Death Penalty

The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) issued its annual report on the global drug situation today, and it is very "concerned" about marijuana legalization. But its chorus of critics is growing larger and louder.

A slight majority in Rhode Island say legalize it, CBD medical marijuana bills are popping up in several states, Uruguay's marijuana-legalizing president gets a Nobel Peace Prize nomination, and more.

Marijuana law reform bills just keep coming, a most likely unconstitutional food stamp drug test bill gets filed in Georgia, Australian regulators block urine drug testing of state energy company workers, Jamaicans legalizers grow impatient, and more.

Washington's attorney general has dealt a body blow to the statewide legalization of marijuana commerce there, medical marijuana continues to keep state legislatures busy, a New Mexico town and county pay out big time for a horrid anal search, heroin legislation is moving in Kentucky, and more.

2013 saw a historic breakthrough on the international front, as well as evidence that powerful currents are shifting inexorably away from the prohibitionist consensus of the last half-century. But there was also continuity as the drug war, drug production, and the use and trafficking of drugs, all continued apace (although not without innovation).

Medical marijuana gets attention in the statehouse, another drug war atrocity in New Mexico, Greece's first safe injection site is open, and a gram of opium or a few pounds of pot can get you the death penalty if you're in the wrong place. And more.

Years in prison for growing weed in Missouri, life in prison for drug smuggling in Singapore -- we still have a long way to go. There's more drug policy-related news as well today.

A bill to protect the guns rights of legal marijuana users has been filed, hempsters hit the halls of Congress, a new medical marijuana bill is filed in Pennsylvania, and more.

Portland's police chief demonstrates why local initiatives are only a start, a new Urban Institute report has ideas for reducing the federal prison population, the Irish parliament rejects marijuana legalization on its first go round, and more.

Iran continues to execute drug offenders at a torrid pace. Around 500 went to the gallows in 2011, hundreds more last year, and 24 more so far this year.