Drug War Chronicle

We review a memorial tribute edition of "Jack Herer is the Emperor of Hemp" that includes never seen interviews with Herer and the entire 1943 USDA film "Hemp for Victory." It is most worthy.

Half of all Canadians continue to want to free the weed, but strangely enough, almost two-thirds favor mandatory minimums for growing as few as five pot plants. That last finding may be an artifact, though.

In early preparations for the World Cup and the Olympics, authorities in Rio de Janeiro are trying to run the drug gangs out of the shantytowns. The drug gangs aren't going without a fight.

An American music icon is calling for a political party devoted to marijuana legalization after his third pot bust in five years.

Like Dracula arising from his grave, the Canadian Conservatives' mandatory minimum crime bill is back. It just passed the Senate and now heads for the House of Commons.

It only took three weeks from Election Day, but California medical marijuana foe and Republican attorney general candidate Steve Cooley has finally conceded defeat to Democrat Kamala Harris.

Synthetic marijuana products sold as incense or potpourri under brand names like K2 and Spice have been banned in an emergency move by the DEA. You have 30 days before the ban takes effect.

Sen. Jim Webb's bill to create a bipartisan National Criminal Justice Commission has passed the House of Representatives and the Senate Judiciary Committee. Your phone calls to US Senators could be what passes the bill this year and gets the top-to-bottom review of the criminal justice system started.

We in the drug reform movement are filled with optimism after a historic year and campaign, and we are getting the anti-prohibitionist message out to more and more people than ever. But your help is needed to allow it to continue.

An ex-governor is assassinated, and Ciudad Juarez sees its 130th police officer killed this year. Just another week in the prohibition-related violence plaguing Mexico.