crime lab in Tucson, a small-town Georgia cop gets caught redhanded, and a Georgia sheriff's deputy follows in his father's not so illustrious footsteps.
Thanks to Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), there is a marijuana decriminalization bill before Congress. It would decriminalize up to 100 grams. But don't hold your breath waiting for it pass anytime soon.
Since the beginning of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, more than 300,000 people -- or 30% of all cases -- have contracted the virus through injection drug use. The good news is that in 2006, they only accounted for 17% of new cases; the bad news is that means 6,000 still caught the bug through dirty needles.
Getting caught with under an ounce of marijuana costs you $100 in decriminalized Nebraska, but fines would triple under a measure just passed by the state legislature.
Contrary to some popular narratives about drug use and its consequences, the vast majority of first-time drug users are not strung out a year after they first tasted the forbidden fruit -- no matter which drug it was.
With the Olympics coming to Beijing in August, Chinese authorities are beginning a crackdown designed to make the city "drug-free" for the sporting event.
Possession of bongs will be illegal under new legislation passed by the South Australia parliament. There may be unintended consequences.
Support for marijuana legalization remains low in Brazil, although it is slowly rising, a recent poll has found.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
"Drug War 101: Don't Let the Cops into Your House," "Barney Frank Introduces Marijuana Decriminalization Bill," "If Progress in the Drug War is Measured in Dead Bodies, It's Going Well," "The Drug War Exacerbates Deadly Brazilian Mosquito Plague," "Job Opportunity: Kill People For a Mexican Drug Cartel," "Job Opportunity: Grow Marijuana for the Canadian Government," "New Study: Most Money Has Cocaine Residue On It," "Clinton Proposes Fixing Stupid Crack Law, While Creating Stupid Meth Law," "Defenders of Paramilitary Policing Don't Know What They're Talking About," "Please Burn the Byrne Grants," "British Prime Minister Ignores Experts, Set to Increase Penalties for Pot Smokers," Phil Smith is "Headed Down Mexico Way (Again)."
Do you read Drug War Chronicle? If so, we need your feedback to evaluate our work and make the case for Drug War Chronicle to funders. We need donations too.
Apply for an internship at DRCNet for this fall (or spring), and you could spend the semester fighting the good fight!
Support the cause by featuring automatically-updating Drug War Chronicle and other DRCNet content links on your web site!
A new way for you to receive DRCNet articles -- Drug War Chronicle and more -- is now available.
Visit our new web site each day to see a running countdown to the events coming up the soonest, and more.
Once upon a time, a jury's acquittal was the final word for a defendant facing punishment. Thanks to the "war on drugs," that is no longer the case, and defendants can be punished for crimes of which they were never convicted or even acquitted. Sometimes the charges don't even need to go to court at all.
It's Reefer Madness time in Britain in the run-up to a widely anticipated reclassification of marijuana as a more serious drug. Segments of the British press are playing a particularly pernicious role.
Drug reformers interested in candidates who will vow to actually end the drug war will have to look beyond the Democratic and Republican presidential contenders. This week, we look at the Libertarians, and the perennial debate over pragmatism vs. purism.
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A sticky-fingered Pennsylvania cop causes a DA to drop some drug cases, a pill-pushing Massachusetts cop resigns, and an unnamed New Mexico narc is under investigation for undeclared misdeeds.
A federal judge in Wisconsin added 15 years to a man's sentence for a crack cocaine charge, even though a jury acquitted him on that count. Now, the Supreme Court has declined to hear the case.
A Minnesota medical marijuana bill is headed for a House floor vote soon. It already passed the Senate last year, so is only one vote away from passage, but the Republican governor is threatening to veto it.
Federal prosecutors had no qualms about going to the press when they indicted Haysville, Kansas, physician Dr. Steven Schneider for his pain medication prescribing practices. But it's a different matter when Schneider and his allies want to get their side of the story out. Now, the feds are seeking a gag order.
In the latest battle in a decades-long struggle between Iranian police and border-crossing drug runners, Iran claims to have killed 24 smugglers coming from the direction of Afghanistan.
The endemic drug prohibition-related violence plaguing Rio de Janeiro turned even bloodier last week as police conducting drug raids killed 14 people.
Mexican drug traffickers have provided money to build churches and other public works in poor villages, the head of the Mexican bishops' conference said over the weekend. His colleagues were appalled.
Judges in Algeria, Pakistan, and Syria have handed down death sentences to drug offenders so far this month, some of them for marijuana trafficking offenses, but Vietnam's president commuted the death sentence of a Vietnamese-born British citizen. His three Vietnamese accomplices are still facing execution.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
"Clinton and Obama's Positions on Medical Marijuana Aren't Good Enough," "Bush and the Drug Czar Want You to Pay For the Mexican Drug War," "SWAT Officers Brought Children Along on a Drug Raid," "You Can't Win the Drug War if Alcohol is Legal," "You Have My Permission to Name a Marijuana Strain After Me," "Skunk Weed Causing Outbreaks of Mad Brit Disease."
Do you read Drug War Chronicle? If so, we need your feedback to evaluate our work and make the case for Drug War Chronicle to funders. We need donations too.
Apply for an internship at DRCNet for this fall (or spring), and you could spend the semester fighting the good fight!
The Marijuana Policy Project is looking for a Development Coordinator and a Development Writer, as well as summer interns to work in its Outreach and State Policies departments, all in the DC office.
Support the cause by featuring automatically-updating Drug War Chronicle and other DRCNet content links on your web site!
A new way for you to receive DRCNet articles -- Drug War Chronicle and more -- is now available.
Visit our new web site each day to see a running countdown to the events coming up the soonest, and more.
Three police agencies in Philadelphia teamed up to nab the largest stash of cocaine ever found there. But all impact on the market from the bust is bound to be gone in a matter or weeks if not less. Should we be excited?
An initiative that would decriminalize marijuana possession in Massachusetts has passed a number of hurdles and appears to be headed for the November ballot, where the prospects are good.
A Michigan medical marijuana initiative is now before the legislature, which will not act on it, clearing the way for a popular vote in November. The poll numbers are good.
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Last week, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy was loudly pursuing criminal perjury charges against the mayor and his one-time paramour. This week, her chief drug prosecutor is accused of abetting perjury by cops and an informant in a drug case, but there's no talk yet of any criminal charges.
A Pittsburgh cop rips off the evidence locker, and four Metro Detroit cops get indicted for slinging steroids, helping a biker gang, and lying to the feds.
The Vermont Supreme Court has thrown a marijuana conviction based on a warrantless overflight by a military helicopter, saying the state constitution's privacy provisions protect residents and "the airspace above their homes and property."
According to the BBC, the British government's drug advisory panel will recommend that marijuana remain a Class C drug. But Prime Minister Gordon Brown is signaling he may overrule it in a move that would take British marijuana policy boldly backward.
The Dutch border city of Maastricht cannot bar foreigners from its coffee shops, a district court has ruled.
Five years ago, a bloody Thai "war on drugs" left an estimated 2,500 people dead at the hands of police and soldiers. Now, the Thai government has declared a new "war on drugs," but vows no killings... maybe.
The government of Ecuador has asked the World Court to order Colombia to stop spraying herbicides on coca fields within 6 miles of the border, saying the spraying harms crops, livestock, and people on the Ecuadorian side. The move comes as tensions with Colombia remain high in the wake of a Colombian raid on Ecuadorian territory that left 25 people dead.
American drug czar John Walters
