Skip to main content

Drug War Chronicle #713 - December 15, 2011

Phillip S. Smith, Editor - David Borden, Executive Director
uscapitol_6.jpg
uscapitol_6.jpg

ALERT: Don't Let Congress Backslide on Needle Exchange

Republicans in Congress are pushing to reinstate a ban on use of federal AIDS funds for needle exchange programs. If they succeed, if won't reduce federal spending, but it will kill people. Please call today to tell Congress and the President to say no.
Spice and other synthetic cannabinoids and stimulants will be banned under the bill passed by the House (wikimedia.org)
Spice and other synthetic cannabinoids and stimulants will be banned under the bill passed by the House (wikimedia.org)

US House Votes to Ban New Synthetic Drugs

As expected, the House of Representatives has passed a bill banning synthetic stimulants and cannabinoids. On the positive side, 98 members voted against responding to the drugs with a new prohibition.
MMJ leaf and stethoscope KY ODCP_8.jpg
MMJ leaf and stethoscope KY ODCP_8.jpg

Medical Marijuana Update

Busy, busy, busy. Here's this week's medical marijuana news digest.
Cash and guns Mexico_21.jpg
Cash and guns Mexico_21.jpg

Mexico Drug War Update

Mass murders in Ciudad Juarez and the Comarca Lagunera, and the army killed 11 cartel gunmen in Tamaulipas. Just another week in Mexico's prohibition-related violence.
drug testing paraphernalia (wikimedia.org)
drug testing paraphernalia (wikimedia.org)

Federal Unemployment Benefits Drug Test Bill Introduced

A Republican congressman from Georgia has introduced a bill that would mandate drug screening assessments for unemployment applicants and drug tests for those assessed as having a "high probability" of being drug users. But he cited only apocryphal evidence for any need for such legislation.
This crack smoker could get treatment instead of jail under a new Polish law (image via wikimedia.org)
This crack smoker could get treatment instead of jail under a new Polish law (image via wikimedia.org)

Poland "Treatment Not Jail" Drug Law Now in Effect

A new law allowing prosecutors to divert small-time drug possessors into treatment instead of prison went into effect Friday.
pile-of-cash_46.jpg
pile-of-cash_46.jpg

This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories

A Virginia sheriff gets raided, a sleazy Michigan cop gets busted, a New Jersey cop gets convicted, and several Oklahoma lawmen are headed to prison.
parthenon_56.gif
parthenon_56.gif

This Week in History

Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
Permission to Reprint: This content is licensed under a modified Creative Commons Attribution license. Content of a purely educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of DRCNet Foundation, unless otherwise noted.