Latin America: Mexico Drug War Update
Mexican President Felipe Calderon's war against drug cartels reached a milestone late last week, but not the kind he's looking for: This year's prohibition-related death toll has gone over the 5,000 mark.
Addiction Treatment
Drug War Chronicle Book Review Essay: "Righteous Dopefiend" and "This is for the Mara Salvatrucha: Inside the MS-13, America's Most Violent Gang"
The Chronicle reviews a journalistic treatment of the Mara Salvatrucha gang and an anthropological treatment of a group of homeless middle-aged heroin addicts. We found one much more satisfying than the other.
Drug Treatment: California's Prop. 36 Funding Takes Massive Hit
California's Proposition 36 "treatment not jail" law is likely to lead to neither treatment nor jail as its funding gets slashed by 83% because of the state's budget crisis.
Feature: UN Drug Czar Attacks Legalizers -- Legalizers Say "It's About Time"
As the United Nations issues its annual World Drugs Report, UNODC head Antonio Maria Costa finally notices his anti-prohibitionist critics and fights back. The critics are glad to engage. More importantly, Costa's attack signals that the legalization movement is gaining momentum.
Feature: The Southwest Border Counternarcotics Strategy -- More, Better Drug War?
The Obama administration used an Albuquerque press conference to unveil and tout its latest proposals for dealing with Mexico's drug trafficking organizations and the prohibition-related violence around them, but is it anything other than more of the same old same old?
Tough Times: California Protests Over HIV/AIDS Budget Cuts -- Needle Exchange Funding at Risk, Prop. 36 Funding to Vanish
In a bid to deal with the state's gargantuan budget deficit, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to cut funding for HIV/AIDS programs and Proposition 36 treatment programs. Protests over the former broke out this past week in cities across the state.
Latin America: Mexico Senate Approves Bill Decriminalizing Drug Possession
Mexico's Senate has passed a bill decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of all drugs. It still has to pass the Chamber of Deputies, and the clock is ticking.
Latin America: Colombia's Uribe Seeks to Recriminalize Drug Possession
Drug possession has been legal in Colombia since 1994. But now, a teetotaling President Uribe wants to go back to the bad old days.
ONDCP: Addiction Specialist Nominated as Assistant Drug Czar
The Obama administration has nominated a well-respected addiction researcher to be the number two man in the drug czar's office. Are we in for a bout of drug treatment now?
Feature: Twenty Years of Drug Courts -- Results and Misgivings
By some measures, drug courts are a success. They reduce recidivism and drive down criminal justice system costs, most observers agree. But when it comes to whether they are a desirable response to drug use, that's a different story.