Decriminalization

Marijuana decriminalization is just a pair of floor votes away from passage in the Rhode Island General Assembly after companion bills were approved by respective judiciary committees Tuesday.

A New Jersey marijuana decriminalization bill has passed its first hurdle, advancing out of the Assembly Judiciary Committee.

A bill that would decriminalize drug crop cultivation in Colombia has passed a first reading in the lower house, but the government opposes it.

The city council in the Virginia college town of Charlottesville had adopted a resolution calling on the state to consider decriminalizing or regulating marijuana, but balked at adding lowest law enforcement priority language.

Faced with a veto threat from Gov. John Lynch (D), the New Hampshire Senate voted Wednesday to kill a marijuana decriminalization bill that had already passed the House.

Actor and comedian Russell Brand called for "love and compassion" for drug addicts at an appearance before a parliamentary committee in London Tuesday and suggested that decriminalization could be a good approach.

History is about to be made at the Summit of the Americas in Cartagena this weekend. Hemispheric heads of state will discuss alternatives to the drug war and challenge the US prohibitionist model. This could be the beginning of the end.

NYPD arrested more than 50,000 people, mostly young people of color, for marijuana possession last year. Thursday, protestors went to the mayor's house to tell him to put a stop to it.

Some prominent Australians are on-board with a new campaign to end drug prohibition, including the current foreign minister, Bob Carr.

Some Colombian congressmen want to decriminalize coca and marijuana production in a bid to drive down prices and encourage farmers to plant other crops.