News Brief

A bill that would create a blue-ribbon National Criminal Justice Commission to explore mass incarceration, the drug war, and related topics has passed the House. The Senate version awaits a floor vote.

More than a decade after District voters approved it, medical marijuana is now legal in the nation's capital. But operating dispensaries are still months away.

It seems like there's a new atrocity every week in Mexico's unending prohibition-related violence. How about guards letting prisoners out of their cells so they can go murder people, then go back to the safety of prison?

After nearly a quarter-century of federal crack cocaine laws that disproportionately affected black Americans with far harsher sentences than for powder cocaine, the US Senate has passed a bill that would take a step toward eliminating that disparity. Advocates aren't sure whether to be pleased by the progress or disappointed by the ways in which it falls short.

California cities and counties are laying off firefighters and police officers as they face a seemingly never-ending budget crisis. A new report from the state Legislative Analyst's Office says they could gain "hundreds of millions of dollars a year" if Proposition 19 passes. Hmmmm...

The same folks who brought us the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act now want to add dispensaries to the mix, and their initiative has qualified for the November ballot.

Hawaii-based Roger Christie and his THC Ministry have been proselytizing for pot for years. Now, the feds have indicted him, and they've managed to persuade a federal judge that he's "too dangerous" to be allowed out on bail. Welcome back to Bizarro World.

Drug reformers have been grumbling about the Obama administration's decision to nominate acting DEA head Michele Leonhart to be permanent DEA administrator since it was announced. Now, a drug reform coalition is calling on Obama to withdraw her nomination, citing recent DEA raids on medical marijuana providers. But there's more than that.

Even though the European Union demands a free market and the free movement of people within its borders, the EU's Court of Justice has ruled that a Dutch border town can bar foreigners from buying pot there.

Last Friday, the Juarez Cartel unveiled a frightening tactical innovation: the car bomb. Meanwhile, the killing goes on...