Politics Outside US

What's an insurgent guerrilla movement to do when it needs funds to sustain its war? India's Naxalites are doing what so many have done before: Turning to the black market in illegal drugs and drug crops.

The prohibition-related violence in Mexico took an ominous turn this week as supposed cartel armies attacked military bases in the north. And then there's the typical toll of dead cops, dead narcos, and dead civilians.

After nearly nine years of US and NATO military occupation, Afghanistan is now not only the world's largest opium producer, but also the world's largest cannabis producer, according to a new report from the UNODC.

Dutch marijuana laws only allow coffee shops to have 500 grams on hand at any given time. When you're selling that much pot in an hour, the law becomes a hindrance and a nuisance. But a court ruling Thursday strongly suggests to coffee shop owners that they better heed the law.

M-Cat is not a college entrance exam, but a nickname for mephedrone, an amphetamine-like drug derived from khat that is legal and increasingly popular in Britain. Now, after the deaths of two young men on Sunday were (indirectly) linked to its use, calls to ban it are increasing.

In the good old days, Danish hash smokers went to the counterculture enclave of Christiania, with its famous Pusher Street, to score. Now, after six years of police crackdowns on Pusher Street, you can still buy hash there, but the trade has spread throughout Copenhagen and the scene has grown more hard-edged. Can you say unintended consequences?

A Belgian court ruling sparked by a group of activists planting single marijuana seeds each two years ago could open the way for collective pot gardens there.

This week, Denmark became the latest European country to embrace heroin maintenance for hard-users. A clinic opened Monday in Copenhagen.

Stop the presses! Global drug prohibition bureaucrats say drug reform is bad! But each year, they're getting more flak for their efforts.

US, NATO and Afghan military forces are consolidating their hold on the Taliban stronghold of Marja in Helmand province. But now is when the real battle for hearts and minds begins.