Cocaine

Columbus Dispatch, 05 Apr 2013 - WASHINGTON - Only five months after Washington state and Colorado voted to legalize marijuana for recreational use, a poll released yesterday found that a majority of Americans now agree and say it should be legal to smoke the drug. And, as Attorney General Eric Holder tries to figure out how to respond to the new laws, the poll had more good news for voters in the two states: Sixty percent of Americans say the U.S. government should not enforce federal drug laws in any state that has voted to legalize pot.

Winnipeg Free Press, 02 Apr 2013 - Mack Herron's struggle with drugs continues The phone call and the news tip came on April Fools' Day, which is always suspicious timing in a newsroom.Clearly, though, this was no joke. A former Winnipeg newspaper reporter of my acquaintance had been reading the Chicago Tribune website Monday morning when he clicked on what is undoubtedly one of the online edition's most read features -- Mugs in the news.

The Washington Diplomat, 01 Apr 2013 - A proposal by FARC rebels in Colombia to legalize the cultivation of coca, poppy and marijuana for medicinal and cultural reasons was only the latest salvo in an increasingly vocal debate on drug policy reform taking place throughout Latin America. FARC's proposal is unlikely to gain much traction in a nation whose government has vowed to wipe out the drug trade, with significant military backing from the United States. But increasingly, countries from Colombia to Mexico to Uruguay are questioning the U.S. model of uncompromising drug enforcement.

The Daily Star, 01 Apr 2013 - It's no secret that when it comes to the "war on drugs" first declared by Richard Nixon 42 years ago, the good guys are losing. It's no secret nationwide, and it's no secret here. "The proliferation of illegal drugs upstate is "truly deplorable," Delaware County Sheriff Thomas E. Mills said in a media statement a couple of weeks ago.

The Record, 27 Mar 2013 - Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., believes that Congress is "about 10 years behind the public." So Paul said on "Fox News Sunday" as he argued against incarcerating marijuana users. Paul sagely suggested the Republican Party should employ such thinking to "appeal across the left-right paradigm." Paul has put his money where his mouth is. Last week, Paul co-sponsored legislation with Sen. Pat Leahy, D-Vt. Their Justice Safety Valve Act of 2013 would grant judges greater flexibility in the federal mandatory minimum sentencing system.

Globe and Mail, 25 Mar 2013 - In the past six years, at least 50,000 people have died in Mexico in drug-related violence at the hands of brutal cartels. The character of the atrocities is similar to that found in war zones. President Enrique Pena Nieto, who has been in office for four months now, is trying to win back the public's trust. He has promised to reduce homicide, kidnapping and extortion rates, pledged to build an effective police and justice system, and implement a crime-prevention plan targeted at helping young people in poor neighbourhoods.