Drug War Chronicle

It wasn't all bad news Tuesday. One of the comforting items came from the cities of Madison and River Falls, Wisconsin, where voters sent a signal to lawmakers that medical marijuana is a winning issue.

Two statewide medical marijuana initiatives lost on Tuesday. A third is trailing very slightly, but with uncounted mail-in ballots making it still too close to call.

California's Proposition 19 has gone down to defeat, but organizers put the best face on it and vowed to move forward.

The controversial Professor David Nutt is at it again, this time with a study ranking drugs, legal and illegal, by the harm they cause users and society. There are some surprises there.

New federal sentencing guidelines reducing, but not eliminating, the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine offenses are now in effect.

Indigenous tradition runs afoul of US drug laws... and now, a respected Colombian shaman is behind bars in Houston, charged as a drug criminal.

Iowa's Board of Pharmacy has recognized that marijuana has medicinal uses. Now maybe the state legislature will act. Or not.

Last month was the bloodiest in Ciudad Juarez history with 352 people killed in prohibition-related violence. Four US citizens were among the dead. Hoping to stop the violence, Mexico's former president weighed in supporting California's Prop 19 legalization initiative.

Ballot measures, phonebanking, legalizers at the Sanity/Fear Rally. And why Prop 19 win or lose has been a winner for the cause.

Prop 19 has built a formidable coalition of supporters, and it's generated nearly $2 million in donations in the past month. It will need every bit of that cash and support to get over the top, but the campaign says it can still do it.