Drug War Chronicle

We present two weeks worth of Mexican drug war mayhem, and we review the death toll year by year since Calderon sent in the troops in 2007. The total has passed 35,000.

The DEA's federal emergency ban on synthetic cannabinoids may be stalled, but bills are moving in a half-dozen states. Retailers are beginning to organize to fight back.

In a bid to repress the home manufacture of methamphetamine, a number of states are moving to require prescriptions for over-the-counter cold and allergy medications containing psuedoephedrine. Cold sufferers, take heed!

Which state on which coast will be the first to legalize marijuana? There are now bills filed in Massachusetts and Washington.

An Illinois sheriff goes down hard, a Massachusetts police chief parties too hard, a Massachusetts cop gets nailed for helping out his local pot dealer, and a Florida motorcycle cop gets caught stealing a bud in his helmet.

Can the Border Patrol fire an agent for saying he supports drug legalization? The federal courts will decide.

A leading advocacy group for pain patients has essentially been driven out of business by a federal prosecutor and the federal courts. The Pain Relief Network will be missed.

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

Prince Georges County, Maryland, cops messed with the wrong guy when their SWAT team hit the home of the mayor of Berwyn Heights and killed his dogs in a botched drug raid. Now they have to change their ways.

Add Virginia to the list of states where imposing drug testing on recipients of public assistance is on the legislative agenda.