Hashish

Things are looking good after legalization in Colorado, a medical marijuana bill moves in Pennsylvania, food stamp drug testing is on hold in Mississippi, hash battles break out in Libya, and more.

Asset forfeiture gone wild is in the news, so is a Delaware drug lab scandal, there's a major report on imprisonment from the National Academy of Sciences, Silk Road is back, and more.

Some Denver city council members don't know when to give it a rest, some California US reps want stiffer penalties for pot grows on public lands, the Big Dog speaks on drug policy, Ecstasy may be on the rise, Morocco holds a historic hearing on cannabis, and more.

Denver's city council calls off ban on "front porch" marijuana smoking, New Jersey's governor claims medical marijuana is a ploy, Vermont rolls out a naloxone pilot project, Colombia's FARC want decriminalization, and more.

There will be no meaningful effort to eradicate Lebanese marijuana fields this year. The security situation is too tense, financial compensation for last year hasn't appeared, and the farmers are too angry. Hash heads from Cairo to Ankara to Berlin are smiling.

With The Lebanese Connection, global drug trade scholar Jonathan Marshall has made an important contribution to the literature -- not only of the drug trade, but also of the Middle East, terrorism, covert operations, and failed states.

Lebanon's annual effort to wipe out hashish production is having a particularly rocky time this year. On Tuesday, eradicators were stuck without bulldozers after locals refused to rent to them. At least no one was shooting at them this week.

We go around the world to find the most important international drug policy stories of 2011.

Just when you thought Oklahoma couldn't get any more medieval...

Chaikh El-Khayari advocated for the legalization of marijuana production for hemp and medical marijuana, but it was his accusations of high-level links to the hash trade that got him thrown in jail.