The international drug reform movement has lost a valued member way too soon, the Supreme Court rejects Nebraska and Oklahoma's efforts to derail Colorado's pot law, a new report says the pot business is going big, Ohio medical marijuana initiatives keep hitting roadblocks, and more.

[image:1 align:left caption:true]Marijuana Policy

Supreme Court Rejects Nebraska and Oklahoma Lawsuit Over Colorado Marijuana Legalization. The US Supreme Court today declined to hear the case brought by Nebraska and Oklahoma against Colorado's marijuana legalization law. The two states had claimed the Colorado law created an increased law enforcement burden in their states and claimed that federal marijuana prohibition trumps the state law. But the Obama administration urged the high court to reject the case, and today it did on a 6-2 vote.

Legal Marijuana Could Be a $23 Billion Business By 2020, Report Says. In its 4th Edition State of Legal Marijuana Markets Report, the Arcview Market Research and the data-analysis firm New Frontier said that the legal marijuana industry is creating thousands of jobs and is online to reach $23 billion in sales by 2020, driven largely by adult use.

Vermont House Panels Will Hold Hearing on Pot Legalization Bill on March 31. The House committees on Judiciary and on Government Operations will hold a joint hearing on the marijuana legalization bill, Senate Bill 241. The measure has already passed the Senate, and Gov. Peter Shumlin (D) supports it. If the bill passes, Vermont will become the first state to legalize it via the legislative process.  

Medical Marijuana

Ohio Attorney General Rejects Two More Initiatives. It's back to the drawing board for two more medical marijuana initiatives after Attorney General Mike DeWine found problems with their ballot language. The Medical Cannabis and Industrial Hemp Amendment, submitted by a group led by attorney and veteran marijuana activist Don Wirstshafter, had inconsistencies between its text and its summary, DeWine said. Last Friday, he rejected a fourth petition for the Ohio Medical Cannabis Amendment for similar reasons. The groups behind the initiatives will now have to gather an additional 1,000 signatures and then resubmit their initiatives.

Heroin and Prescription Opioids

New CDC Prescribing Guidelines Urge Doctors Not to Test for Marijuana. New Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines aimed at reducing opiate addiction and overdose deaths recommend that doctors stop drug testing patients for the presence of THC and discourages them from dropping patients who test positive for pot. "Clinicians should not test for substances for which results would not affect patient management or for which implications for patient management are unclear. For example, experts noted that there might be uncertainty about the clinical implications of a positive urine drug test for tetrahyrdocannabinol (THC),” the guidelines state. "Clinicians should not dismiss patients from care based on a urine drug test result because this could constitute patient abandonment and could have adverse consequences for patient safety, potentially including the patient obtaining opioids from alternative sources and the clinician missing opportunities to facilitate treatment for substance use disorder."

Asset Forfeiture

Utah Poll Has 86% Opposing Current Asset Forfeiture Laws. A new Public Policy Polling survey commissioned by Drug Policy Action, the lobbying arm of the Drug Policy Alliance, shows overwhelming dissatisfaction with the state's civil asset forfeiture laws. More than three-quarters (77%) of respondents said they were unaware of civil asset forfeiture, but when provided a brief summary, 86% supported the position that "Police should not be able to seize and permanently take away property from people who have not been charged with a crime." The poll comes as asset forfeiture reform legislation has been stalled by organized opposition from law enforcement.

Pregnancy

Tennessee Law That Criminalized Drug Use By Pregnant Women Could Be Modified. On Tuesday, lawmakers will vote to amend the state's "fetal assault" bill, which makes it a crime for women to use drugs while pregnant. The amendment being offered would only prosecute woman who are more than 25 weeks pregnant.  But advocates are calling for a better solution: don't renew the law.

International

European Drug Reform Stalwart Joep Oomen Dead at 54.Joep Oomen, a key figure in European civil society drug reform efforts, has died unexpectedly of natural causes at his home in Antwerp, Belgium. He was found by colleagues dead in bed Friday when they went looking for him after he failed to show up for a meeting.  He was 54 years old. A veteran activist with more than a quarter century of organizing under his belt, Oomen was the co-founder of numerous drug reform NGOs, including the European Coalition for Just and Effective Drug Policies (ENCOD), the Trekt Uw Plant cannabis cultivation social club in Antwerp, and the Dutch Union for the Abolition of Cannabis Prohibtion (VOC). Joep's vision of a world without drug war drew his attention beyond Europe's borders as well. He had been active with groups like Mama Coca and Friends of the Coca Leaf in working to see the coca plant treated with the respect it deserves, and had been a steady presence at organizing around the United Nations' international drug prohibition bureaucracy. We consider Joep a friend and colleague. We are shocked and saddened by his untimely departure.