News Brief

The war on marijuana has claimed another victim: a 77-year-old man shot dead in a pre-dawn raid aimed at his adult son after shooting at the intruders. A police officer was wounded, too.

A suburban Pittsburgh cop gets probation, two Kentucky cops cop pleas, and a Massachusetts cop gets arrested at work. Just another week in the drug war.

Kansas federal prosecutor Tanya Treadway may have picked on the wrong woman when she went after the Pain Relief Network's Siobhan Reynolds for criticizing her prosecution of a local pain management physician. Now, the ACLU has joined Reynolds in fighting off a Treadway subpoena aimed at chilling her free speech rights and seeing what the doctor's defense is up to.

Colombian President Álvaro Uribe has already presided over years of drug war directed at his own country, he's busily trying to recriminalize drug possession, and now he wants to throw peasant coca farmers in jail. This is a man out of step with his region.

When Health Canada failed to act, the Canadian Veterans Ministry stepped up. Now, Canadian veterans using medical marijuana have their costs covered just as with any other approved medication.

A state marijuana decrim effort was defeated by an ardent Republican legislator. It's also a case of how "careless lips sink ships."

Cannabis coffee shops in the Dutch border province of Limburg will become "members only" next year as local mayors seek to inhibit "drug tourism." There are other restrictions, too.

There's been another California medical marijuana dispensary raid with the DEA involved, but so far, it looks like the real culprit is a crusading sheriff in Bakersfield.

In 2006, South Dakota became the only state to reject a medical marijuana legalization initiative. This year, the legislature ignored its opportunity to do something, so now proponents are gathering signatures for a retry in 2010.

Jimmy Carter once let Evo Morales pick some peanuts on his Georgia farm. Now, Morales has invited Carter to pick some coca leaves on his farm in Bolivia's Chapare.