Drug War Chronicle

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"Proof that the Drug War Sucks: Mexico," "Why Legalizing Marijuana Will Reduce Violent Crime," "BBC News Says Hash is Safer Than Marijuana," "Study Shows Marijuana Reduces Other Drug Use," "Attorney General Promises Aggressive Marijuana Enforcement," "Deputy Drug Czar Asks: Why is Everyone Talking About Legalizing Marijuana?"

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Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.

Some legislators' reflexive response to a newly known psychoactive substance is to ban it. That's certainly been the case with salvia divinorum, which was banned in four more states this year. Similar efforts failed or have yet to reach fruition in at least seven others.

Police in Utah who cleaned up meth labs in the 1980s and 1990s have filed dozens of workers compensation claims asserting exposure to the caustic chemicals caused a variety of physical ailments. Now, those claims are being dismissed for lack of evidence.

Testilying -- the practice of police perjuring themselves to get an arrest or win a case -- is so prevalent in the NYPD that something has to be done, a federal judge complained this week.

A Worcester, Massachusetts, resident tried to snuff out an ill-timed joint and fasten his seat belt as the vehicle he was in rolled up to a police sobriety checkpoint last week. He was dead within minutes, and his family's attorney claims he was beaten by police. Police have a different version of events.

A sticky-fingered North Carolina deputy gets busted, so does a Florida sheriff's evidence tech, and a home-invading, drug dealer-robbing Philly cop gets sent away for a long, long time.

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