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A study just released by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration shows that marijuana use in the United States has been increasing since states began legalizing medical marijuana. The study indicates that fueled by higher marijuana use, illicit drug use as a whole is up across the country even as the use of most other drugs is down. From Medical News Today: The number of users of marijuana in America rose from 14.4 million in 2007 to 17.4 million in 2010, while the numbers of methamphetamine users aged 12+ years dropped from 731,000 in 2006 to 353,000 in 2010.

Even with the Iraq war yielding reduced levels of violence, a new Brookings Institution report details what could be the next Iraq-related security crisis

In three Congressional hearings this spring, Rep. John Tierney (D-Mass.) carefully laid out the case against the Pentagon’s long-range missile defense

Pres.

It’s the last bit of news that his colleagues want to hear, but House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) on Tuesday floated the possibility that Congress

Wow. Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair acknowledged Wednesday that government agencies may kill U.S. citizens abroad who are involved in

... As a punchline at last night’s Gridiron Dinner in Washington. Mike Allen reports on Vice President Joe Biden’s routine: You know, I never realized just how

GUANTANAMO BAY -- It’s been a persistent point of speculation since The Toronto Star’s Michelle Shephard broke the story Wednesday that the defense had turned

This is getting to be a theme today. The Houston Chronicle takes note of the six Texas Republican congressmen (the editorial was apparently written before Louie

In four hours of testimony before the House oversight committee, the former Fed chairman admitted that his belief that markets will self-regulate was flawed. But as the hearing wore on, he was back to his old confident self, fending off calls for more regulation.

Joan Walsh saw this last night: Liz Cheney, the most famous former principal deputy assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs in American history,

The Department of Homeland Security wants to prioritize dangerous criminals for deportation, and state laws that fast-track undocumented prisoners are helping.

Spencer sends over a short video clip revealing that Sen. Saxby Chambliss probably needs some rest. Facing a runoff election in a few weeks -- and recently

A drumbeat is building for some form of federal takeover of troubled home mortgages. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) is leading the charge in the

In 2008, 13 votes sent Cedar Rapids educator and small business owner Art Staed home from the Iowa House. He chose to sit out the 2010 election, which Democrats lost by more than 1,000 votes, but says he’s ready to face his old foe, Republican Rep. Renee Schulte , once again in 2012

For us national-security writers, our version of Iron Man or The Dark Knight is Jane Mayer’s The Dark Side -- the first book on the war on terrorism from

From Jake Tapper at ABC: Justice Department spokesman Matthew Miller said today that Justice Department officials “will not participate in an attempt to drag

An early adopter of counterinsurgency strategy, now conventional wisdom, will serve as observer to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s visit to the White House.

At this weekend’s Awakening conference in Lynchburg, Va., a longstanding ideological battle continued between Grover Norquist, president of the taxpayer