News Brief

Rhode Island's medical marijuana law is here to stay. The legislature this week voted decisively to override a gubernatorial veto of a bill that would make it permanent.

A medical marijuana bill passes both houses of the Connecticut legislature, but Gov. Jodi Rell has now vetoed it.

Iran executed four convicted drug traffickers on Saturday. That makes at least 102 executions in Iran so far this year.

Passengers in vehicles stopped by police are effectively "seized" and may challenge the constitutionality of that seizure, the Supreme Court ruled in an unanimous opinion Monday.

A Puerto Rican narc gets caught robbing an armored car, a Mississippi cop gets nailed for selling and using speed, and a Toledo cop who liked to party too much cops a plea.

The Dubai courts continue their harsh treatment of people possessing even tiny amounts of illicit drugs. This week, they sent a Canadian working for an Afghan anti-drug program to prison for four years for traces of hashish that he may have picked up in the course of his work.

The US Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case of a Virginia man sentenced under the harsh federal crack cocaine laws. This is the third case having to do with federal sentencing the court has taken in recent months.

We say good-bye this week to two women victims of the drug war, Veronica Flournoy, who went from drug war prisoner to reformer, and Crystal Ferguson, whose arrest for testing positive for cocaine at childbirth led eventually to a victory at the Supreme Court

Trouble in paradise? The hint of a proposal for marijuana decriminalization from the top law enforcement official of the Northern Mariana Islands has blown up a typhoon of criticism.

A medical marijuana bill has passed the New York General Assembly and the governor has indicated he would sign it, but now, the Republican-dominated state Senate is balking.