Drug War Chronicle

Prosecutors across the country are misbehaving -- and getting away with it. And among the common forms of misconduct are hiding exculpatory evidence and knowingly using false testimony to win convictions.

In a bid to snuff out the federal medical marijuana crackdown, four US congressman have introduced an amendment that would bar the Justice Department from spending money to do so. Late Wednesday, it failed, but the issue went to the House floor.

A bill that would label drivers impaired if they have more than five nanograms of THC per milliliter in their blood even if they are not actually impaired has passed the Colorado Senate and a House committee, but the clock ran out on it Wednesday.

For the past 16 years states have called for safe access to medical marijuana. But Congress has failed to act, to the detriment of patients and providers. That could change this week.

The national battle over medical marijuana is heating up, Connecticut is about to become the 17th medical marijuana state, and state and local battles continue. And so do the DEA raids. Busy, busy, busy.

The city council in the Virginia college town of Charlottesville had adopted a resolution calling on the state to consider decriminalizing or regulating marijuana, but balked at adding lowest law enforcement priority language.

The Dutch move to bar foreigners from cannabis cafes on the southern border has been met by coffee shop closures in protest, legal action, and police who seem to have better things to do. Meanwhile, the drug tourists are simply driving deeper into the country.

A bill that will revive and strengthen Connecticut's largely dormant racial profiling law has passed the legislature, and Gov. Malloy says he will sign it into law.

ProCon.org is a set of in-depth web sites presenting information and views from on current issues, several with relevance to drug policy. The Chronicle is currently running a series of info items from ProCon.org -- this one from drinkingage.procon.org -- and we encourage you to check it out.

Connecticut is about to join the ranks of the medical marijuana states, but in a bid to fend off the feds, its new law is one of the most tightly-drawn yet.