Drug War Chronicle #644 - August 12, 2010

Medical marijuana is legal in California, but you have a problem if you have to go through any Border Patrol checkpoints. The Department of Homeland Security isn't the Department of Justice, and DHS doesn't recognize medical marijuana.

District of Columbia voters overwhelmingly passed medical marijuana but waited 12 years for it to become law. Now the DC government is making them wait an extra five months before even beginning to set up a medical marijuana system, and the framework they've crafted has problems.

After Mexican President Calderon toyed briefly with the notion of legalization last week, his predecessor, Vicente Fox, has jumped in with a forthright call for legalization. Calderon didn't bite this week, but did show signs of recognizing he's created a disaster.

Thousands of journalists marched in Mexico City to protest the killing, intimidation and harassment of journalists in the drug wars. Meanwhile the rivers of blood keep flowing, with no end in sight.

Carrying a little medicinal marijuana and hash can turn into a living nightmare if they catch you with it in Texas. Ask Chris Diaz.

Yet another poll suggests that California is on the cusp of accepting marijuana. Whether that will translate to a win at the ballot this November remains to be seen.

They're starting to crawl out of the woodwork. A prominent force in the movement to overturn gay marriage in California now has Prop 19 in his sights.

Congress has just okayed spending $600 million for more drones, more ICE, more Border Patrol, more FBI, more DEA, more BATF, and more to "secure the border."

In Tulsa, a corruption scandal keeps on giving; in Austin, a cop is paying the price for partying a little too hearty; and in West Virginia, another jail guard goes down. Oklahoma doesn't get off with just Tulsa this week -- a Bureau of Narcotics agent in Oklahoma City has been charged with shipping weapons to Mexican cartels (yikes!).

A federal appellate court in Washington, DC, has trimmed law enforcement's wings a little in an important Fourth Amendment case.

Detroit was supposed to vote on legalizing marijuana in November, but the city's election commission has blocked the vote.

StoptheDrugWar.org has completed the first stage of a major upgrade and expansion of our web site. This article explains some of what we've done so far, and also where some sections of the site that you've been used to from before can still be found.