Business

An unsettling poll in Alaska, Minnesota medical marijuana mom gets busted, there's money to be made in drug testing, Maryland SWAT teams have been busy, a West African meeting on drugs is underway, and more.

The DEA and the Justice Department may have backed off -- somewhat -- on raiding medical marijuana dispensaries, but the feds have other tools in their kit, and now they're going after the banks.

A federal grand jury in San Francisco has indicted FedEx on charges it conspired to distribute controlled substance over its shipments of prescription drugs for illegal online pharmacies. FedEx says it will fight the charges.

Tens of thousands of federal drug prisoners could get out early after the US Sentencing Commission votes to make guideline reductions retroactive, the Ohio Supreme Court moves to cut some crack sentences, FedEx gets indicted for shipping pills for Internet pharmacies (and not taking a deal with the feds), and more.

Marijuana policy researcher and analyst Beau Kilmer talks to the Chronicle about marijuana legalization, taxation, public health, and related issues. Plenty to chew on here.

In an historic vote Wednesday, the US House has approved an amendment to the Treasury Department appropriations bill barring the agency from spending any money to punish financial institutions that provide services to marijuana businesses where it is legal.

The House okays marijuana banking, DC decriminalizes tomorrow, DC expands its medical marijuana program, Miami-Dade taxpayers pay for a particularly heinous killer drug raid, a lot of states did sentencing reforms last year, and more.

Eugene Jarecki, auteur of the award-winning drug war documentary The House I Live In, talks about the film, the war on drugs, and the future.

The marijuana industry has arrived. The National Cannabis Industry Association's Cannabis Business Summit in Denver was last week, and there were way more suits and ties than guys in tie-dyes.