News Brief

A Colombian senator is calling for a debate on legalizing the drug trade. His father, a leading presidential candidate, was assassinated by Medellin Cartel hit men in 1990.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon has sent thousands of soldiers and federal police into Tijuana in a bid to stamp out the drug trade in the border city where more than 300 died in prohibition-related violence last year.

A Vermont prosecutor is calling for "peace talks" in the war on drugs. It is time to debate alternative approaches, he says.

The California medical marijuana market could be a substantial source of tax revenues for the state, according to a new study, but it isn't happening yet.

The DEA has spent $175 million in the past two decades to eradicate "ditch weed" plants that don't get anybody high. Your tax dollars at work.

A survey conducted by the European Commission finds low levels of support for marijuana legalization in Europe. The Netherlands and Spain poll highest.

The leaders of a religious group arguing that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act protects them from prosecution under the federal marijuana laws were shot down in federal court when the judge ruled their beliefs were not "sincere."

As Australia shivers through a fit of Reefer Madness, the government of Prime Minister John Howard says it wants to ban bongs.

Peruvian President Alan Garcia asks for the death penalty for terrorism after Shining Path guerillas attack police and anti-drug workers trying to wipe out illicit coca crops. The following day, he says coca is great in salads.

A Virginia drug-fighter gets caught selling drugs, so does a former NYPD cop, and yet another jail guard goes down. Also, an interesting update on Operation Lively Green.