News Brief

Narcs gone bad, evidence gone missing, cops gone over to the other side, and another jailer in trouble. Just another week in the drug war.

It may soon be harder for patients to get access to hydrocodone-based pain relievers like Vicodin after an FDA advisory panel recommended moving them from Schedule III to Schedule II in an effort to prevent overdoses and addiction.

A bipartisan marijuana legalization bill has been rolled out in New Hampshire. That's one of at least six states where similar bills have been or will be filed this year.

A British grandmother caught smuggling 10 pounds of cocaine into the Indonesian resort of Bali has been sentenced to death -- even though prosecutors asked only for 15 years. The court said her actions hurt Bali's reputation as a tourist destination.

A Pauls Valley, Oklahoma, woman suffering from terrible pain went to the hospital for help. Instead, she was jailed for possessing two pain pills without a prescription. She died in jail two hours later.

Sen. Pat Leahy (D-VT), head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has said he wants to abolish mandatory minimum sentences, and he hopes the federal government doesn't spend a lot of money enforcing marijuana laws in states where it is legal.

There's something fishy in a Virginia evidence room, a Louisiana deputy gets in trouble for peddling fake weed, three suburban Chicago cops were running a dirty racket, an NYPD cop gets himself arrested, and a Miami cop gets himself convicted.

An important federal court ruling, medical marijuana bills start popping up in the states, more providers get prosecuted, and LA continues to stumble toward a resolution of its dispensary issue.

Colombia's FARC guerrillas have called on the Colombian government to consider legalizing coca cultivation for medicinal and therapeutic ends and for cultural reasons.

A half-dozen states are expected to see marijuana legalization bills filed this year, but Hawaii is first out the gate after the House speaker filed a bill on Friday.