The Supreme Court has granted a group of marijuana companies an extension in their bid to be heard by the high court, Trump's "worst of the worst" immigrants apparently include pot-smokers, and more.

Marijuana Policy

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Trump Administration Has Deported More Than 600 People for Pot So Far This Year. The Trump administration has trumpeted its mass deportation campaign as aimed at violent criminals and "the worst of the worst," but according to data from a Marshall Project analysis of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) data, provided to the Deportation Data Project in response to a FOIA request, only about 12 percent of the 120,000 people deported between January and May were convicted of a violent or potentially violent crime.

The deportees included more than 600 people grabbed, jailed, and expelled for nothing more serious than a marijuana offense, including many that were more than five years old. Another 900 people were deported for drug possession offenses, nearly half of them more than five years ago.

More than 1,800 people were deported for traffic offenses and another 4,800 for DUIs. More than 10,000 people were deported whose only offense was illegal entry into the country.

And people with no criminal convictions whatsoever account for about two-thirds of all deportations.

Deporting marijuana and other drug offenders is not unique to the Trump administration. Since the turn of the century, the US has deported half a million people whose most serious charges were drug offenses. What's different, for those and other deportations by this administration, is the use of mass roundups and detentions on the one hand, together with skirting in many cases of due process rights, and the firing as part of governmental downsizing of immigration judges who are needed to administer the cases, resulting in soaring abuse of detainees but a smaller number of them actually deported.

Supreme Court Gives Marijuana Companies More Time to File Petition in Case Challenging Federal Pot Prohibition. The Supreme Court has granted marijuana companies suing the Justice Department in a bid to overturn federal pot prohibition an extension of the time they need to file their petition to the high court.

The thorny issues raised in the case mean attorneys need more time to prepare, lawyers for the companies in their filing. They also cited the need for more time for state governments and other experts expected to file briefs in the case "carefully craft their arguments."

"This case presents significant and complex constitutional issues concerning both state-regulated marijuana specifically and the authority of Congress to regulate purely intrastate commerce generally," the filing says. "The additional time will permit counsel to prepare a petition that appropriately addresses the questions of nationwide importance raised by this case."

The companies -- Canna Provisions, Gyasi Sellers, Wiseacre Farm and Verano Holdings -- entered a request for a 60-day extension to submit its writ of certiorari last week. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson approved the proposal last Friday, pushing back the current deadline of August 25 to October 24.

The move comes after a federal appeals court rejected the companies' arguments, clearing the way for plaintiffs to seek Supreme Court review. The Supreme Court has not yet decided whether it will take up the case.

Drug Policy

Kentucky Governor Uses Emergency Powers to Ban "Designer Xanax." Gov. Andy Beshear (D) used his emergency powers to ban bromazolam, a triazolo-benzodiazepine with effects similar to Xanax and nicknamed "designer Xanax." Beshear acted at the behest of state Attorney General Russell Coleman (D), who is leading a coalition of 21 state attorneys general urging the DEA to itself take emergency action to ban the substance.

"This deadly drug has no place in our communities, and now we have the tools needed to get it off the streets and protect more lives," Beshear said.

Although synthesized in the 1970s, bromazolom has never been approved for any medical use. It began appearing in illicit drug markets in the US in 2019. In a letter dated Monday to DEA Administrator Terry Cole (who may be busy with his day job currently running the Metro DC Police), the state attorneys general called the drug a growing public health threat and a contributor to overdose deaths.

The substance appears as counterfeit Xanax or mixed with opioids, including fentanyl.

"There is zero margin of error when it comes to illicit drugs and counterfeit pills," the attorneys general said in their letter to Cole. "As parents and public officials, we must do everything possible to cut off the supply of these deadly substances through vigorous enforcement, while also continuing to promote the prevention, treatment, and recovery efforts that are saving lives across our states."

Beshear's emergency regulation went into effect immediately. It is now illegal to sell or possess bromazolam in the Bluegrass State. Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Virginia, and West Virginia all banned the substance prior to 2023, but Kentucky is the first state to join the club since then.