A top Afghan drug lord jailed in the United States since 2008 was for years on the US payroll as an informant for the CIA and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), “The New York Times” said on Saturday.

Hajji Juma Khan was paid lavishly to provide information on the Taliban, Afghan corruption and other drug traffickers in his country, and was even brought secretly to the United States at one point, federal prosecutors, current and former US officials told the daily.

gulftoday.ae
australianetworknews.com

About 119,000 of the aircraft on the U.S. registry have "questionable registration" because of missing forms, invalid addresses, unreported sales or other paperwork problems, according to the FAA. In many cases, the FAA cannot say who owns a plane or even whether it is still flying or has been junked.

lamonitor.com

Er war einer der exzentrischsten Drogenbosse Mexikos: Nazario Moreno Gonzalez, Spitzname "Der Verrückteste", soll nun bei einem Gefecht mit dem Militär getötet worden sein. Die Leiche des Kartell-Chefs konnte aber nicht geborgen werden.

Mexiko-Stadt - Sein Tod wurde bestätigt, die Leiche aber bleibt verschwunden: Der Anführer des mexikanischen Drogenkartells La Familia ist offenbar bei einer Schießerei von Bundespolizisten getötet worden. Nazario Moreno Gonzalez, auch bekannt als "Der Verrückteste", kam vermutlich bei einem zweitägigen Gefecht im westlichen Bundesstaat Michoacan ums Leben, wie ein Regierungssprecher am Freitag mitteilte. Bewaffnete Mitglieder des Kartells seien geflüchtet und hätten die Leichen von Kämpfern mitgenommen. Die Polizei habe Informationen, dass sich unter den Erschossenen auch Gonzalez befinde.

spiegel.de
derstandard.at

One day, with a prescription, Americans might be able to "turn on" with a hallucinogenic drug in a clinic that essentially is a day spa for psychedelic treatment.

A self-described nonprofit pharmaceutical company in Santa Cruz - which is holding an open house at their Mission Street offices today - has been working towards this vision for nearly 25 years.

The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies works with scientists, doctors and regulators around the world to design research seeking to establish the safety and efficacy of psychedelic-assisted therapy.

mercurynews.com

The Green Rush is a documentary film that chronicles the lives of several marijuana farmers in Northern California over an entire outdoor grow season. Featuring exclusive, never-before-seen footage of marijuana cultivation.

greenrushmovie
greenrushmovie.blip.tv

More states are permitting the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes and the Obama administration has signaled relaxed enforcement of the industry in those states. Now, a new generation of marijuana entrepreneurs has emerged across America. They come from the unlikely fields of finance, politics, medicine and law, and they want to claim a stake in this modern day gold rush.

CNBC's "Marijuana USA" goes inside a flourishing medical pot industry. In Colorado, the demon weed is rebranded as a natural herbal remedy with healing powers that even respectable citizens can enjoy. We meet two restaurant owners who are about to launch a new line of cannabis-infused edibles. And, we’ll go inside a clinic where marijuana is almost always the doctor's order.

cnbc.com

Cannabis has captured the attention of the world. From December 17-19, 2010, the Colorado Convention Center will be buzzing with thousands of medical marijuana experts and enthusiasts in what is being billed as the largest cannabis lifestyle convention to ever take place on planet Earth - KushCon II.

tokeofthetown.com

How was your 2010? For the cannabis community, it was a wild flip of the calendar, with dispensaries opening and closing, police raiding, a medical cannabis luminary thrown in jail for meth charges -- and we vaguely remember something about a legalization ballot measure.

There's still time yet before 2011 -- who knows what the next few weeks will bring?. In any event, here's your recap of the Year in Pot (to date).

sfweekly.com