News Brief

The Massachusetts drug lab testing scandal continues to reverberate. Now, the lab analyst at the center of it has been arrested, and courts are scheduling special sessions to free the more than 1,100 behind bars in cases where she was involved.

Canada has responded to the emergence of a new synthetic stimulant drug the old-fashioned way: by banning it.

The association representing British Columbia municipal governments has endorsed a resolution calling for marijuana decriminalization. That puts it in line with more than two-thirds of the province's residents, but not with the federal government in Ottawa.

Coca production is up in Peru for the sixth year in a row, responding to thriving demand from Brazil and Europe. Colombia is barely holding on to first place now.

A last ditch effort to block an Arkansas medical marijuana initiative from appearing on the November has failed.

A new Public Policy Polling survey has the Massachusetts medical marijuana initiative making a strong showing, well above 50%.

It's been a fairly quiet week on the corrupt cop front, but we've still got some Missouri jail guards in trouble, a Houston cop accused of helping to peddle Ecstasy, and a Baltimore cop who did heroin deals in the police station parking lot.

The UN General Assembly heard a trio of Latin American leaders call for increased debate on alternatives to the war on drugs Wednesday, including hint of legalization talk.

The DEA strikes again in Los Angeles, and the feds are moving to eliminate dispensaries in downtown LA. But the pushback against the crackdown continues.

A Montana initiative that would endorse the legislature's gutting of the state's voter-approved 2004 medical marijuana law is leading in polls, but doesn't have 50%.