Skip to main content

Cash generated by drug prohibition buys lots of guns in Mexico (Image via Wikimedia)
Cash generated by drug prohibition buys lots of guns in Mexico (Image via Wikimedia)

Mexico Drug War Update

Because the update was late last week, it's two weeks worth of Mexican mayhem this week. And yet another grim landmark as the death toll passes 36,000.

Indiana Senate Approves Call for Marijuana Policy Study

Indiana's Senate approved a study on the state’s policies regarding marijuana, including costs in the state’s criminal justice system and the potential for regulation and taxation options. Under Senate Bill 192, authored by State Senator Karen Tallian, D-Ogden Dunes, the legislative review would be conducted by the Criminal Law and Sentencing Policy Study Committee later this year. The committee would make findings and recommendations on the current criminal penalties related to marijuana and the cost to the state, as well as potential plans for medical marijuana, decriminalization for small amounts, and controlling marijuana like alcohol with regulated sales and taxation.

Why This Cop Asked the President About Legalizing Drugs

You might not think a 65-year-old retired deputy sheriff would take to the Internet to ask the president of the United States to consider legalizing drugs, but that's just what MacKenzie Allen did recently. The answer he got from President Obama in YouTube's "Your Interview with the President" contest pleasantly surprised him. Obama responded by saying that legalizing drugs is "an entirely legitimate topic for debate."
Oh, temptation! (Image via Wikimedia)
Oh, temptation! (Image via Wikimedia)

This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories

A California dope squad leader goes bad, a Rhode Island narc goes to prison, and, of course, there are a couple of jail guards in trouble.
parthenon_19.gif
parthenon_19.gif

This Week in History

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

Polls Show Voters in Michigan and Montana Still Overwhelmingly Support Medical Marijuana (Press Release)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE            February 23, 2011

Polls Show Voters in Michigan and Montana Still Overwhelmingly Support Medical Marijuana

Montana voters reject legislative push for repeal, favor regulation

CONTACT: Morgan Fox, communications manager ………………………. (202) 905-2031 or [email protected]

Amid a push in Montana to repeal the state’s medical marijuana law and litigation related to some aspects of Michigan’s law, new polls show that voters in both states still overwhelmingly support allowing patients to use medical marijuana with doctors’ recommendations. In Montana on Monday, the House of Representatives voted to repeal the state’s voter-enacted law. Meanwhile, the state’s Senate is considering legislation to add regulations to the distribution and cultivation of marijuana in the state. These poll results show that voters want to work with their state legislatures to ensure that access to medical marijuana is protected and any problems that arise are addressed in a rational manner through regulation.

A recent poll conducted by Marketing Resource Group, Inc. revealed that a strong majority of Michigan voters still support the medical marijuana law they approved in November 2008. When asked if they would vote for the law again today, 61% responded that they would. This level of support is nearly identical to the percentage by which the initiative was voted into law, and shows that Michiganders recognize the benefits their medical marijuana program has for sick and dying people in their state.

A statewide poll conducted by Public Policy Polling last weekend found that a sizeable majority of adult Montanans -- 63% -- still supports allowing medical marijuana, and most would support strict new regulations. But, in stark contrast, only 20% support the legislature repealing medical marijuana. An overwhelming 76% believe the Legislature should either adopt new regulations or leave the law unchanged entirely. In 2004, 62% of Montana voters enacted their state’s medical marijuana law.

“These polls show that voters stand firmly behind the compassionate policies they enacted at the ballot box,” said Karen O’Keefe, director of state policies for the Marijuana Policy Project, “Since Montana and Michigan’s laws were enacted, federal policy has improved and states have found better ways to provide patients access and address community concerns. Montana and Michigan should follow the lead of six states and D.C., by providing for well regulated dispensary systems.”

With more than 124,000 members and supporters nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. For more information, please visit www.mpp.org.

####

Obama to Meet Mexico's Calderon Amid Drug Prohibition Violence

The drug prohibition war in Mexico has failed despite Mexico deploying soldiers and federal police in a widespread crackdown on drug trafficking organizations that has left more than 34,600 people dead since December of 2006. Now, President Barack Obama plans to meet Mexico's President Felipe Calderon amid a spike in drug prohibition violence which led to the shooting of two US federal agents.
Bangkok looks so modern, but some Thai drug policies are downright medieval. (Image via Wikimedia)
Bangkok looks so modern, but some Thai drug policies are downright medieval. (Image via Wikimedia)

Thai Government in Massive Campaign to Round Up Drug Users [FEATURE]

The Thai government has officially embraced harm reduction, but the Interior Ministry doesn't seem to have gotten the memo. Mass roundups of suspected drug users are once again underway.
Subscribe to