News Brief

The California medical marijuana community is starting to breathe a sigh of relief, as San Francisco DA Kamala Harris is taking the lead over LA DA Steve Cooley, a medical marijuana foe, in the late vote counting.

In early preparations for the World Cup and the Olympics, authorities in Rio de Janeiro are trying to run the drug gangs out of the shantytowns. The drug gangs aren't going without a fight.

A pot legalization bill passed the House in the US territory of the Northern Marianas Islands a couple of weeks ago, but now it has been killed in the Senate.

Synthetic marijuana products sold as incense or potpourri under brand names like K2 and Spice have been banned in an emergency move by the DEA. You have 30 days before the ban takes effect.

An ex-governor is assassinated, and Ciudad Juarez sees its 130th police officer killed this year. Just another week in the prohibition-related violence plaguing Mexico.

A fungus that blighted the Afghan opium crop this year is being blamed for heroin shortages in England that are leading to adulterated smack and even fake smack, and that's sending some users to the hospital.

Pioneering psychedelic pharmacologist Alexander "Sasha" Shulgin has suffered a stroke, but is expected to recover.

The effort to roll back overly restrictive medical marijuana regulations in New Jersey hit a bump in the state Senate Monday, but it's not dead yet.

What, no crooked jail guards? How about a federal judge? We've got one this week, as well as a couple of dirty narcs, and a sticky-fingered police captain.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon has said money laundering and police reforms are key to winning victory over the drug cartels. But with the jockeying already beginning for the 2012 elections, their prospects are fading.