The National Academy of Public Administration just released a devastating Senate-commissioned report detailing the failures of the drug czar's office during the Bush administration. Here are a few key findings from the report: 1) That the drug czar's obsession with youth marijuana use hindered the office's ability to construct a more coherent overall strategy for drug policy

 2) That the drug czar's office manipulated data to exaggerate -- and in some cases fabricate -- progress in reducing drug…

Now that her case is settled against the D.C. government over the 2004 death of her quadriplegic son while in prison for marijuana possession, I hope Mary Scott can find at least some comfort. However, the D.C. prison system's incompetence and neglect are not the only culprits in Jonathan Magbie's tragic death. If it weren't for Congress continually blocking the implementation of the medical marijuana initiative 69% of D.C. voters passed in 1998, Magbie would probably be alive today.

Not only did Tuesday's election produce two major marijuana policy victories, but we also saw signs of progress in Washington, D.C. Barack Obama has consistently said that he does not support the federal government arresting medical marijuana patients in states where medical marijuana is legal. He also affirmed to MPP that he would not use federal resources to raid medical marijuana dispensaries in California, something his predecessor’s administration has done countless times. And the Politico reported…

What else will happen on November 4? As Bruce Mirken pointed out in another post, Rep. Mark Souder, a stalwart drug warrior, may lose his seat in Congress this year.  Souder’s possible departure is part of a larger trend of drug warriors losing elections to more sensible candidates. This change is largely due to the unpopularity of President Bush and the fact that most virulent prohibitionists have maintained close ties with his policies for the last eight years.  Their departure is significant for…

We have special feelings for Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN) here at the Marijuana Policy Project, because a few years ago he called our executive director, Rob Kampia, "an articulate advocate for an evil position." Souder is perhaps the most implacable foe of medical marijuana in the U.S. Congress. And he may be in trouble. Last week CQ Politics, which tracks House races, changed its rating of Souder's Indiana 3rd District from "Republican Favored" to "Leans Republican," writing that "Republican strategists…

Funny Bruce should mention White House drug czar John Walters' taxpayer-funded boondoggle to Michigan to throw his political weight against the state's medical marijuana voter initiative yesterday. It just so happens the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform released its report on White House abuses of the Hatch Act, which governs executive branch employees' participation in partisan political events, the very same day. The report singles Walters' office out for its audacity, saying,…

On Wednesday evening, the U.S. House of Representatives endorsed nearly all of MPP's arguments for regulating and taxing marijuana as we now regulate beer, wine, and liquor. But don't get your hopes up too much: The word "marijuana" never appears in the resolution hailing 75 years of successful alcohol regulation and the end of Prohibition. Nevertheless, try reading the following excerpts and mentally substituting the word "marijuana" for "alcohol": Whereas passage of the 18th Amendment, which prohibited…

This morning's press conference, at which MPP and other marijuana policy reformers joined U.S. Reps. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) and William Lacy Clay (D-Mo.) to call for an end to federal criminal penalties for marijuana possession, was a rousing success, as this CNN story shows. And apparently it got under the skin of our overlords at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. Having not gotten much media pickup on their preemptive press release issued yesterday --…

California Congressman Jerry McNerney says he will now support an amendment to bar the U.S. Department of Justice from attacking state medical marijuana laws, according to a report in the Oakland Tribune. Last year, McNerney opposed the measure, known as the Hinchey-Rohrabacher amendment, but hearing the real-world stories of medical marijuana patients in his district changed his mind. McNerney's Republican opponent, Dean Andal, promptly went on the attack, calling medical marijuana "a red herring,"…