Congress

The US Sentencing Commission has adjusted sentencing guidelines to allow crack offenders to get a little less time in federal prison. Meanwhile, the pressure mounts for Congress to address the infamous crack-powder cocaine sentencing disparity.

Reacting to reports of flavored methamphetamine entering the market, two senators have introduced a bill that would increase prison sentences for anyone who flavors a drug to lure children.

Two years ago, drug czar John Walters trumpeted rising cocaine prices as evidence the drug war was working. But the overall trend is toward lower prices and higher purity, and Walters doesn't want to talk about that.

E-mails and phone calls are urgently needed to certain US senators to help repeal a bad law at the juncture of drug policy and education.

E-mails and phone calls are urgently needed to certain US senators to help repeal a bad law at the juncture of drug policy and education.

Former Georgia Republican Congressman Bob Barr blocked the District of Columbia from enacting medical marijuana. That was then. Now, he has signed on as a lobbyist with the Marijuana Policy Project.

Criminal justice reformers appear to have a new advocate on Capitol Hill...

A Texas Republican has reintroduced his bill that would legalize hemp farming in the United States. This time, a Democratic Congress will consider the measure.

In a first for a drug policy reform organization, the Drug Policy Alliance's New Mexico office has been selected to administer a $500,000 federal grant to develop comprehensive methamphetamine education and prevention strategies aimed at youth in the state.

The DEA was at it again Wednesday, raiding 11 medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles County, including five in West Hollywood. City council members there had only the night before introduced an ordinance to permanently regulate the dispensaries, and they aren't happy.