The Year in Drug Policy Reform

The indispensable Drug War Chronicle offers a list of the year's 10 biggest "Drug Reform Victories and Advances," along with a list of the year's 10 biggest "Defeats, Downers, and Disappointments." Since the latter list includes items such as "the drug war continues unabated on the streets of America" and "Afghanistan is well on its way to becoming a true narco-state," it's hard to get too excited about, say, a one-year reprieve for Vancouver's "safe injection site." But there have been some encouraging developments in the last year, including Uniao do Vegetal's successful challenge of the federal government's interference with its ayahuasca rituals and the defeat of outgoing Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski's determined attempt to recriminalize private possession of marijuana for personal use. So take heart, or at least dial back on the despair a little.