Drug War Chronicle

A bill to end the crack/powder cocaine sentencing disparity is close to becoming law in California, the US Sentencing Commission still has work to do on mandatory minimums, the 50th anniversary of America's first pot protest will be commemorated this weekend, and more.

A bill that would eliminate the crack and powder cocaine sentencing disparity in California has passed the state Assembly. It is now only a Senate concurrence vote away from heading to the governor's desk.

California's controversial medical marijuana regulation bill is going down to the wire, Delaware will soon see its first dispensary, Guam will vote on a medical marijuana initiative in November, and more.

More problems for the scandal-tainted dope squads in Detroit and Philadelphia, a new Jersey college cop admits to peddling pills, and a Texas parole officer gone bad goes to prison.

A key California sentencing reform bill gets a final Assembly vote tomorrow, the Oregon legalization initiative gets some organized oppositions, Delaware gets a step closer to its first dispensary, Marc Emery gets to go home, and more.

Everybody must be at the beach, because it's pretty quiet on the drug reform front. But Philly faces a class action lawsuit over asset forfeiture, the DEA gets caught wasting taxpayer money, and there's marijuana policy action down South America way.

Randy Credico is a veteran New York activist, gadfly, and comedian, but there's nothing funny about the issues he's campaigning on in his quest to be governor of New York.

Germans march for marijuana, Washington state takes in a million in taxes from the first month of pot sales, New Mexico local decriminalization initiatives struggle to make the ballot, Central Florida cops make a bunch of small-time drug busts, a new poll has some old results on the success of the drug war, and more.

In a historic ruling in June, the US Supreme Court held that police must obtain a warrant before searching cell phones and smart phones. But what about the people already convicted on the basis of those searches?

Things get slow in the dog days of summer, but there's still news from the legal marijuana states, California continues to grapple with regulating medical marijuana, and a couple of items from Britain suggest change could be in the air there.