Drug War Chronicle #818 - January 23, 2014

While the DC city council is moving on decriminalization, local activists aren't waiting to take the next step: a marijuana legalization initiative.

We review three recent tiles on the drug war's prehistory, its current incarnation, and how we escape it.

In an interview with the The New Yorker's David Remnick, President Obama said marijuana was safer than alcohol and that state-level experiments with legalization were "important," but that he thought it was a bad habit.

US Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has come around on medical marijuana, and he thinks cops waste too much time arresting pot smokers, too.

Residents of a pair of California counties are fighting back against restrictive ordinances, Arizona rejects some new medical conditions, Illinois rules out draft rules, and more.

The stench grows in Philadelphia, a parole officer gets caught stealing parolee's pills, a reserve cop tries to trade dope for sex, and jail guards continue to go wild.

Florida's medical marijuana initiative appears poised to qualify for the ballot (if it survives a challenge in the state Supreme Court), a new pot poll finds the country evenly split, Afghanistan was on the agenda in the Senate yesterday, and more.

Washington's attorney general has dealt a body blow to the statewide legalization of marijuana commerce there, medical marijuana continues to keep state legislatures busy, a New Mexico town and county pay out big time for a horrid anal search, heroin legislation is moving in Kentucky, and more.

Marijuana law reform bills just keep coming, a most likely unconstitutional food stamp drug test bill gets filed in Georgia, Australian regulators block urine drug testing of state energy company workers, Jamaicans legalizers grow impatient, and more.

The war on weed may be beginning to wheeze toward its end, a researcher reports, and legislators continue to introduce bills to help it on its way. Meanwhile, harm reduction down South gets some attention, a bad bill targets medical marijuana-using parents in Michigan, and Bermuda gets a decrim bill, and more.

Marijuana, marijuana, marijuana. It sure is generating lots of activity, plus Chris Christie speaks out on the drug war, a major farm organization endorses hemp, and Honduras wants to shoot down drug planes.