As activists for reform, we've all dreamt of a day when our opposition is left sputtering onstage, unable to form a single argument against us. That's exactly what happened on Monday when the president was asked why we can't legalize medical herb. It's a remarkable moment, and the subject of my latest piece at Huffington Post.
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In case you missed it, PBS’s recent program Pot Republic has some of the best footage of the various hemp specials that have been popping up on TV.  It provides a poignant look at the evolving relationship between hemp professionals and local law enforcement, juxtaposed against the cynical efforts of federal officials to destroy those collaborations in a desperate quest to delegitimize the industry and maintain their draconian drug war powers. In other words, it’s interesting stuff.
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And then there were two. A group of Northern California attorneys, activists, and at least one prominent medical marijuana doctor Friday filed the text for a second marijuana legalization initiative aimed at the 2012 in Sacramento Friday.
[image:1 align:right]The 753-word initiative, the Repeal Cannabis Prohibition Act, simply does what the title suggests: It would repeal all sections of California law imposing criminal penalties for marijuana possession, cultivation, or distribution for adults. The state Department of Health would be charged with regulating public smoking and marijuana use by minors, which …

The government of newly elected Peruvian President Ollanta Humala announced this week that it is suspending the US-backed coca eradication program in the Upper Huallaga Valley, the only ongoing eradication program in the country. According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Peru has surpassed Colombia as the world's largest coca leaf producer, although Colombia maintains a slight lead in cocaine production.
[image:1 align:left caption:true]The Upper Huallaga isn't Peru's largest coca growing area — that distinction belongs to the Ene and Apurimac River Valleys (VRAE in the Spanish acronym), …

Despite some recent sentencing reforms, Oklahoma has some of the toughest drug laws in the country, including life without parole for some drug offenses. One Oklahoma legislator says it is time for life without parole for nonviolent drug offenses to go.
[image:1 align:left caption:true]State Sen. Constance Johnson (D-Oklahoma City) Wednesday introduced Senate Bill 986 (no link yet available), which would end life sentences without parole for nonviolent drug offenses and require the state Pardon and Parole Board to review all existing life without parole sentences for those offenses. The measure also …

US officials said this week in El Paso that the Merida Initiative to help Mexico strengthen its security forces and judicial system in their ongoing battle with criminal drug trafficking organizations — the so-called cartels — will shift its focus to Mexico's border states. Other officials defended the "Fast and Furious" Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms (ATF) gun-running scheme that resulted in weapons from the US being transferred to cartel members.
[image:1 align:left]The remarks came at the eighth annual Border Security Conference at the University of Texas El Paso (UTEP), …

Dear drug policy reformer:
I am pleased to announce the new StoptheDrugWar.org Legislative Center. The Legislative Center can be accessed online here or by following the "Legislation" link from any page on our web site. The Legislative Center already includes:

Info on hundreds of drug policy and related bills in Congress and the state legislatures, organized by issue category.
An expanded set of federal action alerts. (State alerts coming next.)
Legislative vote tallies and legislator voting records.
Additional resources like a media outlet lookup, a basic how to guide for lobbying Congress and a voter …

The attorney for the family of Jose Guerena, the ex-Marine gunned down in his own home as a Pima County SWAT team burst in, has filed a notice of claim. Such a legal maneuver lays the groundwork for a damage-seeking lawsuit.
[image:1 align:right caption:true]Earlier reports said that the lawsuit will seek $20 million in damages from the Pima County Sheriff's Office, several Pima County municipalities, and the SWAT team members. It will claim that the SWAT team used excessive force and was negligent in the raid.
Guerena, who shared the home with …

August 23, 1839: The United Kingdom captured Hong Kong as a base as it prepared for war with Qing China. The ensuing three-year conflict was later known as the First Opium War.
[image:1 align:left]August 18, 1989: Luis Carlos Galan, a Colombian presidential candidate who spoke in favor of extradition, is assassinated at a campaign rally near Bogota. That evening, President Virgilio Barco Vargas issues an emergency decree reestablishing the policy of extradition. In response, the "Extraditables" declare all-out war against the Colombian government and begin a bombing/murder campaign that lasts until …

This week, it's drug task forces gone bad! And a dope-snorting and -peddling sheriff, too. Let's get to it:
[image:1 align:right caption:true]In Nashville, Tennessee, an audit of West Tennessee's 24th Judicial Drug Task Force has found abuses, including thefts by the group's administrative assistant and jail trustees partying with seized crack cocaine. The investigation conducted by the state Comptroller's Division of County Audit, which also found that District Attorney General Hansel McCadams and Henry County Sheriff Monte Belew liked to drive around in a seized BMW Z-3 on personal business. Auditors …