Drug War Chronicle

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"John Stossel Debates Drug Laws with Sean Hannity," "Sarah Palin and the Marijuana Legalization Debate," "Supporting Harsh Drug Laws is Political Suicide in NY," "Ethan Nadelmann Destroys Bill O'Reilly in Drug War Debate," "Radley Balko Discusses Botched Drug Raids on FOX," "Government-Sponsored Murder in the Name of Prohibition," "Police Kill Grandmother's Dog in Botched Drug Raid," "Reminder: Marijuana Already Exists."

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!

Arizona voters in 1996 and 1998 approved medical marijuana, only to see their efforts thwarted by flawed language. Now, backed by the Marijuana Policy Project, Arizona activists have qualified an initiative for the ballot and look to be sitting pretty -- at least for now.

The UNODC, the European Commission and its member states, as well as Japan and the US all contribute to overseas anti-drug law enforcment programs that result in people being sentenced to death for drug offenses, the International Harm Reduction Association (IHRA) said in a report this week. It needs to stop, and IHRA has some concrete recommendations on how to do that.

There is no end in sight to the prohibition-related violence plaguing Mexico, and now, the cartels have started making threats aimed at law enforcement on the US side of the border.

Dr. Stephen Schneider and his wife Linda ran a pain management clinic in Haysville, Kansas. Now they are most likely headed for long stints in federal prison for their efforts after being found guilty of illegal prescribing and related offenses by a federal jury in Wichita.

California half-way decriminalized simple pot possession back in the 1970s, setting a maximum $100 fine, but leaving offenders with a misdemeanor criminal record. Now, a bill that has already passed the Senate and is moving in the Assembly would complete the process by downgrading the offense to a civil citation.

The demise of Jamaican drug lord Christopher "Dudus" Coke, following weeks of fighting that claimed dozens of lives, is just the latest predictable stage in a self-defeating global cycle of failing drug prohibition.

This may have been the bloodiest week yet in the prohibition-related violence that has wracked Mexico since Felipe Calderon called out the army in December 2006. And the death toll this year just passed 5,000, putting 2010 on pace to be the deadliest year yet south of the border.