Drug War Chronicle

The Yes On 19 campaign Friday released an internal poll showing that likely voters support the initiative to control and tax marijuana by a margin of 56-41 when presented with an automated questionnaire but are less likely to state their support to live interviewers.

Two out of three polls this week show Prop 19 trailing, and today's LA Times/USC poll has the worst numbers yet. Ongoing get-out-the-vote efforts, or a late turnout surge, would be the initiative's best chance to free the weed this year.

Bureaucratic reflexes have kicked in at the European Union. Confronted by a new drug, mephedrone, the EU calls for a continent-wide ban.

Is Prop 19 winning or losing? It depends on which pollster you ask.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio opposes the Arizona medical marijuana initiative. Need we say more?

Mexican police seized 134 tons of marijuana Tuesday. They were still burning it as we went to press. Meanwhile, the violence south of the border continues unabated.

South Dakota will vote on a medical marijuana initiative on election day. It came within four points in 2006. Maybe this time, the state can wipe away the stigma of being the only one to defeat medical marijuana at the ballot box.

The battle of the Proposition 19 polls continues, with a new SurveyUSA poll showing it with a four point lead, but still under 50%. Now, every vote is going to count.

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

Crookedness in the Wayne County, Michigan, court system; endemic corruption in Camden; a tweaker cop in Iowa; and another pair of jail guards go bad.