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Vermont Farmer Crushes 7 Police Cars with Tractor over Pot Arrest

A man rolled his 15 ton tractor over seven police vehicles -- five marked police cruisers, an unmarked car and a transport van -- in retaliation for a marijuana possession and resisting arrest bust. (Link to Story)

US Drug Policy Would Be Imposed Globally By New House Bill

The House Judiciary Committee has passed a bill that would make it a violation of US law for US citizens to engage in conduct in other countries that is legal there but which violate US drug laws here. (Link to Story)

Medical Marijuana Businesses Subject of Federal Tax Proposal Sponsored by Rep. Jared Polis

Marijuana businesses looking for help navigating the federal tax code are watching a congressional proposal sponsored by Colorado Rep. Jared Polis. Polis and other House members introduced legislation about medical marijuana. One of the bills would allow marijuana-related businesses to claim business deductions on their federal taxes. Currently the IRS does not permit marijuana-related business to claim business deductions. (Link to Story)

Marijuana and the War on Drugs: Where Will it All End? (Opinion)

Susan Walker reports on a study of the alcohol and drug prohibition eras conducted by Euan Wilson of The Socionomics Institute. Wilson's research includes the role of social mood during prohibition, and provides a fascinating look at when and why society sanctions drugs -- and when society decides enough is enough. Walker says the takeaway message is that the same social mood that drives the stock market also plays a significant role in popular attitudes regarding the prohibitions against drugs and alcohol. (Link to Story)
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Insite Activist Threatens Civil Disobedience

If the federal government seeks to permanently shutter Insite, Vancouverites can anticipate a loud and unrelenting outcry from advocates, health care professionals and drug users who support the Downtown Eastside supervised injection site. Closing Insite, "will be seen as a personal affront to the city of Vancouver," said Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users activist Dean Wilson, noting residents in this city, including Mayor Gregor Robertson and at least four former mayors, are generally in favor of harm reduction drug treatment that includes supervised injection. (Link to Story)

These Are Your Rights on Drugs (Opinion)

Scott Lemieux, Assistant Professor of Political Science at The College of Saint Rose, discusses the Supreme Court's continued long-standing assault on constitutional protections in service of the war on drugs (or, as it might be more accurately described, the war on some classes of people who use some types of drugs). (Link to Story)

Fixing the Fiasco of the NYPD's Marijuana Arrests

Two New York State legislators have proposed a simple, effective legislative fix to New York City's 15-year marijuana arrest craze. Senator Mark Grisanti, a white Republican from Buffalo, and Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, a black Democrat from Brooklyn, have together offered legislation that would strike from the law the misdemeanor for simple marijuana possession of less than an ounce. The NYPD made 50,000 of these marijuana possession arrests in 2010 and 500,000 arrests since 1997. (Link to Story)

Another Drug Case Dismissed in Connection with San Francisco Police Misconduct Probe

Another drug case was dismissed in connection with allegations of police misconduct by San Francisco officers. More than 85 cases have been dropped because of a string of videos released by Public Defender Jeff Adachi that he said show misconduct by plainclothes officers performing drug busts at residential hotels in the city. The latest dismissal might not be the last related to the police misconduct allegations. Adachi said last week that the district attorney's office has provided him with a list of 6,900 cases involving officers from the previous videos, which appear to show officers from the Police Department's Southern Station entering rooms without a warrant or consent, contradicting what was written in the officers' reports. (Link to Story)

Escalating Drug Prohibition Violence in Northern Mexico Overwhelms Authorities

Northern Mexico’s drug prohibition war continues to claim victims, with more than 360 bodies discovered in mass graves just last week. The situation in Northern Mexico is devolving into chaos as prohibition-created organizations fight for control of the lucrative Northern Mexico drug route into the United States. The Mexican government is powerless to end the violence. Overpowered authorities basically have abandoned the area, recognizing their inability to restore any sort of order to the area. (Link to Story)

NY State Legislature Considers a Medical Amnesty Policy to Curb Escalating Overdose Crises

Proposed laws in the New York legislature that would allow New York residents to call for medical assistance during drug or alcohol overdose situations without fear of prosecution have been introduced in both legislative chambers. Both bills will first be under consideration in the Codes Committees. (Link to Story)

Montana Issuing Thousands of Medical Marijuana Cards Despite Law

A health department official says it's not feasible to stop issuing medical marijuana cards as the state moves to a more restrictive law so the agency will continue to process thousands of applications for cards. (Link to Story)

Melbourne, Australia Council Votes Yes to Supervised Drug Injecting Room

An inner city council in Melbourne has voted almost unanimously in favor of trialing injecting rooms to deal with what's been described as a war zone where brazen drug deals are an everyday occurrence due to prohibition. (Link to Story)

Drug Warriors Gun Down Young Father (Opinion)

James Peron, President of the Moorfield Storey Institute, recounts the recent drug prohibition related death of a young husband, father, and Iraq veteran who was shot at 71 times by heavily armed men who then allegedly prevented medical assistance from being given until he was dead. The heavily armed men were from the Pima County Sheriff's Department. Another drug raid gone bad. (Link to Story)

Mexico Drug Prohibition Baron Named 'World’s Most Wanted' After Osama's Death

Enriched by drug prohibition, Joaquin Guzman Loera reportedly possesses a personal fortune capable of rivalling Bill Gates and Warren Buffet. Loera is believed to be responsible for more deaths in the United States than bin Laden because of his drug transportation business and the inherent dangers associated with it created by prohibition. (Link to Story)

Legal Medical Marijuana Grow-Op Bust Could Lead to RCMP Lawsuit

Velma Mullaney, 62, says she plans to sue the RCMP for busting her licensed medical marijuana grow-op. In March, police raided her place with guns drawn, kicked in doors and tore out her plants. Mullaney told the officers the grow-op was licenced but said officers refused to look at her permit or count the plants. Instead she was taken to jail and later released. (Link to Story)

Guatemala Attributes Drug Prohibition Massacre to Zetas, Declares State of Emergency

The massacre due to drug prohibition in Guatemala that left 27 people dead at a cattle ranch – believed to be the work of Mexico's notorious drug trafficking organization, the Zetas – has forced a 30-day state of emergency. None of the victims had ties to drug trafficking organizations, authorities said. Rather they were innocent ranch workers and their families caught up in an increasingly bloody prohibition war. (Link to Story)

A Visit to Oregon's Largest Legal Marijuana Farm

It is springtime on The Farm, a cooperative in the heart of Oregon's Applegate Valley wine country that will grow some 200 plants to supply about 70 card-carrying medical marijuana patients. Here, surrounded by wineries, bed and breakfasts, churches and a school, the legal side of marijuana operates in plain sight, visible to hang gliders soaring overhead, drivers on nearby roads, and viewers of Google Maps. "The fact is that they can grow marijuana right under our nose...Until we catch them doing something illegal with it, there is nothing we can do about it," said Grants Pass Police Sgt. Ray Myers. (Link to Story)
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US Cattle Inspectors Leave Mexico Amid Drug Prohibition War

For years, these inspections have been conducted before cattle cross the border, but the drug prohibition war has prompted the U.S. to move some of its operations north. The change, instituted over the past year at three of the 11 ports along the U.S.-Mexico border, is drawing concern from some cattle raisers, who fear infections long eradicated in the U.S. but still showing up in Mexico will spread before inspection. The change is supposed to be temporary, although there are no immediate plans for the American inspectors to return to Mexico. (Link to Story)

Legal High Battle Shows Need for Drug Policy Rethink (Opinion)

Jeremy Sare of the Guardian says that when it comes to the new wave of legal highs, the UK's politicians are like Amish farmers blinking up at jet planes tearing across the sky. They are wilfully living "out of time" but certain of the virtue of their archaic methods. There is no evidence to suggest making a drug controlled can reduce its use. (Link to Story)

Delaware Governor Signs Medical Marijuana Bill

Gov. Jack Markell has signed legislation making Delaware the 16th state to allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes. (Link to Story)

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