Sen. John McCain's running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, has admitted she smoked marijuana in the past, but says it's not an issue because it was legal under Alaska law. She says though, that marijuana should be illegal. So what she did should have been a crime. And she...

Congress has rubber stamped (yet again) the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant program, a federal law enforcement grant program that is feeding the war on drugs and fueling racial disparities, police corruption, and civil rights abuses. The U.S. House Judiciary Committee voted unanimously today to renew the controversial but politically popular...

If you're planning a children's party or some other event for which you need a magician, consider U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey. He's a master of sleight-of-hand tricks. Under fire now because of the Department of Justice's position on "waterboarding," Mukasey has launched a national campaign to change the subject.

Here we go again. President Bush's Drug Czar is claiming success in the war on drugs because cocaine prices are rising. Except two recent government reports say cocaine is still widely available; and higher cocaine prices means greater profits for organized crime and greater violence in our communities. So what...

Now that two of the Atlanta police officers responsible for killing 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston have pled guilty to manslaughter, planting evidence and a cover-up, it is time for policymakers to change the policies that led to her death. Obvious reforms are requiring substantial evidence before a warrant to raid someone's...

What has Congressman Mark Souder been smoking? Rep. Souder (R-IN), the ranking Republican on the House subcommittee that oversees federal drug war policies, said last week that smoking marijuana is not that much different from doing lines of cocaine or smoking crack in terms of the dangers. He made the...

President Bush has declared today National Methamphetamine Awareness Day. Although methamphetamine abuse and illegal meth labs have recently become subjects of intense national concern, state and federal policymakers have actually been grappling with both problems for more than 40 years (the first illegal U.S. meth lab was discovered in...