When the Mexican military opened its Museum of Drugs in 1985, there were only a couple of dusty display cases in a small cramped room.

A year earlier, journalist Alan Riding had published a book still cited today about contemporary Mexico called "Distant Neighbors." His examination of all things Mexican was omnivorous: chapters on energy, politics, culture, corruption, poverty, agriculture. Yet there is only a single paragraph on narcotics trafficking.

washingtonpost.com
gallery

Five members of the government's official drugs advisory panel are to join a new independent group set up by sacked drugs adviser, David Nutt.

Prof Nutt said the new group would be "very powerful" and would take over the role of the official Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD)

bbc.co.uk
the man is a legend [dosenation.com]

Wenn die letzten Wochen eines Jahres angebrochen sind, ist sie da, die Zeit der Besinnung.

Bevor ich mich auf den Weg zur Sippe mache, will ich mich deshalb heute mit Euch daran erinnern, was das Jahr 2009 drogenpolitisch gebracht hat.

Ich lade dazu ein, Geschehenes in Wort, Bild und Video Revue passieren zu lassen und von dem zu träumen, was uns 2010 erwartet.

Drogenpolitik 2009 - Jahresrückblick (Teil 1)
Drogenpolitik 2009 - Jahresrückblick (Teil 2) Steffen Geyer

As 2009 prepares to become history, we look back at the past year's domestic drug policy developments. With the arrival of a highly popular (at least at first) new president, Barack Obama, and Democratic Party control of the levers of power in Congress, the drug reform gridlock that characterized the Bush years is giving way to real change in Washington, albeit not nearly quickly enough. A number of this year's Top 10 domestic drug stories have to do with the new atmospherics in Washington, where they have led, and where they might lead.

stopthedrugwar.org

Mach es zu deinem Projekt - so denken offenbar auch immer mehr Drogenheimwerker. Die Kriminaltechniker des Bundeskriminalamtes (BK) haben es immer öfter mit chemischen Substanzen zu tun, die Amateure zu Hause gepanscht haben. Experimentierfreudige Laien verschaffen auch den Brand- und Gefahrengut- ermittlern mehr Arbeit - weil die Profis entweder aufgeflogene Hobbylabors sachgemäß entsorgen oder in bereits in die Luft geflogenen Giftküchen Spuren sichern müssen. "Im Internet kursieren einfache Anleitungen ohne Gefahrenhinweise", warnt ein Chemiker.

derstandard.at

James Cook University researcher Alan Clough, who has been looking at the issue of indigenous drug use for the past five years, found cannabis use in remote communities was now as high as 70 per cent of people, with almost 90 per cent of users claiming to be addicted.

theaustralian.com

Israeli researcher finds the use of marijuana may help post-traumatic stress disorder patients.

The use of marijuana could help post-traumatic stress disorder patients, an Israeli study has found.

The study, carried out by Eti Ganon-Elazar, a research student at the Learning and Memory Lab in the University of Haifa's Department of Psychology, set out to examine the effectiveness of marijuana as a medical treatment for patients coping with post-traumatic stress.

themedialine.org