Drug War Chronicle

San Francisco's district attorney and San Diego's police chief have filed an initiative that would defelonize most drug possession and other nonviolent crimes. But will they try to get it on the ballot in 2014?

A pair of state appeals courts slap down cops who take people's medicine and won't give it back, there are problems with Kansas' drug testing law, Peru is buying shining new toys to prosecute its drug war, and more.

Breaking with his past practice, President Obama Thursday granted commutation to eight federal prisoners serving long sentences for crack cocaine-related offenses, including Clarence Aaron, who has been in for 20 years.

Guatemala is considering allowing the legal, controlled cultivation of opium poppies in a bid to weaken drug trafficking.

Today we have a plethora of pot polls, hope on banking, an important decision by Washington state regulators, and hints of change to come from Canada's Tories, among other news.

In an era where so much of the national debate is still framed by prohibition-based thinking, our small, dedicated and passionate staff keep anti-prohibitionists on the cutting edge of legislation and policy. That's why we need your help to keep StoptheDrugWar.org and the Drug War Chronicle going strong in 2014.

Despite some improvement, the mainstream media continues to get it wrong on the drug issue in many, many ways. This makes it as crucial as ever for reformers to continue to fund and make our own media.

The Senate Judiciary will be marking up three sentencing reform bills Thursday. They are significant ones.

The Michigan Senate wound up its 2013 session by a passing a welfare drug testing bill. The House already passed one. Both will be alive when the legislative session starts up next year.

The latest Monitoring the Future numbers on teen drug use are out. Most drug use is down or stable, and teen marijuana use is well withing historic levels, but that isn't stopping some from sounding alarms.