This report provides a selection of materials for locating information on foreign countries and international organizations. In the general information section, it presents sources giving an overview of politics, economics, and history.

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This report discusses the issue facing Congress on whether to continue to support the executive branch’s prosecution of medical marijuana patients and their providers, in accordance with marijuana’s status as a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act, or whether to relax federal marijuana prohibition enough to permit the medical use of botanical cannabis products by seriously ill persons, especially in states that have created medical marijuana programs under state law.

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This report provides a guide to Internet Sources the Immigration. This report identifies selected WWW sites from the internet about immigration topics in the United States.

Over the past decade, worldwide production of illicit drugs has risen dramatically: opium and marijuana production has roughly doubled and coca production tripled. Street prices of cocaine and heroin have fallen significantly in the past 20 years, reflecting increased availability. Despite apparent national political resolve to deal with the drug problem, inherent contradictions regularly appear between U.S. anti-drug policy and other national policy goals and concerns. The mix of competing domestic and international pressures and priorities has produced an ongoing series of disputes within and between the legislative and executive branches concerning U.S. international drug policy. One contentious issue has been the Congressionally-mandated certification process, an instrument designed to induce specified drug-exporting countries to prioritize or pay more attention to the fight against narcotics businesses.

This report discusses projected agricultural imports and exports for FY2003, as well as legislation that deals with federal programs in support of agricultural exports and federal aid dedicated to farms and agricultural reform.

The 108th Congress is considering legislation to reduce chemical facilities’ vulnerability to acts of terrorism, so as to protect critical sectors of the U.S. infrastructure and reduce risks to public health and the environment. Competing bills, S. 994 and S. 157, have been introduced into the Senate. Both would require chemical facilities to conduct vulnerability assessments and develop and implement site security plans, but the approaches of the bills differ with respect to the chemicals and facilities covered, planning requirements and mechanisms for federal and facility accountability.

This report provides a selection of materials for locating information on foreign countries and international organizations. In the general information section, it presents sources giving an overview of politics, economics, and recent history. A specialized information section cites sources on human rights, immigration, international organizations, military strengths, terrorism, and other topics. Included are titles of some of the most frequently consulted bibliographic sources that are available for use in many libraries. Electronic information on foreign countries is also provided, via the Internet, by agencies of the federal government, international organizations, and related sources. Included is a list of foreign chanceries located in Washington, D.C.

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Some Members of Congress have expressed interest in the feasibility of using a value-added tax (VAT) to either replace all or part of the income tax, finance health care reform, or to fund America’s war effort. A VAT is imposed at all levels of production on the differences between firms’ sales and their purchases from all other firms. Policymakers may be interested in the following aspects of a VAT: revenue yield, international comparison of composition of taxes, vertical equity, neutrality, inflation, balance-of-trade, national saving, administrative cost, intergovernmental relations, size of government, and public opinion.

Proposals to replace all or part of the income tax, proposals for national health care, and a proposal to finance America’s war effort have sparked congressional interest in the possibility of a broad-based consumption tax as a newsource of revenue. A value-added tax (VAT) or a national sales tax (NST) have been frequently discussed as possible new tax sources. Both the VAT and the NST are taxes on the consumption of goods and services and are conceptually similar. Yet, these taxes also have significant differences. This issue brief discusses some of the potential policy implications associated with these differences.

The idea of replacing our current income tax system with a "flat-rate tax" is receiving renewed congressional interest. This report contains information on recent developments regarding flat-rate taxes, the relationship between income and consumption, international comparisons, other fundamental tax reforms, and descriptions of selected proposals.