News Brief

Four and a half years ago, then Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra vowed to wipe out drug use in Thailand. Within three months, 2,500 people were dead. Now, a new government is about to release a series of reports on the killings.

A smarter and more humane approach to crime and imprisonment, including drug decriminalization, could save billions of dollars and greatly reduce the need to put millions of people behind bars, a new report says.

Canada's Conservative government this week unveiled its repressive new approach to drugs. It wants mandatory minimum sentences for some drug offenses, including marijuana growing, and it wants to double the maximum sentence for pot growing. Look for a battle royal in the West's most pot-friendly country.

A pilot heroin maintenance program in three British locations has been successful in cutting crime and street drug use, according to preliminary results.

It looks like medical marijuana will be on the 2008 ballot in Michigan. Organizers of a signature-gathering campaign for an initiative turned in nearly 500,000 signatures this week, almost 200,000 more than needed.

The Irish Labor Party debated whether to make cannabis legalization or decrim part of the party platform at its annual conference last Friday, but deferred a decision on whether to do so.

With elections looming on Saturday and his party trailing, Australian Prime Minister has announced a "zero tolerance" plan to take control of welfare payments for drug offenders.

Arch-drug warrior went a little too far when he called opponents of his pet financial aid drug convictions law a pack of drug legalizers. Now, he's being called on it.

The Australian state of Queensland is effectively increasing penalties for a number of drugs by rescheduling them as more dangerous.

Another harvest season has come and gone in California, and law enforcement is crowing about record marijuana plant seizures. The numbers are huge, but the numbers missed are bigger -- and so are the lost tax revenues.