US waves white flag in disastrous ‘war on drugs’

After 40 years, Washington is quietly giving up on a futile battle that has spread corruption and destroyed thousands of lives Read the full story

CUERNAVACA, Mexico – Two hundred Mexican Navy marines stormed an upscale apartment complex and killed a reputed drug cartel chief in a two-hour gunbattle, one of the biggest victories yet in President Felipe Calderon’s drug war.

Arturo Beltran Leyva, the “boss of bosses,” and six members of his cartel died in the shootout Wednesday in Cuernavaca, just south of Mexico City, according to a navy statement Thursday. Read the full story

2009 will go down as the beginning of the end of the United States drug war. I have worked at the Drug Policy Alliance promoting alternatives to the war on drugs for 10 years, and I can say without a doubt that there was more debate and movement toward sensible drug policies this year than in the last 9 years combined! Here are 10 stories that contributed to the unprecedented momentum to end America’s longest running war.

1) Three Former Latin American Presidents Call Drug War a Failure (February) Read the full story

This is a topic I wish was brought up a little more often in the mainstream media for serious debate. The violence and kidnappings that take place around the U.S./Mexico border is becoming alarming.

5 bodies, 1 headless, found in Ciudad Juarez

MEXICO CITY — Five bodies, one of them headless, were found in a van in the border city of Ciudad Juarez.

The grisly find came Wednesday, a day when a prominent U.S. senator blocked some aid to Mexico over alleged human rights violations by soldiers and police fighting violent drug cartels. Read the full story