How to Grow Marijuana (Dec. 31, 2002)
Here are some simple step by step instructions on how to grow marijuana both indoors and out.

Christmas Cheer for Drug War POWs (Dec. 31, 2002)
"Imagine for a moment that you ... or one of your loved ones ... could take no part in the holiday season, because you or they were a prisoner of the unjust War on Drugs, spending this Christmas behind bars. Not able to even see your families or talk to your loved ones, perhaps for many, many years."

None of us had a Clue in '02 (Dec. 31, 2002)
"Perhaps at that point a little medical marijuana will come in handy for the mourners. But as lawyer Harvey Frankel warned in Ontario Superior Court this fall, if its use in illness is legalized, 'there's going to be something wrong with everybody — from warts to hemorrhoids.' Plus, the U.S. won't like it. And we know what that means."

NEWSMAKER OF THE YEAR: CHRISTOPHER KROHN S.C. mayor made national splash about Iraq and pot (Dec. 31, 2002)
"Every time he faced the TV cameras — and millions of viewers — his City Hall answering machine lit up. People cheered and sneered. One national pundit, replying to Krohn’s comments, snapped back: 'Don’t smoke pot. Smoke Saddam.'"

Colorado's Failure to Fund Drug Treatment Programs Takes Toll (Dec. 31, 2002)
"Her death highlights two serious problems, critics say. The first is the ease with which illegal drugs are smuggled into prison. It's a problem common to prisons across the country, one corrections personnel nationwide struggle to resolve. But the second has a more local flavor: Colorado's failure to fund drug-treatment programs adequately inside and outside the prison system."

Marijuana harmless? Hardly (Dec. 31, 2002)
The onslaught against marijuana policy reform is in full swing, the prohibitionists realizing their grasp on control is now tenuous at best. Hence the sheer number of articles like this one being published hirther and thither as of late.

Prosecutors are urged to fight against legalizing drugs like marijuana (Dec. 31, 2002)
Were cops and district attorneys urged to fight the repeal of alcohol prohibition?

Administrator Accused of Returning Marijuana To Inmate (Dec. 31, 2002)
"An administrator at the Haskell County Jail will appear in court to answer to charges that he returned marijuana to a man who was being released from jail."

Marijuana bill ready for session (Dec. 31, 2002)
"State Rep. James Abrams, D-Meriden, said he will again propose legislation that would allow doctors to issue certificates recommending marijuana for their patients' medical conditions."

Tyco admits it manipulated numbers for years (Dec. 31, 2002)
More signs of the White Collar Mafiosi sitting at the very top of so many US corporations.

Youth targeted in fight against marijuana use (Dec. 31, 2002)
Australian kids in New South Wales get their own does of anti-reform propaganda.

American professor fined for marijuana (Dec. 31, 2002)
"Retired American professor Barbara O'Conner, was sentenced in the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday to 30 days in prison and fined $12,000 for attempting to export half-a-pound of ganja out of the island."

Diana Ross cited for drunken driving in Tucson (Dec. 31, 2002)
"A breath test showed Ross with a blood-alcohol level of 0.20 percent, which is more than twice the legal limit of 0.08, Tucson police Sgt. Judy Altieri told the Arizona Daily Star."

Buddy, Buddy (Dec. 30, 2002)
"Two media activists & artists from C-Supreme Studios in NY, have created a hip-hop-rock song dealing with the unanswered questions concerning the Sept. 11 attacks." These songs rock, and come highly recommended by the editor of DrugWar.com. They are a most creative and brilliant use of music to demonstrate there are still disturbing unanswered questions surrounding the September 11 terrorist attacks. There is another song called Evolution linked here, as well as the lyrics for both, and more songs are on the way, so remember to watch this space for further future links.

420Station Online (Dec. 30, 2002)
"Every two weeks 420station will post 20 megabytes of marijuana and cannabis mp3's, Pictures, Games, Documents, and Flash Movies. All mp3's will be songs about ganja, all pictures will be of the herb or related. All files are pure Hemp!" Sign up for your bi-weekly updates today.

The John Poindexter Awareness Office - JPAO (Dec. 30, 2002)
"The JPAO is an important anti-fascist operation of the Resistance."

America needs soul-searching (Dec. 30, 2002)
"We spend billions of dollars trying to keep our kids off mind-altering drugs, then turn right around and dose them up with Ritalin when they act like children and get on our nerves. While the police are fighting a war on drugs, doctors are prescribing Prozac and other anti-depressants to anyone who ever had a sad day, and psychiatrists are busy inventing mental disorders for some who seek the easy road."

Detroit becomes popular destination for people looking for illegal drugs (Dec. 30, 2002)
So prohibition still isn't working, unless one is trying to empower cartels and bloodthirsty drug gangs.

War's Toll Paid Close to Home (Dec. 30, 2002)
"There is no war without bloodshed." Well said.

Program helps teen quit drugs, change life (Dec. 30, 2002)
This is a pro-drug war, drug treatment advertisement disguised as news.

Schools can call up policy (Dec. 30, 2002)
"On public school campuses around California, the war on drugs has taken a back seat to concern for student safety. At least when it comes to the use of cell phones."

High Style (Dec. 30, 2002)
The art of writing while stoned, inebriated, messed up and illuminated, and more.

News Of US Victory In Afghanistan Premature (Dec. 30, 2002)
America's ally, the Northern Alliance, has revived the illicit trade. Since the U.S. overthrew the Taliban, opium cultivation has soared from 185 tons a year to 2,700. The Northern Alliance, which dominates the Kabul regime, finances its arms-buying and field operations with drug money. President George Bush's war on drugs collided with his war on terrorism - and lost. The U.S. is now, in effect, colluding in the heroin trade.

Strength in numbers - Narcotics task force expands its operations in Cherokee County (Dec. 30, 2002)
"People of Cherokee County can rest easier now. Dogwood Trails Narcotics Task Force has expanded its ranks in Cherokee County to three officers."

Pick your fight - terrorism OR drugs (Dec. 30, 2002)
"How many wars can we fight at once? There are at least 2 wars now, the war on terrorism and the war on drugs. In general we can only fight one, so we must pick our fight wisely."

War on crack menace (Dec. 30, 2002)
"Organised criminal gangs have managed to create established trafficking routes from abroad into Britain and the county and are now flooding the streets with the class A narcotic." Apparently, prohibition still isn't working.

Texas' War on Drugs Missing Major Offenders (Dec. 30, 2002)
"Texas is imprisoning thousands of small-time drug offenders rather than major importers and dealers, and a coalition of community leaders is seeking change, the Houston Chronicle reported Dec. 15."

Vice Policy (Dec. 30, 2002)
"The hidden policies of the United States."

Pakistan 'gave nuclear warning' (Dec. 30, 2002)
A US ally admits it was going to use nuclear weapons against its nuclear-armed neighbor earlier this year, 2002, but Iraq is the one in US sights.

The Accidental Imperialist (Dec. 30, 2002)
"As the United States enters the new year facing crises -- and the potential for war -- in Iraq and North Korea simultaneously, an obvious question presents itself: Did the Bush administration bring all this trouble on itself?"

The enemy within is known to some (Dec. 30, 2002)
"A year ago, Defence Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh asserted that the military was keeping a close eye on military officers who are involved in the illegal drug trade. So it appears that Gen Chavalit has already identified the enemies. The question is, why hasn't anything been done to arrest and punish these people?" See also Drugs to top Thai-Burma talks. Also, there's the news that Rebel War Zones Threaten Burma's Fight Against Drug Trade, which appears to blame the drug problems on rebels rather than on official troop complicity, as the previous articles note.

The Week Online With DRCNet, issue #269 (Dec. 29, 2002)
An upcoming Latin American international drug conference, a New Zealand MP is cleared in marijuana probe, a British MP wants to piss test 10 year olds, these stories are among the many in this week's Week Online, as well as the ever present and useful Reformers' Calendar.

Get-tough drug law softened (Dec. 29, 2002)
"Michigan, which once sat at No. 1 in the rankings as the toughest state in the nation on drug crimes, has tumbled off the charts with a new law signed Christmas Day by outgoing Gov. John Engler. The new law eliminates Michigan's mandatory minimum sentences, which had sent thousands of drug offenders to prison for 10 or 20 years, and some for life."

Poetic Licence: $1.5 trillion a year being laundered through world’s banking system (Dec. 29, 2002)
"These criminal activities weren’t just taking place under the eye of the US government. They were a government creation, and high-ranking US officials were dedicated to protecting the efforts at any cost."

Tribesmen Take Up Arms to Resist Afghan Drug War (Dec. 29, 2002)
"Authorities were forced to stop destruction of opium poppy fields in parts of an eastern Afghan province after tribesmen took up arms to resist the move, residents said Sunday." More US allies growing drugs.

ACLU opposes proposed drug testing (Dec. 29, 2002)
"Depending on who's talking, the American Civil Liberties Union is either intimidating Mary M. Knight School or protecting the civil liberties of its students."

How Useful Are Sanctions in Pressing Burma to Change? (Dec. 29, 2002)
"Some activists say isolating Burma is making it more difficult to address humanitarian issues - and international drug trafficking."

Newsmaker of the Year Valerie and Mike Corral: Raid reinvigorates WAMM, medical pot debate (Dec. 29, 2002)
"But the raid was hardly the death knell for the group. As 2003 begins, WAMM and its roughly 240 members continue their efforts, albeit with much less marijuana than before the raid, and now the Corrals are even deputized officers of the city of Santa Cruz."

Medical marijuana an election issue (Dec. 29, 2002)
"'In Marion County, they're releasing real bad guys because they have to incarcerate the pot heads,' he said. 'It's nuts. And I'm not the only guy who thinks so.'"

New Chairman of 9/11 Commission had business ties with Osama's Brother in Law (Dec. 29, 2002)
"Now you would think that being a business partner of the brother in law and alleged financier of 'Enemy No. 1' would be considered a bona fide 'conflict of interest', particularly when your mandate --as part of the 9/11 Commission's work-- is to investigate 'Enemy No. 1'."

Rubbish! (Dec. 29, 2002)
"Portland's top brass said it was OK to swipe your garbage--so we grabbed theirs." This is a great article, well worth reading simply for the outraged, indignant shock on the part of these hypocritical public officials.

Tracing the source (Dec. 29, 2002)
Gee, after decades of all out, very expensive and destructive war, Ohio has a drug problem.

Cops wage war on meth (Dec. 29, 2002)
"City cops are in a rush to slow down speed production after a spike this year in methamphetamine lab busts."

The Poindexter Effect (Dec. 28, 2002)
"Digging into the architect of Total Information Awareness unearths good news: Ordinary Americans value civil liberties." Does this mean we'll soon see an end to the War on Some Drugs and Users, or is there a difference between valuing civil liberties and doing something about keeping them?

CIA Interrogations Said Verging on Inhumane (Dec. 28, 2002)
Will we soon be seeing ads like: "Is supporting just a little terroristic CIA torture ok?"

Chaos and Constitution (Dec. 28, 2002)
"With his country teetering on the brink of disaster, Venezuela's Hugo Chávez clings to power -- thanks primarily to the passionate support of the nation's poor."

Consumer challenge: Buying illegal drugs without supporting terrorism (Dec. 28, 2002)
"Still, the violence of narco-terrorism is very real, and no joke. The same was true when alcohol was banned and average citizens were forced to buy booze from illegal sources, or go without. And not many went without. Instead, their money, plopped onto the speakeasy bar or handed over for bootleg bottles of whiskey, helped create and nurture organized crime, and so funded the bribery of cops and judges and the murder of some who wouldn't be or wouldn't stay bribed, and the killing of business competitors and so on."

Candidates lean on gang members to get out the vote (Dec. 28, 2002)
"Just as no politician in Prohibition Chicago ever cracked down on Al Capone after accepting his money, the fear is that no politician today will stand up to a street gang after accepting its manpower." Drug War prohibition has created the very same situation the US faced with the likes of Capone, not only on the local city levels but at all levels of society. Entire countries are subverted by corruption and greed and the need to continue waging War to make mass profits, whether they derive from trafficking drugs, or waging an endless war upon the same.

Parrot imports plan in war on smugglers (Dec. 28, 2002)
"Because of the prohibition, they are creating a black market - it's more profitable than drug smuggling."

"Liberal" Nation Magazine publishes govt anti-pot ad (Dec. 28, 2002)
"The Nation says that it blanketly accepts any advertising that does not impede the use of its editorial columns, unless the ads are "blatantly misleading" or purveying harmful products in which case they fall into the gray area of discretion. But the Nation ran a new ONDCP anti-drug ad and are apparently planning to run more, despite the fact the ads are blatantly misleading.

Marijuana pros and cons (Dec. 28, 2002)
"Decriminalize or just say no? Questions about addiction loom large in debate."

Former judge now helps other addicted lawyers (Dec. 28, 2002)
"Sherrill hopes the story of his downfall and comeback will motivate others with addictions."

Medical pot grower's case a landmark (Dec. 28, 2002)
"Then, in a far-reaching decision welcomed by medicinal marijuana users nationwide, the state's high court justices ruled in July that Mower should have been allowed to use his medical condition as a defense."

Marijuana suspect resigns as head of NKU foundation (Dec. 28, 2002)
"As foundation president and chief executive officer, Alford was praised for having one of the top investment strategies in the nation. He was responsible for managing and investing millions of dollars in donations and endowments."

Police confiscate bail money, claiming it smelled like marijuana (Dec. 28, 2002)
"Police confiscated $50,000 in cash from a Vermont couple who had come to bail their daughter out of jail, because the money smelled like marijuana and was thought to be the proceeds of drug deals."

Court agrees marijuana grower not covered by Proposition 215 (Dec. 28, 2002)
"A state appeals court upheld a lower court ruling Thursday that Proposition 215 does not grant a medical marijuana grower immunity from prosecution if the grower does not have a doctor's recommendation or does not qualify as a primary caregiver for the patients who receive the marijuana."

Ayahuasca Use 2.1- Traditional Use and Preparation (Dec. 28, 2002)
"The Traditional use of ayahuasca is for healing the mind, body and soul. Yage is known as "the great medicine" in northwestern South America, where it is used for healing much as peyote is used in North America."

Hong Kong pop star Alex To arrested for alleged marijuana possession (Dec. 28, 2002)
"Police spokesman Ricky Chong said officers arrested a 40-year-old man surnamed Delfino [aka Alex To] for possession of herbal cannabis."

Controversy envelopes HIV patients using marijuana (Dec. 28, 2002)
At first coming across as a typical prohibitionistic scare article, this piece does examine some of the issues surounding the use of marijuana medical by HIV patients in a fairly comprehensive manner.

Woman pleads not guilty to pot charges (Dec. 28, 2002)
"A 58-year-old woman has pleaded not guilty to charges she participated in a marijuana trafficking ring that spanned four states and Mexico in the 1980s and 1990s."

Punk Legend Joe Strummer Dies at 50 (Dec. 23, 2002)
Strummer died of a heart attack at his home. For more background on the Clash, please read Where's the Clash When We Need Them? and Strummer's lasting culture Clash.

'Undercover' war waged in 2002 (Dec. 23, 2002)
"Even with a drug treatment court now in place and a drug-sniffing dog on duty, members of the Asheboro Drug Task Force are not resting on their laurels."

Close Shave on Burma (Dec. 23, 2002)
"Furious editorials and congressional protests, plus a Time magazine Asian edition story detailing the repressive regime's links to major drug dealers, helped persuade State to reverse course. The department may have been in the process of that course correction Dec. 3, when Martinez praised the regime for 'a good job on counternarcotics efforts.'"

Decline of the Divas (Dec. 23, 2002)
"Yes, Houston has copped to using cocaine, marijuana and pills, but what about her new single?" Well, despite her drug use past and perhaps present, she's sold more than 50 million copies in the US and more than a 100 million world-wide in the last few weeks. Go Whitney.

The grass is always greener (Dec. 23, 2002)
"Green Leaf, the pro-legalization party, looks likely to win two seats in the upcoming Knesset elections - and it could be as high as eight."

Civil Forfeiture Ruling- First of many (Dec. 23, 2002)
"A state Superior Court judge in quiet, rural Salem County, of all places, is being cheered around the country for what is being called the first significant ruling against civil-asset forfeiture in the nation."

Racism reappears with Lott to answer for (Dec. 23, 2002)
"The US program co-ordinator for Human Rights Watch, Jamie Fellner, says the war on drugs that followed the civil rights movement's victories has disproportionately punished blacks. Nearly two-thirds of all drug offenders in state jails are black, although they are only 15 per cent of the US population – and about the same proportion of drug-users. Still, they are jailed 13 times more often that whites."

Canadians can order marijuana online (Dec. 23, 2002)
"Pot in Canada may soon be a click away with the launch of a home-delivery service for medical marijuana over the Internet."

Tip line lets neighbors do part in marijuana fight (Dec. 23, 2002)
While the Canadians are set to decriminalize the wonderful weed, the Americans are setting up phone lines so they can narc out their neighbors for growing pot. Weird world, ain't it?

Spending Christmas in jail was a blessing, a young man reflects (Dec. 23, 2002)
To each their own, but locking people up for doing drugs? How campassionate and Christmas like, eh?

End the Crusade (Dec. 23, 2002)
"Given our failed experiment at alcohol prohibition and the obviously failed 'war on (some) drugs,' I'm perplexed the United States still obsessively insists on prosecuting its citizens for crimes of indulgence."

Report: Bush Administration Plans Mandatory Government Internet Monitoring (Dec. 23, 2002)
Big Brother marches merrily along.

Firm Hails War on Fake Drugs (Dec. 23, 2002)
"Medreich Nigeria Limited, a Lagos based pharmaceutical firm, has announced its support for the current efforts to rid the nation of fake drugs and unwholesome food products."

The Week Online with DRCNet, issue #268 (Dec. 22, 2002)
Some in the EU Parliament call for an end to the War on Some Drugs and Users, Rep. Dan Burton suffers a near epiphany, Michigan repeals mandatory minimum drug sentencing, some Canadians are not exactly thrilled at marijuana decrim plans, the weekly corrupt cops story, a direct actions report and the ever useful Reformers' Calendar can be found among the many reports in this week's issue of the Week Online.

U.S. drug war's target: A new mom (Dec. 22, 2002)
"Gorgeous, guileless and naturally blissed out, Vancouver's Renee Boje, 32, is the perfect poster girl for pot activists; she's also a new mother and martyr for a cause she never dreamed she'd represent, a marijuana madonna with everyone from Noam Chomsky to Woody Harrelson writing letters on her behalf."

US Imperialism in Colombia (Dec. 22, 2002)
"Nonetheless, the US has been a recurrent nightmare for the poor people of this developing Andean nation for over a century."

My country, right and wrong (Dec. 22, 2002)
"The same was true, come the Reagan years, of the choice between the sleazy, CIA-funded Contra operation, with its drug-dealing and deception of the US Congress, its Oliver North and its Otto Reich (now recycled in the Bush administration), and the Sandinista efforts at social justice, soon to be wiped out by the new war with the United States."

Changing channels (Dec. 22, 2002)
It isn't a Leave it to Beaver world out there, and never was.

Plant from Mexico has U.S. drug officials on alert (Dec. 22, 2002)
Better hurry and get your Salvia divinorum soon, before the insane prohibitionists ban this one too.

Weed Watch (Dec. 22, 2002)
"On Dec. 4 the Marijuana Policy Project -- the advocates behind a number of November's failed drug-reform ballot initiatives -- filed a formal complaint with the federal Office of Special Counsel, calling for the ouster of drug czar John Walters, head of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy."

The huge cost of harsh sentences (Dec. 22, 2002)
"This nation has built itself into one of the largest bastilles in the world. Spurred along by politicians pandering to the public's fear of crime, the prison building boom during the last 30 years has resulted in a 500-percent increase in the number of state prisoners."

Man killed in rip-off of marijuana grow-op (Dec. 22, 2002)
The editor of DrugWar.com can't remember the last time he read a story about hoods trying to rip of a beer manufacturer. But beer salepeople get ripped off all the time, so clearly they too "run the risk of losing their life" as one prohibitionist enforcer says in this article.

Smoke and mirrors (Dec. 22, 2002)
"John Grieve on contrasting views of the government's war on drugs from Keith Hellawell and Philip Bean."

A Dirty Sweep (Dec. 21, 2002)
Who cares about upholding laws or even simple honesty when waging a War on Some Drugs and Users? As long as the prohibitionists accrue mad arrest figures and can appear to be doing something, anything, the US Constitution and law abiding behavior on the part of those hired by the citzenry to protect us go right out the window.

Is Canada going to pot? (Dec. 21, 2002)
"Critics charge this is exactly what will happen if we decriminalize marijuana, with dire implications for health, crime and our relationship with the U.S." Then read this other view, that Canada's decriminalization idea has little hope of success, not because of all the opposition from Canadian prohibitionists who depend on waging war to put bread on their own tables, but because the prohibitionists in the US who see their war in serious danger if the Canadians go through with this are making threatening noises about trade.

'Tis The Season For Marijuana Smugglers (Dec. 21, 2002)
"Johnny, a dope-sniffing Belgian Malinois, started barking like mad, pawing and pressing his snout against the driver's door."

Police don't want to call 'www.pot' black (Dec. 21, 2002)
"'If it was brought to our attention we might have to get involved, but I hope we don't have to,' said Det. Clayton Sach. 'Some of those medicinal marijuana users are really suffering - there are plenty of other bad guys out there.'"

Bush's Venezuelan Breakdown (Dec. 19, 2002)
"Now, more than ever, such patience with evolving democracies is essential. Newly elected leaders in countries such as Brazil and Ecuador need assurances that the United States will stand up for democracy regardless of ideological differences."

Coca in the Cola (Dec. 21, 2002)
What in the heck is going on here? One of the companies reported on here has already shipped over 300 tons of coca leaf to the US in recent years. A Bolivian government official claims 159 tons have been bought by the Coca-Cola company for use in their extremely popular drink.

Seymour Hersh Interview- New Trends in Terror War (Dec. 21, 2002)
Hersh discusses the "new" US policy of targeting terror suspects for assassination, leading off with a comparison to "old" policies like the Phoenix Program in Vietnam.

The Bush Empire and the Tentacles of the Brown Brother Harriman's 1818 Fund (Dec. 21, 2002)
"The tentacles of Brown Brothers Harriman (BBH) extended into the pharmaceutical industries, a favorite client of the Bush family."

Bloggers catch what Washington Post missed (Dec. 21, 2002)
"The momentum that ended in Trent Lott's resignation yesterday as the Senate majority leader did not, primarily, come from the traditional behemoths of the US media - the New York Times, the Washington Post and the main TV news networks."

Drug war redux: Bahamas-Fla. ring broken up (Dec. 20, 2002)
"In a throwback to the 1980s when South Florida was a drug traffickers' paradise, authorities recently connected the dots on a major drug ring funneling Colombian cocaine through the Bahamas."

Police raid home of medical marijuana activist; no arrests made (Dec. 20, 2002)
"Police raided the home of a medical marijuana activist and seized about 13 pounds of the drug, more than 100 plants and more than $11,000. However, no arrests were made."

PYRAMID SCHEME- Iran Contra's John Poindexter seeks Total Information Awareness (Dec. 20, 2002)
"Smoking pot does not make me paranoid. Admiral John M. Poindexter does. Best known for his starring turn in the Iran Contra Affair, Poindexter is now the man in charge of the Information Awareness Office—a data-mining/snooping project the Pentagon is developing via The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency," reports David Bienenstock for Hightimes.com.

AP’s One-Sided Venezuela Coverage (Dec. 20, 2002)
Seems the US government and press want a coup to happen.

Canadian Home Delivery of Pot (Dec. 20, 2002)
"Canada allows the use of therapeutic cannabis, but has yet to make it available which complicates matters for those in need, even with a Health-Canada exemption. We are here to answer that need and to provide service to those communities and individuals unable to access Canada’s established compassion clubs." See "One-Click Marijuana Shopping for Sick Canadians" for more information.

Weekend drug busts total nearly two tons of marijuana (Dec. 20, 2002)
"Big Bend law enforcement made seven seizures last weekend totaling 3,769 pounds of marijuana, including a joint effort by U.S. Customs, Brewster County Sheriff’s Officers and Border Patrol agents that netted a 1,608-pound grab on Sunday, according to federal authorities this week."

California orders mass arrests of Muslim foreigners (Dec. 20, 2002)
"Hundreds of Middle Eastern and North African men, some just 16, have been hauled into custody across southern California in the past few days, enraging civil liberties groups and drawing comparisons with the internment of tens of thousands of Japanese Americans during the Second World War."

Santiago questioned by prosecutors in marijuana case (Dec. 20, 2002)
"San Francisco Giants catcher Benito Santiago was questioned by prosecutors Thursday about a seized package of marijuana that had been addressed to a woman he knew, authorities said."

Meth War Called Unwinable (Dec. 20, 2002)
"Erwin acknowledges The sad fact is the war on this drug is unwinable. 'We're trying to keep it knocked down. you know. But what's the reality, can you? No we can't put a stop to it and I won't stand here and tell you we can put a stop to it.'"

Drug Legalization Considered On Capitol Hill (Dec. 19, 2002)
"One of America's staunchest prohibitionists Dan Burton (R-IN), shocked many on Capitol Hill when he came very close to calling for looking at legalizing drugs."

Lab technician drops glass vials of sarin gas at Umatilla depot (Dec. 19, 2002)
The US still manufactures and tests Sarin nerve agent, as well as a whole bunch of other nasty chemical and biological agents.

Iraq Identified Nuclear Program Suppliers (Dec. 19, 2002)
"Dozens of suppliers, most in Europe, the United States and Japan, provided the components and know-how Saddam Hussein needed to build an atomic bomb, according to Iraq's 1996 accounting of its nuclear program."

George Bush- Enron Party Animal (Dec. 19, 2002)
All the Enron brass who take turns joking about their criminal book cooking in this videotape they themselves filmed are under investigation. The Bushes are not, though something like this might lead some to wonder why not.

The No-Doze Soldier (Dec. 19, 2002)
"'Most drugs are developed for clinical diseases,' he says. 'This is not a clinical disease, this is a need. We want to select which effects we want a drug to employ.'" The US military is looking at drugs and more to try and stop the need for sleep in their soldiers.

Nearly One Billion US Drinking And Driving Trips Annually (Dec. 19, 2002)
Seems that a lot of US citizens insist on drinking and driving.

Ethno-Mycology (Dec. 19, 2002)
"The effects Mushrooms have had on the Culture, Religion, and Philosophy of Mankind throughout history."

Cities Say No to Federal Snooping (Dec. 19, 2002)
"On Tuesday, Oakland became the 20th municipality to pass a resolution barring its employees -- from police officer to librarian -- from collaborating with federal officials who may try to use their new power to investigate city residents."

United States: Media principles Killed by friendly fire in US infowar (Dec. 19, 2002)
This sort of disinformation and outright lying to fool sheeple into blindly supporting War has been standard operating procedure for the entire life of the War on Some Drugs and Users.

'Cannabis' Drink On Sale in City (Dec. 19, 2002)
"But although experts agree that drinkers probably cannot get high, there has been criticism that the drug is being used to sell alcohol. The Portman Group, the selfgoverning body of the drinks trade, has attacked the product." Amazingly, these alcohol lobby types are mad that pot is being used to sell alcohol. What a weird perspective, especially as alcohol is ever so much toxic in a body than any amount of pot use.

Justine Timberlake seen smoking pot in NYC with Mom (Dec. 19, 2002)
The editor of DrugWar.com was actually at this bar the same night, but unfortunately missed out on smoking with Justin Timerlake. The editor would have loved to ask him about his ONDCP commercials.

Cannabis for pain relief is still illegal says judge (Dec. 19, 2002)
"A wheelchair-bound man who used cannabis to relieve searing pain he has suffered for the last 12 years has been convicted of growing the drug at his home."

Four arrests in raids on cannabis cafés (Dec. 19, 2002)
"Scotland Yard made the arrests at two cafés in Camden, north London, after keeping them under surveillance for nearly two months."

Greenwood PD gets forfeiture (Dec. 19, 2002)
Who said crime doesn't pay? The prohibitionists make out like bandits.

Police test substance found in Labour MP's car (Dec. 19, 2002)
"The former Treasury minister was yesterday remanded on bail by Walsall magistrates after being charged with failing to provide a breath specimen, driving without insurance and driving otherwise than in accordance with his licence. The unspecified substance seized at the time of his arrest has been sent for laboratory tests."

Press magnate held over child snatching (Dec. 19, 2002)
The US was highly supportive of the Argentinian administration under which this sort of henious activity was taking place.

Ecstasy use among American teens drops for the first time in recent years (Dec. 19, 2002)
"Ecstasy use is finally beginning to decline among adolescents, the proportion using any illicit drug is also down, the proportion drinking alcohol has dropped, and the proportion reporting cigarette smoking continues to drop sharply."

War Against Drugs Far From a Victory (Dec. 19, 2002)
"Even with the decrease, more than half of high school seniors admit to having used illegal drugs. Nearly one-third of them have tried drugs other than marijuana. Ready for some more bad news? Use of cocaine and heroin - among the most dangerous illegal drugs - does not seem to have decreased."

Ed NJWeedman Forchion Gets New Court Date (Dec. 19, 2002)
Please show you support for Ed Forchion, a US political prisoner, currently imprisoned in New Jersey for voicing his opinion about the War on Some Drugs and Users against prohibitionist wishes.

Pot-TV star still growing (Dec. 19, 2002)
The tale of Steve Kubby, another US citizen harried and forced to flee the land of his birth by the repressive, insane, destructive War on Some Drugs and Users.

Man told judge cannabis seeds were for his racing pigeons (Dec. 19, 2002)
"Craig Russell Brand said he wanted to use the 512 seeds to feed his birds because they were superior to other kinds of seeds."

The One-Sided War (Dec. 19, 2002)
"I've been involved in the 'War on Drugs' for some years now -- and I've 'fought' on both sides. The time I spent engaged in counter-narcotics operations for Joint Task Force Six (pun presumably not intended) as a Marine infantry NCO was a major factor in helping me form the convictions which I now hold: That the War on drugs is evil." Knapp has a lot more to say here, so check it out.

Canada: The Commons Committee Report on Cannabis (Dec. 19, 2002)
Read what the Canadian Special Committee on Non-Medical Use of Drugs has to say about the War and possible solutions.

Sturgis School Takes Lead In Battle Against Drug Abuse (Dec. 19, 2002)
"The war against drugs has taken a new twist in one South Dakota school district: Sturgis High School is offering free drug test kits to parents."

Pot backer convicted of tainting jury (Dec. 18, 2002)
Jeff Jones has been convicted of "tampering" with a jury, for handing out information describing jury nullification and medical marijuana outside the federal courthouse in California where his friend Bryan Epis was being tried, convicted, then sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for growing medical marijuana.

Supreme Court halts pot appeals amid debate over law (Dec. 18, 2002)
"In a highly unusual move, the Supreme Court of Canada refused yesterday to proceed with three constitutional appeals to Canada's pot law because Justice Minister Martin Cauchon says he is on the verge of decriminalizing marijuana."

The Entire "new" National Anti-Drug Media Propaganda Campaign of Lies on Display (Dec. 18, 2002)
Here you can view all the madly expensive, made-for-television lies paid for by your tax dollars in support of the endless and ultra-destructive War on Some Drugs and Users. Bring hip-waders though, as it is extremely deep and smelly here.

Drug czar on Canadian marijuana policy (Dec. 18, 2002)
Watch and hear a rant about Canada's moves towards pot sanity by Drug Czar John Walters, who suffers from the increasingly rare brain disorder, Reefer-us Madness-iscus.

Could An Anti-Marijuana Compound Hold The Key To Body Weight And Appetite Control? (Dec. 18, 2002)
"These results suggest that the blockade of the central cannabinoid system may alter the rewarding value of foods and so reduce eating."

Pentagon Debates Propaganda Push in Allied Nations (Dec. 17, 2002)
"The Defense Department is considering issuing a secret directive to the American military to conduct covert operations aimed at influencing public opinion and policy makers in friendly and neutral countries, senior Pentagon and administration officials say."

Tipsy elephants kill six in Assam (Dec. 17, 2002)
"At least six people were trampled to death by wild elephants that went amok after getting drunk on rice beer in Assam, an official said Tuesday."

Young make drugs part of everyday life (Dec. 17, 2002)
"Employed users challenge idea of 'losers' funding habit by crime."

Prison, Race and Drugs in America (Dec. 17, 2002)
"The American gulag is here, it is alive, it is well and it is thriving. America operates the biggest prison system on the planet. At the end of 2001, the U.S. incarcerated 2,001,146 people."

Budget Pressure Putting the Pinch on Prisons (Dec. 17, 2002)
"The budget crisis gripping the states, widely described as the worst since World War II, is beginning to force some of the more punitive states to think about massive early releases of nonviolent prisoners, including drug offenders, as a way of trying to make fiscal ends meet."

Melton MBN appointment good move in war on drugs (Dec. 17, 2002)
It is a "good move" only for prohibtionists who make a lot of money from waging a war on some drugs and users and like to pretend they are morally superior to those who use currently illict drugs.

Another drug war (Dec. 17, 2002)
"Unsatisfied with her video footage of retreating officers as a souvenir of the police helicopter raid, Nall decided to take things a step further. She decided to set up a network designed to publicize the effects of the war on drugs and to promote reforms in American drug policy. Thus, the Alabama Marijuana Party was born."

Ont. cold on decriminalizing marijuana (Dec. 17, 2002)
"Federal Justice Department plans to decriminalize the use of marijuana were met with a decidedly frosty response from the Ontario government Tuesday."

Jury to decide drug case (Dec. 17, 2002)
"Billings resident Jeremiah C. Schoneberg appeared for his drug trial in federal court Monday dressed in a crisp, dark blue Naval uniform and with his hair cropped close."

Patients, deputies left guessing (Dec. 17, 2002)
Some California cops can't stand the idea of their cushy prohibitionist jobs being endangered by the people they work for passing a medical marijuana law, 6 years ago, so continue to lock people up and confiscating their grow equipement.

Decriminalize marijuana now (Dec. 17, 2002)
"It’s easy to joke about politicians and pot heads, but the parliamentary committee that recommended changes to Canada’s drug laws has offered advice that has to be taken seriously."

Wife with DA's office resigns for pot growing (Dec. 17, 2002)
"An unusual marijuana bust has led to the resignation of a 7-year-veteran of the Hamilton County District Attorney's office."

Ex-stockbroker drops medical-marijuana suit (Dec. 17, 2002)
"Stockbroker Irvin Rosenfeld had no option but to drop the suit last week after a federal appeals court in Atlanta ruled that citizens are prohibited from suing airlines under the Air Carrier Access Act. The law put into place in 1986 prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in air travel and requires U.S. air carriers to accommodate the needs of passengers with disabilities."

Marijuana-smoking judge is back on the bench (Dec. 17, 2002)
"A judge who admitted smoking marijuana at a Rolling Stones concert has begun hearing cases again after completing a rehabilitation programme."

Twenty-Four Residents at Nursing Home Test Positive for Marijuana (Dec. 17, 2002)
It's a good thing none of these old folk were seeking employement somewhere that requires drug-free urine, as the test results were false positives.

A drop in teen smoking, drinking and drug use (Dec. 17, 2002)
"Survey's leader suggests 9/11 as reason, but others disagree." Here's a link to the original press release.

Good Americans, by John Judge (Dec. 17, 2002)
This is a blast from the past, (1983) by John Judge, about how the US imported scores of Nazis from Germany after WWII, and even has its own homegrown versions too.

Boy finds marijuana packed in lunch box -- mom and stepdad arrested (Dec. 17, 2002)
"Authorities in Mobile say the six-year-old found about an ounce of pot when he opened his Star Trek lunch box."

Echinacea Capsules May Not Fight Colds: Study (Dec. 17, 2002)
"Echinacea, derived from the purple coneflower, is an herb sold over the counter as an immune-system strengthener and cold remedy."

US Imperialism in Colombia (Dec. 16, 2002)
"Colombia has always been and still is the coveted cornerstone of the US's geopolitical control over the entire Latin American region, and at whatever the cost, the US is determined to make Colombia the jewel in its imperial crown."

Canada Has It Right on Marijuana (Dec. 16, 2002)
"Canadians should understand that on drug policy, the U.S. government is increasingly out of step with Americans. Canadians should use their own good sense, make their own judgments, and disregard U.S. bullying, as most of our drug laws were made on a racist foundation instead of science," writes former US Surgeon General Jocelyn Elders.

Michigan Set to Repeal Mandatory Minimum Drug Sentences (Dec. 16, 2002)
"Michigan is poised to become the latest state to do away with minimum prison terms for drug offenders, a move that's expected to ease rising prison costs."

CIA terror manhunt has Cold War echoes (Dec. 16, 2002)
"Methods allegedly included botulinum-filled capsules and twin plans to impregnate Castro's broadcasting studio and then his cigars with LSD-like drugs in the hope of inducing him to deliver an incoherent speech."

U.S. fears Canada becoming a major pot supplier (Dec. 16, 2002)
"U.S. drug czar John Walters says Ottawa's push towards decriminalizing marijuana could make Canada a major supplier of drugs, a situation he says will 'complicate' efforts to secure the world's longest undefended border."

Firefighters Discover Marijuana Bricks In Burning Home (Dec. 16, 2002)
"Emergency crews discovered about 150 bricks of marijuana in a home that caught fire Thursday morning, KMBC reported."

Marijuana state (Dec. 16, 2002)
"Decriminalizing marijuana will mean taking a currently unregulated -- if illegal -- activity that has developed a sophisticated supply chain and inexorably bringing it under the ambit of the post-modern administrative state. Government means, at minimum, taxation."

A weed by any other name smells the same (Dec. 16, 2002)
Big excitement has hit the drug legalization world. A recent RAND Drug Policy Research Center study reported that marijuana may look, act, and smell like a gateway drug to abuse of harder drugs, but that possibly it is not a gateway drug after all.

Day warns of U.S. backlash on marijuana (Dec. 16, 2002)
"Canada's softening stance on marijuana and hard drugs will provoke a backlash in the U.S."

User of government-provided marijuana drops suit against airline (Dec. 16, 2002)
"A man who legally uses government-provided marijuana for medicinal purposes has dropped a discrimination lawsuit against Delta Air Lines, but will continue pursuing his complaint through another federal agency."

A Traverse City judge who admitted marijuana use to return to bench (Dec. 16, 2002)
"A Traverse City judge who admitted smoking marijuana at a Rolling Stones concert is scheduled to begin hearing cases Monday. District Judge Thomas Gilbert has been on voluntary leave since November sixth. He was in a 28 day alcohol rehabilitation program."

Source: U.S. Firms on List Aided Iraq Arms Development (Dec. 15, 2002)
As an editor at TruthOut.org makes sure to point out, "Remember you are being asked as American citizens to give your blessing to the killing of tens of thousands of Iraqi Men, Women and Children. Oh, and by the way; you are not allowed to know which American companies profited from providing arms and assistance to Iraq. But I'll give you a hint; one of them was Halliburton under then CEO Dick Cheney -- to the tune of Millions."

South America Region Under Watch for Signs of Terrorists (Dec. 15, 2002)
"The Triple Frontier where Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay meet has long been South America's busiest contraband and smuggling center, a corrupt, chaotic place where just about anything from drugs and arms to pirated software and bootleg whisky are available to anyone who can pay the price."

Artistic licencing (Dec. 15, 2002)
"A noticeably different view holds sway in Glasgow, where the city has struggled with curfews and restrictive licensing. Tellingly, Williamson says that he would never try to open a cannabis café in the west. 'Glasgow's living in the Dark Ages,' he says. 'It has that oppressive religious thing.'"

Prince Philip's comment kicks up a storm (Dec. 15, 2002)
"Queen Elizabeth II's husband, Prince Philip, has shocked a Bangladeshi teenager in London after allegedly branding him a drug addict."

Politics and Pathogens (Dec. 15, 2002)
"The 'War on Drugs' greatly increases the homicide rate. It also increases the incarceration rate in our squalid prisons where infectious disease thrives. Law enforcement agents kill hundreds of suspects each year, often by mistake or as part of the pointless drug war. This unnecessary 'war' also accounts for many of the police officers killed in the line of duty each year."

Conyers to seek U.S. probe of police (Dec. 15, 2002)
"U.S. Rep. John Conyers will take a letter to the U.S. Justice Department asking for a federal investigation of the fatal shooting of a handcuffed man and several other alleged brutality cases involving Louisville police in recent years."

Deficit threatens weakest (Dec. 15, 2002)
"With the 'war on drugs,' mandatory minimum sentencing and the three-strikes law, the state-funded prison industry has been growing by leaps and bounds. But a new prison being proposed for Southern California should be re-evaluated, says Chesbro, in view of the current situation."

Ethnic vs. Convert Buddhism (Dec. 15, 2002)
"Americans first flirted with Buddhism in the 1950s, when poets and novelists like Allen Ginsberg, Gary Snyder and Jack Kerouac started delving into Zen meditation and incorporating their experiences into their writings. Later, in the 1960s and 70s, at the height of the Vietnam War, many young people started gravitating toward meditation as a safer alternative to the psychedelic drugs running rampant in the so-called 'counter-culture'."

Health workers fear smallpox plan (Dec. 15, 2002)
"The announcement yesterday that as many as 11 million Americans will soon be vaccinated against a disease that nobody on Earth has contracted in 24 years marks a strange and unique moment in the history of American public health."

Brazilian Gangs Take Turf Wars Out of Slums (Dec. 15, 2002)
"In the middle-class neighborhood just outside the zoo's fence, a fierce gun battle broke out between police and well-armed members of one of the drug-trafficking gangs that control large swaths of this city and many others in Brazil, Latin America's largest country."

Simi police honored for role in drug bust (Dec. 15, 2002)
"Members of the Simi Valley Police Department are in Washington, D.C., today, being recognized by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency for their part in dismantling North America's largest illegal producer and distributor of ketamine, a popular and dangerous drug on the club circuit."

War on drugs nets small-time offenders (Dec. 15, 2002)
"Texas' war on drugs punishes few major importers and dealers but imprisons thousands caught with less than a sugar packet full of cocaine or other illegal drugs."

Race, Class, and the War on Some Drugs (Dec. 15, 2002)
"Up to the 20th century, what’s now labelled illegal narcotics, was a socially accepted phenomenon. Addiction to drugs was considered to be a health issue for phycisians, and not a law matter for police."

Forfeiture decision may not address most unpopular aspects (Dec. 15, 2002)
"One of seven Great Danes bellows in the background as Carol Thomas talks about her own experience with civil forfeiture. Thomas, once a sheriff's officer and member of the Cumberland County Narcotics Task force, runs a dog-grooming business in Millville now."

It's Official: They Aren't Fascists, They're Gods (Dec. 15, 2002)
"First he appointed himself President. Now George W. Bush has declared himself God."

Honduran youths meet a deadly end (Dec. 15, 2002)
"In the last five years, by one count, more than 700 youths 18 or younger have turned up dead in Honduras, a vast majority in two major cities, Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula. The number has grown each year, from 66 in 1998 to a projected 230 this year."

Protesters storm Mexican congress for second time (Dec. 14, 2002)
"The protesters, mostly teachers and farmers, caused less damage than Tuesday when many of the same demonstrators rode horses into the lobby of the building, hurled fire extinguishers at fleeing security guards and disrupted the legislative session for more than an hour."

Bill Maher gets the last word (Dec. 14, 2002)
"Maher is a Libertarian and his attachment for common Libertarian causes-such as ending the drug war, addressing poverty and downsizing the U.S. government-arm him well for each argument."

Bomb blast hurts 30 in Colombian restaurant (Dec. 14, 2002)
"Although Bogota has been traditionally spared the violence of Colombia's mostly rural war, the FARC have intensified their bombing campaign in cities in recent years as part of a push to topple the government and impose a socialist regime. The war, increasingly funded by the drug trade, claims the lives of thousands every year."

Police 'long-war' against drug barons (Dec. 14, 2002)
"Police are engaged in a "war of attrition" with drug barons over the supply of crack cocaine in Norwich, the city's top cop has said."

Anti-narcotics training launched in Afghanistan (Dec. 14, 2002)
"Britain and Germany have launched a programme to help train police in Afghanistan to fight drug-making and trafficking."

Short backs military move to restore order in Afghanistan (Dec. 14, 2002)
"In the Commons yesterday the Foreign Office minister Mike O'Brien conceded the continuing dominance of the warlords means little progress would be made in the short term in reducing the country's dependence on the heroin trade."

'P' is for psychotic - users linked with rising violence (Dec. 14, 2002)
"Drug users call pure methamphetamine "P" and like the clear, long high the burning crystals deliver. Police and drug experts call it a scourge, a drug epidemic behind a surge in meaningless violence."

Police to carry out raids on 'drug rats' (Dec. 14, 2002)
"Police are hoping to give drug pushers cold turkey this Christmas as they launch raids on dealing dens over the festive period."

Injection sites won't solve heroin horror (Dec. 14, 2002)
Bob Friedland, the author of this editorial, doesn't think safe injection sites are a good idea, saying that because heroin addicts have no will power, they shouldn't have a safe place to do their fix. The editor of DrugWar.com doesn't agree one bit with his take on things.

Leaving a Tormented Town Behind (Dec. 14, 2002)
"'It got the federal government's attention. People had to die. Kids had to get high to get the government to listen,' says Tshakapesh, who is now the settlement's chief."

Q&A: DEA boss lauds state efforts (Dec. 14, 2002)
"Asa Hutchinson, the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, visited Mobile this week to kick off an initiative dubbed IDEA -- Integrated Drug Enforcement Assistance. The Mobile-Prichard area is the fift