News Brief

A proposal to decriminalize the possession of up to 10 grams of pot is headed before the Chicago city council next week.

A bill that would have ended the NYPD's abuse of New York's marijuana decriminalization law has been stymied by Senate Republicans.

It's mainly news from California this week, with DEA and LAPD raids leading the way, but also some snippets from Colorado and Montana, and the DEA head goes on the hot seat.

Gov. Lincoln Chafee (I) signed marijuana decriminalization into law Tuesday. It goes into effect April 1, 2013.

A new poll has the Washington state pot legalization initiative leading with 50% support, but that doesn't leave a lot of room for a margin of comfort.

The Senate has included federal funding for needle exchanges in its Health & Human Services FY 2013 appropriations bill. The House is expected to approve a bill without it, setting up a fight in conference committee down the road.

Japan is moving to designate some synthetic cannabinoids and synthetic stimulants as "narcotics," effectively banning them.

Chicago looks set to pass a marijuana decriminalization ordinance later this month after Mayor Rahm Emanuel endorsed the effort.

France's Socialists don't want to legalize marijuana, but their likely coalition junior partners, the Greens, do. It's a start.

There may be justice yet for Ramarley Graham, the Bronx teenager killed by police in his own bathroom as he tried to flush a baggie of weed. The cops said they thought he had a gun. He didn't, and now one narc has been indicted for manslaughter.