Drug War Chronicle

For the second year in a row, Rhode Island legislators will ponder a bill to decriminalize the possession of up to an ounce of marijuana.

US drug czar Kerlikowske thinks Hugo Chavez's idea of shooting down suspected drug planes is a good one. It didn't work so well in Peru in 2001.

Bolivia wants to undo a treaty clause that has outlawed the traditional practice of coca chewing for the last 50 years, but the US and others stand ready to block that effort.

A drug deal gone bad has resulted in the year's third fatality related to drug law enforcement.

That Christmas Eve DEA ban on synthetic cannabinoids? Didn't happen -- at least, not yet. Action has been delayed by challenges from retailers.

DrugWarFacts.org, a publication of Common Sense for Drug Policy, is an in-depth compilation of key facts, stats and quotes on the full range of drug policy issues, excerpted from expert publications on the subjects. The Chronicle is running a series of info items from DrugWarFacts.org over the next several weeks, and we encourage you to check it out.

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

A campus cop, an auxiliary cop, and a sheriff's deputy all go down.

The year's second death during a drug law enforcement operation occurred Tuesday in Corpus Christi. Police said it was a suicide, but some local observers are assuming the worst.

A new designer drug is generating the same old knee-jerk prohibitionist responses. Be scared, very scared!