CBD cannabis oil goes on sale in England, a medical marijuana initiative is getting underway in Wyoming, the Justice Department will look into the police killing of teenager Zach Hammond in a small-time marijuana bust, and more.

The DOJ will investigate the police killing of Zachary Hammond during a small-time marijuana bust. (Hammond family)

Florida CBD Expansion Bill Filed. Sarasota state Rep. Greg Steube (R) filed a bill Thursday that would expand the state's CBC cannabis oil program. The measure, House Bill 63, would lower barriers to entry for would-be medical marijuana growers and manufacturers, particularly by removing limits on the number of manufacturers.

Wyoming Medical Marijuana Initiative Signature-Gathering Campaign Getting Underway. An initiative campaign led by Wyoming NORML is getting underway this weekend. The group is set to unveil the initiative this weekend. They will need to come up with 25,000 valid voter signatures by February to qualify for the November 2016 ballot.

New Psychoactive Substances

Vermont Lawmakers Add 75 New Drugs to State's List of Controlled Substances. The Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules Thursday approved an amendment to the state's law on controlled substances that adds 75 new substances to the list. Most of them are synthetic cannabinoids, but the list also includes aceto-fentanyl, which is sometimes mixed with heroin.

Law Enforcement

Justice Department Will Investigate Killing of South Carolina Teen in Pot Bust. The Justice Department announced Wednesday night that it will investigate the killing of Zachary Hammond, 19, who was shot and killed by a Seneca police officer on July 26. Hammond was the driver of a vehicle whose passenger was targeted by police for selling small amounts of marijuana. Police claimed he threatened them by driving toward an officer, but Hammond's family says autopsy results show he was shot through the driver's side window from behind, suggesting that the officer was not in danger.

International

First Legal CBD Cannabis Oil Goes on Sale in England. A London and Kent-based company has begun distributing "Charlotte's Web" cannabis oil in England. Authorities had approved such sales last month.

The recent drug war killing of South Carolina teenager Zachary Hammond is drawing national attention, but he wasn't the only one to be killed by police enforcing drug laws in the month of July. At least three others have been killed as well.

Hammond's case appears especially outrageous -- it was a small-time pot bust, he wasn't even the target, and there is evidence he was shot from behind -- but the three other cases ought to also be cause for concern.

In two of them -- both young black men -- the victims were unarmed, but both cases also included automobiles as threats. In one, the dead man hit and injured an officer before fleeing on foot and then being shot while "reaching for his waistband" (no gun was found); in the other, the dead man attempted to flee in a deputy's police cruiser.

The third case -- a middle-aged white man -- appears more easily justifiable. The man allegedly fired at police coming to arrest him. But that begs the question of why police are arresting drug users and small-time sellers in the first place.

In any case, the combination of aggressive drug law enforcement, widespread access to guns, racially-tinged policing, and -- apparently -- cars, ensures that readers come back and read another story just like this one next month. At least now, in this period of intense scrutiny on police use of force, some of them will get the attention they deserve.

July's drug war dead:

Kevin Lamont Judson

On July 1, in McMinnville, Oregon, a Yamhill County sheriff's deputy shot and killed Judson, 24, after he fled a traffic stop, ran across the highway, and jumped into the deputy's car. He was unarmed.

According to KOIN TV, citing police accounts, a deputy stopped a motorist at 7:30 a.m., and during the stop, Judson bolted from the vehicle, dropped a meth pipe, and took off running. Deputy Richard Broyles chased him in his patrol vehicle, and the two were "involved in a struggle." Broyles shot Judson twice, killing him.

"At the time he was shot, (Judson) was alone in the driver's patrol vehicle," McMinnville police said in a release.

The Yamhill Valley News-Register quoted Yamhill County District Brad Berry as saying he didn't know if Judson was armed or trying to arm himself.

"I don't have that information," he said. "I'm not in a position at this time to state factually the sequence of events, and I won't be until the investigation is completed."

Surveillance video from a local business showed Deputy Broyles and Judson struggling at the vehicle's driver side door, but the video is truncated -- showing only the roof of the vehicle and the tops of their heads. Broyles appears to shoot Judson through the open door, and the vehicle then takes off in reverse, arcing backwards until it crashes into an antenna and stops.

Two weeks later, the Yamhill County District Attorney announced that the killing was justified.

Judson may have fled because not only was he in a vehicle with meth, he was already wanted for failure to appear on probation violation charge related to a 2011 meth possession conviction.

Clay Alan Lickteig

On July1, in Franklin, North Carolina, police officers serving a felony drug probation violation warrant shot and killed Lickteig, 52, after a confrontation at his home.

According to the Asheville Citizen-Times, citing police sources, Lickteig was standing in his driveway when officers arrived, threatened them, and refused to show his hands. They then tased him, and he pulled a pistol from behind his back and fired at them. The officers then returned fire, killing Lickteig.

One officer suffered a slight injury and was treated and released at a local hospital.

Two weeks later, the State Bureau of Investigation and the Macon County District Attorney's Office announced that the killing was justified.

Victo Larosa

On July 2, in Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville Sheriff's Office undercover officers doing a day-long operation targeting street drug sales shot and killed Larosa, 33, after he struck one officer with a vehicle while attempting to flee. But he wasn't killed while driving the vehicle.

According to Action News Jacksonville, citing police sources, once cops made a drug buy from Larosa, he began driving off before their "apprehension team" could arrive to bust him. Sgt. D.R. White, a member of the team, signaled for Larosa to stop, but Larosa instead struck White. It's not clear if White was in uniform or undercover.

Larosa then drove off, striking multiple vehicles before his car was pinned by a police cruiser. He then took off running, but tripped and fell with an officer in close pursuit. He was then shot multiple times and killed.

According to the Florida Times-Union, again citing police accounts, the police shooter was narcotics detective Mike Boree, who said Larosa tripped jumping over a fence, landed on his hands in a push-up position, then turned toward Boree and "reached for his waistband."

No weapon was found.

Police could have thought they were dealing with a cop-killer. Sgt. White, who had been struck by Larosa as he made his escape, hit his head on the pavement and lost his weapon on impact.

"Officers on the scene, detectives at the scene thought he was dead right there," sheriff's office director of investigations and homeland security Mike Bruno said.

But White was treated and released from a local hospital the same day.

Zachary Hammond

On July 26, in Columbia, South Carolina, Hammond , 19, was shot and killed by an undercover Columbia police officer after driving a woman friend to fast food restaurant parking lot so she could sell a small amount of marijuana.

According to the Columbia Daily Journal, citing police accounts, the undercover officer pulled up beside Hammond's car, and a uniformed officer was approaching to help with arrests when Hammond drove toward the officer, forcing him to open fire.

But that account has been challenged by Eric Bland, an attorney representing Hammond's family. Bland said that the autopsy report showed that Hammond had been shot from behind and that the vehicle was not moving. The autopsy showed a first shot entering the teen's left rear shoulder and a second in his side five inches away that went through his heart and lungs before exiting his lower right side.

"It is clearly, clearly from the back," Bland said after viewing pictures of the bullet wounds at the coroner's office. "It is physically impossible for him to be trying to flee or run over the officer that shot him. This is a 19-year-old kid without a weapon in his car, clearly in the Hardee's parking lot on a date, and within five minutes he has two shots that appear to be in his back and his side, from an officer shooting him from the back -- and he's dead and this family needs answers."

Bland is calling on the state attorney general to convene a statewide grand jury investigation of the shooting.

Police enforcing the drug laws killed five people in separate incidents last month. The victims become the 25th, 26th, 27th, 28th, and 29th persons to die in US domestic drug law enforcement operations so far this year. Also killed in May drug war mayhem were two Mississippi police officers whose deaths were noted earlier here.

On May 5, US Marshals shot and killed a drug fugitive in a Honolulu parking garage. The man, who was not identified, was sitting in his car when marshals tracked him to the parking garage. They said he reached for a weapon as they approached, so they tasered him. When that didn't work, they shot and killed him. He died at the scene.

On May 9, a Fort Worth, Texas, police officer shot and killed a man "who tried to back over a plainclothes narcotics officer." Police had gone to a residence that was under surveillance for drug activity when they realized that a wanted drug felon, Kelvin Goldston, was in the house. When Goldston left the home and got into his pickup truck, officers approached from the front and rear of his vehicle. Goldston put the truck into reverse, forcing the officer at the back to jump into the grass, where she sustained minor injuries. The officer in front then opened fire, hitting Goldston multiple times. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

On May 10, two Jacksonville, Florida, police officers shot and killed a man they encountered while carrying out an eviction order at an apartment complex. D'Angelo Reyes Stallworth, 28, had nothing to do with the eviction, but was apparently selling marijuana at the complex when he encountered the officers. Police said he stuck a gun in one officer's chest, struggled with both, then broke free and ran down a staircase. He then turned around, and the officers, thinking he was still armed, shot him. But Stallworth had dropped the gun during the struggle and was unarmed when shot.

On May 21, Kentucky State Police officers shot and killed a drug suspect at a Motel 6 in Owensboro. They were in a joint drug investigation with Owensboro police and tracked their as yet unnamed suspect to the motel, but when they attempted to arrest him, he refused to exit the room and said he would not cooperate. Because a woman was in the room with him, police set up a hostage negotiation team, but the man emerged from the room around midnight and fired at officers. Police returned fire, hitting him. He later died at a local hospital.

On May 29, a Northglenn, Colorado, peace officer shot and killed a man during a drug raid. Officers had used a battering ram to open the front door of the residence during their no-knock SWAT raid and were met with gunfire from inside the house. One officer was shot and wounded and a man inside the house, who has not been identified, was shot and killed.

A California game warden shot and killed a suspected marijuana grower during a raid early this morning at a federal wildlife refuge near Elk Grove. The as-yet-unidentified man becomes the 22nd person to die in US domestic drug law enforcement operations so far this year.

Raiders approached the patch from several different angles, and one of the teams confronted the grower, who police said was armed.

"The man was armed and pointed his weapon at the officers," said state Department of Justice spokeswoman Michelle Gregory. "He was told to lower that weapon but did not comply."

"There was a mortal threat to one of the officers by the armed suspect," said Fish and Wildlife spokesman Captain Patrick Foy.

The man was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics.

There's no word on whether any of the law enforcement personnel were wearing body cameras that could verify their accounts. There were apparently no other witnesses.