Police Raids

The year's 36th drug war fatality occured Friday night in Fort Worth, Texas. Guy with a gun met cops breaking down his door. Now he's dead.

The DEA and IRS raided Denver-area dispensaries and grow ops Thursday. More than a dozen were hit, and it's not yet clear just why.

There's a lot going on in the world of drug policy. Here are the stories we noted in our new Chronicle AM daily survey this week.

An especially egregious drug war excess in New Mexico makes the news, the mayor of Toronto 'fesses up to smoking crack, Morocco gets ready to talk marijuana legalization, and more.

A Tennessee meth lab raid leaves one man dead after attempting to flee in his vehicle.

The feds back off in some Southern California asset forfeiture cases, an Iowa newspaper tells local authorities to back off from prosecuting a cancer patient, and several states move forward with implementing their medical marijuana laws.

A Houston SWAT team's dawn drug raid ends with an armed homeowner shot dead.

The police killers of ex-Marine Jose Guerena during a drug raid gone bad escaped charges, but their employers will pay millions.

Something unusual has happened. A police officer is going to prison for killing someone in the drug war. A New Orleans cop has pleaded guilty to manslaughter charges in the death of 20-year-old Wendell Anderson in a drug raid last year.

Veteran investigative journalist Radley Balko has delivered a masterwork on the rise of American's militarized police. "Rise of the Warrior Cop" is a must-read for those of us wondering how we got in this sorry mess and how we can ever get out.