Police lockers searched in probe (Jan. 31, 2005)
"Probe widens investigation of cops shaking down drug dealers."

2 agents fired over corruption (Jan. 31, 2005)
"Details of the worst corruption at the Orange County Sheriff's Office in recent years were released Friday, a day after two drug agents were fired partly for endangering the lives of informants."

Anatomy of a Scandal- Mexico's caldrons of corruption (Jan. 31, 2005)
"As army troops and paramilitary police guarded three of Mexico's six federal penitentiaries, officials publicly cataloged the depths to which the country's once-vaunted federal prison system had sunk."

UN's top counter-narcotics official calls for international arrest warrants against Afghan drug traffickers (Jan. 31, 2005)
"During his trip, Antonio Maria Costa, the Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), met with President Hamid Karzai and proposed measures that would pave the way for warrants to be issued on the basis of global treaties, such as the 1988 Convention Against Illicit Trafficking in Narcotic Drug and Psychotropic Substances."

Report: US Occupation Authority in Iraq Lost Track of Nearly $9B (Jan. 31, 2005)
"An audit by a U.S. inspector says the U.S.-led authority that governed Iraq after the 2003 invasion failed to keep track of nearly $9 billion it transferred to Iraqi ministries."

Court's drug dog ruling takes a bite out of freedom (Jan. 30, 2005)
The Supreme Court decision allowing the use of drug dogs by cops for no reason other than because the police want to "simply carves out a little larger space in what might be called the drug-war exception to the Fourth Amendment, which requires that searches be based on probable cause and require a warrant from a judge before they are conducted."

New drug war besets Mexico, worries U.S. (Jan. 30, 2005)
"A new drug war is raging in Mexico, with a wave of prison killings and gang executions that has alarmed U.S. officials and sown fear from the resort town of Cancun to the Tijuana border."

Mexico angered by U.S. criticism of drug war (Jan. 30, 2005)
"Mexico angrily rejected U.S. criticism of its war on drugs on Thursday and warned Washington not to interfere in its internal affairs."

States May Restrict Cold Pills With Ingredient in Meth (Jan. 30, 2005-Free NYTimes registration required)
"Faced with a growing crisis of methamphetamine addiction and toxic spills from homemade drug laboratories, 20 states are considering legislation that would impose tight restrictions on common cold medicines that contain pseudoephedrine, an essential ingredient in making methamphetamine."

Marley Followers Warned (Jan. 29, 2005)
"Rastafarians planning to attend celebrations marking the late Bob Marley's 60th birthday are being warned not to take marijuana. The memorial is being held in Ethiopia and up to 500,000 people, many of them Rastafarians, are expected to converge on the capital Addis Ababa."

Peruvian Drug Control Agency: Coca Cola Buys Coca Leaves (Jan. 29, 2005)
"Conflicts in Peru Over Coca Industrialization."

Senators to Introduce 'Stop Government Propaganda Act' (Jan. 28, 2005)
"In response to continued revelations of government-funded 'journalism' -- ranging from the purported video news releases put out by the drug czar's office and the Department of Health and Human Services to the recently uncovered payments to columnists Armstrong Williams and Maggie Gallagher,who flacked administration programs -- Sens. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Frank R. Lautenberg (D-N.J.) will introduce a bill, The Stop Government Propaganda Act, in the Senate next week."

High school principal accused of tipping off drug probe (Jan. 26, 2005)
"A school principal tipped off a school board member about a marijuana investigation involving her daughter in this Canadian border town, according to charges filed in Whatcom County District Court."

Government Seizes Oil Wells It Says Were Bought With Drug Money (Jan. 26, 2005- Free NYTimes registration required)
"The federal government has seized control of 43 oil wells in northwestern Pennsylvania that it says were financed with drug money laundered by a Florida marijuana smuggler in the 1970's, officials said Tuesday. The federal government has never before taken control of oil wells as part of a money laundering investigation, said officials with the Department of Homeland Security, which ran the investigation...No criminal charges have been brought in the money laundering investigation, and officials said that George Basch, a Phoenix businessman who was chief executive officer of Shaboom Oil, was cooperating in the investigation." Paul E. Hindelang, the flower...errr, I mean, marijuana smuggler, was convicted in 1981 and yet he's still being screwed by the prohibitionist maniacs profiteering off their war on some drugs and users.

Hallucinogenic Drug for Alcoholism Treatment? (Jan. 25, 2005)
"A naturally occurring drug called ibogaine may yield new treatments for alcoholism."

'God and Right' (Jan. 24, 2005)
"The building across from Jorgenson Hall used to be the headquarters for upright, moral Christian activism. Now it's where hundreds of youths fleeing the streets call home."

Sleepy Mexican Border Towns Awake to Drug Violence (Jan. 24, 2005- Free NYTimes registration required)
"We censor ourselves,' said Ramón Cantú Deandar, the editor of El Mañana. 'The drug war is lost. We are alone. And I don't want to put anyone else at risk for a reality that is never going to change.'"

Joint Decision (Jan. 21, 2005)
"While he remains mired in legal troubles and no closer to seeing himself in front of the U.S. Supreme Court to argue his 'right' to smoke marijuana, things don't look half bad for Ed Forchion. At least he can toke up and test his interpretation of federal laws without the fear of jail time."

Unfortunate Bedfellows (Jan. 21, 2005)
"In addition to calling for legalization, though, a second purpose of Out from the Shadows is to paint a picture of the extent to which the US government in its drug policy has aligned itself less with its allies of the free world and more with those nations where democracy, human rights and respect for the rule of law are more weak."

On TV, Torture Takes a Holiday (Jan. 20, 2005)
"If stations are fearful of airing 'Saving Private Ryan' on Veterans Day, they are unlikely to go into much depth about war stories involving forced group masturbation, electric shock, rape committed with a phosphorescent stick, the burning of cigarettes in prisoners' ears, involuntary enemas and beatings that end in death. (At least 30 prisoner deaths have been under criminal investigation.) When one detainee witness at the Graner trial testified in a taped deposition that he had been forced to eat out of a toilet, that abuse was routinely cited in newspaper accounts but left unreported on network TV newscasts. It might, after all, upset viewers nearly as much as Bono's expletive at the 2003 Golden Globes."

Corporate Cannabis (Jan. 19, 2005)
"Will a New Marijuana Mist Become the Aspirin of the Twenty-First Century?" As Richard Lake at MAPInc.org puts it, "I would rate the article as one of the best reads on medical cannabis I have seen in a while."

1960s drug 'alcoholism cure hope' (Jan. 19, 2005)
"A hallucinogenic drug popular in the 1960s could help scientists find a medical treatment for alcoholism, US researchers believe."

Man died during pot raid, lawyer says (Jan. 18, 2005)
Canadian cops kill this father if six when raiding his home for marijuana. When is this evil stinkin' war going to end?

Teen Rehab- An Investigative Report (Jan. 17, 2005)
Montel Williams will air a show on Tuesday, Jan. 18, on the topic of kids being shipped off to boot camps and so called rehabs where they are tortured, abused and mistreated in a multitude of ways. See here for more details.

The four As of treating addictions (Jan. 17, 2005)
"There is no magic way to treat alcohol and drug addictions, according to Dr. Mark Jensen, a psychiatrist specializing in addictions medicine."

HMS Will Give Ecstasy to Terminal Cancer Patients (Jan. 17, 2005)
"Program will be Harvard’s first study of psychedelic drugs since the 1960s."

New Rave Drugs Have Experts Concerned (Jan. 17, 2005)
"A new class of drugs is getting increased attention from police and partyers alike."

Punishment for the right call (Jan. 15, 2005)
"Surely someone with such a monstrously long sentence awaiting him must be a horrible man; yet all the evidence, most of which was not presented to jurors, suggests that he is a kind and caring soul. Dr. Hurwitz's specialty was pain treatment, meaning that large quantities of opioids were prescribed for treatment of a wide range of problems."

Inspector General Rebukes F.B.I. Over Espionage Case and Firing of Whistle-Blower (Jan. 15, 2005)
"The F.B.I. has failed to aggressively investigate accusations of espionage against a translator at the bureau and fired the translator's co-worker in large part for bringing the accusations, the Justice Department's inspector general concluded on Friday." cx

Weed Watch (Jan. 13, 2005)
"At their annual meeting in Philadelphia in December, the National Black Caucus of State Legislators passed a resolution condemning the war on drugs and supporting legislation repealing mandatory minimums and diverting nonviolent drug offenders into treatment programs."

Impact of federal judges' sentencing flexibility uncertain (Jan. 13, 2005)
"A Supreme Court decision that frees federal judges from sentencing guidelines could have a significant impact on long prison terms for drug defendants and others."

Rockefeller's Rocky Road (Jan. 13, 2005)
"We should be ashamed of ourselves. Rockefeller drug reform – ha! – I don't think so." – State Sen. Thomas Duane (D-Manhattan)

N.J. could embrace drug-sentencing reform (Jan. 13, 2005)
"After a decade-long fight to change the drug laws in New York, reform advocates declared partial victory this month [Dec. 2004] when Gov. George Pataki signed a bill to reduce the state's prescribed penalties for drug convicts. Can New Jersey be far behind?"

Torture - From J.F.K. to Baby Bush: Torture in the Senate (Jan. 12, 2005)
When torture isn't really torture, or so "they" say. The maniacs are in control, illstrated quite clearly by the simple nominating of a man who refuses to define "simulated" drowning or prisoners and other abusive torture as "torture," more by the fact he may very well become the next US Attorney General. (Not taking into account the whole war on some drugs and users thing of course.)

The WMD search is over (Jan. 12, 2005)
What? No weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? They must have been moved. No? They must have been hidden better. No, that's not it either? They just didn't exist? You mean, the Bush administration and most of the rest of the US government and it's mainstream media mouthpieces lied about those weapons? Really? No way, that couldn't be, could it? Not the same government and media that lies so readily about its war on some drugs and users! They couldn't really lie about both could they?

Sentencing Rules Under Fire (Jan. 12, 2005)
"The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that federal judges have been improperly adding time to criminals' sentences, a decision that puts in doubt longtime sentencing rules." And for another view, see Federal Sentencing Guidelines Cut Back by U.S. Supreme Court.

The War on Drugs- An Injection of Sanity (Jan. 12, 2005)
"In his first article, it seems to me that he is encouraging people to turn in all of the drug users they know. This seems to me to be way too much like a Gestapo tactic."

Drugs legalisation: 'when, not if' (Jan. 12, 2005)
"At its simplest, this is all legalisation, control and regulation will mean - shopping and visiting the doctor. It is simply a question of transferring the policy paradigm of management to currently illegal drugs," writes Danny Kushlick in very precise fashion. Then, David Raynes' opposing view article starts out by stating in utterly ridiculous fashion considering just how "precise" Kushlick's definition of "legalization" really is, "We must be careful about what we mean by 'legalisation'. Very often those who argue for it are not precise." This is a very typical prohibitionist stance, to completely ignore the "precise" statements of reformers and then continue to insist it's unthinkable to even discuss legalization.

Ibiza police losing war on drugs (Jan. 12, 2005)
"The programme Drugland, to be broadcast on BBC Two on Thursday night, reveals that the customs boat which patrols the waters of the Balearic island is so understaffed it has not made a single arrest in two years."

Stop Terrorism Legalize Drugs (Jan. 10, 2005)
"Remember, it is not drugs per se, but rather drug *prohibition* that makes it possible for terrorists to earn millions of dollars from producing and selling drugs -- just as alcohol Prohibition made thugs like Al Capone rich in the 1920s. The Drug War, in practice, is a massive government subsidy to terrorists. End it, and we will end the chief source of terrorism funding around the world -- as well as curing a whole host of other prohibition-related evils."

Are the Bush Twins Influenced by the Evil Liberal Press? (Jan. 7, 2005)
"I think it's safe to say, from stitching together news accounts, that the Bush twins don't practice sexual abstinence, aren't teetotalers, and have indulged from time to time in marijuana use -- and that's just what we know."

U.S. Develops Lethal New Bio-weapon Viruses (Jan. 7, 2005)
Number 7 on the Project Censored Top Censored News Stories of 2004 list, this is not cheerful nor encouraging news, illustrating quite clearly that the US military is riddled with pathalogical nutcases and bloodthirsty, homicidal maniacs.

Harvard doc's study: Dying with ecstasy (Jan. 7, 2005)
"Wacked-out kids call it ecstasy and use it to get high, but a Harvard doc says the illegal hallucinogen MDMA could ease the dying days of cancer patients."

Man must become walking billboard against illegal drugs (Jan. 7., 2005)
"With the help of the county's probation department and drug and alcohol commission, McCargo will become a walking billboard against illegal drugs. The order states that McCargo will appear at a Uniontown school location once a week for the next eight weeks wearing some sort of sign with an anti-drug message."

Meth, illegal drugs taxed (Jan. 7, 2005)
"If someone in Hawkins County intends to sell crack cocaine, crystal methamphetamine or any other “unauthorized substance” the Tennessee Department of Revenue expects some tax money off their illegal activity." Dealers are going to have to pay a state tax from here on out or face yet more charges upon arrest. This is one of the most scammful scams I've read of yet, not considering that the whole war on some drugs and users is the biggest scam to begin with ever anyway.

Drug Control Office Faulted For Issuing Fake News Tapes (Jan. 7, 2005)
"In the second ruling of its kind, the investigative arm of Congress this week scolded the Bush administration for distributing phony prepackaged news reports that include a 'suggested live intro' for anchors to read, interviews with Washington officials and a closing that mimics a typical broadcast news sign off."

The Ohio objection (Jan. 7, 2005)
Imagine, a US Senator actually standing up and doing the genuinely moral thing for the people she represents- the voters, not the warmongering, bloodthirsty Bush administration officials.

Legalizing street drugs an experiment worth considering (Jan. 3, 2005)
"Can a single city do anything to change drug policies that are delivering terror to our inner-city streets, diverting police, clogging our courts, breaking up families, and making a once-proud America quite literally the incarceration capital of the world?"

Higher states of consciousness (Jan. 3, 2005)
"Some 10 per cent of the population endure these sensations at some time. These can be terrifying, though mostly brief. Associated with epilepsy and migraine, they also occur in normal people, often in states of altered consciousness. They seem to be closely linked to "Near Death Experiences" (NDEs), which take place in extremis, due to an interruption in the supply of oxygen to the brain: or occur when under the influence of drugs - opiates, ketamine, LSD and other hallucinogens - or of sensory deprivation, or brain stimulation of the right angular gyrus as described above."

Local View: The year in drug wars (Jan. 3, 2005)
"We know a lot about drug companies and the dangerous drugs they produce doing far greater harm to people than the so-called 'narcotics' that have been targeted in the 'war on drugs.' However, our "drug warriors" continue to engage in all sorts of predawn raids, busting down doors and searching for drugs, in an obsessive manner not unlike Captain Ahab in Moby-Dick. All of this is underscored by rampant racism."

Terrorist Threat in the Tri-Border Area: Myth or Reality? (Jan. 3, 2005)
"The TBA is a lawless area of illicit activities that generate billions of dollars annually in money laundering, arms and drug trafficking, counterfeiting, document falsification, and piracy."

25-year ‘war on drugs’ gets a failing grade (Jan. 2, 2005)
"Neither its nearly quarter-century “war against drugs” nor the almost $3 billion Washington has spent since 2000 on Plan Colombia has resulted in the disappearance from U.S. streets of cocaine or heroin, says a major report by the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) released Nov. 30."

Fix Colombia's economy to break drug trade (Jan. 2, 2005)
"While President Bush and Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe praised progress and expressed a commitment to continue to fight narco-terrorism, they did not provide additional resources to combat the poverty that fuels the drug trade and violence in the first place in the No. 1 drug supplier to America."

Drug war is likely to change (Jan. 2, 2005)
"Plan Colombia, the U.S.-funded antidrug program in Colombia, expires at the end of 2005, and its replacement is likely to look very different."

The War on Drugs: One of America’s Greatest Failures (Jan. 2, 2005)
Now’s the time to admit we were wrong.

Despite 25 Years of Drug War, US Prices are Down (Jan. 2, 2005)
"Cocaine and heroin are cheaper today on US streets, despite a multi-billion- dollar, 25-year drug war, according to the Washington Office on Latin America, citing data from the US drug czar."