Drug War Chronicle

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

Now, here's a shocker: An Illinois study finds that blacks are five times more likely to be sent to prison for drug possession than whites.

Iran is already one of the world's leading death penalty countries, but it has been hanging drug offenders at a record pace so far this year.

Confronted with a new synthetic stimulant drug, a US senator reflexively reaches for the ban button.

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.