Politics Outside US

A new survey of British attitudes toward drug policy reform suggests a new realism and pragmatism. Will the politicians follow the wisdom of the voters?

Preliminary reports suggest the Afghan opium crop will be at record levels and 40% larger than last year, despite hundreds of millions of dollars spent to suppress it.

Whether the good or the truly horrid, much can be learned about drug policy during those rare moments when public officials tell the truth about it.

Despite billions of dollars in US aid, Colombian cocaine production remains at near record levels. Or is it even more? A new report raises serious questions.

As NATO takes over in southern Afghanistan, fighting is flaring and opium is driving much of it. Now, European politicians are beginning to embrace a controversial opium licensing scheme.

A parliamentary select committee has issued a report calling Britain's drug classification scheme outmoded, ineffective, and based more on politics than science.

Opium eradication is a dangerous, dead-end road. It's time for a little realism, for the sake of Afghanistan's and global security.

With conflict heating up in Afghanistan, British Conservatives are urging their leader, David Cameron, to consider legalizing and licensing the opium crop.

The Victoria Green Party has unveiled a new drug policy platform that calls for prescription heroin trials for long-term addicts and the establishment of safe injection sites. But those were only the most controversial proposals in the platform.

Despite the government's downgrading in 2004 of marijuana from a Class B drug to the less serious Class C, members of two British medical marijuana groups are headed to trial this week and next, and could face up to 14 years in prison.