Drug War Chronicle

"Proof that the Drug War Sucks: Mexico," "Why Legalizing Marijuana Will Reduce Violent Crime," "BBC News Says Hash is Safer Than Marijuana," "Study Shows Marijuana Reduces Other Drug Use," "Attorney General Promises Aggressive Marijuana Enforcement," "Deputy Drug Czar Asks: Why is Everyone Talking About Legalizing Marijuana?"

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Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.

Some legislators' reflexive response to a newly known psychoactive substance is to ban it. That's certainly been the case with salvia divinorum, which was banned in four more states this year. Similar efforts failed or have yet to reach fruition in at least seven others.

Police in Utah who cleaned up meth labs in the 1980s and 1990s have filed dozens of workers compensation claims asserting exposure to the caustic chemicals caused a variety of physical ailments. Now, those claims are being dismissed for lack of evidence.

Testilying -- the practice of police perjuring themselves to get an arrest or win a case -- is so prevalent in the NYPD that something has to be done, a federal judge complained this week.

The Vancouver NAOMI study showed that heroin maintenance worked for some hard-core addicts not amenable to methadone or other forms of drug treatment. But now, plans to build on NAOMI with further research in Vancouver and Montreal have hit a snag, with the Quebec provincial government refusing to pay its share.

Under United Kingdom drug laws, simple pot possession can cost you two years in gaol. But that's rarely the case, and now the Scottish government is hinting that a small fine may be a more reasonable response -- and one that saves a lot of policing time.

Chakib El Khayari runs a human rights group in Morocco's Rif Mountains, where marijuana cultivation is a way of life. He has run afoul of the Moroccan government for criticizing its policies toward the poor pot farmers, and an appeals court has just ruled he should stay in a jail. Human rights and drug reform groups consider him a prisoner of conscience.

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