Drug War Chronicle #665 - January 6, 2011

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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