Drug War Chronicle

One congressman marches resolutely backwards into the last century with a bill proposing 25-year sentences for people peddling kind bud. The "kush super-marijuana" turns good citizens into "zombie-like" creatures and must be stopped, suburban Chicago US Rep. Mark Kirk warns.

For years, heroin offenders in Louisiana faced draconian sentences of life without parole. The legislature changed that a few years ago, but didn't act to free the remaining "heroin lifers." It may get around to it this year.

There are serious plans afoot for a marijuana legalization initiative in California for the November 2010 elections. Is it time to take advantage of apparent momentum for reform, or is the move premature and potentially counterproductive?

Apply for an internship at DRCNet and you could spend a semester fighting the good fight!

"FOX News Says Marijuana Will Eat Your Soul," "The Feds Are Giving Themselves New Drug War Powers," "Sharks Filled With Cocaine!!!," "How Many Innocent People Are in Jail on Drug Charges?," "Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Are Coming to Rhode Island," "'Tough on Drugs' Politics Just Aren't as Popular Anymore," "An Embarrassing Interview with the Drug Czar," "Video: Milton Friedman on Marijuana Legalization," "Video: Crack Sentencing Reform Petition Delivered to Congress -- Former Prisoners, Family Members and Advocates Speak Out," "Video on Abuse of the Environment -- and of People -- in Colombia's Drug War, from 'Witness for Peace.'"

The killing of Tarika Wilson, an unarmed mother holding her child, and the maiming of that child, is an inevitable consequences of the overuse of SWAT teams and the growing paramilitarization of the drug war.

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