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NEWS ABOUT: War on Drugs

Phelps Toke Highlights Absurd Drug Laws

We elected a president who once smoked, so what's the big deal?

(Newser) - Poor Michael Phelps, who will have to be punished for something nearly half the country has also done, writes Kathleen Parker in the Washington Post. And poor Sheriff Leon Lott, who "probably doesn't want to press charges because it's a waste of time and resources." The real problems,... More »

Narcotic Khat Raises Cultural Rift in US

Police worry about growing use of common African drug

(Newser) - In Africa, it’s the perfectly legal pick-me-up and social lubricant of choice, but in America, khat is an illegal narcotic—and its popularity is growing, the Los Angeles Times reports. Cities like Washington and San Diego are stepping up enforcement measures against the green leaf as growing African immigrant... More »

Mass. Cops Refuse to Ticket Pot Smokers

Police call new, softer marijuana law 'unenforceable'

(Newser) - Now that marijuana is decriminalized in Massachusetts, many cops say they won’t even bother issuing tickets to pot smokers, the Boston Globe reports. “We’re just basically not enforcing it right now,” said the chief of police in one Central Massachusetts town. Officers “probably handled a... More »

Prohibition Shadows War on Drugs

Time to end the drug war

(Newser) - Today marks the 75th anniversary of the end of Prohibition, a convenient time to think back on another failed effort to prevent Americans from indulging in mood-altering substances. "A failed drug prohibition can cause greater harm than the drug it was intended to banish," Ethan Nadelmann of the... More »

US War on Drugs Has Failed: Report

Americans urged to focus on treatment, prevention, gun sales

(Newser) - America is treating the symptoms rather than the disease of drug use, and its war on drugs will continue to fail unless it changes course, a new report by an influential Washington think tank finds. The report urges the US to develop stronger ties in the Caribbean and Latin America,... More »

Latin American Nations Reject DEA

Bolivia, Ecuador latest to repudiate US anti-drug operations

(Newser) - Some Latin American countries are pushing back against the US by cutting off DEA operations, the Christian Science Monitor reports. President Evo Morales, saying DEA agents "worked to conduct political espionage," gave them 3 months to leave Bolivia. Ecuador, meanwhile, has refused to renew the US lease on... More »

Mexican Boutique Sells Bulletproof Duds

Specialty boutique sells protective shirts, jackets to anxious customers

(Newser) - As drug-related violence skyrockets in Mexico, anxious shoppers are buying bulletproof shirts and jackets for protection, the New York Times reports. A boutique in Mexico City sells only bulletproof garments, including leather jackets, polo shirts, windbreakers, and even tuxedo shirts. Who's willing to pay up to $7,000 for such... More »

Feds Bust Ring that Hid Cocaine in Legos

Drugs packaged with toys in Puerto Rico, mailed to New York

(Newser) - Federal agents announced the arrest yesterday of a pack of Bronx drug dealers accused of smuggling cocaine into New York with the help of the world’s smallest traffickers: Lego men. Agents say the cocaine was sent from Puerto Rico through normal US mail, ingeniously hidden within buckets of the... More »

DEA Nabs 175 Mexican Drug Cartel Suspects

Nationwide initiative a key step in border drug war, authorities say

(Newser) - US officials arrested 175 suspected Mexican drug traffickers this week in raids in a dozen states, the LA Times reports. Prosecutors believe the suspects are part of the violent Gulf cartel, considered to be a driving force in Mexico’s escalating drug wars. The raids were part of a 15-month... More »

Wild Pot Found in Indiana National Park

Park officials, police plan search-and-destroy mission

(Newser) - The National Park Service has found wild marijuana growing in a northern Indiana federal park, the Chicago Tribune reports. Officials don't know how many plants are spread throughout the 15,000-acre Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, on Lake Michigan about 30 miles southeast of Chicago, but said they will work with... More »

Where Does All That Seized Money Go?

Asset forfeiture: an ugly side of the drug war

(Newser) - What would you do with a few million in drug money? Last year, state and federal authorities seized about $2 billion from Mexican smugglers. The feds have to put any seized money into a dedicated fund, but the rules are looser for states. In Texas and Georgia, for example, sheriffs... More »

Watchdogs Say Hollywood Going to Pot

Anti-drug advocates fret over 420-friendly new releases

(Newser) - Production of cannabis-centric films is hitting a high, reports the Christian Science Monitor. Once pigeonholed with Cheech and Chong and low-budget cult films such as The Big Lebowski, movies that feature pot-smoking characters now tend toward mainstream frat-house humor. This summer alone will see four marijuana-tinged releases, including the Judd... More »

15 Dead in Tijuana Shootout

Mexico sends in thousands of troops to quell further fighting

(Newser) - A gunfight between Tijuana drug cartel rivals left 15 dead and eight wounded near the US border today, Reuters reports. The worst violence in Mexico's 3-year drug war, it filled a city road with bodies and took the lives of two top hit men from the Arellano Felix cartel. "... More »

More Afghan Families Using Girls to Pay Debt

Farmers hit by crop woes give daughters as 'opium brides'

(Newser) - Besieged by debt, more Afghan farmers are paying lenders by handing over their girls as "loan brides," Newsweek reports. Often taken from their families forever, the girls—some younger than 5 years old—are commonly beaten or pushed to suicide by their fate. "My heart is still... More »

Montana Ad Blitz Busts Meth Use

'Unselling the product' leads to 70% drop among adults, 45% in teens

(Newser) - In 2005, Montana had the fifth-worst methamphetamine problem in the US; now it’s 39th, and negative advertising is to credit for much of the stunning turnaround. Montana’s nonprofit Meth Project launched a massive blitz against the drug, blanketing airwaves, websites, newspapers, and billboards. “The intention is to... More »

Cocaine on the Upswing in Peru

US attempts to quell trafficking stagnate in coca-based economy

(Newser) - Peru's cocaine business is growing again, sparking a spate of killings, threats, and US-funded attempts to stop it, the Los Angeles Times reports. Coca bush plots have increased by a third since 1999 to feed markets in Europe, East Asia, and Brazil—but growers are hard to collar because they... More »

Feds Target 'Extreme Ecstasy' Spread

Potentially lethal drug, mixed with meth, coming from Canada

(Newser) - Federal drug-enforcement agents are setting their sights on a new form of ecstasy containing methamphetamines being smuggled across the border from Canada, the Detroit News reports. Known as "extreme Ecstasy," the combination of the two drugs could easily lead to overdoses and death recalling a recent wave of... More »

Slugger Hopes for Shortened Prison Term

Retroactive cuts in crack sentences may aid Willie Mays Aikens

(Newser) - Now that the US Sentencing Commission has agreed to retroactively reduce prison terms for crack cocaine offenses, one of baseball's record-holders stands to benefit. Willie Mays Aikens, the only player to hit multiple homers in multiple games in the same World Series (playing for Kansas City in 1980), may have... More »

Opulence Duels With Poverty on LA's Skid Row

But amid crackdown on crime, still a daily struggle for survival

(Newser) - While upscale lofts and hotels sprout up near crack houses and homeless shelters, Los Angeles' Skid Row has outstripped most other cities in all the races you don't want to win. LA County has a homeless population of 88,345—roughly twice as much as New York—and the 50... More »

Was Mexican Coke Bust Just for Show?

US $1.4B aid package must be tied to police overhaul, expert says

(Newser) - The timing of Mexico's biggest-ever coke bust was a little too perfect last week, Time says. Mexican police nabbed the nose candy—23.5 tons valued at $400 million—just as Congress was debating whether to send more drug-fighting aid. “We've seen this movie before,” grumbled one expert,... More »

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