Budget Cutters Eye Controversial National Drug Intelligence Center
Newly-elected Republicans coming to Washington this week to slash the federal budget are taking note of a tiny federal agency in the rusting steel town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania -- the National Drug Intelligence Center, a pet project of the late Rep. Jack Murtha (D-Pa). Conceived in the early 1990's as a clearinghouse for all of the intelligence in the nation's war on drugs, the agency was installed on the fifth floor of a defunct department store. For years, Murtha lavished federal dollars on the little agency, even as it struggled to find a mission and critics blasted it as unnecessary.
Just days after the election, as votes continue to be counted in some very close races and initiatives, MPP examines some of the results pertinent to ending marijuana prohibition in the US. From some disappointing losses to a couple of positive gubernatorial wins, Mike Meno takes a look at the good, the bad, and the undecided. 
In what has become the most watched initiative for medical marijuana in quite some time, Arizona's Prop 203 still has ballots being counted in an extremely close election. With thousands of ballots still left to be counted at the time of this e-mail, Prop 203 is within 2,000 votes of winning. 
Remember Joe Casias? He's the Wal-Mart employee in Michigan who was fired after failing a routine drug test, even though he was a registered, legal medical marijuana patient at the time. Well, thanks in part to MPP's efforts, Joe begins his battle in court today with the help of the ACLU in what could be a precedent-setting case. 
Despite the disappointing failure of Prop 19, the initiative to tax and control marijuana in California, a new poll shows that the people of that state still feel strongly that marijuana should be made legal. This is encouraging news as MPP looks ahead to 2012 and considers the best opportunities to end marijuana prohibition. 
New Mexico, a medical marijuana state since 2007, recently approved six new dispensaries in the state. This decision — among several other proposed changed that the state's health department is still considering — is great news for the more than 2,800 registered patients in New Mexico. 
In January 2000, 18-year-old Marisa Garcia received a ticket for marijuana possession that nearly cost her a college education.
