Drug War Chronicle #632 - May 14, 2010

Policing the drug laws is supposed to be dangerous work, but the numbers year after year don't seem to bear that out. And too often when police do get killed enforcing prohibition, the very aggressive tactics that they claim keep them safe are the ones that do them in. The human (and canine) targets of aggressive raids pay the price, too.

The fever to free the weed burned hot in Rome and Buenos Aires and Mexico City last Saturday as the second round of the Global Marijuana March took place.

The Associated Press has just declared the war on drugs a failure. When will the politicians admit the same?

2010 is a critical year in the effort to end prohibition and the war on drugs. The StoptheDrugWar.org (DRCNet) "Changing Minds, Changing Laws, Changing Lives" campaign is asking for you to pitch in -- your support is more important now than it has ever been before!

Police in Columbia, Missouri, have endured all kinds of criticism in the week since a video of one of their SWAT raids went viral. This week, they issued new policies regarding SWAT raids. It's a start, but only a start.

Canadian Justice Minister Rob Nicholson Monday signed the extradition for "Prince of Pot" Marc Emery to begin serving five years in a US federal prison for selling pot seeds over the Internet. He was jailed on the spot in Vancouver, and could be in the American gulag by the time you read this.

The beat goes on. This week, we have a trio of ethically-challenged cops, and, of course, another crooked jail guard.

El Chapo had the personal cell phone numbers of Mexican officials charged with hunting him down? A seizure this week hints at the extent of the Sinaloa Cartel's intelligence gathering and just why Chapo Guzman always seems to be at least one step ahead of the authorities.

Singapore's law minister justifies the mandatory death penalty for drug offenders. Unlike the rest of us losers, Singapore hasn't lost the war on drugs, he said.

Up to a quarter of the Afghan poppy crop could be lost to a mysterious fungal disease especially afflicting Helmand and Kandahar provinces. Suspicious Afghan farmers are pointing fingers at the US and NATO.

In a series of public opinion polls last year in Latin America, the Gallup organization looked at perceptions of drug trafficking. The results may be surprising.

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

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"Drug Czar Admits Failure, Pledges to Continue It," "John Walters Still Thinks the Drug War is Awesome," "The Dog-Killing Drug Raid That Pissed Off America," "Do Cops Get Drunk at Anti-Pot Conferences?," "Utah Cops Create Website for Snitching on Marijuana Gardens," "Gary Johnson Talks Marijuana Legalization on the Colbert Report," "DEA Accidentally Argues for Marijuana Legalization."