Drug War Chronicle

It's less than a month before California votes on legalizing marijuana. The battle lines are drawn, but there are a few surprises. Stoners Against Prop 19? Say what?

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

California's Prop 19, the "tax and regulate" initiative to legalize marijuana, is ahead in the polls. But turnout is going to be key in this very close election. Please sign up to do get out the vote volunteering by phone -- you don't have to live in California, you just need a phone and an Internet connection -- or do other work to help put Prop 19 over the top.

Some 288 people were killed in prohibition-related violence in Ciudad Juarez last month, and the pace is continuing this month.

California Gov. Schwarzenegger could have made syringe sales to adults legal throughout the state in a bid to reduce the transmission of HIV and Hep C. Instead, he chose to extend a program leaving it up to cities and counties.

Whew! Sex, drugs, strippers, and a federal judge, oh, my! Plus a murder-plotting meth-head trooper, another crooked border inspector, more Philly cops trying to rip off drug dealers, and an Oklahoma narc helping send guns down Mexico way.

There have been a baker's dozen polls on Prop 19, and while they have varied, the cumulative result is starting to smell like legal marijuana in California. But a poor turnout could turn all of that around, and as saying goes, there's only one poll that counts.

In a bizarre denunciation of drug legalization, Peruvian President Alain Garcia warned legalizing pot would lead to euthanasia of the elderly and fascist barbarism.

The Polish government is cracking down on new synthetic drugs and wants the power to pull from the shelves any product that could be harmful to health or life. It didn't mention Polish vodka, though.

Opponents of Prop 19 heckled Richard Lee last weekend at a debate on the measure's merits. Surely we can do better than that.