Public Health

The World Health Organization calls for drug decriminalization (and more), international drug reform and harm reduction groups warn of an AIDS prevention crisis, marijuana policy is popping up in some Republican primaries, and more.

Marijuana policy researcher and analyst Beau Kilmer talks to the Chronicle about marijuana legalization, taxation, public health, and related issues. Plenty to chew on here.

It looks like Colombia and the FARC guerrillas have come to an agreement on the drug policy segment of their long-running peace talks. But it's not clear just what the agreement is yet.

Medical marijuana and CBD bills continue moving in state legislatures, Northeastern governors respond to opiates, the Department of Agriculture wants to buy Ukrainian hemp seed, and more.

The UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs held its high-level session in Vienna over the weekend. Behind a bland joint memorandum, though, signs of discord abound as criticism of the global prohibition regime grows louder.

California's Democrats endorse marijuana legalization, Caricom gets ready to talk marijuana, Attorney General Holder calls for expanded access to naloxone to prevent overdose deaths, legislatures in the Pacific Northwest make moves on medical marijuana, and more.

On Thursday, Michelle Alexander, author of the best-selling and galvanizing "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness" sat down with poet/activist Asha Bandele of the Drug Policy Alliance to discuss the book's impact and where we go from here. It's a discussion worth reading.

East Coast governors speak against marijuana legalization, but DC voters may get a chance to have their own voices heard; a new report on Obamacare's implications for drug reform is out; the DEA is reported to have talked to the Sinaloa Cartel; and details of a Mexico City marijuana legalization bill emerge. And more.

Uruguay appears poised to legalize marijuana Friday, the Afghan opium crop is at an all-time high, and the ACLU issues a report on people doing life without parole for nonviolent offenses. And there's more.

Thursday's announcement that the feds won't intervene in Colorado and Washington is making some people very unhappy.