News Feature

Adult marijuana sales become legal tomorrow in Colorado, but would-be retailers are having to deal with some bumps in the road.

It has been a historic day in Denver, with the first legal retail sales of marijuana having taken place early this morning. It's a new era.

The latest Monitoring the Future numbers on teen drug use are out. Most drug use is down or stable, and teen marijuana use is well withing historic levels, but that isn't stopping some from sounding alarms.

Breaking with his past practice, President Obama Thursday granted commutation to eight federal prisoners serving long sentences for crack cocaine-related offenses, including Clarence Aaron, who has been in for 20 years.

In an historic vote, the Uruguayan Senate gave final approval Tuesday night to the government's marijuana legalization bill. Once President Mujica signs it, Uruguay is 120 days away from legal marijuana commerce.

The Drug Policy Alliance has filed a marijuana legalization initiative with authorities in California, but the group says it hasn't decided whether it will actually move forward for 2014. Two other initiatives have also been filed, but others are counseling patience.

It's not just Attorney General Holder's speech on sentencing reform Monday. The prospects for sentencing reform in the Congress are looking better than ever, with bills garnering bipartisan support.

The DEA and IRS raided Denver-area dispensaries and grow ops Thursday. More than a dozen were hit, and it's not yet clear just why.

There's a lot going on in the world of drug policy. Here are the stories we noted in our new Chronicle AM daily survey this week.

Fed up with endless recycling of low-level, problematic drug offenders through the criminal justice system, Seattle and King County have embarked on a "treatment not arrest" pilot program designed to break the cycle.