Drug War Chronicle

The DEA strikes again in Los Angeles, and the feds are moving to eliminate dispensaries in downtown LA. But the pushback against the crackdown continues.

It's been a fairly quiet week on the corrupt cop front, but we've still got some Missouri jail guards in trouble, a Houston cop accused of helping to peddle Ecstasy, and a Baltimore cop who did heroin deals in the police station parking lot.

A Montana initiative that would endorse the legislature's gutting of the state's voter-approved 2004 medical marijuana law is leading in polls, but doesn't have 50%.

Another small-time drug busts ends in death as a Baltimore man dies after swallowing drugs as police moved in to arrest him.

Colombia's capital may be about to open drug consumption rooms for addicts, who will get their drugs by prescription. Colombian President Santos gave the go-ahead to Bogota Mayor Gustavo Petro Friday.

Dana Larsen has a plan to decriminalize marijuana possession in British Columbia. It will take up to two years.

The upper and lower chambers of the Swiss parliament have agreed on a marijuana decriminalization bill. Now it awaits a final vote next week.

Three marijuana legalization initiatives, two medical marijuana initiatives, and one sentencing reform initiative are on state ballots this year. We'll be running a feature story on one of them each week between now and election day, but we've created this short-term feature to keep up with all of them.

Last issue, we reported that the DEA had taken the week off. Well, they're back, and so is the push-back.

Colorado's Amendment 64 campaign is leading by about 10 points in the polls, but not complacent as the clock ticks down toward November 6.