Drug War Chronicle

The US Sentencing Commission voted yesterday to reduce most federal drug trafficking sentences. The move will cut nearly a year off the average sentence and should result in 6,500 fewer prisoners within five years, the commission said.

A DC marijuana legalization initiative is about to start signature-gathering, we have a trio of state pot polls, the US Sentencing Commission moves to cut drug sentences, German criminal law professors call for marijuana legalization, and more.

Medical marijuana remains on the agenda at statehouses across the country, Oregon communities decide whether to bother with temporary dispensary moratoriums, DC looks to expand its medical marijuana program, and more.

The federal Smarter Sentencing Act picked up four new Republican House consponsors in one day this month.

Attorney General Holder was on the pot-seat in Congress yesterday, New Jersey's legalization bill looks to have an uphill battle with public opinion, there's a psychedelic conference in Massachusetts this weekend, Uruguay is going to give medical marijuana to prisoners, and more.

Another jail guard dope smuggler, another cop with a pain pill problem, another cop brought down by a sting, another cop selling cocaine, and yet another cop smuggling cocaine. Ho-hum. Just another week of drug war police corruption.

A 12-year-old Orange County girl was killed last week when a driver fleeing police seeking to apprehend him on drug and weapons warrants crashed into her family's car.

The Maryland legislature passed both medical marijuana and decriminalization bills as the session ended in Annapolis, Colorado pot tax revenues aren't as high as the governor thought, the maker of the new opiate pain reliever Zohydro fights a state ban in Massachusetts, and more.

Camden, New Jersey, was the scene of one of the nastiest police corruption scandals in recent history. Investigative reporter Clarence Walker takes a look at some cops who would have made the dirty cops in Training Day blush.

Talk about unintended consequences! Faced with a declining US market share, Mexican pot farmers are switching to opium poppies. Plus, AG Holder has some words about rescheduling, the Maryland decrim bill is back from the dead, it looks like 2016 for California legalization, and more.