Congress

The Drug Policy Alliance's 2009 International Drug Policy Reform Conference took place in Albuquerque last weekend. It was quite a show. Here's a scene report.

At a conference last week, former Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castañeda bluntly accused the Mexican military of murdering members of the so-called drug cartels to avenge its own losses in the country's bloody wave of prohibition-related violence.

With both the White House and Capitol Hill under the control of Democrats, there are signs that the Bush-era blockade of federal drug reform legislation is ending. Here's an update on what's moving -- and what's not -- on Capitol Hill this year.

For years, Congress never met a mandatory minimum drug sentence it didn't like. But now, with the Democrats in charge and the federal prison population nearly 10 times as large as it was three decades ago, Congress is having second thoughts. It has ordered the US Sentencing Commission to take a look.

Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) is floating an amendment to Jim Webb's bill to create a commission on criminal justice reforms. Grassley's amendment would bar any talk of legalization or decriminalization.

Rep. Sam Farr (D-CA) has reintroduced the Truth in Trials Act, which would allow medical marijuana providers prosecuted under federal law to introduce medical evidence during their trials.

Is this the year we finally see an end to the infamous crack/powder cocaine sentencing disparity? A bill to do just that has passed the House Judiciary Committee, and now, Sen. Dick Durbin and nine cosponsors have introduced companion legislation in the Senate.

The hemp industry is growing weary of waiting for the right to grow hemp in this country. It has filed lawsuits, it has a bill in Congress, and it is asking the Obama administration to treat hemp the same way it treats medical marijuana. But nothing is happening, so now, the movement is turning up the heat with civil disobedience.

The Higher Education Act's "Aid Elimination Penalty," or anti-drug provision, is poised for further watering down after the House of Representatives passed a bill that would limit it to people with drug sales -- not drug possession -- convictions. But the provision's author, Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN) kept fighting almost until the end.

The Obama administration wants to eliminate the Safe and Drug-Free Schools competitive grants program because it is ineffective. So does the House of Representatives. But can proponents revive it in the Senate or conference committee?