Breaking News:Dangerous Delays: What Washington State (Re)Teaches Us About Cash and Cannabis Store Robberies [REPORT]

Drug War Chronicle #665 - January 6, 2011

Happy 2011

1. Did CVS Buy Its Way Out of a Meth Indictment? [FEATURE]

While small-time meth criminals face years in prison, a wealthy corporation complicit in the trade walks away with a fine. Is it a case of you can have all the justice you can buy? Or does the system just focus on the easiest victims?

2. The Cannabis Closet: First Hand Accounts of the Marijuana Mainstream [BOOK REVIEW]

The Atlantic's Andrew Sullivan popular blog The Daily Dish has been the home of quite a debate about marijuana in the last year and a half. Now, "The Cannabis Closet" lets us in on the conversation.

3. Mexico 2010 Death Toll Higher Than Afghanistan

The bloody insurgency in Afghanistan claimed more than 10,000 lives last year, but the death toll still trailed that of Mexico's prohibition-related violence.

4. Mexico Drug War Update

It's a new year, but in Mexico, 2011 is already looking a lot like 2010, which saw prohibition-related violence kill more people than ever.

5. Massachusetts Sees First US Drug War Killing of 2011

A Massachusetts SWAT team member killed an elderly Framingham man during a drug raid Wednesday morning. It was the first of 2011, but it probably won't be the last. With your help, the Chronicle will be reporting on every one.

6. Senate Unanimously Confirms Leonhart as DEA Head

Acting DEA head Michele Leonhart won unanimous approval from the Senate Wednesday to head the agency permanently.

7. Associated Press Chronicling Failure of Drug War

The Associated Press has done a remarkably series of articles on the failures of the drug war. Here's a brief look at the first three -- and an invitation to read them all the way through.

8. Florida Drug Czar Office Falls to Budget Ax

Incoming Republican Florida Gov. Rick Scott has axed the state drug czar's office. That's one layer sliced off the drug war bureaucracy in Tallahassee.

9. California Supreme Court Okays Text Message Searches in Drug Arrests

The California Supreme Court has ruled that police don't need a search warrant to browse the text messages on an arrestee's cell phone. The Ohio Supreme Court 13 months ago ruled the other way. Look for the US Supreme Court to resolve this issue.

10. This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories

It's a Texas trifecta this week, plus a Nashville cop buying guns for the cartels, an ATF agent with sticky fingers, and an upstate New York cop with several bad habits.

11. Pat Robertson Talks Marijuana Legalization, Backs Away

TV evangelist Pat Robertson wants to legalize marijuana. -- Oh, wait, no he doesn't, but he thinks the law is counterproductive.

12. A Thousand March for Marijuana in Buenos Aires

Part of Argentina's boisterous cannabis nation took to the streets of Buenos Aires last Saturday to celebrate a year of activism and call for further reforms.

13. This Week in History

Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
Permission to Reprint: This issue of Drug War Chronicle is licensed under a modified Creative Commons Attribution license. Articles of a purely educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of DRCNet Foundation, unless otherwise noted.

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