News Brief

Human Rights Watch has issued a new report charging that millions of people around the world are suffering needlessly from treatable pain, and international drug control laws are part of the problem.

UNODC chief Antonio Maria Costa trotted out some tired old arguments last week in Mexico City as he warned of "drug crime," but ignored the role of prohibition in facilitating it.

Will federally-mandated drug testing come to the coal fields? The Mine Health and Safety Administration wants it to, but workers' unions say it is unnecessary and unconstitutional.

The president of Honduras has joined a growing chorus of Latin America leaders calling for drug legalization, or is it decriminalization?

A cocaine shortage is leading to a wave of killings in Cincinnati. Local officials are close to making the link between prohibition and the violence, but they're not there yet.

Spurred by YouTube videos and reports of increasing use, a bill that would ban salvia divinorum has passed the Massachusetts House of Representatives.

In two separate cases, Malaysian courts have sentenced three men to death for trafficking less than two pounds of marijuana. Meanwhile, executions of drug offenders continue apace in the Middle East.

Peruvian government efforts to crack down on coca growers in some parts of the country are causing them to expand into indigenous regions in the central Peruvian jungle. Local residents are not pleased.

Relations between the US and Bolivia continue to worsen. Late last week, Bolivia barred DEA surveillance planes from overflying the country, and on Saturday, President Morales scorned US anti-drug policy.

A decade ago, Washington voters approved a medical marijuana law. Now, the state Department of Health has set quantity limits.