Drug War Chronicle

Drug policy reformers were all but reconciled to a zero out of four year for statewide marijuana initiatives. But late mail-in ballots, and provisionally accepted ones, have so far broken in favor of the initiative, by a wide enough margin to put it over 50% if it continues.

California voters may not want to legalize marijuana, but they sure want to tax it. A number of cities approved tax measures, and two rejected dispensary bans.

Marijuana reform activists in Massachusetts are still batting 100% in their decade-long campaign of marijuana reform non-binding ballot questions.

Cops shouldn't mess with meth, narcs shouldn't deal dope, and prison guards shouldn't smuggle contraband. We already knew that, but some law enforcement officers are finding out the hard way.

Prop 19 may have been defeated, but marijuana legalization is not going away, proponents said Wednesday.

It wasn't all bad news Tuesday. One of the comforting items came from the cities of Madison and River Falls, Wisconsin, where voters sent a signal to lawmakers that medical marijuana is a winning issue.

Two statewide medical marijuana initiatives lost on Tuesday. A third is trailing very slightly, but with uncounted mail-in ballots making it still too close to call.

California's Proposition 19 has gone down to defeat, but organizers put the best face on it and vowed to move forward.

The controversial Professor David Nutt is at it again, this time with a study ranking drugs, legal and illegal, by the harm they cause users and society. There are some surprises there.

New federal sentencing guidelines reducing, but not eliminating, the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine offenses are now in effect.