Drug War Chronicle

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.

The legalization debate packed 'em in in Anchorage, California's medical marijuana regulation bill is going down to the wire, Massachusetts has a new substance abuse law, China executes two for drugs, and more.

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Medical marijuana bills pick up some support in Congress, Maryland and Minnesota issue draft rules, California continues to be a battleground, and more.

A Chicago cop helps his daughter-in-law grow medical marijuana for her cancer-stricken child, then rats her out; a Miami narc gets nailed for helping pot growers, a Baltimore cop's pill habit gets the best of him, a Colorado probation officer gets caught with coke and crack, and a Seattle-are deputy goes to jail for pimping his wife. Just another week of drug-related law enforcement corruption.

DC will vote on legalizing marijuana possession and cultivation, two more Michigan towns vote to decriminalize, Maine's governor unveils a plan to force people with drug felonies to undergo drug tests before getting welfare benefits, an Austrian marijuana legalization initiative gets underway, and more.

And then there were three. The District of Columbia will join Alaska and Oregon in voting on marijuana legalization this fall. Because of DC laws, the DC measure would legalize possession and cultivation only; taxation and regulated sales would be left to elected officials.