Drug War Topics

Democracy Now! stories, posts and pages that relate to Drug War

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  • Sarah_stillmann-throwaways_2

    Throwaways: Recruited by Police & Thrown into Danger, Young Informants are Drug War's Latest Victims

    New Yorker staff writer Sarah Stillman has just been awarded a George Polk Award for her article, "The Throwaways," which investigates law enforcement’s unregulated use of young confidential informants in drug cases. Stillman details how police broker deals with young, untrained informants to perform high-risk operations with few legal protections in exchange for leniency — and sometimes fatal results. Stillman joins us to...
    Feb 20, 2013 | Story
  • Gabor_mate

    Dr. Gabor Maté on the Stress-Disease Connection, Addiction and the Destruction of American Childhood

    Today, a Democracy Now! special with the Canadian physician and bestselling author, Dr. Gabor Maté. From disease to addiction, parenting to attention deficit disorder, Maté’s work focuses on the centrality of early childhood experiences to the development of the brain, and how those experiences can impact everything from behavioral patterns to physical and mental illness. While the relationship between emotional stress and disease, and mental...
    Dec 25, 2012 | Story
  • Martinlee-smokesignals

    Smoke Signals: Martin Lee on Growing U.S. Movement to Legalize Marijuana

    We turn now to look at the outcome of this month’s historic votes in Colorado and Washington state to legalize the recreational use of marijuana. Even before this, 18 states and the District of Columbia allowed the medical use of marijuana. Now, many are asking whether the passage of these latest measures could be the beginning of the end for marijuana prohibition. All of this comes as the federal government continues to consider marijuana...
    Nov 29, 2012 | Story
  • Reu-usa-marijuana_legaliz-1

    After Historic Votes Legalizing Marijuana, Colorado & Washington Prepare for Federal Gov't Showdown

    In a historic move, Colorado and Washington have become the first states to legalize marijuana for recreational use. Fifty-two percent of voters in Colorado supported Amendment 64, which will amend the state constitution to allow those 21 and older to purchase up to one ounce of marijuana at specially regulated stores, and permit adults to grow up to six marijuana plants in their homes. Meanwhile, in Washington, Initiative 502 passed by a 10-point...
    Nov 09, 2012 | Story
  • Valeria_tachiquin-2

    Valeria "Munique" Tachiquin: U.S. Agent Kills Young Mother of 5 in Latest of Growing Border Deaths

    In the wake of a dramatic increase in deaths at the hands of U.S Border Patrol agents, the Department of Homeland Security has agreed to launch a long-awaited investigation into the agency’s use of force. Since 2010, border agents have killed at least 18 people, including Valeria "Munique" Tachiquin, slain by a Border Patrol agent on September 28 in broad daylight several miles north of California’s border with Mexico. Tachiquin...
    Oct 25, 2012 | Story
  • Sicilia

    Mexican Poet, Activist Javier Sicilia Brings Peace Caravan into U.S. to Condemn Deadly Drug War

    A peace caravan led by Mexican activists has kicked off a month-long journey across the United States to call for an end of the U.S.-backed drug war. The caravan will criss-cross some 20 states to "call for change in the bi-national policies that have inflamed a six-year Drug War, super-empowered organized crime, corrupted Mexico’s vulnerable democracy, claimed lives and devastated human rights on both sides of the border." The...
    Aug 16, 2012 | Story
  • Pena

    After Election, Mexico Poised for Return of PRI -- And Continuation of Deadly U.S.-Fueled Drug War

    Mexico’s old ruling party, Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), is set to return to power after early election results indicate the PRI candidate Enrique Peña Nieto has won the presidential election. Peña Nieto’s chief rival, the leftist candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has not conceded, but the PRI has already claimed victory. López Obrador had received a surge in popularity in the weeks before the vote, thanks in part...
    Jul 02, 2012 | Story
  • Mexicoelectionthumb

    Mexico Votes: Will Occupy-Inspired, Student-Fueled Movement Give Manuel López Obrador an Upset Win?

    As the drug war rages in Mexico, voters will head to the polls on Sunday to choose a new president. Will the PRI come back to power, or could the Occupy-inspired Yo Soy 132 movement help Andrés Manuel López Obrador, a former Mexico City mayor who narrowly lost the 2006 election, pull off an upset? We go to Mexico City to speak with Tania Molina, a journalist at La Jornada, the main progressive national newspaper in Mexico; and John Ackerman,...
    Jun 28, 2012 | Story
  • Fastandfuriousthumb

    Amidst Holder Contempt Vote, New Investigation Undermines Key GOP Claims on "Fast and Furious"

    U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder faces a contempt vote by the House of Representatives today in a dispute involving an alleged botched gun-running probe. Republican lawmakers have accused Holder of withholding documents about a gun-running sting operation on the U.S.-Mexico border codenamed "Fast and Furious." For months, Republican lawmakers have alleged that U.S. agents encouraged the sale of thousands of guns to middlemen for Mexican...
    Jun 28, 2012 | Story
  • Button-honduras-drugwar

    U.S. Secret Drug War in Honduras: Botched DEA Raid Leaves 2 Pregnant Women, 2 Men Dead

    The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency has confirmed its agents were on board a U.S.-owned helicopter with Honduran police officers when four people were shot and killed on a boat earlier this week. Two of the victims were said to be pregnant women. The deadly incident has highlighted the centrality of Honduras in the U.S.-backed drug war. Honduras is the hub for the U.S. military operations in Latin America, hosting at least three U.S. bases. We speak...
    May 18, 2012 | Story