Dear friends,

It's here. And you won't want to miss it.

This March, we invite you to join hundreds of students, alumni, and drug policy reform advocates from around the world in creating a society that embraces sensible drug policy. We invite you to bridge political divides, reconnect with lost friends and alumni, and magnify the diversity of our advocacy network.

We invite you to join us for...

This Is Your Brain On Drug Policy:
SSDP'S 11th Annual International Conference
March 12-14, 2010
The Fort Mason Center, San Francisco, CA

Joining us in San Francisco this March 12-14 will help to continue the incredible momentum that the drug policy reform movement has gained in 2009 and send the strong message that young people will not sit back as this war is waged in our names. We hope this will be the largest gathering of SSDP members in the history of the organization.

ssdp.org

California lawmakers took a first step toward legalizing marijuana when an Assembly committee approved legislation that would put the drug on the open market as a regulated and taxed product.

But it may have been more of a symbolic victory in a battle that will likely be next waged on the ballot.

sfbg.com
sfgate.com
mercurynews.com
nbcbayarea.com
Video
California Assembly Bill 390, (A.B. 390), known as the Marijuana Control, Regulation, and Education Act [wiki]
Legalize marijuana? Not so fast [Los Angeles Times]

all 1023 news articles [Google news]

State Attorney General Tom Corbett said the arrests in Operation Pack Mule put an end to a $4.8 million drug smuggling organization that has been bringing high-purity drugs from South America to the Lehigh Valley for the past three years.

mcall.com

Mexican federal police captured Teodoro García Simental, a drug trafficker famed for his gang's alleged brutality, in an early-morning raid on Tuesday in the resort town of La Paz, Baja California, police said.

The arrest of Mr. García, known as "El Teo," is the second big blow to Mexican drug gangs in less than a month. In December, drug lord Arturo Beltrán Leyva was killed in a raid by Mexican Navy special forces. Mr. Beltran was the highest-ranking drug lord taken down by Mexico since 2003.

online.wsj.com
cbsnews.com

Two people have been taken into custody by police after 12 kilos of heroin were discovered in the fuel tank of a car intercepted in Tui, Pontevedra, in Galicia. Officers found 21 packages of the drug floating in the tank when they inspected the vehicle.

typicallyspanish.com

The Taliban make Afghanistan's opium business easy, offering credit, seeds and fertilizer to farmers to grow the drugs that fuel the insurgency.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who wrapped up a three-day visit to Afghanistan on Tuesday, is determined to change that momentum by offering similar incentives to steer farmers away from the drug trade and toward grapes, wheat and other legitimate crops.

news1130.com

Die schiitische Hisbollah finanziert ihren Terror gegen Israel womöglich mit Drogengeschäften aus Europa. Für diesen Verdacht haben nach Informationen des SPIEGEL deutsche Fahnder jüngst bei Ermittlungen in der libanesischen Hauptstadt Beirut weitere Hinweise erhalten.

spiegel.de

Criminals with convictions for offences such as indecent assault and drug dealing are knowingly being licensed to operate as taxi drivers, an investigation by the BBC programme Inside Out West Midlands has revealed.

bbc.co.uk