... and another open thread, as I continue my vacation in the snowy wilds of Iowa. Via Scott at Grits for Breakfast... Apparently, the U.S. government is not only running cocaine, but providing loans to Mexican drug cartels. Well, the loans were supposed to be to help trade with Mexico, so I guess that works. OpEd by Rob Kampia: If Tobacco Regulation Works, Why Not for Marijuana? Fortunately, she wasn't home... Drug Police Smash Down Front Door of Innocent Gran in Cannabis Search

DRUG-busting police smashed down the front door of a grandmother's house in a hunt for a cannabis farm. Anne Mayor was stunned when she returned to her small home in Aintree to discover six officers had broken in and scoured it for drugs. [...] "The officer apologised, but I don't want an apology. It's not good enough."

OpEd by Paul Armentano: Ending America's Domestic Quagmire: No-Knock, You're Dead OpEd by Sanho Tree: What Darwin Teaches Us About the Drug War

As politicians intensified the drug war decade after decade, an unintended consequence began to appear. These "get tough" policies have caused the drug economy to evolve under Darwinian principles (i.e., survival of the fittest). Indeed, the drug war has stimulated this economy to grow and innovate at a frightening pace. By escalating the drug war, the kinds of people the police typically capture are the ones who are dumb enough to get caught. These criminal networks are occasionally taken down when people within the organization get careless. Thus, law enforcement tends to apprehend the most inept and least efficient traffickers.

Greg Francisco at LEAP: Making Criminals Out of People Who Are Not Need a job? Search under way for new drug war czar (No, it's not Walters' job, just a HDTA task force executive director position.