Oxycontin

California starts rolling out recreational marijuana business licenses, Maryland approves more dispensaries, Michigan starts accepting dispensary applications, the Mexican Senate approves a bill letting the military keep playing a policing role, and more.

The Maine legislature fails to override the governor's veto of the pot regulation bill, a California initiative to legalize magic mushrooms gets the okay for signature gathering, North Dakotans will wait another year for their medical marijuana, and more.

A new study from the Rand Corporation links the introduction of abuse-resistant Oxycontin in 2010 to the rise in heroin overdose deaths, Bolivia and Colombia take different approaches to coca, a Georgian political party office gets raided, and more.

Purdue Pharma claims the drug is effective for 12 hours. The LA Times just reported that it isn't. Now, Sen. Ed Markey wants the feds to take a look.

An effort to create a per se marijuana DUID law in California ran into a brick wall of science, the Ohio effort to put a medical marijuana initiative on the ballot gives up the ghost, a US senator seeks an investigation into Purdue Pharma over its claims on OxyContin's extended effectiveness, and more.

Nearly 20 years after the passage of Prop 215, California may finally get statewide medical marijuana regulation; the Illinois governor's veto pen has an impact, but also gets blunted; there's a new report on drug policy and human rights in Latin America, and more.

A creaky, half-blind, 69-year-old Virginia man is dead after shooting at police raiding his home for pain pills.

"The Power of the Poppy: Harnessing Nature's Most Dangerous Plant Ally" is reviewed and found most interesting.