A Michigan narc developed a taste for the stuff he was supposed to be repressing, a San Diego detention deputy got caught with cocaine in his car in the jail parking lot, and more.
Chronicle
Voters in San Francisco appear set to approve anti-crime and anti-drug measures next month. (Creative Commons)
Battles over what to do with Oregon's drug decriminalization continue, an Arizona bill ostensibly aimed at homelessness would heighten penalties for some drug crimes and create a new offense, and more.
Chronicle
You still can't legally grow a plant at home in Washington state after a bill to allow it died. (Creative Commons)
Virginia lawmakers keep moving toward approving a legal marijuana marketplace, Hawaii lawmakers now have a pair of complementary marijuana legalization bills to ponder, and more.
Chronicle
Some Pennsylvania drug courts are being forced to allow the use of opioid addiction medications. (Creative Commons)
A pair of Tennessee bills would allow voters to weigh in on marijuana policy questions, the European Union gives the go-ahead for a multi-national initiative campaign on medical marijuana and research, and more.
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Lawmakers in Oregon are debating whether to recriminalize drug possession. (Creative Commons)
Fifty members of Congress are worried that the Chinese Communist Party is profiting from illegal weed grows, Pennsylvania's governor calls (again) for marijuana legalization, and more.
Chronicle
A South Dakota bill to heighten penalties for drug sales resulting in a fatal overdose is advancing. (Creative Commons)
The US and China form an official counternarcotics working group to deal with fentanyl and its analogs, a Virginia bill to clear the way for retail marijuana sales advances, and more.
Jim Gierach is a former Cook County, Illinois, prosecutor, occasional failed political candidate, and longtime fighter in the trenches taking on the war on drugs. He makes no bones about what he thinks need to happen.
Chronicle
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton doesn't want any pot leaves in the Lone Star State.
Mandatory minimum sentencing remains in fashion in Boise, an Arkansas medical marijuana expansion initiative has been rejected by the state attorney general, and more.
Chronicle
There is a better way to grow marijuana. Ask Rebel Farm. (rebelfarm.org)
One Canadian province is moving backwards on harm reduction, the West Virginia legislature sends a bill legalizing drug test strips to the governor, and more.
Chronicle
Eights tons of cocaine seized by Dutch authorities. Amsterdam's mayor says legalize it. (Netherlands Public Prosecutor)
A pair of congressional Democrats file a bill to allow marijuana use in public housing, the mayor of Amsterdam calls for legal cocaine use and sales, and more.
A restrictive South Dakota medical marijuana bill is killed, a Florida Senate resolution designating Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations advances, and more.
Chronicle
A Sri Lankan beach. There is trouble in paradise. (Creative Commons)