The problem?
He suggests that Obama hasn’t been honest about it…
Speaking to Dennis Miller, a comedian and conservative radio talk show host, former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating said Obama should be more forthright about his background and what he called his “very extreme” record.
“He ought to admit, ‘You know, I’ve got to be honest with you. [...]

Over the years I’ve heard stories about people who’ve grown marijuana in their basement or their dorm room or even on land out in the middle of the country.
However, I have never heard about anybody growing it…in a mall?
MIAMI — The Drug Enforcement Administration discovered something unexpected in the Mall of the Americas.
DEA agents found [...]

He admits he was wrong and that it’s now time to call this “war” off because it’s doing far more harm than good.
From Huff Post:
For years, I served as a federal prosecutor and member of the House of Representatives defending the federal pursuit of the drug prohibition.
Today, I can reflect on my efforts and see [...]

The story of a guy being imprisoned for 4 years because a piece of cannabis less the size of single grain of sugar was found beneath his shoe has gained international attention. And rightly so. Because not only can you get imprisoned for craziness like that, but the UAE also reserves the right to test [...]

It wouldn’t surprise me, and if it’s the case, something needs to be done.
From Science Daily:
A new study by two York University researchers estimates the U.S. pharmaceutical industry spends almost twice as much on promotion as it does on research and development, contrary to the industry’s claim.
The researchers’ estimate is based on the systematic [...]

The 20/20 journo talks with RP about his stances on drugs and prostitution:
“I think the government’s role should not be involved in personal habits. When you defend freedom, you defend freedom of choice, and you can’t be picking and choosing how people use those freedoms… whether it’s personal behavior or economic behavior, I want people [...]

Just. Plain. Stupid.
New mint packets being sold by The Hershey Co. look nearly identical to the tiny heat-sealed bags used to sell illegal powdered drugs like crack, heroin and cocaine and glorify the drug trade, a Philadelphia police official said.
Ice Breakers Pacs, nickel-sized dissolvable pouches with a powdered sweetener inside, hit store shelves in November. [...]

About a year ago, I wrote about the case of a motorist who was found carrying a large sum of money. The police seized it, arguing that it just had to be drug money. They were allowed to keep it without ever bothering to prove an underlying crime, thus establishing the cherished legal principle that [...]

We owe our soldiers nothing less than the best health care in the world, but sadly that’s not the reality.

So how to combat PTSD? Well, 60 Minutes had an interesting story on last night about a pill that loosens people’s memories of particularly traumatic events…
(CBS) Pitman figured he could block that cycle by giving trauma [...]

We’ve written about dichloroacetate before, but I thought I’d point it out again because it’s a wonder why we’re not hearing about it the media at large.
From the University of Alberta:
DCA is an odourless, colourless, inexpensive, relatively non-toxic, small molecule. And researchers at the University of Alberta believe it may soon be used as an [...]

Cheese, in this case, is a potent combination of heroin and over the counter pain medication like Tylenol PM.
But seriously…6th to 8th graders are the main users of this stuff? Jeezus.
Reuters has the video.

Yet another sign that we need some new ideas about how to address the issue of drugs in America.
From the AP:
(AP) Cocaine prices in the United States have dropped and the drug’s purity increased, despite years of effort and nearly $5 billion spent by the U.S. government to combat Colombia’s drug industry, the White House [...]

It’s not as simple as that, but the math is pretty stark. GlaxoSmithKline, which spent decades and more than $400 million developing a meningitis vaccine, expects to sell it only in Africa, and at a price that will never cover the cost of development.
As the story notes, this is not an entirely selfless act. Some [...]

sleipner, one of our more frequent commenters on Donklephant had this to say on my recent post about drug toxicity…
Obviously, direct toxicity is obviously not the only measure of danger for a drug. In addition to that, some drugs have an additional psychological or environmental risk of death or injury, either to the user or [...]

(h/t: Sully)

Pretty interesting, no? I bet we can trace these numbers directly back to our failed, prejudiced “war” on drugs.
And maybe you’re saying right now, “Prejudiced? Prove it!” Well, you need look no further than the vast disparity between the prisons sentences for people who do crack and people who do cocaine…
Pharmacologically the same drug, crack [...]

The New Mexico governor and presidential hopeful is doing something that about 99.999% of other viable presidential hopefuls wouldn’t even think of. And maybe that’ll set him apart.
MSNBC has more:
SANTA FE, N.M. - Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson, poised to sign a bill making New Mexico the 12th state to legalize medical marijuana, said Thursday he [...]

It sounds too good to be true. But everything I can find says this could be legitimate.
A molecule used for decades to combat metabolic diseases in children, may soon be available as an effective treatment for many forms of cancer, University of Alberta researchers are reporting.
In results that “astounded� school scientists, the molecule, known as [...]

I certainly don’t use the term “junky” lightly, but we’re talking about more than a decade long, hardcore addiction to incredibly strong painkillers. It certainly makes mild drug use by former and current Presidents (and any hopefuls) seemingly irrelevant.
From Law.com…
The FBI’s 1986 report on Rehnquist’s drug dependence was not released at the time of [...]

So not only is marijuana a $35 billion cash crop, it’s reportedly our country’s largest.
From LA Times:
A report released today by a marijuana public policy analyst contends that the market value of pot produced in the U.S. exceeds $35 billion � far more than the crop value of such heartland staples as corn, soybeans and [...]