News Brief

A Worcester, Massachusetts, resident tried to snuff out an ill-timed joint and fasten his seat belt as the vehicle he was in rolled up to a police sobriety checkpoint last week. He was dead within minutes, and his family's attorney claims he was beaten by police. Police have a different version of events.

Taking a step firmly backward, the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip is foregoing Israeli military drug law -- a remnant of the occupation -- for Egyptian drug law, which includes the death penalty for dealing.

It's an odd mix this week: A cop with a gambling jones doing petty bribery, a pair of narcs misbehaving, and a Customs officer and a small town cop heading for prison are just the half of it.

San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis thinks selling medical marijuana is illegal. But a San Diego jury disagreed Tuesday in the first dispensary case since her latest round of raids back in September.

Israel is one of the few countries that allows for medical marijuana use, and this week saw forward movement on a couple of important fronts.

The carnage continues. This week an American citizen is among the casualties, but it looks like she was the victim of a soldier's inadvertent discharge.

The Vancouver NAOMI study showed that heroin maintenance worked for some hard-core addicts not amenable to methadone or other forms of drug treatment. But now, plans to build on NAOMI with further research in Vancouver and Montreal have hit a snag, with the Quebec provincial government refusing to pay its share.

Under United Kingdom drug laws, simple pot possession can cost you two years in gaol. But that's rarely the case, and now the Scottish government is hinting that a small fine may be a more reasonable response -- and one that saves a lot of policing time.

Chakib El Khayari runs a human rights group in Morocco's Rif Mountains, where marijuana cultivation is a way of life. He has run afoul of the Moroccan government for criticizing its policies toward the poor pot farmers, and an appeals court has just ruled he should stay in a jail. Human rights and drug reform groups consider him a prisoner of conscience.

A sticky-fingered North Carolina deputy gets busted, so does a Florida sheriff's evidence tech, and a home-invading, drug dealer-robbing Philly cop gets sent away for a long, long time.