News Brief

Nigeria's top narc warns of the evils of marijuana as he burns tons of the stuff, but it looks like he's fighting a losing battle.

A debate on drug policy is gathering steam in Vermont, where the legislature is set to ponder both marijuana decriminalization and harsher sentencing for some hard drug offenses.

Giving or selling any amount of marijuana to a minor can get you 10 years in South Dakota, but now the state attorney general wants to increase those penalties for all but small amounts, and his bill is moving in the legislature.

Because small-time marijuana possession is decriminalized in California, a state appeals court has ruled that even if police see you smoking a joint in your living room, they still can't search your place without a warrant -- unless you let them.

For 30 years, Nebraska has lived with marijuana decriminalization. Now, a state legislator wants to take the state back to the bad old days.

The arrest and prosecution of a Kansas pain management physician and his nurse wife have prompted a leading pain advocacy group to file a lawsuit challenging the application of the Controlled Substance Act when it comes to doctors and patients.

The new year has brought more drug war violence to the Mexican border, as drug gunmen battled cops and soldiers in a bloody confrontation in Rio Bravo, across the river from McAllen, Texas.

The Dallas police department will now hire applicants who admit to past hard drug use -- but only if it was more than 10 years, the applicant was under 21, he didn't shoot up, and he only did it once.

There's some funny accounting in some Mississippi anti-drug task forces, there's a bunch of dope missing from the Boston police evidence room, and crooked cops are headed for prison in Chicago, Nashville, and New Haven.

Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas says he is willing to discuss marijuana decriminalization. He is responding to a proposal from a key Democratic legislator, and he's taking a much softer stance than he did just a couple of months ago.