Immigration

Wichita looks set to vote on decriminalization this fall, Rand Paul (busy, busy) files a federal asset forfeiture reform bill, drug users finally get a voice at the International AIDS Conference, and more.

With tens of thousands of Central American children and adolescents arriving at the US border, the roots of the crisis tend to be obscured by partisan bickering over what is to be done and who is to blame. There's a good argument the war on drugs deserves some credit.

Your fearless reporter has been traveling, so our schedule is a little off, but the drug policy news continues. Paul Stanford calls it quits in Oregon, pot shops are coming within days in Washington, an Alabama drug task needs to reconsider its priorities (or maybe the people funding it need to reconsider theirs), and more.

A Texas trooper who shot and killed two Guatemalan immigrants from a helicopter as he pursued what he thought was a drug load has been cleared of any criminal misdoing. But at least Texas authorities have had to revise their policy on the use of deadly force from the air.

If you have an interest in American history and how we got to where we are with the war on drugs, you need to read Smuggler Nation. You'll be glad you did.

The US Supreme Court has held that an immigration judge went too far when he ordered the automatic deportation of a Jamaican man who resided in the US for most of his life over the possession of 1.3 grams of marijuana.

In an incident that is raising questions about Texas use of force policies, a state trooper in a helicopter fired on a fleeing vehicle suspected of carrying drugs Thursday. It was not carrying drugs, but undocumented immigrants, two of whom were shot and killed.

Hoping to put a human face on the drug war's toll, a cross-border Caravan for Peace has begun its weeks-long, 27-city journey across the US.

A Caravan of Peace calling for an end to failed prohibitionist drug policies in the US and Mexico will leave San Diego in August and arrive in Washington, DC, in September. It's hoping to educate some people along the way and have a lasting impact.