Business

Ohio has a chance to legalize marijuana this year, but the "monopoly" on commercial growing is drawing a lot of criticism.

Seventeen congressmembers introduced a federal marijuana banking bill, CBD cannabis oil gets approved in Oklahoma, medical marijuana advances in Louisiana, Indiana approves needle exchange programs, and more.

No, it's neither California nor Nevada, and not one of the New England states. This is a Middle American battleground state, and it may be ready to go green.

The home of Rastafari and Bob Marley is finally going to decriminalize marijuana possession.

Decrim comes to Maryland and Philadelphia, and Jamaica is working on it, too; the Oregon initiative campaign heats up, Chris Christie talks drugs, a SWAT reporting bill in Michigan gets a hearing, and more.

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.