News Brief

In the face of ominous warnings from US Rep. Silvestre Reyes and the city's state legislative delegation, the El Paso City Council has backed away from last week's resolution calling for a national debate on drug legalization. But some council members aren't too pleased with the heavy-handed interference.

Philippines President Gloria Arroyo has named herself drug czar, declared war on drug traffickers, and started off by ordering the random drug testing of high school students. But she's just beginning.

A Dallas deputy gets busted, so does a Sacramento jail doctor, and a crooked cop in Miami is headed for prison.

A trio of Democratic Party state legislators filed a Washington state marijuana decriminalization bill Wednesday.

Word is CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta has been offered the position of US surgeon general. A 2006 editorial he penned for Time magazine, opposing marijuana law reform initiatives on the ballot in two states, suggests Gupta may not be great news for drug reform.

The Arizona Supreme Court will decide whether there is a religious right to use and possess marijuana.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has been keeping an eye on the border. Now, he reveals that he has plans for a "surge" if Mexico's prohibition-related violence spills over into the US.

In recent years, South American cocaine traffickers aiming at lucrative European markets have made West Africa a favorite stop-over. Now, the narcs are following them.

Drug testing in chess? You've got to be kidding. That's what the players think, but the chess federation is dead serious, and now it finds itself in something of a pickle.

A former Border Patrol agent cops a plea, another jail guard gets busted, a mystery is solved in Alabama, and one remains in Minnesota.