Ohio's medical marijuana program may have just hit a bump, hemp could be coming to Utah, drug users march for decriminalization in Vancouver, demonstrators will gather in DC next week to protest the Philippines drug war, and more.

Medical Marijuana

Ohio Lawsuit Challenges Grow License Process. A lawsuit filed Tuesday by would-be medical marijuana grow operators who weren't picked for the large grow licenses issued by the state Department of Commerce threatens to disrupt the rollout of the program. The growers are suing the department, the officials involved in grading application, and all the businesses that won licenses. They charge they weren't treated fairly in the licensing process.

West Virginia Regulators Will Recommend Allowing Smokeable Medical Marijuana. The state medical marijuana board announced Tuesday that it plans to recommend to lawmakers that some patients be allowed to use marijuana in a smokeable form. The board will also recommend removing or increasing the cap on the number of growers, processors, and dispensaries in the state and allowing one company to take on more than one of those roles.

Industrial Hemp

Utah Hemp Bill Advances. A bill that would allow the production and sale of hemp products in the state is headed for a House floor vote after being approved Tuesday by the House Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Committee. House Bill 302 authorizes the state Department of Agriculture and Food to provide a hemp-growing license to "a person who wishes to participate in an industrial hemp research pilot program," according to a summary attached to the bill. The bill also allows those who would like to produce and sell hemp-based products "to distribute the registered hemp product in the state" if they obtain the license from the state to do so.

Asset Forfeiture

Wisconsin Asset Forfeiture Reform Bill Passes Senate. The state Senate has approved Senate Bill 61, which does not end civil asset forfeiture, but puts limits on how long police can hold property before someone is charged and reduce the amount of money police can keep when they sell seized property. The measure now heads for the Assembly.

Foreign Policy

Trump Budget Would Cut Aid to Colombia in Half. The White House's proposed Fiscal Year 2019 budget would slash foreign assistance to Columbia by nearly half, even as the country struggles to implement a peace deal with leftist FARC rebels and address a record-breaking level of coca planting and cocaine production. The budget would reduce funds "to implement sustainable peace" in the "most affected zones" of the country's drug prohibition-fueled armed conflict from $180 million to $100 million. The budget also seeks a reduction of one-third in funding for the International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement program. Colombia is a major recipient of aid under that program, too. The Washington Office on Latin America said the budget proposal would "squander an historic opportunity to help Colombia avoid a resurgence of criminal violence, while Insight Crime noted that "large cuts in aid could prove detrimental to efforts aimed at improving security conditions in… crime-wracked countries" like Colombia.

International

Vancouver Drug Users March to Demand Drug Decriminalization. Several hundred drug users and supporters took to the streets of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside to demand that the federal government change its drug policies and embrace drug decriminalization. The protest, part of a national day of action across the country, was organized by the Canadian Association of People who Use Drugs (CAPUD), the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU) and other groups. Decriminalization would "allow people to use drugs more safely without fear of arrest and detention," said Caitlin Shane, a lawyer with Pivot Legal Society who specializes in drug policy.

DC Demonstration Against Philippine Drug War Killings Set for Next Wednesday. On Wednesday, February 28th, please join Filipino Americans, drug policy reformers and other human rights defenders to call for an end to extrajudicial killings and for Senator de Lima to be freed. We will rally from noon to 1:00pm in front of the Philippines Embassy, 1600 Massachusetts Avenue NW in Washington, DC. Among other things, the event will feature a street theater performance in which attendees will symbolically free a Senator de Lima figure from a realistic mobile model of a prison cell. Please email David Borden at [email protected] to get involved in preparations for this demonstration or for other information, and please spread the word!

Israeli Prime Minister says he barred medical marijuana exports because of Donald Trump, the International Criminal Court begins a "preliminary examination" of the Philippines' bloody drug war, and more.

Medical Marijuana

Florida Lawmakers Shame Regulators Over Medical Marijuana Program. A joint legislative oversight committee tore into state medical marijuana czar Christian Bax on Monday. The Joint Administrative Procedures Committee used four separate unanimous votes to clarify its displeasure with rules and regulations promulgated by the Office of Medical Marijuana Use. Lawmakers are also unhappy that the office failed to respond to more than a dozen letters from lawmakers over the past four months identifying problems with the rules.

Nebraska Poll Has Strong Support for Medical Marijuana. A new Nebraska poll has 77% of respondents saying they would support allowing doctors to prescribe medical marijuana. Some 52% said they would definitely vote yes, while 22% would probably vote yes, and 3% were undecided but leaning toward yes. The poll comes as the legislature ponders a bill that would allow voters to weigh in on a constitutional amendment allowing medical marijuana.

Texas Sees First Dispensary, But CBD Only. Compassion Cultivation opened Thursday in Austin. It's the first dispensary to open under the state's CBD cannabis oil medical marijuana law. The state saw its first cannabis oil delivery to a patient earlier this week.

Harm Reduction

Iowa Needle Exchange Bill Advances. A three-member panel of the Senate Judiciary Committee voted unanimously Wednesday to approve a bill that would legalize needle exchanges in the state. Senate File 219 now heads for a vote of the whole committee.

San Francisco Regulators Back Safe Injection Site. The city's Health Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to approve a resolution supporting supervised injection services. The resolution endorses the recommendations of the Safe Injection Services Task Force, which calls for safe injection sites in the city. The matter does not need to go before the Board of Supervisors. The first two supervised injection sites could open as soon as July 1, Health Director Barbara Garcia said.

International

International Criminal Court Begins Moving on Philippines Drug War Complaints. The ICC has begun "preliminary examinations" to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to establish a case before the court in connections with the thousands of killings perpetrated in the course of President Rodrigo Duterte's bloody war on drugs. The preliminary examination is the first step in the ICC prosecution process. Duterte said he welcomed the examination because he is "sick and tired of being accused," a spokesman said.

Israel Put Hold on Medical Marijuana Exports Because of Trump, Netanyahu Says. The Israeli prime minister said President Trump called him and expressed his objection to marijuana exports. Netanyahu nixed exports earlier this week, putting potential export earnings of $1 to $4 billion a year at risk.

Lesotho Becomes First African Nation to Allow Legal Marijuana Cultivation. Lesotho has granted the first licenses for commercial marijuana cultivation, but the licenses are restricted to two foreign-owned companies. On Tuesday, Corix Bioscience announced that it received "the first license issued by the Government of Lesotho that enables them to import and export cannabis and cannabis resin in various forms." The product would be exported to any country that permits it.

The president accuses Mexico and Central American countries of not doing enough to fight our drug war, a group of senators joins the call to save ONDCP, the German police association calls for marijuana legalization, and more.

Medical Marijuana

Virginia House Passes CBD Bill. The House has passed a bill, House Bill 1215, which would allow doctors to prescribe CBD cannabis oil for any medical condition. A companion measure is up for a vote in the Senate next week and is expected to pass.

Asset Forfeiture

Indiana Senate Passes Asset Forfeiture Reform Bill. The Senate has unanimously approved Senate Bill 99, which does not end civil asset forfeiture, but does require prosecutors to file an affidavit for probable cause within seven days after a seizure and file asset forfeiture motions within 21 days if the owner of the property has objected in writing, 90 days if he has not. Under current state law, property can be held up to six months before the state decides to file a forfeiture claim. The bill now heads to the House.

Drug Policy

US Senators Call on Trump Administration to Keep Drug Czar's Office Intact. A dozen senators have written to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and to the Senate leadership urging them to block proposed changes to the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP -- the drug czar's office) that would essentially gut it. OMB has proposed moving two major grant programs -- HIDTA and the Drug-Free Communities -- out of ONDCP, which would reduce the office's budget by 95% as the nation confronts an opioid crisis.

Foreign Policy

Trump Threatens to Cut Aid to Mexico, Central America Over Drugs. President Trump last Friday threatened to cut off aid to countries from which illicit drugs are imported into the United States. "I want to stop the aid. If they can't stop drugs from coming in, 'cause they can stop them a lot easier than us. They say, 'oh we can't control it.' Oh great, we're supposed to control it," the President said. "So we give them billions and billions of dollars, and they don't do what they're supposed to be doing, and they know that. But we're going to take a very harsh action. We want strong borders. We want to give you laws. We want to stop the catch and release nonsense that goes on. You catch somebody and you release them. You know they're bad," he said. "They're pouring in from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, all over. They're just pouring into our country. These countries are not our friends, you know. We think they're our friends, and we send them massive aid, and I won't mention names right now," he said. "But I look at these countries, I look at the numbers we send them, we send them massive aid and they're pouring drugs into our country and they're laughing at us."

International

German Police Call for Marijuana Legalization. The Association of German Criminal Officers (BDK) has come out in favor of ending marijuana prohibition. "The prohibition of cannabis has historically been seen as arbitrary and has not yet been implemented in an intelligent and effective manner," the head of BDK, André Schulz, told Bild newspaper on Monday. "in the history of mankind there has never been a society without the use of drugs; this is something that has to be accepted," he added. "My prediction is cannabis will not be banned for long in Germany." The BDK thus calls for a"complete decriminalization of cannabis use," Schulz said, adding that the current legal system is stigmatizing people and promoting criminal careers.

Philippines Drug War Killing Ratchet Up Again. The Philippine National Police announced last Friday that nearly 50 people suspected of using or selling drugs had been killed by police in the past two months. That's the period that the National Police have been back on the job in the drug war -- after President Duterte temporarily pulled them away last year after officers were found to have killed three teenagers and lied about their deaths.

This article was produced in collaboration with AlterNet and first appeared here.

Taking the war against pregnant women to a whole new level, a Montana prosecutor called this week for an "immediate crackdown" on women who use drugs or alcohol while pregnant; urged friends, family members, health care providers, and even strangers to turn in women they suspect to authorities; and warned drug- or alcohol-using pregnant women to "immediately self-report" to state health authorities to avoid criminal prosecution.

Even though there is zero scientific evidence supporting policies of coercion and punishment directed to pregnant women, some jurisdictions, mainly in the South, have taken to prosecuting women who give birth to children with drugs in their system. That's not good enough for Big Horn County Attorney Gerald "Jay" Harris, who has concocted a toxic brew of anti-abortion and war on drugs ideology, along with a nice dollop of real world racial disparity, to call for prosecuting women while they are still pregnant -- and to go after them if they seek abortions to avoid prosecution.

In a Thursday press release, County Attorney Harris announced the crackdown, saying he will seek protection orders restraining pregnant women from any non-medically prescribed use of illicit drugs or alcohol, and those who violate the orders will be jailed to "incapacitate" them.

"It is simply not satisfactory to our community that the protection of innocent, unborn children victimized in this manner and subject to a potential lifetime of disability and hardship relies exclusively on social workers removing the child from the custody of the mother at birth," Harris explained. "This approach is not timely and has not proven to be a sufficient deterrent to this dangerous, unacceptable behavior and will no longer be the state's policy in Big Horn County."

Big Horn County, home to the Crow and Northern Cheyenne Native American reservations, is 60% Native American and only 33% white, including County Attorney Harris.

Harris called on both the reservations and other prosecutors in Montana to join him in his crusade, which National Advocates for Pregnant Women (NAPW) described in a statement as a "reckless call to hunt down pregnant women." The advocacy group said it was "shocked by this attack on the health, liberty, and basic human rights of women in Big Horn County."

Harris's statement "irresponsibly promotes medical and scientific misinformation, promotes an environment of fear and reflects a shocking disregard for the rights and well-being of women and families, NAPW charged.

NAPW warned that Harris has no legal authority to carry out such a policy, saying enforcement would violate state and federal law. It also had a heads-up for potential busy-bodies: "People who heed the prosecutor's call to report pregnant women and violate patient privacy and confidentiality may themselves be subject to legal action," the group advised.

As NAPW noted, policies of coercion and punishment directed at pregnant women are actually counterproductive. Such policies discourage them from seeking prenatal health care and may even drive some to seek abortions to avoid arrest. And this is where Harris's anti-abortion politics and view of women as essentially little more than incubators rears its head.

"In the event an expecting mother chooses to abort an unborn child instead of refraining from drug or alcohol use and litigation extends beyond our local courts, we trust Attorney General Fox will make the right decision on behalf of all Montanans and continue this fight to the extent necessary to ensure justice is afforded to the most vulnerable of our society," he warned.

The NAPW, for its part, is cautioning women against "self reporting" to government agencies that could incarcerate them and is further urging "every medical and public health provider in Big Horn County to immediately oppose this dangerous, unethical, and counterproductive policy." It is also encouraging everyone who supports the health, dignity, and human rights of pregnant women to contact Harris "to let him know you oppose this outrageous action."

Harris thoughtfully provided his office phone number on his press release. It is (406) 665-9721.