Mexican drug war update

I’m going to try to make a link list about the Mexican drug war a recurring feature…

1. The Washington Post reports that at least 11 mayors across Mexico have been killed so far this year.

2. Over 100 police officers in Ciudad Juárez alone have been killed this year.

3. The New York Times reports on the proliferation of drug smuggling tunnels between the two cities of Nogales in Mexico and Arizona. “There is a joke in Nogales that someday its entire downtown will collapse into a giant sinkhole due to the many drug tunnels in the city.”

4. If Californians approve Prop 19 in November, it would open the door for Mexico to consider a more liberal drug strategy, writes McClatchy’s Mexico City bureau chief.

Prop 19’s stock soars

California’s Prop 19 has been soaring in the prediction markets, with its stock on InTrade going for a bit under 70 – a number which, roughly translated, means that bettors think there’s about a 70% chance of it passing. This run-up in price seems to be linked to a September 30 poll which put support for the measure at 52% with another 7% undecided.

All this despite the fact that all major California politicians, political candidates, and newspapers have opined against Prop 19.

Hello world!

So, my name is Stephen Smith and…welcome to my blog. I’ve wanted to start a drug policy/history blog for a while now, but my perpetual indecision on a name made me hesitate, until now!

Just to get it out of the way, I am strongly pro-legalization, of everything, and that should be pretty obvious as I start to post. I’m more interested in learning than preaching, though, so hopefully it won’t turn into a long drug rant. I’ll focus mostly on drug history, politics, and economics, and I might do some science stuff, but don’t expect a daily digest of every journal article published on the potential uses of marijuana.

And so with that, o lonely reader, it begins!