Walk down the streets almost anywhere in the District, and you won’t have to go far before you catch a whiff of a certain well-liked herb. Even before D.C.’s medical-marijuana law allows prescription pot, the scent of cannabis often drifts out of cars, hovers around the front of bars or wafts along sidewalks.

A federal study estimates 78,000 people in D.C. used pot in 2007, the last year for which statistics were available. That’s about 13 percent of the population at large; meanwhile, more than a quarter of 18-to-25-year-olds said they’d smoked in the last month alone.

washingtoncitypaper.com

For the first time this year, we have a new strain in the top pot spot. Purps beat out Kush as July’s most submitted strain; the last time Purps recorded a first-place finish was in August 2009.

hightimes.com

Expectant mother Alanis Morissette will be giving up her marijuana habit while she's expecting her first child.

She explained, "I don't have a stance on it. I enjoy it...not while I'm pregnant, obviously."

starpulse.com

George Michael has been charged with possession of cannabis and being unfit to drive due to drink or drugs.

The charges relate to his arrest on July 4 in the Hampstead area of London, following a car crash. At the time, he was arrested on suspicion of being unfit to drive.

stuff.co.nz
bbc.co.uk

In Berlin sind am Mittwoch 15 Kilogramm Marihuana sichergestellt und drei mutmaßliche Rauschgifthändler festgenommen worden. Bei den Beschuldigten handelt es sich um zwei Männer im Alter von 29 und 57 Jahren und eine 56-jährige Frau, teilte die Polizei mit.

upsetnews.blogspot.com
spiegel.de

Der mexikanische Drogenkrieg ist ein Milliardengeschäft. Die mächtigen Kartelle schaffen Waffen ins Land, pumpen Drogen in die USA und waschen weitgehend ungestört ihr schmutziges Geld. Amerikanische Banken haben dabei kräftig mitgemischt - und mitverdient.

Im mexikanischen Drogenkrieg geht es um Hunderte Milliarden Dollar. Dass solche Mengen nicht nur per Geldkoffer verschoben werden, ist klar. Die Kartelle sind organisiert wie globale Konzerne, sie haben ihre Finanzchefs und ihre internationalen Bankkonten. Erst seit kurzem ist allerdings bekannt, dass einige Banken ziemlich genau wussten, woher manche hohen Einlagen kamen, und dass sie ihren Verdacht gegen die Kunden nicht den amerikanischen Behörden meldeten, wie es der Geldwäsche-Paragraf im US-Bankengesetz vorsieht.

spiegel.de

Vicente Fox, the former president of Mexico, began his administration in 2000 with a popular festival. Felipe Calderón, who took over in 2006, began his with a show of military force. His affinity for uniforms, army brass bands and public events with the armed forces makes an overt connection between the military and the executive that was unusual in Mexican politics before his presidency.

In January 2007 in Apatzingán, Calderón had his picture taken in military uniform, with a five-star cap and the national emblem. In May, again in Apatzingán, another photo op: officers with armoured vehicles and grenade launchers confronted alleged drug traffickers. But this great publicity stunt worried some – drugs are supposed to be under police, not military, jurisdiction.

guardian.co.uk

As they carried out the drug bust in a Rome apartment, they stumbled upon the snake which immediately tried to attack them.

They managed to capture the three-metre-long reptile after niftily distracting it by tossing it a chicken.

metro.co.uk
abc.net.au