The Washington Independent's Mike Lillis reports on drug policy reformers who are "hopeful that the Obama White House will mark a new era in the nation’s fight against drug abuse — one that prioritizes treatment and prevention above rap sheets and prison time."

Interesting story from the Washington Post's Carrie Johnson: Heightened efforts by the Drug Enforcement Administration to crack down on narcotics abuse are producing a troubling side effect by denying some hospice and elderly patients needed pain medication, according to two Senate Democrats and a coalition of pharmacists and geriatric experts. Tougher ...

This week Barack Obama nominated Gil Kerlikowske, chief of the Seattle police, to head the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy a/ka/ be "Drug Czar." Kerilkowske inherits two huge problems: drug-related violence at the U.S.-Mexico border and the failed "war on drugs." Solving these problems, particularly the second ...

The Washington Post’s Christopher Lee reports on a budget battle between Congress and the Bush Administration that gets to the heart of America’s drug policy. The budget of the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy is allocated to about two dozen federal agencies, ...