Spending Priorities

Idaho legislators want to increase funding for drug treatment and prevention, but the governor vetoed their funding line-items. Now, the state Senate has overridden one veto, and it's time for the House to step up to the plate.

When Congress passed the omnibus appropriations bill a few weeks ago, it slashed funding for the federal grant program that funds local anti-drug task forces. Now the task forces are howling, and they and their allies are plotting a bid to get that money back.

With California facing a $14 billion budget deficit, the governor's budget cutters have come up with a proposal to release more than 22,000 nonviolent offenders before their sentences are up.

The NIDA drug library has been closed for budget reasons. The historic collection of more than 12,000 journal volumes and 8,000 books will be dispersed.

The Bush administration released its 2008 federal budget Monday, and when it comes to drug policy, it looks a lot like more of the same.

Even as Canada's Conservative government works on a tough, law enforcement-heavy new national drug strategy, a study released Monday says such approaches have failed.

In his new state budget, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has under-funded for the popular and successful treatment-not-jail program Proposition 36. He's in for a fight.

The DEA has spent $175 million in the past two decades to eradicate "ditch weed" plants that don't get anybody high. Your tax dollars at work.

Public hearings on an Illinois bill that would divert first-time drug possession offenders into "drug schools" instead of prison are now underway across the state, and if the crowd in Chicago is any indication, public interest is high.

One Texas gubernatorial candidate wants to legalize marijuana. Is anyone surprised that candidate is Kinky Friedman?