This investigation is about the patently unsafe, unlawful, importation of prescription drugs by Canadian on-line pharmacies, with Google's knowledge and assistance, into the United States, directly to U.S. consumers. It is about taking a significant step forward in limiting the ability of rogue on-line pharmacies from reaching U.S. consumers, by compelling Google to change its behavior. It is about holding Google responsible for its conduct by imposing a $500 million forfeiture, the kind of forfeiture that will not only get Google's attention, but the attention of all those who contribute to America's pill problem.

The lawsuit against Google was the unintended result of an investigation into a string of "rogue online pharmacies" that used Google's AdWords to unlawfully market prescription drugs. Google filed a federal lawsuit [WSJ report] against the pharmaceutical advertisers in September 2010. The DOJ discovered advertisements for the unlawful sale of drugs on Google's AdWords during that investigation. AdWords allows advertisers, for a fee, to select keywords that, when searched by a Google user, bring up a link to the advertiser's website. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) [official website] said in an advisory opinion [materials; press release, PDF] handed down in September 2009 that Google's AdWords, a system that causes advertisements to be shown alongside natural search results on Google, does not violate EU trademark law [JURIST report].

A human rights activist and critic of the Kremlin, Anna Politkovskaya was shot dead in an elevator of her apartment building in Moscow as she was returning home. Politkovskaya investigated human rights abuses in Chechnya and high-level corruption across Russia, and her death raised concerns about the safety of journalists and other critics of the government. At the time she was working for the low-circulation independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta [official website, in Russian] where she was writing reports on Chechnya. Her death was widely believed to be a contract killing. Russia's Federal Security Service charged Rustam Makhmudov for the murder [JURIST report] in June. Two of Makhmudov's brothers and a former police officer are currently awaiting trial for the murder in Moscow. A district court acquitted those three men in February 2009 due to a lack of prosecutorial evidence, but the Russian Supreme Court vacated the acquittal and ordered a reinvestigation of the case [JURIST reports].

The word "use" has numerous dictionary definitions, as does the word "administer." However, each word has a definition that relates directly to controlled substances or medicines, and we find those definitions to be the most relevant. To "use" means "to drink, smoke, or ingest habitually." ... Employing these definitions, we hold that a person assists a registered qualifying patient with "using or administering" marihuana when the person assists the patient in preparing the marihuana to be consumed in any of the various ways that marihuana is commonly consumed or by physically aiding the patient in consuming the marihuana.

US Courts have been forced to interpret medical marijuana statutes in recent years. Arizona Governor Jan Brewer (R) [official website] announced in June that the state is filing a federal lawsuit [JURIST report] seeking a declaratory judgment over the legality of the state's controversial medical marijuana law passed last November. In January 2010, the California Supreme Court [official website] overturned [JURIST report] a 2003 law limiting the amount of marijuana that may be possessed under the state's Medical Marijuana Program (MMP) [materials]. Earlier that month, New Jersey became the fourteenth US state [JURIST report] to legalize medical marijuana. In November 2009, voters in Maine approved [JURIST report] an expansion of the state's existing medical marijuana laws, making Maine the fifth state to allow dispensaries, following California, Colorado, Rhode Island and New Mexico. California's Fourth District Court of Appeal ruled in 2008 that the MMP is not in conflict with the Supremacy Clause [JURIST report] and does not violate the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) [text].

Hadzic was a key player in the Bosnian Civil War [JURIST news archive] and has been at large for approximately seven years. Hadzic's official charges [case information sheet, PDF] are: persecutions on political, racial or religious grounds; extermination; murder; torture; inhumane acts; deportation and forcible transfer; cruel treatment; wanton destruction of villages, or devastation not justified by military necessity; destruction or willful damage done to institutions dedicated to education and religion; and plunder of public or private property. Hadzic's indictment contends that, in his role as president of the Serbian nationalist forces during the war, he attempted to permanently and forcibly remove a majority of the Croat and other non-Serb population from the disputed territory. He is accused of murdering or ordering the murders of hundreds of non-Serb citizens, including children and the elderly. Further, he allegedly displaced more than 20,000 non-Serb civilians. Hadzic was the final remaining war criminal at large from the Bosnian Civil War, along with Ratko Mladic [JURIST news archive], who was arrested in May [JURIST report].

However the authorities choose to describe such incidents, the fact remains that they are suspected unlawful killings. It is appalling that virtually all alleged instances of illegal RAB killings have gone unchallenged or unpunished. There can be no justice if the force is the chief investigator of its own wrong-doings. Such investigations cannot be impartial. There is nothing to stop the RAB from destroying the evidence and engineering the outcome.

Extrajudicial killing has been an ongoing problem in Bangladesh. Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] urged [text, PDF; JURIST report] the new Bangladesh government [official website; JURIST news archive] in May 2009 to investigate torture, illegal detentions and extrajudicial killings allegedly conducted by the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) and the RAB. The news echoed similar findings [JURIST report] reported by the EU in June 2007. In April 2009, the Bangladesh government announced [JURIST report] that it was working with the UN to organize war crimes [JURIST news archive] prosecutions for alleged violations stemming from the country's 1971 War of Independence [GlobalSecurity backgrounder] against Pakistan [JURIST news archive] and that is considering trial in the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website]. Bangladesh encountered a difficult political transition with the election of its new Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina [official profile] in 2008, ending two years of military rule. After the election, Bangladeshi Law, Justice, and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shafique Ahmed [official website] declared [JURIST report] his government's desire to restore Bangladesh's 1972 constitution [text, PDF].

Thailand's political system has remained unstable following the coup that ousted Thaksin in 2006. In February, seven leaders of Thailand's "red-shirt" [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] pro-democracy movement, another group that opposes the country's current leadership, were released on bail [JURIST report]. They were arrested on terrorism charges stemming from their involvement in the anti-government protests [JURIST news archive] in Bangkok. In January, members of the movement also petitioned the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] to launch a preliminary investigation [JURIST report] into whether the government committed crimes against humanity during those protests. The Constitutional Court of Thailand ordered that 46.4 billion baht (USD $1.4 billion) of Thaksin's fortune be seized [JURIST report] in Februrary 2010, a ruling that led to violent protests that took place in Bangkok last spring.

The ICC has also been involved with prosecutorial aspects of the Libya conflict [JURIST backgrounder], which has been ongoing since February. ICC representatives were reportedly meeting [JURIST report] Monday with Libyan rebels to discuss turning over the son of Libyan leader Mummar Gaddafi [BBC profile; JURIST news archive], Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, to the court for prosecution. The ICC issued arrest warrants [JURIST report] for Muammar, Saif and Muammar's brother-in-law Abdullah al-Sanussi in June on charges of crimes against humanity. On the other hand, the ICC has been criticized for lack of involvement with respect to other war crimes allegations. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay [official profile] urged the UN Security Council last week to refer Syria to the ICC to investigate the violent suppression [JURIST report] of anti-government protests.