News Brief

The Dutch are about to ban magic mushrooms. The cabinet passed a proposal and sent it to parliament, where it is expected to be approved.

In contrast with the US Supreme Court, which held that a drug dog sniff did not constitute a search, the Canadian Supreme Court ruled last week that it does, and that random drug dog searches are unconstitutional.

New York City decriminalized marijuana possession nearly three decades ago, but cops there still managed to arrest nearly 40,000 people for pot last year and 400,000 in the last decade.

Both Saudi Arabia and Iran have been busy executing drug offenders recently, but now the Saudis are taking some heat from Syria over their treatment of Syrian drug offenders.

An Argentine federal appeals court has ruled that simple drug use or possession should not be a criminal offense and has thrown out thousands of pending possession cases. The country's high court could still overturn the ruling, but it is line with the position of the Argentine government.

A perverted Oklahoma sheriff gets indicted, an Atlanta narc goes on trial, an Indiana jail guard goes to jail, a Santa Fe narc doesn't -- and a cop who made these pages three years ago is found not guilty.

The head of the Dutch police union says it's time to just legalize cannabis, and a Dutch mayor wants to start regulating growing.

Florida is about to become the next state to ban salvia divinorum as a bill to do so passes the state Senate and heads for the governor's desk.

A Florida judge has thrown out racketeering and conspiracy charges against 23 defendants in the Tampa Latin Kings case, citing the FBI and Tampa police use of a snitch who committed crimes and basically created the conspiracy.

With the Olympics coming to Beijing in August, Chinese authorities are beginning a crackdown designed to make the city "drug-free" for the sporting event.