Marijuana reform advocates have been seeking to have it rescheduled out of Schedule I since 1972. This week, the DEA rejected the latest petition to seek rescheduling, but that just sets the stage for the next moves. Meanwhile, another petition is moving through the bureaucratic process.

The Michigan bureaucrats charged with drafting rules and regulations for the state's new, voter-approved medical marijuana program need to go back to the drawing board, patients and advocates demanded at a Monday hearing.

With Mexico's prohibition-related violence within earshot, the El Paso City Council Tuesday passed a resolution calling for a national debate on drug legalization. But then, the mayor vetoed it. An override vote is set for next week.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has been keeping an eye on the border. Now, he reveals that he has plans for a "surge" if Mexico's prohibition-related violence spills over into the US.

A former Border Patrol agent cops a plea, another jail guard gets busted, a mystery is solved in Alabama, and one remains in Minnesota.

Ohio becomes the latest state to criminalize salvia divinorum (and its users). The ban goes into effect in 90 days.

Word is CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta has been offered the position of US surgeon general. A 2006 editorial he penned for Time magazine, opposing marijuana law reform initiatives on the ballot in two states, suggests Gupta may not be great news for drug reform.

The Arizona Supreme Court will decide whether there is a religious right to use and possess marijuana.

Drug testing in chess? You've got to be kidding. That's what the players think, but the chess federation is dead serious, and now it finds itself in something of a pickle.

In recent years, South American cocaine traffickers aiming at lucrative European markets have made West Africa a favorite stop-over. Now, the narcs are following them.

Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.

What Are the Worst Arguments Against Legalizing Drugs?," "Drug War Debate Continues in El Paso," "If the Drug War is so Great, How Come You Don't Wanna Talk About It?," "The Drug War is Basically an Employment Program for Criminals," "Metro Threatens Flex Your Rights with Legal Action, ACLU Defends," "Obama's Surgeon General Hates Marijuana (But Sort of Supports Medical Use)," "High Times Should Give Me a Job," "The Drug Cartels are Becoming More Powerful Than the Government," "The Drug War Only Causes Violence. It Can't Create Peace."

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