Lots of good stuff!

“bullet” Reason’s Jacob Sullom asks in Bush on Steroids, “Why must sports by drug-free?

The irony is that legal restrictions and league bans on steroids discourage athletes who use them from seeking medical guidance, so they’re more at risk than they would be if steroid use were permitted. As with recreational drugs, prohibition makes steroids more dangerous, not less.

An interesting article, and Sullom, as usual, is not afraid to ask the “taboo” questions.
“bullet” Talkleft has a couple of posts worth checking out, including

• Los Angeles is the latest city — and the largest one — to reject the Patriot Act
• Informants Who Set Up Fake Drug Busts Get a Sentence Break

“bullet” As most people know by now, Art Garfunkel was busted for pot possession. I really don’t have much to say on this, other than the fact that he’s one of over 600,000 people in the United States who should not have been arrested in the past year for marijuana possession.
“bullet” Damn Foreigner has an excellent post on US Ambassador giving unsolicited advice. Essentially Ambassador Paul Cellucci is threatening Canada again with border troubles if they don’t dispel the “perception” that getting marijuana is Canada will be easier.
One of the most bizarre parts of this is that he suggests something that would help: putting in criminal provisions for marijuana possession near schools — this in conjunction with decriminalization. So, if your house is within x feet of a school you could go to jail for smoking pot in your own home, but your neighbor would just get a fine. Yeah, that works. It would be interesting to see if that would raise or lower property values near schools.
“bullet” Vice Squad is on top of Chicago cops, drugs, and corruption.
“bullet” Mark Kleiman talks about the disturbing trend in drug abuse research — that all the funding is going toward the information that the warriors want to present — in Opting for Ignorance: ADAM program killed
“bullet” The fabulous Libby at Last One Speaks has the humorous story of the Detective who was ruled “too cute” in a drug bust!
“bullet” The new issue of Drug War Chronicle is available with some interesting items, including more on the hysteria in the UK that I’ve been reporting, and a Minnesota Sentencing Commission report that says the state could save $30 million per year with treatment instead of prison.