Politics Outside US

Four out of every five pounds of pot grown in the Netherlands is destined for export, says a top Dutch cop, and the black market trade is generating violent crime as well as big profits.

Iran has announced it will not execute drug offenders who are minors. Meanwhile, it continues to execute drug offenders who are adults.

Marijuana will be rescheduled as a more serious drug in Britain beginning January 26. First-time possession offenders will still get warnings, but a second offense will bring a fine, and a third offense will result in arrest. There is a loophole, but this is still a step backward for Albion.

The president of Honduras has joined a growing chorus of Latin America leaders calling for drug legalization, or is it decriminalization?

Relations between the US and Bolivia continue to worsen. Late last week, Bolivia barred DEA surveillance planes from overflying the country, and on Saturday, President Morales scorned US anti-drug policy.

Peruvian government efforts to crack down on coca growers in some parts of the country are causing them to expand into indigenous regions in the central Peruvian jungle. Local residents are not pleased.

Judges in the Netherlands narrowly favor legalizing marijuana, according to a new poll.

As part of a package of security measures aimed at fighting his country's powerful drug trafficking organizations, Mexican President Felipe Calderón this week moved to decriminalize drug possession.

A British drug policy think-tank has released a report saying that marijuana is less harmful than alcohol or tobacco and should be regulated, not prohibited.

Mexico's high levels of prohibition-related violence are taking their toll on public confidence south of the border. But they are also making Mexicans more amenable to thinking about legalization, according to a new poll.