Drug War Chronicle

Showing up at an event can be the best way to get involved! Check out this week's listings for events from today through next year, across the US and around the world!

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

US federal authorities have rounded up 62 immigrants on charges of smuggling khat, a mild stimulant herb used for hundreds of years in East Africa and the Arabian peninsula. Their use of the Hawala financial network has generated weak speculation that there could be a terrorist link.

When Nelson city police raided the Holy Smoke Culture Shop almost two weeks ago, they awakened the area's large cannabis community. Now, Holy Smoke and its supporters are preparing to wage holy war (non-violently) to defend themselves and the herb.

Un nuevo proyecto auspiciado por cuatro ex fiscales generales estaduales reduciría considerablemente el número de infractores por crack (y aumentaría ligeramente el número de infractores por polvo de cocaína) que se enfrentan a sentencias mínimas obligatorias durísimas por infracciones menores.

A new study of the federal courts finds judges less likely to convict than juries, and the author attributes it to the federal judiciary's discomfort with harsh sentencing guidelines.

The San Diego-area medical marijuana community is reeling under assault from the DEA and local officials, but is already fighting back at city hall and in the courts.

A Colorado judge has ruled prison officials went too far when they shackled a prisoner to a chair for more than five days in a bid to see if he had swallowed drugs.

South Dakota Attorney General Larry Long has written a medical marijuana initiative ballot summary that appears to violate state law.

With conflict heating up in Afghanistan, British Conservatives are urging their leader, David Cameron, to consider legalizing and licensing the opium crop.