The punishments my father, brother and sister experienced--arrest, incarceration and HIV/AIDS--for misusing a controlled substance caused a lifetime of grief for my family.
If the candidate who ordered raids on medical pot growers in Southern Oregon loses the election, the loss may reverberate with US Attorneys around the country.
Governor Malloy will sign the medical marijuana bill that would carefully regulate and monitor pot use to avoid problems encountered in other medical marijuana states.
The administration is prioritizing drug arrests and trampling on state medical marijuana laws while not doing enough to reduce the harms of drug addiction and misuse.
A pragmatic regulatory framework allowing for the limited legal use cannabis would best mitigate the potential health risks and societal costs associated with its use.
Phillip Smith, Drug War Chronicle. March 14, 2012.
The move comes amid growing pressure in the region to discuss legalization and its alternatives, and weeks before Santos will discuss legalization at the Summit of the Americas.
Amid a dramatic turn of events in the drug policy debate, the challenge will be to sustain this momentum, even as the U.S. government works desperately to suppress it.
This year marks the 75th anniversary of federal marijuana prohibition in the United States. It only took 13 years for Americans to realize the futility of alcohol prohibition.
Only two of the four seem to have any chance of success this year, but if one or both makes the ballot, the Pacific Northwest could soon be a hot spot for marijuana law reform.
American citizens and Latin American leaders alike are warming up to legalization, but our leaders in Washington are not participating in this side of the drug policy debate.
Former New York governor and attorney general Eliot Spitzer says he not only supports medical marijuana, but thinks we should replace marijuana prohibition with legalization.
Phillip Smith, Drug War Chronicle. February 14, 2012.
State legislatures have convened or are convening all around the country, and once again this year, marijuana decriminalization or legalization are hot topics at the statehouse.
Phillip Smith, Drug War Chronicle. February 13, 2012.
If the bill passes, Washington will be the first state to legalize the possession and commerce of marijuana, sending the state on a collision course with the federal government.
Some people might think that drug policy reform is a fringe issue. But reformers have won plenty of mainstream support, and achieved international victories.
Neill Franklin, Gretchen Burns Bergman, Huffington Post. February 10, 2012.
It will be moms who come to rescue their children from the deadly grip of prohibition, and police against the drug war are eagerly ready to support them in this quest.
At the same time public support for marijuana legalization reached record highs, Obama shifted from one time medicinal cannabis sympathizer to White House weed-whacker.
Phillip Smith, Drug War Chronicle. February 3, 2012.
Provoked by federal raids and Republican attempts to eradicate medical pot, activists are rolling out a campaign for a constitutional amendment to legalize pot in Big Sky County.
Phillip Smith, Drug War Chronicle. January 3, 2012.
With some 350,000 signatures handed in -- enough to account for duplicate and invalid signatures -- the campaign to legalize and regulate pot should make the ballot.
