Drug War Chronicle #768 - January 24, 2013

The effort to get the executive branch to reschedule marijuana has been blocked by a federal appeals court. While appeals will continue, efforts will now turn to forcing change in Congress and with the Obama administration.

Although it hasn't made reformers' top target list, Washington, DC, could be ripe for a marijuana reform initiative, whether legalization, expanding medical marijuana, or decrim. Local activists are meeting and national organizations are watching.

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Sen. Pat Leahy (D-VT), head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has said he wants to abolish mandatory minimum sentences, and he hopes the federal government doesn't spend a lot of money enforcing marijuana laws in states where it is legal.

A half-dozen states are expected to see marijuana legalization bills filed this year, but Hawaii is first out the gate after the House speaker filed a bill on Friday.

An important federal court ruling, medical marijuana bills start popping up in the states, more providers get prosecuted, and LA continues to stumble toward a resolution of its dispensary issue.

MedicalMarijuana.ProCon.org, part of the ProCon.org family, is an in-depth web site presenting information and views from a variety of perspectives on the medical marijuana issue. The Chronicle is running a six-part series of info items from ProCon.org, of which this week's is the third.

A British grandmother caught smuggling 10 pounds of cocaine into the Indonesian resort of Bali has been sentenced to death -- even though prosecutors asked only for 15 years. The court said her actions hurt Bali's reputation as a tourist destination.

Colombia's FARC guerrillas have called on the Colombian government to consider legalizing coca cultivation for medicinal and therapeutic ends and for cultural reasons.

A young Orlando man has died after being shot by police during a drug investigation Wednesday night. He becomes the year's second drug war fatality.

A Pauls Valley, Oklahoma, woman suffering from terrible pain went to the hospital for help. Instead, she was jailed for possessing two pain pills without a prescription. She died in jail two hours later.

There's something fishy in a Virginia evidence room, a Louisiana deputy gets in trouble for peddling fake weed, three suburban Chicago cops were running a dirty racket, an NYPD cop gets himself arrested, and a Miami cop gets himself convicted.