Cocaine

Move over, Sicilian Mafia. The Calabrian mob, grown rich and powerful off trafficking in black market cocaine, are the new tough guys in Europe.

Three police agencies in Philadelphia teamed up to nab the largest stash of cocaine ever found there. But all impact on the market from the bust is bound to be gone in a matter or weeks if not less. Should we be excited?

New York Gov. David Paterson admitted to using cocaine and marijuana in the 1970s, and for the most part, the silence has been reassuring. A few ardent prohibitionists complained, though.

For the first time, Brazilian authorities have found coca plantations and a cocaine lab on national territory, and they are worried there could be more.

The International Narcotics Control Board wants the governments of Bolivia and Peru to ban coca chewing. Not happening.

Two weeks after it voted to remove criminal penalties for marijuana possession, a Vermont Senate committee has voted to halve the quantities of heroin or cocaine necessary to trigger a trafficking charge.

US drug czar John Walters accused Venezuela of "colluding" in the cocaine traffic, an accusation Venezuela did not take lying down. Meanwhile, Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez says he chews coca, much to the dismay of the Miami Herald.

With elections looming on Saturday and his party trailing, Australian Prime Minister has announced a "zero tolerance" plan to take control of welfare payments for drug offenders.

One small uptick in cocaine prices after decades of decline has the government bragging for weeks on end. A look at the big picture shows that it doesn't really mean anything.

Faced with a booming trans-Atlantic cocaine trade aimed at insatiable European markets, some European countries have formed an organization to coordinate efforts to block it.