News Brief

The ACLU of Washington state is going on the offensive with a campaign unveiled this week designed to start a national conversation about marijuana policy. The multimedia campaign features Rick Steves in a 30-minute video and has lots of other goodies for would-be debaters, too.

Even if an officer smells the odor of burning weed coming out of your vehicle, that's not enough for him to arrest or search you -- at least in Saskatchewan. That's what the provincial Court of Appeals ruled recently, and the Crown isn't going to appeal that decision.

A bill that would allow families to petition courts for the involuntary commitment for drug treatment of their "drug dependent" family members has been filed in Pennsylvania. It is unlikely to go anywhere, but it is such a creepy example of drug war totalitarianism that it's worth noting.

With its prisons stuffed to the gills with drug offenders thanks to years of legislative "tough on drugs" initiatives, Idaho is now beginning to look for alternatives. One comes in a bill that would allow judges to divert "addicts" convicted of drug sales to treatment instead of giving them mandatory prison time.

The city of Tel Aviv has proposed a pilot heroin maintenance program for recalcitrant older users. Now it is seeking approval from the Israeli Ministry of Health.

Medical marijuana vending machines, oh my! The International Narcotics Control Board expresses its "concern."

Indiana's methadone clinics and patients are under attack in the Indiana legislature -- again. This time, pols want to make clinic patients have designated drivers and test them for marijuana. At least a proposal to bar them from bringing their children to the clinic has died -- for now.

A Pennsylvania cop's bad habits get him in trouble, a Boston cop goes to prison for steroids and perjury, and a Texas Department of Public Safety technician goes away for a long, long time for ripping off the lab's cocaine stash.

What are you going to do if they ban smoking and strippers? Some Cleveland-area residents have an idea.

Spurred by the state's narcs, the Kansas legislature is considering a bill that would make ecstasy possession a felony. It's all about the kids, proponents argue, but opponents wonder how saddling them with felony records will help.