Technical issues stopped us from publishing yesterday, but the news didn't stop. Here's a couple days worth of mainly, but not entirely, marijuana policy news.

Arkansas legislators can't keep their paws off the voter-approved medical marijuana initiative. (Creative Commons/Wikimedia)

District Attorneys Form Marijuana Policy Group. The National District Attorneys Association has formed a working group of 14 prosecutors from across the country to arrive at policy positions on marijuana. The association "formed an internal working group made up of prosecutors from around the country to develop association policy on the subject of marijuana," said NDAA political director Nelson Bunn. "Contrary to other reporting, the working group is not affiliated with any other organization or entity, including the incoming administration."

Tennessee GOP Lawmaker Files Bill to Overturn Memphis, Nashville Pot Laws. The state's two largest cities have moved toward partial decriminalization of marijuana possession, passing laws last fall allowing police discretion to hand out civil violations for small-time offenders, and now a key state legislator is striking back. House Criminal Justice Committee Chairman William Lamberth (R-Cottontown) filed House Bill 173 Monday. It would repeal any local law that is inconsistent with penalties outlined in the state's drug laws. It would also prevent local governments from acting like Memphis and Nashville in the future. Democrats Rep. Harold Love and Sen. Jeff Yarbro, both of Nashville, respond by announcing plans to file a bill that would make possession a Class C misdemeanor punishable by a fine of $50 or less.

Vermont Bill Would Legalize Marijuana, But Not Sales. A bipartisan group of lawmakers has filed House Bill 170, which would allow adults to possess up to two ounces of marijuana and grow up to two mature and seven immature pot plants. The bill does not contain provisions allowing for marijuana commerce, or its taxation. Similar to the initiative passed in Washington, DC, the bill would be "decrim 2.0," said cosponsor Rep. Maxine Grad (D-Moretown).

Wyoming House Panel Rejects Decrim, But Approves Adjusting Pot Penalties. The House Judiciary Committee voted Tuesday to reject decriminalization, but approve House Bill 197, which would create a tiered system of penalties for pot possession. Under the bill, first time possession of up to three ounces (or eight ounces of edibles) would face up to 20 days in jail, a second offense would garner up to six months, a third offense would earn up to two years in jail, and a fourth offense would be a felony punishable by up to five years in prison. There would be a 10-year limit on counting previous convictions. The bill now goes to the House floor.

San Diego Okays Pot Shops. California's second largest city has given the green light to marijuana businesses. The city council voted unanimously Tuesday night to allow sales at 15 dispensaries already approved to sell medical marijuana, as well as opening up the possibility it will allow grows, testing facilities, and testing labs. The council will take up those issues later.

Medical Marijuana

Arkansas Legislators File Three More Bills Ban to Amend Voter-Approved Initiative. Republicans in Little Rock have filed three more bills that would tighten up the state's new law. One would ban the smoking of medical marijuana (House Bill 1400), one would ban edibles (House Bill 1392), and would require previous local zoning to be in place before licenses for dispensaries or grows are issued (House Bill 1391). HB1391 and HB1392 have been sent to Committee on House Rules while HB1400 has only been filed.

Colorado Bill to Add PTSD as Qualifying Condition Moves. The Senate State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee unanimously approved Senate Bill 17-017 Monday. The measure would add post-traumatic stress disorder as a qualifying condition for medical marijuana. The bill is now on the Senate's "consent calendar," meaning it should move through the Senate with little debate. Then it's on to the House.

Utah Medical Marijuana University Study Bill Advances. The House Health and Human Services Committee unanimously approved House Bill 130 Monday. The measure would allow universities in the state to study medical marijuana. The bill is supported by the Utah Medical Association, which has opposed medical marijuana bills saying more study is needed. It now heads for a House floor vote.

Drug Policy

Groundbreaking Drug Policy Bill Package Reintroduced in Maryland. Delegate Dan Morhaim, M.D., has introduced three bills to transform drug policy in the state. This legislative package, with multiple cosponsors from across Maryland, would reduce the harms associated with substance abuse disorders, costs to the general public, and incarceration rates. H.B. 515 requires specified hospitals to establish a substance use treatment program, H.B. 488 removes criminal penalties for low-level, non-violent drug offenses under certain minimal threshold limits, and H.B. 519 permits the establishment of safe consumption programs which allow individuals to consume controlled substances in a safe space.

Drug Testing

New York Bill to Require Drug Testing Kids of Busted Parents Passes Senate. The state Senate passed "Kayleigh Mae's Law" (Senate Bill 137), which would require child protective services to investigate and drug test children under three who were present during a parent's drug arrest. The bill is named after Kayleigh Mae Cassell, who died of a drug overdose at age 13 months after her mother and mother's boyfriend were arrested and pleaded guilty to drug crimes. A companion measure, Assembly Bill 3900, has yet to move.

International

Philippines Police Suspend Drug War to Clean Up Corrupt Drug Cops, Government Says. National Police Chief Ronald de la Rosa said Monday that the country's brutal crackdown was suspended and police anti-drug units were being dissolved in the wake of a scandal around the murder of a South Korean businessman inside police headquarters at the hands of anti-drug police. More than 7,000 people have been killed in the six months since President Rodrigo Duterte's crackdown began. De la Rosa said a temporary halt had been ordered by Duterte. News reports have not yet independently verified whether the killings have stopped or not.

As 2016 comes to a tumultuous end, we look back on the year in drugs and drug policy. It's definitely a mixed bag, with some major victories for drug reform, especially marijuana legalization, but also some major challenges, especially around heroin and prescription opioids, and the threat of things taking a turn for the worse next year. Here are the ten biggest domestic drug policy stories of the year. (Check back for a top ten international drug policy stories soon.)

Legalization initiatives won in California, Maine, Massachusetts, and Nevada, losing only in Arizona. These weren't the first states to do so -- Colorado and Washington led the way in 2012, with Alaska, Oregon, and Washington, DC, following in 2014 -- but in one fell swoop, states with a combined population of nearly 50 million people just freed the weed. Add in the earlier states, and we're now talking about around 67 million people, or more than one-fifth of the national population.

The question is where does marijuana win next? We won't see state legalization initiatives until 2018, (and conventional wisdom may suggest waiting for the higher-turnout 2020 presidential election year), and most of the low-hanging fruit in terms of initiative states has been harvested, but activists in Michigan came this close to qualifying for the ballot this year and are raring to go again. In the meantime, there are the state legislatures. When AlterNet looked into the crystal ball a few weeks ago, the best bets looked like Connecticut, Maryland, New Mexico, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

2. Medical Marijuana Wins Big

Medical marijuana is even more popular than legal marijuana, and it went four-for-four at the ballot box in November, adding Arkansas, Florida, Montana, North Dakota to the list of full-blown medical marijuana states. That makes 28 states -- more than half the country -- that allow for medical marijuana, along with another dozen or so red states that have passed limited CBD-only medical marijuana laws as a sop to public opinion.

It's worth noting that Montana is a special case. Voters there approved medical marijuana in 2004, only to see a Republican-dominated state legislature gut the program in 2011. The initiative approved by voters this year reinstates that program, and shuttered dispensaries are now set to reopen.

The increasing acceptance of medical marijuana is going to make it that much harder for the DEA or the Trump administration to balk at reclassifying marijuana away from Schedule I, which is supposedly reserved for dangerous substances with no medical uses. It may also, along with the growing number of legal pot states, provide the necessary impetus to changing federal banking laws to allow pot businesses to behave like normal businesses.

Drug reformers are nervous about the future. (Gage Skidmore/Creative Commons)

The Trump victory and Republican control of both houses of Congress has profound drug policy implications, for everything from legal marijuana to funding for needle exchange programs to sentencing policy to the border and foreign policy and beyond. Early Trump cabinet picks, such as Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions (R) to lead the Justice Department, are ominous for progressive drug reform, but as with many other policy spheres, what Trump will actually do is a big unknown. It's probably safe to say that any harm reduction programs requiring federal funding or approval are in danger, that any further sentencing reforms are going to be in for a tough slog, and that any federal spending for mental health and substance abuse treatment will face an uphill battle. But the cops will probably get more money.

The really big question mark is around marijuana policy. Trump has signaled he's okay with letting the states experiment, but Sen. Sessions is one of the most retrograde of drug warriors in Washington. Time will tell, but in the meantime, the marijuana industry is on tenterhooks and respect for the will of voters in pot legal states and even medical marijuana states is an open question.

4. The Opioid Epidemic Continues

Just as this year comes to an end, the CDC announced that opioid overdose deaths last year had topped 33,000, and with 12,000 heroin overdoses, junk had overtaken gunplay as a cause of death. There's little sign that things have gotten any better this year.

The crisis has provoked numerous responses, at both the state and the federal levels, some good, but some not. Just this month, Congress approved a billion dollars in opioid treatment and prevention programs, and the overdose epidemic has prompted the loosening of access to the opioid overdose reversal drug naloxone and prodded ongoing efforts to embrace more harm reduction approaches, such as supervised injection sites.

On the other hand, prosecutors in states across the country have taken to charging the people who sell opioids (prescription or otherwise) to people who overdose and die with murder, more intrusive and privacy-invading prescription monitoring programs have been established, and the tightening of the screws on opioid prescriptions is leaving some chronic pain sufferers in the lurch and leading others to seek out opioids on the black market.

5. Obama Commutes More Than a Thousand Drug War Sentences

In a bid to undo some of the most egregious excesses of the drug war, President Obama has now cut the sentences of and freed more than a thousand people sentenced under the harsh laws of the 1980s, particularly the racially-biased crack cocaine laws, who have already served more time than they would have if sentenced under current laws passed during the Obama administration. He has commuted more sentences in a single year than any president in history, and he has commuted more sentences than the last 11 presidents combined.

The commutations come under a program announced by then-Attorney General Eric Holder, who encouraged drug war prisoners to apply for them. The bad news is that the clock is likely to run out before Obama has a chance to deal with thousands of pending applications backlogged in the Office of the Pardons Attorney. The good news is that he still has six weeks to issue more commutations and free more drug war prisoners.

6. The DEA Gets a Wake-Up Call When It Tries to Ban Kratom

Derived from a Southeast Asian tree, kratom has become popular as an unregulated alternative to opioids for relaxation and pain relief, not to mention withdrawing from opioids. It has very low overdose potential compared to other opioids and has become a go-to drug for hundreds of thousands or perhaps millions of people.

Perturbed by its rising popularity, the DEA moved in late summer to use its emergency scheduling powers to ban kratom, but was hit with an unprecedented buzz saw of opposition from kratom users, scientists, researchers, and even Republican senators like Orrin Hatch (R-UT), who authored and encouraged his colleagues to sign a letter to the DEA asking the agency to postpone its planned scheduling.

The DEA backed off -- but didn't back down -- in October, announcing that it was shelving its ban plan for now and instead opening a period of public comment. That period ended on December 1, but before it did, the agency was inundated with submissions from people opposing the ban. Now, the DEA will factor in that input, as well as formal input from the Food and Drug Administration before making its decision.

The battle around kratom isn't over, and the DEA could still ban it in the end, but the whole episode demonstrates how much the ground has shifted under the agency. DEA doesn't just get its way anymore.

7. Federal Funds for Needle Exchanges Flow Again

It actually happened late in 2015, but the impact was felt this year. In December 2015, Congress approved an omnibus budget bill that removed the ban on federal funding of needle exchanges. The ban had been in place for 20 years, except for a two-year stretch between 2009 and 2011, when Democrats controlled the House.

Federal funding for needle exchanges is another drug policy response that could be endangered by Republican control of both the Congress and the presidency.

Vancouver's safe injection site. Is one coming to a city near you? (vch.ca)

When will the US join the ranks of nations that embrace the harm reduction tactic of supervised drug consumption sites? Maybe sooner than you think. Moves are underway in at least three major US cities to get such facilities open, a need made all the more urgent by the nation's ongoing opioid crisis, as the Drug Policy Alliance noted in a December report calling for a number of interventions, including safe injection sites, to address it.

In New York City, the city council has approved a $100,000 study into the feasibility of safe injection sites, while in San Francisco, city public health officials have endorsed a call for them there and have even suggested they need as many as a half dozen. But San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee opposes them, so battle lines are being drawn.

The best bet may be Seattle, where city and surrounding King County officials are on board with a plan to open safe injection sites to fight heroin and prescription opioid abuse. That plan, conceived by the Heroin and Prescription Opiate Addiction Task Force, was released in September.

9. Asset Forfeiture Reform Advances

Nearly 20 years after Congress passed limited federal civil asset forfeiture reform, the practice is now under sustained assault in the states. More than a half-dozen states had passed civil asset forfeiture reforms before the year began, and this year the following states came on board (although some of the new laws did not end, but only modified or restricted civil asset forfeiture): California, Florida, Mississippi, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Wyoming.

And next year looks to be more of the same. Bills have already been filed in Missouri and Texas, and renewed efforts are likely in New Hampshire and Wisconsin, where they were thwarted this year.

10. The DEA is Busting Fewer People

The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) reported in December that convictions for drug cases referred by the DEA continued a 10-year decline. During Fiscal Year 2016, federal prosecutors won 9,553 criminal convictions on cases referred by the DEA. That's down 7.1% from the previous year, down 25% from five years ago, and down 35% from 10 years ago. TRAC notes that the decline in convictions is the result of fewer referrals by the DEA, not a lowered conviction rate, which has held steady.

Trump's anti-marijuana attorney general pick gets a surprise visit from DC activists, the CDC announces that opioid OD deaths went up again last year, British Columbia expands its safe injection site program, and more.

DC Activists Visit Sessions' Office, Offer Free Weed. As part of their #SmokeSessions campaign to defeat the nomination of Trump's attorney general pick, activists from the DC Cannabis Campaign, the same group that led the DC legalization campaign, visited the offices of Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) Thursday, carrying marijuana with them as they went. Sessions staffers listened to arguments against prohibition and stories about medical benefits and did not call Capitol Police to arrest the federal lawbreakers, leading organizer Adam Eidinger to ask: "If you're not going to arrest people in your own office who bring marijuana… why would you break down people's doors as a federal policy?"

Hemp

Missouri Hemp Bill Filed. State Sen. Rob Schaaf (R-St. Joseph) has pre-filed a bill that would authorize commercial hemp farming, production, and sale, and does not require growers to get federal permission to grow their crop. The measure is SB120. The legislative session starts next month.

Heroin and Prescription Opioids

Opioid Deaths Surpassed 30,000 Last Year. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released data Thursday showing the opioid overdose deaths had surpassed 30,000 for the first time in recent history last year. That's up nearly 5,000 deaths over 2014. And for the first time since the 1990s, more people died from heroin overdoses than prescription opioid overdoses. "The epidemic of deaths involving opioids continues to worsen," said CDC Director Tom Frieden in a statement. "Prescription opioid misuse and use of heroin and illicitly manufactured fentanyl are intertwined and deeply troubling problems."

Asset Forfeiture

Institute of Justice Sues Border Patrol, IRS Over Asset Forfeiture FOIA Records. The libertarian-leaning Institute of Justice filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against the Border Patrol and the IRS, saying the two agencies are violating the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The IRS demanded $750,000 to turn over asset forfeiture records, while the Border Patrol denied the FOIA request, first claiming it was "overbroad" and then saying to do so would reveal law enforcement techniques. "The lack of transparency surrounding forfeiture is deeply troubling, especially considering the vast power law enforcement has to take property from people without so much as charging them with a crime," The Institute for Justice's research director Lisa Knepper said in a press release announcing the suit. "The public ought to know how forfeiture is being used."

Ohio Asset Forfeiture Reform Bill Heads to Governor's Desk. A bill that would require the filing of criminal charges before the state could institute civil asset forfeiture proceedings won final approval in the House Friday and now head to the desk of Gov. John Kasich (R). The measure, House Bill 347, was earlier approved unanimously by the state Senate.

International

New Safe Injection Sites Open in Vancouver, with More Yet to Come. Two new safe injection sites for drug users opened in the city's Downtown Eastside Thursday, and similar facilities will open in Surrey and Victoria next week. And later this month, additional sites will open in all three locations. The move was announced by the British Columbia Ministry of Health, which did not seek permission from the federal government to do so. But they did let Health Canada and the Ministry of Public Safety know it was coming. BC Health Minister Terry Lake said the actions were necessary to combat a rising toll of opioid overdose deaths. "We can't wait for federal changes in order to save people's lives," he said. "We know people are using in alleys, they are using in their rooms, and they are not where the people who can help them are. And so in the face of this crisis, we really just wanted to do more."

Germany's Dusseldorf Wants to Legalize Weed. Following the lead of Berlin, which is moving to allow cannabis coffee shops, the city of Dusseldorf is moving to enact total marijuana legalization. The city council met Wednesday with experts in crime, economics, and psychology to discuss how best to move forward.

Foes challenging the narrow legalization victory in Maine got their recount going today, patients take to the courts in Arizona and to the streets in Michigan, Seattle health care professionals do a die-in for safe injection sites, Ireland takes another step toward medical marijuana, and more.

Vancouver's safe injection site. Doctors and nurses in Seattle are agitating for something similar there. (vcha.ca)

Maine Legalization Initiative Recount Begins. The Question 1 initiative legalizing marijuana won by less than 1% of the popular vote, garnering 381,692 votes to the opposition's 377,619 votes, a difference of 4,073 votes. Citing the narrow margin of victory, foes called a recount, and it began Monday. The recount could take up to a month, delaying putting legalization into effect until it is completed.

Medical Marijuana

Pair of Arizona Patients Sue Over Fees. Attorneys for patients Yolanda Daniels and Lisa Becker filed suit last Friday to force a reduction in the annual fee for registration cards that patients are legally required to obtain. The state health department is charging $150 a year, even though it has nearly $11.5 million in its medical marijuana account. "In a time when medication is more expensive than ever, the state should be helping to make it cheaper for Arizonans," the patients' attorney argued. "The state is deliberately squatting on the excess fund instead of refunding it to patients or using it in furtherance of the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act, such as to help patients."

Michigan Protestors Denounce Kent County Dispensary Raids. A couple of dozen people gathered outside the Plainfield Township Hall last Friday to protest a series of raids last Monday that shuttered three dispensaries in Plainfield. Demonstrators said they have nowhere to go to get their medicine, but Plainfield officials countered that dispensaries had been banned there since 2011.

Harm Reduction

Seattle Nurses, Doctors Do Die-In at City Hall in Protest Calling for Safe Injection Sites. As Seattle officials ponder whether to move toward allowing a safe injection site, doctors and nurses are turning up the heat. Last Friday, more than 30 members of Health Care Workers for Supervised Consumption Spaces held a die-in at City Hall to imitate the corpses that will be created if safe injection sites aren't allowed. City officials have been generally sympathetic to the idea, and a Seattle/King County opioid task force recommended the move in September.

International

British Town to Allow Drug Testing at Clubs. In a harm reduction first for the United Kingdom, a town in Lancashire will be the first in the country to offer testing of drug samples provided by club-goers at night clubs. The tests will examine samples of cocaine and MDMA to test the strength and purity of the drugs in a bid to reduce deaths related to "adulterated or highly potent" drugs. The National Police Chief's Council reportedly said the scheme could be useful but was still not yet endorsed on a national basis.

Ireland Takes Another Step Toward Medical Marijuana. The Dáil Éireann, the lower house of parliament, last Thursday approved an amendment allowing for the medicinal use of marijuana. But the measure still has to undergo another round of approval before it becomes law.

Poll: More Irish Support Marijuana Legalization Than Not. As the parliament ponders medical marijuana, a new poll finds that more Irish than not support full-blown legalization. A poll asking "Should cannabis be legalized for recreational use?" had 48% saying yes, 41% saying no, and 11% undecided.