Obama Takes a Crack at Drug Reform (Opinion)
Drug Policy Alliance ED, Ethan Nadelmann, opines on President Obama's drug policy reform moves since entering office.
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Chronicle
Parliament Hill, Ottawa (math.nist.gov)
Canada's Conservatives Try Again with Mandatory Minimum Drug Bill [FEATURE]
Canadian Prime Minister Steven Harper and his Conservative buddies are dead set on passing a draconian, backward-looking drug sentencing bill, but they are going to run into a lot of opposition.
Chronicle
Jodi James at work
Veteran Drug Reformer Wins Florida House Primary
A face we're used to seeing at drug reform conferences will now be plastered on campaign posters as Floridian Jodi James wins her state House Democratic primary and focuses on knocking off the Republican incumbent.
Chronicle
municipal building, San Fernando, Tamaulipas
Mexico Drug War Update
The discovery of the bodies of 72 people, probably Central American immigrants, on a farm not far from the US border, is the latest gruesome "top that" moment in Mexico's unending prohibition-related violence.
Chronicle
This Week in History
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
Chronicle
Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske with President Obama
Drug Czars Past and Present Oppose Prop 19 Marijuana Init
Now, here's a shocker -- not. Drug czars oppose pot legalization. Take a look at their arguments, then read the critics.
Latest News
60,000+ Waiting for Medical Marijuana Licenses
According to Ron Hyman of the Colorado Department of Health, there is a backlog of 60,000 to 70,000 applications for state-issued medical marijuana licenses waiting for approval. The delay is costly -- there is more than $5 million in application fees waiting to be processed.
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Google to Run Marijuana Ads That Facebook Wouldn't
Facebook may think it's "inappropriate" to run ads depicting marijuana leaves, but apparently Google doesn't.
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A Failed "War on Drugs" Prompts Rethinking on HIV Infections Among Injection Drug Users
Drug policy has focused on a policing approach of prohibition and incarceration, which has contributed to spreading HIV within the injection-drug community. Comprehensive drug reform policies are showing better results. Despite massive investments in drug law enforcement in the past three decades, with much of the international interdiction effort paid for by the U.S. government through assistance to national military and police forces, there is "a general pattern of falling drug prices and increasing drug purity" throughout the world, according to the Vienna Declaration.
Latest News
Mexican Troops Find Dozens of Drug Prohibition Victims' Bodies
Mexican marines have found 72 corpses at a ranch after a shoot-out with drug traffickers that left one soldier and three gunmen dead near the town of San Fernando in Tamaulipas. It appears to be the largest dumping ground for the victims of drug prohibition violence found in Mexico since President Felipe Calderon began a stunningly unsuccessful offensive against traffickers in late 2006.
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Facebook Censors Marijuana Legalization Ad
Facebook may be the nation's hottest social networking site, but the company is no friend to the nation's hottest political issue. A marijuana legalization ad from the Just Say Now campaign has been banned for its use of a pot leaf image, stirring controversy among Facebook's massive population of marijuana reform activists.
Chronicle
Feb. '09 drug policy forum held by<br>Mexico's Grupo Parlamentario Alternativa
Mexico Talking But Not Moving on Drug Legalization [FEATURE]
Faced with a mounting death toll, Mexican President Felipe Calderon has called for a debate on legalizing drugs, but it doesn't look like it's going anywhere just yet.
Latest News
Latino Voters League, National Black Police Officers Latest Groups to Endorse California Marijuana Legalization Measure
Representatives from the Latino Voters League (LVL) and the National Black Police Association have given formal endorsements of Proposition 19, The Regulate, Control & Tax Cannabis Initiative of 2010. If passed, the measure would legalize the private adult possession and cultivation of marijuana, and allow local government the option to regulate the plantâs commercial production and sale.
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Gov. Bill Ritter Turns to Medical Marijuana Fund to Help Balance Colorado Budget
The plan Ritter announced to bridge a nearly $60 million shortfall in the current budget year relies on $9 million from the state's Medical Marijuana Program Cash Fund, financed by fees on patients who get cards to use medical marijuana. With the number of applicants for medical marijuana cards expected to double to 150,000 this year, there will still be about $1 million left in the fund even after $9 million is swept from it.
In The Trenches
Facebook Censors Marijuana Legalization! (Action Alert)
Dear Friends,
To draw attention to the need for ending marijuana prohibition, SSDP teamed up with Firedoglake for our Just Say Now campaign. The campaign has been gaining international media coverage but just yesterday, Facebook banned our ads that support marijuana legalization.
The social networking site says we can no longer advertise our campaign for marijuana legalization using our Just Say Now logo, because it has a pot leaf.
We need to fight back against Facebook's political censorship. Can you sign our petition protesting Facebook's unfair policy against legalization ads? We'll send the petition to Facebook and tell the media about the site's censorship of this popular political issue.
Share the image to the right and make it your Facebook profile picture.
Facebook's decision is actually a flip-flop: the Just Say Now ads appeared more than 38 million times before Facebook issued a new policy banning them.
Our ads show marijuana leaves as part of a political campaign to change public policy. It's like telling a political candidate for office that it's unacceptable to show the candidate's face in advertising.
Sign our petition to Facebook and protest censorship of marijuana legalization.
Thank you for supporting marijuana legalization and SSDP's work. Please consider making a donationtoday.
Best,
Jonathan Perri
SSDP Associate Director
Latest News
Drug Prohibition Sends Bullets Whizzing Across the Border
At least eight bullets have been fired into El Paso, TX in the last few weeks from the rising violence in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, one of the world's most dangerous places. And all American police can do is shrug because they cannot legally intervene in a war in another country. The best they can do is warn people to stay inside.
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Senator Scutari Introduces Measure Urging Governor's Support of Federal Bill to Protect Medical Marijuana Patients
New Jersey State Senator Nicholas P. Scutari (D-Union) introduced a measure urging Governor Christie to support and advocate for federal legislation that would provide legal protection to patients who use medical marijuana in compliance with state laws. The Senatorâs bill would express the Legislatureâs support and urge the Governor to support and advocate for H.R. 2835, known as the âMedical Marijuana Patient Protection Act.â In states with legalized medical marijuana, H.R. 2835 would protect patients, prescribing doctors, distributors and anyone authorized to obtain, possess or distribute marijuana on behalf of a patient against arrest and prosecution by federal authorities.
Latest News
Facebook Blocks Ads For Pot Legalization Campaign
Proponents of marijuana legalization, which is on the California ballot in 2010, have hit a Facebook wall in their effort to grow an online campaign to rethink the nation's pot laws. Facebook initially accepted ads from the group Just Say Now, running them from August 7 to August 16, generating 38 million impressions and helping the group's fan page grow to over 6,000 members. But then they were abruptly removed.
Chronicle
cannabis prescription legally produced in Netherlands (courtesy Marijuana Policy Project)
Reports of Germany Legalizing Medical Marijuana are Premature
The German health ministry announced last week that it was moving to legalize medical marijuana, and that no law changes are necessary, merely the changing of some regulations.
Chronicle
too much cash can corrupt cops
This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories
A Texas DA plays funny with the drug money, so does a Baltimore narc, and cops in Alabama, Georgia, and Oklahoma join the hall of shame.