News Brief

A bad narc in New York and a meth-loving deputy in Minnesota go down.

The Dutch justice minister and some southern mayors are using the specter of organized crime violence to crack down on cannabis cafes and institute a "members only" system barring foreigners.

An American music icon is calling for a political party devoted to marijuana legalization after his third pot bust in five years.

It only took three weeks from Election Day, but California medical marijuana foe and Republican attorney general candidate Steve Cooley has finally conceded defeat to Democrat Kamala Harris.

Will Ciudad Juarez reach a death toll of 3,000 this year? It will if December is like November was.

Sticky-fingered law enforcement seems to be the theme this week.

Like Dracula arising from his grave, the Canadian Conservatives' mandatory minimum crime bill is back. It just passed the Senate and now heads for the House of Commons.

Half of all Canadians continue to want to free the weed, but strangely enough, almost two-thirds favor mandatory minimums for growing as few as five pot plants. That last finding may be an artifact, though.

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.