News Brief

The Italian cabinet Thursday gave its approval for the use of marijuana derivatives in the relief of pain.

New Jersey is the last state in the nation without either needle exchange programs or access to syringes without a prescription, but with bills moving in committee, that could soon change.

A Michigan circuit court judge has thrown out the arrests of 94 people charged with "frequenting a drug house" after Flint police raided a night club holding a rave.

More than 90 people serving life sentences without parole for selling heroin under an old Louisiana law remain in prison despite reforms that should have freed them. The state Supreme Court heard arguments this week in a pair of cases that could accelerate their release.

In a case from British Columbia, the Canada's Supreme Court has held that judges cannot impose drug testing as a probation requirement without authorization from Parliament, and an appeals court found they can't impose drug treatment either.

Despite Holland's famously tolerant marijuana policies, growing the stuff has remained a crime. Now, an appeals court decision relating to medical use has caused the first crack in the dike.

Busy this week: judges on cocaine, cops dealing cocaine, cops selling ecstasy, Air Force pilots smuggling ecstasy, police chemists pilfering from the evidence pile -- and of course, jail guards smuggling dope into prisons.

The mayor of the Mexican border city of Tijuana has ordered an investigation of all 2,300 city police for links to the drug trade, but there is more to the mayor's move than meets the eye.

Dr. William Hurwitz will remain in prison pending a new trial after a federal judge decided he was a flight risk.

Florida's Pinellas County has passed a tough new paraphernalia ordinance that lowers the standard of proof necessary to win a sales conviction.