Drug War Chronicle

Bad cop! Bad parole officer! Bad probation officer! Bad trooper! What? No bad jail guards? Well, it happens sometimes...

Here is yet another poll showing broad support for medical marijuana, this time in New York state. The surprise is no longer that people support medical marijuana, but that the New York legislature can't get around to passing it.

The authors of the Vienna Declaration are seeking to throw out the old prohibitionist drug policy paradigm in favor of one based on science and evidence. This week, the declaration picked up significant political support -- three former Latin American presidents.

Is the California tax and regulate marijuana legalization initiative winning or losing? Right now, it looks like it depends on which pollster you ask. In any case, this is looking like a very tight race.

Apply for an internship at DRCNet and you could spend a semester fighting the good fight!

The Russians want more appointments to high positions in the UN, and it looks like a Russian diplomat will replace outgoing UNODC head Antonio Maria Costa. Given Russia's retrograde positions on drug policy issues, alarm bells are going off.

The knee-jerk prohibitionist impulse remains strong in America, especially in the South. Confronted with a synthetic cannabinoid, states are lining up to ban it.

$38 an ounce for kind bud?!?!? That's what RAND says could happen if California legalizes it. Tax revenue estimates are all over the place, depending on multiple factors. And consumption could go up dramatically, but it might not. Bottom line: Nobody knows for sure what's going to happen.

2010 is a critical year in the effort to end prohibition and the war on drugs. The StoptheDrugWar.org (DRCNet) "Changing Minds, Changing Laws, Changing Lives" campaign is asking for you to pitch in -- your support is more important now than it has ever been before!

"Will the Marijuana Vote Help the Democrats in November?," "The War on Marijuana = Federal $$$ for Local Cops," "A Scary New Drug Threatens Our Children: Nutmeg," "Marijuana Legalization is a Civil Rights Issue," "UN Drug Policy in the Dark Ages," "What's the Big Deal About Narco-Subs?"