Drug War Chronicle

Questions about marijuana legalization and drug policy dominated a YouTube "Ask Obama" forum last week, and this time, Obama responded with more than a laugh.

As the US, UK, and Sweden file formal objections to Bolivian efforts to amend the UN 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs to end the proscription on coca leaf chewing, Bolivians take to the streets.

DrugWarFacts.org is an in-depth compilation of key facts, stats and quotes on the full range of drug policy issues, excerpted from expert publications. The Chronicle is running a series of info items from DrugWarFacts.org, and we encourage you to check it out.

Some global heavyweights have taken on the international drug control system and how to come up with a better one.

We present two weeks worth of Mexican drug war mayhem, and we review the death toll year by year since Calderon sent in the troops in 2007. The total has passed 35,000.

The DEA's federal emergency ban on synthetic cannabinoids may be stalled, but bills are moving in a half-dozen states. Retailers are beginning to organize to fight back.

In a bid to repress the home manufacture of methamphetamine, a number of states are moving to require prescriptions for over-the-counter cold and allergy medications containing psuedoephedrine. Cold sufferers, take heed!

Which state on which coast will be the first to legalize marijuana? There are now bills filed in Massachusetts and Washington.

An Illinois sheriff goes down hard, a Massachusetts police chief parties too hard, a Massachusetts cop gets nailed for helping out his local pot dealer, and a Florida motorcycle cop gets caught stealing a bud in his helmet.

Can the Border Patrol fire an agent for saying he supports drug legalization? The federal courts will decide.