News Brief

As the Senate debated the FDA tobacco regulation bill it approved yesterday, one Republican senator called his colleagues hypocrites and urged them to support an outright ban. Was it just posturing?

Rhode Island is about to become the third medical marijuana state to authorize its distribution through dispensaries after a bill passed both houses with veto-proof majorities.

At the request of Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), the House Appropriations Committee has added language to the Justice Department appropriations bill asking the Obama administration to clarify its stance on DEA raids on medical marijuana providers in states where it is legal.

In a bid to deal with the state's gargantuan budget deficit, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to cut funding for HIV/AIDS programs and Proposition 36 treatment programs. Protests over the former broke out this past week in cities across the state.

Medical marijuana legislation saw progress in two more states this week, as bills advanced in New Jersey and Delaware. But the New Jersey bill just got more restrictive, too.

Germany is about to become the latest country to move heroin maintenance from pilot program to permanent. In the US, we maintain our addicts behind bars.

Is the Veterans Administration changing its tune on medical marijuana? Well, not exactly, but now it looks like at least they won't throw you out of their pain management programs if you're a registered user in a state where it's legal.

Cops pocketing drug money, cops ripping off drug dealers, cops protecting drug dealers, cops stealing dope, and, of course, another dope-smuggling jail guard.

Taxi drivers' wake-me-up or terrorist drug threat? The herbal stimulant khat is popular with elements of America's immigrant East African population despite being banned by federal law. Now, Washington, DC, home to one of the nation's East African immigrant communities, wants its law to be as severe as federal law. A battle is brewing.

In its first review of Canada's asset forfeiture laws, the Canadian Supreme Court has ruled that judges must look at the circumstances of each case in deciding whether full, partial or no forfeiture orders should be issued. In the US, prosecutors make forfeiture decisions.