East Asia: Korean Actress Stirs Debate, Outrage By Calling for Marijuana Legalization
South Korean authorities and public opinion take a hard line toward marijuana, so when a leading actress speaks out for legalization, the outrage is palpable.
Medical Marijuana: Revised New Hampshire Bill Passes Legislature, Awaits Governor's Approval
Attempting to appease the opposition of Democratic Gov. John Lynch, the New Hampshire legislature has approved a medical marijuana bill that forbids patients from growing their own -- they would have to go to a "compassion center." Will that be enough to satisfy the governor?
Latin America: Coca Cultivation, Cocaine Production Down Last Year, UNODC Says
Coca and cocaine production are down slightly in South America, thanks largely to Colombia's continuing manual and aerial eradication campaigns, the UN reports. But despite the billions spent to suppress the trade, a gram of coke now costs about half of what it did 20 years ago.
Alert: Medical Marijuana Defendant Bryan Epis Wants YOU to Take Political Action
Bryan Epis was the first medical marijuana provider to be prosecuted by the federal government, and he is one of dozens of people whose fate is still caught up in the federal system despite recent policy shifts by the Obama administration. Bryan is asking all of us to take action to help those who have risked much to help patients.
Feedback: Do You Read Drug War Chronicle?
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.
Weekly: Blogging @ the Speakeasy
"LEAP Confronts the Drug Czar at a Press Conference," "Supreme Court Upholds Fourth Amendment in Strip Search Case," "United Nations Argues for Decriminalization," "United Nations Admits That Drug Legalization is Gaining Support," "You Don't Need Drug Laws to Punish People Who Steal," "Police Raid Innocent Elderly Couple, Blame It on the Weather," "Police Applaud Themselves for Raiding Innocent People and Killing Dogs," "Marijuana Debate on CNN," "Is DEA Illegally Forcing Agents to Serve in Afghanistan?"
Please: Don't Shoot!
The killing of Tarika Wilson, an unarmed mother holding her child, and the maiming of that child, is an inevitable consequences of the overuse of SWAT teams and the growing paramilitarization of the drug war.
Students: Intern at StoptheDrugWar.org (DRCNet) and Help Stop the Drug War!
Apply for an internship at DRCNet and you could spend a semester fighting the good fight!
Weekly: This Week in History
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
LEAP Confronts The Drug Czar at a Press Conference
The irony is truly remarkable. Kerlikowske claims legalization isn't in his vocabulary, yet the whole purpose of the press conference is to present a report that discusses legalization at great length. The drug czar's strategy of trying not to legitimize our position is completely at odds with the approach of the UN, thus he ultimately just comes across as unprepared. And that's exactly what he is. He's so unprepared to defend the drug war, he must pretend that legalization doesn't exist. It isn't going to work.
Click here to help our friends at LEAP send a message to the UN that it's time to move beyond the war on drugs.