News Brief

If it weren't for crooked cops in the Land of Lincoln, this space would be blank this week. Instead, we have an Illinois corrupt cops twofer.

China and Southeast Asian nations have renewed their vows in the fight against illegal drug use and the drug trade. The UNODC officiated.

Legal cannabis in the Caucausus? It could happen if some politicians in Georgia have their way.

Colorado has taken another step down the path of drug sentencing reform with the passage of Senate Bill 250. The governor is expected to sign it into law.

Vermont is about to become the 17th state to either decriminalize or legalize marijuana.

Marijuana rescheduling is headed for the US Supreme Court, the California Supreme Court upheld local dispensary bans, the feds strike again in Berkeley and Washington state, and there is action in state legislatures, too.

Something is still rotten along Utah's Wasatch Front, a DC cop gets popped for money-laundering, a Detroit-area cop pleads to running protection for traffickers, and a South Texas cop heads for prison for shipping guns to Mexico.

It went down to the wire, but on the last day of the session, the Colorado legislature passed bills to regulate the state's looming legal marijuana market.

Remember when we used to say "You don't have to make a federal case out of it?" Well, we did. Now, we have more than 4,500 federal criminal laws, and some members of Congress are ready to do something about it.

A drug search turned fatal for a Louisiana man last Thursday night, with police saying he died after swallowing crack cocaine. He's number 11 for the year.