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

Drug War Chronicle #706 - October 27, 2011

1. Help Us Make Some Important Decisions

The fight to stop the drug war has entered its possibly most critical time to date, a time of major challenges but also unprecedented opportunities. We need your help today to decide whether StoptheDrugWar.org can enter this moment at full strength.

2. Obama Met With San Francisco Medical Marijuana Protest [FEATURE]

The Obama administration's increasingly hostile approach to medical marijuana distribution in California brought out protestors by the hundreds as the president went to San Francisco for a fundraiser.

3. Canada Mandatory Minimum Crime Bill Set to Pass [FEATURE]

It looks like Canada's Conservative government is finally going to get the ugly crime bill it has long wanted. That will mean mandatory minimums for growing as few as six marijuana plants.

4. Federal Judge Blocks Florida Welfare Drug Testing Law

A Florida federal district court judge has issued a temporary restraining order blocking Florida's welfare drug testing program.

5. Senate GOP Blocks Criminal Justice Commission Amendment

Senate Republicans have blocked an amendment that would have passed Sen. Jim Webb's National Criminal Justice Commission Act, warning hyperbolically that it would violate states' rights.

6. Bay Area Pols Slam Feds' Medical Marijuana Crackdown

A pair of Bay area state legislators are blasting the federal government for its California medical marijuana crackdown and saying they could craft a legislative fix if the Justice Department cooperates.

7. Prop 19 Backers Eye 2012 Medical Marijuana Initiative

There could be a California initiative to bring statewide regulation to medical marijuana next year, organizers said Tuesday.

8. Colombia President Calls for Global Marijuana Legalization

Colombia's president says the world should legalize marijuana, but don't look for his country to lead the way.

9. Mexico Drug War Update

Somebody attacked Mexican army troops in Monterrey with a car last week, and that's just the tip of the iceberg in the ongoing wave of prohibition-related violence in Mexico.

10. Pennsylvania Drug Suspect Dead After Swallowing Baggie

A Pittsburgh-area man has become the third person to die from swallowing drugs during a bust in recent weeks and the 41st to die so far this year in US domestic drug enforcement operations.

11. This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories

A Texas DA gets greedy, and so do a California narc, a California prison worker, a Washington state evidence clerk, and a Washington, DC, police officer.

12. Still Time to Get to the International Drug Policy Reform Conference, LA, 11/2-5

Every two years drug policy reformers from across the United States and around the world come to the International Drug Policy Reform Conference to listen, learn, network and strategize together for change. This year the conference is in Los Angeles, November 2-5, and StoptheDrugWar.org is a partner.
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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Criminal JusticeAsset Forfeiture, Collateral Sanctions (College Aid, Drug Taxes, Housing, Welfare), Court Rulings, Drug Courts, Due Process, Felony Disenfranchisement, Incarceration, Policing (2011 Drug War Killings, 2012 Drug War Killings, 2013 Drug War Killings, 2014 Drug War Killings, 2015 Drug War Killings, 2016 Drug War Killings, 2017 Drug War Killings, Arrests, Eradication, Informants, Interdiction, Lowest Priority Policies, Police Corruption, Police Raids, Profiling, Search and Seizure, SWAT/Paramilitarization, Task Forces, Undercover Work), Probation or Parole, Prosecution, Reentry/Rehabilitation, Sentencing (Alternatives to Incarceration, Clemency and Pardon, Crack/Powder Cocaine Disparity, Death Penalty, Decriminalization, Defelonization, Drug Free Zones, Mandatory Minimums, Rockefeller Drug Laws, Sentencing Guidelines)CultureArt, Celebrities, Counter-Culture, Music, Poetry/Literature, Television, TheaterDrug UseParaphernalia, Vaping, ViolenceIntersecting IssuesCollateral Sanctions (College Aid, Drug Taxes, Housing, Welfare), Violence, Border, Budgets/Taxes/Economics, Business, Civil Rights, Driving, Economics, Education (College Aid), Employment, Environment, Families, Free Speech, Gun Policy, Human Rights, Immigration, Militarization, Money Laundering, Pregnancy, Privacy (Search and Seizure, Drug Testing), Race, Religion, Science, Sports, Women's IssuesMarijuana PolicyGateway Theory, Hemp, Marijuana -- Personal Use, Marijuana Industry, Medical MarijuanaMedicineMedical Marijuana, Science of Drugs, Under-treatment of PainPublic HealthAddiction, Addiction Treatment (Science of Drugs), Drug Education, Drug Prevention, Drug-Related AIDS/HIV or Hepatitis C, Harm Reduction (Methadone & Other Opiate Maintenance, Needle Exchange, Overdose Prevention, Pill Testing, Safer Injection Sites)Source and Transit CountriesAndean Drug War, Coca, Hashish, Mexican Drug War, Opium ProductionSpecific DrugsAlcohol, Ayahuasca, Cocaine (Crack Cocaine), Ecstasy, Heroin, Ibogaine, ketamine, Khat, Kratom, Marijuana (Gateway Theory, Marijuana -- Personal Use, Medical Marijuana, Hashish), Methamphetamine, New Synthetic Drugs (Synthetic Cannabinoids, Synthetic Stimulants), Nicotine, Prescription Opiates (Fentanyl, Oxycontin), Psilocybin / Magic Mushrooms, Psychedelics (LSD, Mescaline, Peyote, Salvia Divinorum)YouthGrade School, Post-Secondary School, Raves, Secondary School