Drug War Chronicle

A pair of sociologists get inside a San Diego area network of campus drug sellers and users to ask and answer the question of why privileged youth on the path to success would risk everything to peddle pot or pills. The short answer? They're not really very much at risk -- they're rich and white.

New York City and national media have been abuzz all week over a city health department pamphlet that provides harm reduction tips to injection drug users. But despite the offensive led by a right wing tabloid and a handful of professional drug warriors, harm reduction won the battle -- but what about the larger war?

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

The New Jersey legislature has become the first in the nation to pass a bill reforming mandatory minimum school zone laws. Gov. Jon Corzine has said he will sign it.

"It's Time to Legalize Medical Marijuana in Professional Sports," "Cocaine Vaccine Backfires Horribly," "Former Drug Czar Invents Awesome New Drug," "Consider the Possibility That People Do Drugs Because They Enjoy It," "States Don't Need Federal Permission to Legalize Medical Marijuana," "Cop Wants His Job Back After Planning the Sting That Killed Rachel Hoffman," "Why is DEA Condemning Efforts to Prevent Heroin Deaths?," "Judge Reprimanded for Illegally Drug Testing Random Guy," "Romantic Comedy 'It's Complicated' Gets R Rating for Depicting Casual Marijuana Use."

The war in Afghanistan, the rising tide of drug reform in Latin America, and battles over drug policies in European countries are among the dominant international drug policy stories of 2009. (Reprinted from last week's issue to accompany this week's top ten domestic drug policy stories feature.)

Do you read Drug War Chronicle? If so, we need your feedback to evaluate our work and make the case for Drug War Chronicle to funders. We need donations too.

Apply for an internship at DRCNet and you could spend a semester fighting the good fight!

Rhode Island approved adding a dispensary system to its medical marijuana program this spring, and now the state Department of Health has promulgated proposed rules to regulate it. But even if all goes well -- and non-controversially -- it could be another year before a dispensary actually starts dispensing.

What a year! A lot happened in 2009 when it comes to drug policy, much of it good. Last issue we reviewed the international developments. This last week of the year, we take a look at what we see as the ten most important domestic drug policy stories the year brought us.