Marijuana users can go online and see what kind of bargain they’re getting from their marijuana dealer. The site, which has been online since September, compiles averages of marijuana prices for each state. A representative from the website says that the goal of www.priceofweed.com is simply to give marijuana users tools for assessing prices.

In the first general election since the boom of the state's medical marijuana industry, cannabis supporters are making their voices heard the old-fashioned way: with money. Colorado medical marijuana business owners and advocates have made thousands of dollars in contributions to state candidates this year. Dispensary owners have teamed up to form a political action committee. And activists last month went so far as to host a fundraiser for attorney-general candidate Stan Garnett.

Targeting undecided voters, Jesse Levine of the Marijuana Arrest Research Project lays out arguments in favor of voting "Yes" on California's Proposition 19.

Alcohol is more harmful than heroin or crack, according to a study published in medical journal the Lancet. The report which ranks 20 drugs on 16 measures of harm to users and to wider society is co-authored by Professor David Nutt, the former UK chief drugs adviser.

The Peten jungle, once known for its jaguars and Mayan ruins, has fallen prey to a notorious Mexican drug prohibition gang that operates from remote jungle ranches and has begun openly challenging Guatemalan security forces for control of the roads.

Law enforcement officials are alleged to have violated Oregon Revised Statute 260.432, which excludes public officials from promoting or opposing any measure or candidate as part of their official duties.

According to the U.S. Department of State, 92 Americans have been reported as victims of homicide in Mexico from June 2009 to June 2010. On September 10, the agency issued a travel warning for Americans planning to head to Mexico. It warned against taking unnecessary trips to Michoacán, Tamaulipas, parts of Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Durango and Coahuila because of the ongoing drug prohibition violence.

Just before game two of the World Series between the San Francisco Giants and the Texas Rangers on Thursday, a reporter for a Dallas television station filed a story on the scene outside AT&T park for the local audience back home. But rather than the usual cliches about the picturesque view of San Francisco Bay, Newy Scruggs' story dealt almost entirely about marijuana being used by fans a short distance away. The group Internet Today quickly edited and tacked on a pro-Proposition 19 message to the end of the clip, which proceeded to go viral on the Internet and become the subject of talk radio and newspaper reports.

Former Mexican President Vicente Fox has thrown his full support behind Proposition 19. "How great it would be for California to set this example. May God let it pass...The other U.S. states will have to follow step," he said.

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

All 14 police officers in Los Ramones, a rural town in northern Mexico, fled the force in terror after gunmen fired more than 1,000 bullets and flung six grenades at their headquarters. The gunmen’s 20-minute shooting spree destroyed six police vehicles and left the white and orange police station pocked with bullet holes. The attack was the second in less than a week against police forces in Nuevo Leon -- last week, grenades were thrown at police in Sabinas Hidalgo.

Of the more than 28,000 people who have died in Mexico since President Felipe Calderon declared a prohibitionist war on drug trafficking organizations in 2006, 1,200 were minors.

The latest research is proving that cannabinoids play a mitigating role in breast cancer. An urgent issue for Breast Cancer Awareness Month: the clock is ticking for the 207,000 women expected to be diagnosed with breast cancer this year alone. Mary Jane Borden, a former marketing analyst for largest U.S. marketer of cancer chemotherapy drugs in the U.S. during the 1980s, opines on the issue.

Switzerland's innovative policy of providing drug addicts with free methadone and clean needles has greatly reduced deaths while cutting crime rates and should serve as a global model, health experts said. Countries whose drug policy remains focused on punishing offenders, including Russia and much of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, should learn from a Swiss strategy based on "harm reduction" that protects both users and communities, they said.

Should people who take legally prescribed painkillers on the job be fired for failing a drug test? What companies consider an effort to maintain a safe work environment is drawing complaints from employees who cite privacy concerns and contend that they should not be fired for taking legal medications, sometimes for injuries sustained on the job.

The Republican Party is a long way from becoming the Pot Party. Nonetheless, conservative attitudes are changing at the grassroots level. The percentage of Republicans in favor of legalizing marijuana has risen quickly since 2005, jumping 7 points. And as their constituents have moved on the issue, more Republican candidates and lawmakers are refusing to toe the party line.

Police in Tijuana, Mexico, said 13 people were lined up and shot to death at a drug rehabilitation center.

Attorney General Eric Holder, President Obama’s top law-enforcement officer, has said the administration will “vigorously enforce” federal drug laws in California if Proposition 19 wins at the ballot box. For all the trails that approving Proposition 19 would blaze, much of its impact would depend on the extent to which Holder follows through on that threat.

It’s a bit shocking to grasp the role that the Democratic Party, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, have played in undermining the lives of hundreds of thousands of young minority men. In a very hard-hitting op-ed on October 24th, “Smoke and Horrors” New York Times Saturday columnist Charles Blow, citing the work of City University Professor Harry Levine, makes four truly mind-jolting points.

During California gubernatorial debates last week, Meg Whitman was asked about her position on Proposition 19 and marijuana legalization and said: "Every single law enforcement official in this entire state is against Proposition 19." "She's absolutely wrong...A lot of police officers both retired and on duty are in favor of passing it because they realize that the 'war on drugs' has failed and is going to fail," said former San Jose Chief of Police Joseph McNamara. Scores of former officials recently signed a letter saying that marijuana prohibition only fuels more dangerous crime by enriching Mexican drug traffickers who put guns on American streets -- but every member of the California police department waited until after they'd retired to sign.

Pfc. Jose Gil Hernandez, a Texas National Guard soldier, was gunned down in violent Ciudad Juarez. He crossed the border despite the Guard urging soldiers not on active duty to stay out of Mexico. Hernandez is at least the third American serviceman killed in Juarez since the drug prohibition war began.

Peruvian President Alan García met with President Obama over the summer and directly accused Washington of pushing cocaine growth into Peru. The world's second-largest cocaine producer, Peru has asked for more US aid in combating drug trafficking and blamed Washington's policies for driving coca plant production in the country. Despite Peru's leaders repeatedly calling in recent months for more US aid in fighting drug trafficking, the new US ambassador said in her first media interview that resources are limited.

Oakland County Sheriff's deputies used phony Michigan medical marijuana cards -- created on a county computer -- to trick state-approved medical marijuana providers into selling the drug to the police. Days after the drug buys, county narcotics agents raided two medical marijuana dispensaries. Defense attorneys for more than two dozen people arrested in the raids are crying foul, saying their clients were trapped into lawbreaking while trying to stay within the state law.

Mexico's national security spokesman Alejandro Poire trumpeted 'the largest seizure in the country's history of marijuana prepared and packed for sale and distribution.' But will this make a dent in the bi-national effort to stem the power of drug trafficking organizations in Mexico? Weapons, cash, and drug seizures, as well as top arrests of drug traffickers, are always touted by the government as signs of success, but they do little to impact the overall structure of the organizations, experts say.

Mexican drug prohibition war: In part one of a two-part special on the unregulated drug trafficking organizations consuming Mexico, Joseph Woby travels to one of its most dangerous and poverty-stricken cities.

A Toronto doctor says Ontario's methadone program for addicts is "oppressive" in the way it discriminates against patients and forces them to give up their privacy. Patients who are prescribed methadone for addiction to drugs such as heroin or morphine are shackled to the health-care system and must sign away their privacy rights in exchange for treatment, Dr. Philip Berger told a legislative committee.

The Las Vegas chapter of NORML says keeping marijuana illegal hurts patients in the long run because many are forced to acquire the drug illegally. They are seeking to raise awareness about the medicinal benefits of marijuana.

Maryland Senator David Brinkley said that if re-elected, he plans to introduce a bill that would legalize the use of marijuana for medical purposes. A similar bill passed the Senate during the last session, but the House version failed.

Libertarian Party Chair Mark Hinkle has endorsed Proposition 19 on the November ballot in California. Hinkle said, "I urge Californians to vote for Proposition 19. The War on Drugs has created tremendous damage in California and throughout America, and this will help stop that damage. A vote for Prop 19 is a vote for justice and common sense."

Gunmen in the drug prohibition violence-ridden border city of Ciudad Juarez killed Rito Grado Serrano, regional president of the community of El Porvenira, and his son, Mexican officials said Sunday.

CVS, the nation's largest drug-store chain, is paying what’s considered the largest civil penalty ever — $75 million — assessed under the Controlled Substances Act as well as forfeiting $2.6 million in profits from the sales of medicines that contain pseudoephedrine — a key ingredient to making meth.

A radio station broadcast what it described as a telephone conversation in which Mexican congressman Julio Cesar Godoy Toscano and one of Mexico's biggest drug prohibition lords, La Familia leader Servando "La Tuta" Gomez, express support for each other and discuss bribing a reporter. Godoy represents the western state of Michoacan, La Familia's stronghold. He already faces federal charges for allegedly protecting the drug trafficking organization but has immunity from arrest because he is a congressman.

Texas Homeland Security Director Steve McCraw issued a travel warning advising Texans that nobody should head to Mexico at this point. McCraw stressed the advisory due to the increased drug prohibition violence and threat from drug trafficking organizations.

Arizonans appear to be ready to approve medical marijuana for the third time. A new statewide poll shows 52 percent of likely voters in support of Proposition 203. Only 33 percent are opposed, with the balance undecided.