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Mayor Luis Jiminez Mata, of Santiago Amoltepec, was shot to death by prohibition-created drug traffickers when he was visiting the state capital of Oaxaca. He is the third municipal leader to be killed in a week and in 2011.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is looking to modify its policies regarding the disposal of powerful medications that long-term care facilities need to discard. Providers, including the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, have submitted comments for the DEA's public meeting, which will be held next Wednesday and Thursday in Washington. Among the hottest topics will be the DEA's concern that abusers might devise new and unwanted pathways to re-route controlled substances from intended destruction.

Rhode Island health officials have accepted 18 applications from people interested in opening medical marijuana compassion centers to distribute medical marijuana to qualifying patients. The Department of Health said it would review the applications and hold a public hearing on them February 7.

The Mexican government has released a database it says covers all murders presumed to have a link to the country's drug prohibition war in which at least seven different drug trafficking organizations are fighting each other and federal forces deployed in a massive offensive against them launched in December 2006. The number of deaths has risen rapidly since then to total 34,612 up until the end of 2010, by far the most violent year so far with 15,273 people killed.

A string of academics, health experts and former politicians have lent their names in support of a trial of a needle and syringe program in Australian correctional facilities.

The state health department released a set of revised rules governing New Jersey’s medical marijuana program, despite the Legislature’s intent to repeal them. The new rules reflect an agreement Gov. Chris Christie reached with the law’s Assembly sponsor, Reed Gusciora (D-Mercer), that allow for six dispensaries to operate, instead of the four the administration initially sought.

Prohibitionist drug policies did not help thirty-four-year-old Corry Thomas who was shot and killed in front of his sister's home. His plea deal was supposed to place him in witness protection, but he was murdered before he ever got the chance to testify. Sources say his testimony could have helped put high-level drug dealers in prison and the drive-by shooters knew that the clock was ticking.

Carole Bennett, a substance abuse counselor and activist who has lectured at a number of rehabilitation centers as well as schools and universities, offers four healthy concepts to consider when talking to children about substance use.

At 25 years old, Shannon Sterner lives with pain. The Leoni Township resident has tried medications to manage the effects of fibromyalgia and reactive arthritis brought on by an infection. For the last nine months, she has been using a new method to deal with the discomfort caused by her conditions: medical marijuana. But her use of the drug, allowed under Michigan’s medical marijuana law, resulted in eviction from her federally subsidized apartment this week.

New Jersey's state senator Scutari said he's taking the next step toward voiding Gov. Chris Christie's proposed strict medical marijuana regulations after the Christie administration missed a Wednesday deadline to submit a new version. A hearing on the issue has been scheduled for Jan. 20 before the state Senate's health committee.

A Helena lawmaker has introduced a bill to license and regulate the growing and selling of medical marijuana in Montana and to impose a 10 percent tax on the growers' sales to pay for the cost of regulation and go for other uses. Senator Dave Lewis, R-Helena, is the sponsor of Senate Bill 154, the second major bill intended to impose some regulations on the industry.

Police officers who smell marijuana coming from an apartment can break down the door and burst in if they have reason to believe this evidence might be destroyed, several Supreme Court's justices suggested Wednesday. In the past, the high court has said police usually cannot enter a home or apartment without a search warrant because of the 4th Amendment's ban on "unreasonable searches and seizures."

In the war on marijuana grow-ops, municipalities across the Lower Mainland are slapping homeowners – including those with no link to illegal drugs – with a hefty bill for an inspection of their property, saying the fees cover the costs involved. Critics say the safety inspections are a substitute for police raids of suspected grow-ops. Police cannot enter a home without reasonable grounds for believing that they will find illegal activity. However, safety inspectors can just go in and look around. If they find a grow-op, they call police, who are usually waiting at the curb.