News Brief

No letup in Mexico's prohibition-related violence this week, with another 208 killings to add to the toll.

MS sufferer John Wilson walked out of a New Jersey prison Thursday, free on appeal for growing 17 plants last summer. A month after he was sentenced in December, New Jersey became the 14th medical marijuana state. Now, there is a renewed effort to win a pardon for him.

Wisconsin won't be the 15th state to approve medical marijuana, at least not this year. The session ended yesterday with no Assembly floor vote.

The Mexico Drug War Update was on vacation last week, but now it's back. Weirdly enough, 420 people were killed in prohibition-related violence there in the past two weeks. Nothing to celebrate about that.

If you want to reduce "drug-related" violence, sending in more cops and cracking down harder is exactly the wrong thing to do, a review of 20 years worth of studies has concluded.

For five years, Dr. Stephen Schneider and his wife, Linda, operated a pain management clinic in Haysville, Kansas. Now, they are on trial as drug dealers in a federal prosecution that revisits the ongoing conflict between the imperatives of pain treatment and those of drug law enforcement.

If you're in Florida and you're a fan of pipes or bongs, it's time to stock up. They're going to be hard to find for sale in the Sunshine State in the near future. Marijuana use is expected to decrease as a result (just kidding).

Medical marijuana is coming to the nation's capital. The question now is how good the DC City Council will make the program. Some advocates are happy with the progress, while others fear the restrictions could doom the program to fail.

A majority of Canadians think marijuana should be legalized, according to a new poll. They also approve of harm reduction -- even if the Conservative government doesn't.

Two national polls on marijuana legalization came out this week. One lowballs support levels at 33%, while the other is in line with other recent polls at 44%. In either case, we're not over the top yet, except maybe out West.