Crime & Violence

For the first time in nearly a century, the California legislature took up marijuana legalization on this week. A Wednesday hearing on a legalization bill previewed the battle lines and arguments that lie ahead.

Mexico's wave of prohibition-related violence grinds on, and Ciudad Juárez remains the epicenter.

For Mexico, drug prohibition is the deadly gift that keeps on giving. A thousand people have been killed in the past 40 days, and this year's death toll has now passed 6,000. And it seems to be accelerating.

Vicente Fox sicced the army on the so-called drug cartels when he was president of Mexico, but now he says his predecessor, Felipe Calderon, has gone too far down that path. It's time for the troops to return to the barracks, he said over the weekend.

Ciudad Juarez continues to earn the title of Mexico's drug war murder capital, but there was plenty of prohibition-fueled killing to go around this past week.

Another week, another grim death toll in Mexico. September was the bloodiest month this year.

Mexico's foreign minister said this week that the high death toll in his country's drug war was a sign his government's policy was correct. If that's the case, he just got more confirmation, as the body count continues to rise.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon's war against drug cartels reached a milestone late last week, but not the kind he's looking for: This year's prohibition-related death toll has gone over the 5,000 mark.

This year's Mexican drug wars body count is closing in on 5,000, with more than 200 added to the death toll last week.

Holland's conservative coalition government can't find the political will to kill the famous cannabis coffee houses, but it is set to try to turn them into "members only" establishments in a bid to thwart "drug tourism."