Drug War Chronicle

The stench grows in Philadelphia, a parole officer gets caught stealing parolee's pills, a reserve cop tries to trade dope for sex, and jail guards continue to go wild.

The war on weed may be beginning to wheeze toward its end, a researcher reports, and legislators continue to introduce bills to help it on its way. Meanwhile, harm reduction down South gets some attention, a bad bill targets medical marijuana-using parents in Michigan, and Bermuda gets a decrim bill, and more.

Marijuana law reform bills just keep coming, a most likely unconstitutional food stamp drug test bill gets filed in Georgia, Australian regulators block urine drug testing of state energy company workers, Jamaicans legalizers grow impatient, and more.

In an interview with the The New Yorker's David Remnick, President Obama said marijuana was safer than alcohol and that state-level experiments with legalization were "important," but that he thought it was a bad habit.

Washington's attorney general has dealt a body blow to the statewide legalization of marijuana commerce there, medical marijuana continues to keep state legislatures busy, a New Mexico town and county pay out big time for a horrid anal search, heroin legislation is moving in Kentucky, and more.

While the DC city council is moving on decriminalization, local activists aren't waiting to take the next step: a marijuana legalization initiative.

US Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has come around on medical marijuana, and he thinks cops waste too much time arresting pot smokers, too.

Florida's medical marijuana initiative appears poised to qualify for the ballot (if it survives a challenge in the state Supreme Court), a new pot poll finds the country evenly split, Afghanistan was on the agenda in the Senate yesterday, and more.

As attitudes in America begin to shift in favor of marijuana legalization, it increasingly seems possible that more states -- and eventually the entire country -- might follow. What does this mean south of the border, where Mexican cartels make enormous profits by trafficking this illegal commodity?

A marijuana legalization bill has passed the New Hampshire House, but not with enough votes to overcome a promised gubernatorial veto. It still faces more votes in the House and Senate, too.