Drug War Chronicle

La Comarca de Mendocino de California se ha enriquecido con la marihuana, pero los problemas han acompañado la prosperidad. Ahora, todos esperan para ver si las elecciones aún indecisas de la semana pasada querrán decir que la comarca va a retroceder en sus leyes liberales sobre el cultivo o no.

Durante los últimos tres años, un grupo selecto de adictos a la heroína en Vancouver y Montreal ha recibido heroína de calidad farmacéutica como parte de un programa piloto de manutención con heroína. Ahora, el programa NAOMI baja el ritmo, los investigadores reúnen sus informes y los adictos regresan a la calle.

A Scottish think-tank tasked by Parliament with figuring out how to reduce drug-related harm has called for marijuana legalization, safe injection sites, and opiate maintenance.

The Merida Initiative anti-drug assistance package for Mexico and Central America passed the House this week, but Mexico is balking at human rights and other conditions in the Senate version of the bill. Will the Senate sacrifice human rights on the altar of the drug war?

Another year, another all-time high in US prisoners, and the drug war continues to make a major contribution. This is getting really old.

Busy, busy. Border guards going down, prison guards going down, more cops in trouble, and more investigations of a perjury-condoning prosecutor in Detroit.

What may have been the largest drug bust ever took place in Afghanistan this week. But while NATO claimed it dealt a hard blow to the Taliban, profits from the lost hash are miniscule compared to what the group rakes in from the opium trade.

The Argentine government is working on a rewrite of its drug laws, but courts there aren't waiting for the politicians. In April, two federal tribunals in Buenos Aires declared the drug possession laws unconstitutional, and now more courts have followed suit.

The Oregon Court of Appeals has rejected an employer's firing of a medical marijuana patient who did not use on the job, saying it violates state anti-discrimination laws.

Veteran activist Dana Beal of Global Marijuana March fame spent more than a week behind bars in Illinois, arrested on money-laundering charges after police found $150,000 in cash. But he bailed out Thursday after the original charge vanished, to be replaced by an obstruction of justice charge. The cash is still in custody.