Drug War Chronicle

It may soon be harder for patients to get access to hydrocodone-based pain relievers like Vicodin after an FDA advisory panel recommended moving them from Schedule III to Schedule II in an effort to prevent overdoses and addiction.

The smart money is saying hold off on a California marijuana legalization initiative until 2016, but some will pay the price for waiting.

"What are you in for?" "Possession of Marlboros." That could be the case under a new bill filed in Oregon.

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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.

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.

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 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.