News Brief

Sen. Jim Webb's (D-VA) National Criminal Justice Commission Act of 2009 has passed the Senate Judiciary Committee. If enacted, it would provide for the first comprehensive review of criminal justice policies in decades.

The statehouses are humming and marijuana-related bills are coming fast and furious. Here's a glance at a few introduced in recent days.

Cambodia's "drug treatment" centers are the scene of torture, rape, and abuse, said Human Rights Watch in a scathing report Monday calling for them to be shut down. Oh, and they don't do much drug treatment, either.

The South Pacific breezes could grow balmier, the mai-tais yummier, and tourists' dispositions sunnier, if a leading Tahiti political figure gets his way.

Prohibition-related violence takes no breaks in Mexico. Another 162 people were killed in that country's drug wars in the past week.

Those SWAT cops really shouldn't have shot the mayor's dogs. Last year, a raid gone bad led to ground-breaking Maryland legislation to begin reining-in aggressive SWAT teams. Now, the author of that bill is back with another. It's about time.

The Washington state marijuana decrim and legalization bills were killed in committee this week. That means it will be up to the voters to legalize pot in November through an initiative -- if organizers can come up with enough signatures in time.

Given rising gang problems surrounding the hash trade in Copenhagen, Danes can be forgiven for yearning for the good old days of Pusher Street, where hash was slung relatively peacefully. Now, the Copenhagen city council wants to experiment with cannabis stores, but that seems unlikely to fly with the Conservative national government.

It was a relatively quiet week in Mexico's drug wars this week. Only about 15 people a day were killed.

It's been a wild week for weed in Washington. Hearings and initiatives and polls, oh, my!