Maine moves a step closer to implementing legal pot sales, the Mormon Church takes a stand against a medical marijuana initiative, the DEA has seized tons of money from people it never charged with a crime, and more.
Maine House Approves New Compromise on Legal Pot Sales [19]. The House voted Tuesday to approve a measure designed to get the state's legal pot sales system up and running, and it did so with a veto-proof majority. Under the compromise legislation, the number of plants that individuals could grow at home would drop from six to three, there would be a 10% sales tax on legal weed, and there would be a $335 per pound tax imposed on growing facilities. The bill is expected to be on the Senate calendar today. An earlier effort to legislate implementation of the voter-approved 2016 law was vetoed by Gov. Paul Le Page.
Tennessee Poll Has Surprising Support for Marijuana [20]. More than eight out of 10 Tennesseans believe marijuana should be legal in some form, a new Middle Tennessee State University poll finds. Some 44% said marijuana should be legal for medicinal use only, while another 37% said it should be legal for personal use. A medical marijuana bill was withdrawn earlier this month after its sponsor said it lacked the support to pass in the legislature.
Medical Marijuana
Utah Medical Marijuana Initiative Officially Opposed by Mormon Church [21]. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' First Presidency issued a statement Tuesday opposing the medical marijuana initiative [22], which is still in the signature gathering phase: "We commend the Utah Medical Association for its statement of March 30, 2018, cautioning that the proposed Utah marijuana initiative would compromise the health and safety of Utah communities. We respect the wise counsel of the medical doctors of Utah," the statement reads. "The public interest is best served when all new drugs designed to relieve suffering and illness, and the procedures by which they are made available to the public, undergo the scrutiny of medical scientists and official approval bodies."
Asset Forfeiture
DEA Has Taken More Than $3 Billion from People Never Charged With a Crime [23]. A March report from the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General finds that the DEA has seized more than $4 billion from drug suspects since 2007 --but that four out of five of the seizures were done administratively and did not lead to either civil or criminal charges. That means the DEA seized about $3.2 billion from people never charged with a crime. The report also scolded DEA, noting that it "does not collect or evaluate the data necessary to know whether its seizures and forfeitures are effective, or the extent to which seizures present potential risks to civil liberties." Also, the report warned: "When seizure and administrative forfeitures do not ultimately advance an investigation or prosecution, law enforcement creates the appearance, and risks the reality, that it is more interested in seizing and forfeiting cash than advancing an investigation or prosecution."
International
Colombia Arrests FARC Peace Negotiator on Drug Charges [24]. Colombian federal police agents arrested one of the former rebel group's peace negotiators on Monday, sparking an angry reaction from the FARC. Seuxis Paucis Hernández Solarte, alias "Jesús Santrich," and three others face extradition to the U.S. on charges they conspired to import cocaine. The FARC, which has now transformed itself into a political party -- the Common Alternative Revolutionary Force (FARC, in its Spanish acronym) -- called the arrest "the worst moment" of the peace process. "This is a very delicate and dangerous situation. This, yet again, underscores what we have been complaining about in relation to the legal insecurity and lack of guarantees that we have as members of the FARC political party," former FARC commander Victoria Sandino said in a statement. "This is sabotage and an obstacle for those that have committed wholeheartedly to this process, starting with one of the main negotiators and signatory of the peace accord."
Hondurans Seize Second Coca Plantation, Raising Fears Cocaine Production is Shifting North [25]. Last weekend, Honduran police seized a 70 acre coca plantation, the second one found in the country. Honduran authorities speculated that drug trafficking groups are experimenting with growing there in order to save on smuggling costs from South America. The country has long been a key transit point for cocaine headed north; now it could become a producer, too.