News Brief

Support for marijuana legalization remains low in Brazil, although it is slowly rising, a recent poll has found.

Salvia mania continues across the land, as state and city legislators pass laws without waiting for evidence and North Dakota makes its first-ever bust for the plant -- a felony.

Since the beginning of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, more than 300,000 people -- or 30% of all cases -- have contracted the virus through injection drug use. The good news is that in 2006, they only accounted for 17% of new cases; the bad news is that means 6,000 still caught the bug through dirty needles.

Getting caught with under an ounce of marijuana costs you $100 in decriminalized Nebraska, but fines would triple under a measure just passed by the state legislature.

Federal prosecutors had no qualms about going to the press when they indicted Haysville, Kansas, physician Dr. Steven Schneider for his pain medication prescribing practices. But it's a different matter when Schneider and his allies want to get their side of the story out. Now, the feds are seeking a gag order.

A Minnesota medical marijuana bill is headed for a House floor vote soon. It already passed the Senate last year, so is only one vote away from passage, but the Republican governor is threatening to veto it.

Mexican drug traffickers have provided money to build churches and other public works in poor villages, the head of the Mexican bishops' conference said over the weekend. His colleagues were appalled.

A federal judge in Wisconsin added 15 years to a man's sentence for a crack cocaine charge, even though a jury acquitted him on that count. Now, the Supreme Court has declined to hear the case.

The endemic drug prohibition-related violence plaguing Rio de Janeiro turned even bloodier last week as police conducting drug raids killed 14 people.

In the latest battle in a decades-long struggle between Iranian police and border-crossing drug runners, Iran claims to have killed 24 smugglers coming from the direction of Afghanistan.