News Brief

The fever to free the weed burned hot in Rome and Buenos Aires and Mexico City last Saturday as the second round of the Global Marijuana March took place.

In a series of public opinion polls last year in Latin America, the Gallup organization looked at perceptions of drug trafficking. The results may be surprising.

Canadian Justice Minister Rob Nicholson Monday signed the extradition for "Prince of Pot" Marc Emery to begin serving five years in a US federal prison for selling pot seeds over the Internet. He was jailed on the spot in Vancouver, and could be in the American gulag by the time you read this.

Police in Columbia, Missouri, have endured all kinds of criticism in the week since a video of one of their SWAT raids went viral. This week, they issued new policies regarding SWAT raids. It's a start, but only a start.

The beat goes on. This week, we have a trio of ethically-challenged cops, and, of course, another crooked jail guard.

The Associated Press has just declared the war on drugs a failure. When will the politicians admit the same?

Up to a quarter of the Afghan poppy crop could be lost to a mysterious fungal disease especially afflicting Helmand and Kandahar provinces. Suspicious Afghan farmers are pointing fingers at the US and NATO.

Calderon's war on drugs is closing in on the 20,000 dead figure, according to a running tally by the Mexico City newspaper El Universal. And the prohibition-related killing continues unabated.

It must be silly season already in Baton Rouge. A House committee there has deliberated on and passed a bill that would allow legislators and state officials to take voluntary drug tests and mental health evaluations and post the results on the Internet.

Another SWAT raid over pot, another dead dog, another traumatized family. But this one was caught on videotape, and now the outrage is spreading across the land.