A pair of cops turned thugs in St. Louis are jeopardizing a pile of drug convictions, a cop turned thug in Dallas will stay behind bars until trial, a Customs and Border Patrol officer heads to prison, and a Massachusetts town still can't find pot that went missing from its police department half a decade ago -- but it's trying.
Just a couple of weeks after dishing out a few billion dollars more for the drug war in the emergency stimulus bill, Congress is at it again in the 2009 omnibus appropriations bill. More money for Byrne JAG grants, more money for Plan Mexico, and just a tiny bit less for Plan Colombia.
Kellogg may have miscalculated when it dumped Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps after the infamous bong photo surfaced. Not only did it stir up a boycott from marijuana activists, it now looks like it's hurting the food giant's reputation.
Heroin maintenance programs in Switzerland and Germany have produced positive results there. Can it work in the US? Drug policy expert Peter Reuter looked at the prospects for Baltimore.
The three Atlanta narcs whose phony drug raid ended with the death of a 92-year-old woman were sentenced to prison Tuesday. Has the Atlanta Police Department learned its lesson? The sentencing judge certainly hopes so.
The New Jersey senate passed a medical marijuana bill Monday, and the governor said Wednesday he would "absolutely" sign it. But it has to get through the Assembly first.
US Attorney General Eric Holder announced Wednesday that there would be no more DEA raids on medical marijuana dispensaries in states where it is legal. That is a huge victory, but the victory will not be complete as long as a single person remains in or threatened with federal prison for helping sick patients.
Salvia divinorum must be some pretty potent stuff. It's driving legislators loco all across the country as they insist on banning it simply because somebody, somewhere might get high on it.
"Medical Marijuana Raids are Officially Over," "NJ Senate President Embarrasses Himself With Bad Pot Joke," "Colombia Threatens Obama With Cocaine Crisis if he Doesn't Give Them Money," "Kellogg's Stock Takes Big Hit After Phelps Bong Controversy," "Cops Going to Prison for Botched Drug Raid That Killed Elderly Woman," "Disabled Iraq Vet Loses Home Because of Marijuana Arrest," "Is a "Grow Your Own" Marijuana Policy Better Than Legalization?," "New Jersey Senate Approves Medical Marijuana Bill," "California Legislator Files 'Tax and Regulate' Marijuana Legalization Bill in Wake of Poll Showing Majority West Coast Support."
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In a press conference intended to celebrate a series of DEA raids on Mexican cartels operating in the U.S., Attorney General Eric Holder was asked about the medical marijuana raids. He said this:
What's particularly delightful about this is that DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart was standing right next to him. It would have been nice if the cameras had turned to capture Leonhart's expression as her new boss announced the termination of the vicious campaign for which she bears great responsibility.
Although we've known this was coming for some time now, it's particularly gratifying to watch the Attorney General's mouth form the words we've waited 10 years to hear. So many have sacrificed so much to get us to this point. There were so many times when this fight looked hopeless to everyone but us, which is worth keeping in mind the next time someone tells us we're asking for too much.
As a decade of bad policy is brushed aside with scarcely a whimper, it's becoming clear how fictitious and contrived this debate has been from the beginning. One can scarcely overstate how ridiculously unfounded the fears of our political culture have proven to be. It's amazing to think that our government remained invested in this preposterous crusade for so long not because our leaders necessarily believed in it, but often because they simply lacked the courage to consider a change of course.
As sad as that sounds, there's a lesson here in that the best arguments for reform will often have more to do with politics than policy.