Judge backs Redding atheist who balked at religious anti-drug program

Hazle was ordered to attend a 90-day, inpatient drug treatment program. He agreed to the program but even before his release told prison officials he wanted to be sent to a "treatment facility that did not contain religious components," federal court papers state.

Instead, he was assigned to the Empire Recovery Center in Redding, a 12-step program pioneered by Alcoholics Anonymous and featuring a strong religious overtone, utilizing references to God and "a higher power."

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I've read an AlAnon book. It is annoyingly religious. It would be nearly impossible for me to sit through it and pretend to participate.

Jury in on heroin ban

Inequality has been a constant theme in illicit drugs. Australia's first laws on drugs in the late 19th century banned the smoking of opium in South Australia, Victoria and NSW. The only opium smokers then were the Chinese working in the goldfields.

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Once again, we find ourselves looking at studies that show the zero tolerance is a waste of time. Conservatives insist that they are making progress on their War On Drugs... but it looks more and more like at least as dead a duck as their War On Terror.