There's medical marijuana news from Maryland, drug warriors defend Sessions' harsh sentencing approach, Mexico's prohibition-related violence is ticking upward, and more.

Coca processing lab at site of first coca plantation found and destroyed in Honduras. (Honduras Public Prosecutor's Office)

Maryland Regulators Approve First Dispensary. The Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission approved a dispensary license for the Wellness Institute of Maryland in Frederick on Wednesday. The store began seeing patients Thursday for "pre-orders," but won't actually have a crop to harvest for several months.

Maryland Governor Overhauls Medical Cannabis Commission. Gov. Larry Hogan (R) on Thursday overhauled the commission, which had come under fire for its launch of the state's medical marijuana program. He replaced six members whose terms on the 16-member panel had expired and filled three vacancies. The new appointments doubled the number of minority commissioners from two to four, responding to calls from the Legislative Black Caucus and others to create more diversity in the program.

Sentencing

Drug Warriors Defend Sessions' Hard Line on Drug Sentencing. The heads of professional groupings committed to punitive, prohibitionist drug policies penned an op-ed Wednesday defending Attorney General Sessions' return to harsh sentencing practices and charging that Obama administration efforts to reduce drug sentences had left "a devastating mark downstream on the safety of communities across the nation." The piece was a direct response to an op-ed last month by former Assistant Attorney General Sally Yates, who noted that violent crimes rates are still at historic lows and accused Sessions of "stoking fear" with an argument that "just isn't supported by the facts."

International

Cartel Clashes in Northern Mexico Leave 26 Dead. At least 26 people were killed in a predawn gun battle between warring cartels Wednesday in Las Varas, Chihuahua, as members of La Linea squared off against a Sinaloa cartel faction. The violence in Chihuahua comes just days after a firefight with police near the resort town of Mazatlan, Sinaloa, left 19 suspected cartel members dead. Violence is surging in Mexico, with 2,186 homicide investigations opened in May, the most in any month since the government began publishing homicide statistics in the 1990s.

Honduras Destroys First Coca Crop. Honduran Army units on Friday destroyed a coca plantation containing 12,000 plants near the town of Esquipulas del Norte in Olancho province, marking the first time a coca crop had been found and eradicated in the country. Authorities had discovered the planting in late April. They also found a crude coca processing lab nearby and are investigating "the possible involvement of foreigners."

A joint report from the Justice and State inspector generals' finds that the DEA lied and covered up the facts in a 2012 Honduran raid that left four innocent civilians dead, Peruvian security forces prepare to enter forbidden territory in the country's coca heartland, the South Dakota attorney general's ploy to win political advantage by prosecuting a pot consultant fails, and more.

Authorities in Honduras have discovered their first domestic coca plantation. (deamuseum.org)

Maine Legislature Passes Bill to Fund the Implementation of the Marijuana Legalization Initiative and Change the Agency That Will Regulate Marijuana for Adult Use. The Senate on Thursday passed Legislative Document 243 unanimously "under the hammer," without debate or a roll call vote, sending it to Gov. Paul LePage (R) for final approval. The House passed it "under the hammer" on Wednesday. The bill would transfer the authority to oversee adult-use marijuana from the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry to the Bureau of Alcoholic Beverages and Lottery Operations within the Department of Administrative and Financial Services (DAFS). The Bureau would be responsible for licensing adult-use marijuana businesses and creating and enforcing regulations. LD 243 also allocates $200,000 to the Joint Select Committee on Marijuana Legalization Implementation and $1.4 million to DAFS to implement Question 1.

South Dakota Attorney General Foiled in Bid to Prosecute Pot Consultant for Personal Political Advantage. A jury in Flandreau acquitted a marijuana business consultant of conspiracy to possess and marijuana possession Wednesday. Eric Hagen, president of Colorado-based Monarch America, had contracted with the Flandreau Sioux tribe to assist it in developing a marijuana grow operation and resort, a plan that was abandoned by the tribe in the face of mixed signals from the federal government and staunch opposition from state officials. Led by Attorney General Marty Jackley (R), who is eying the state's governor's office, the state nine-months later charged Hagen and a business partner, even though they never possessed or controlled any marijuana. It took a juror just two hours to find Hagen not guilty. Hagen immediately accused Jackley of ruining his company through a politically motivated prosecution. "He tanked our company by spreading lies and rumors," Hagen said. "It was 100 percent politically motivated. This was simply a media ploy for Jackley because he's running for governor in 2018."

International

Peruvian Forces Set to Enter Key Coca Cultivation Area. Security forces are preparing to enter the lawless Apurimac, Ene, and Mantaro River valleys (VRAEM) coca growing areas for the first time as part of a plan to eradicate half the country's coca supply by 20121. The area, where an estimated 125,000-150,000 acres of coca is grown is remote, on the far side of the Andes, and the trade there is protected by armed rebel groups and drug trafficking organization. "It has to be done slowly, but it has to be done," Peru's drug czar Carmen Masias told a news conference.

Hondurans Bust First Coca Plantation. For years, Honduras has been a key transshipment point for cocaine headed from South America toward North American markets, but now Honduran authorities report finding their first domestic coca growing operation. They busted the field containing an estimated 7,000 plants last month in the mountainous region of Esquipulas del Norte. "We have confirmed through toxicological exams that we're dealing with coca plants. This is the first time we've confiscated a coca plantation in Honduras," prosecutor Carlos Morazan said. "At the site, we found a laboratory with tools and precursor chemicals for making coca paste and for processing the drug up to its final power form," Morazan added.

DOJ Report Says DEA Lied About Fatal Honduran Drug Raid. In 2012, a botched drug raid in Honduras led to the shooting deaths of four civilians, including a teenage boy, as they floated along a river. Now, a report from the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General finds that the DEA lied when it claimed the victims were cocaine traffickers who had shot first and that DEA agents were only present as advisors. The report says the DEA failed to properly investigate, blocked attempts to find the truth, and stuck with an inaccurate version of events despite the efforts of Congress and the Justice Department to get to the bottom of it.

A bill legalizing the possession and cultivaiton of small amounts of marijuana has passed the Vermont legislature, Attorney General Sessions could be on the verge of reinstating harsh drug war prosecution practices, Mexico's drug violence is on the upswing, and more.

The Vermont legislature made history today becoming the first to have both houses approve a legalization bill. (Wikimedia)

Vermont Legislature Passes Legalization Bill. The state becomes the first in the nation to have both chambers of the legislature approve a marijuana legalization bill after the House voted on Wednesday to approve Senate Bill 22, a compromise between a House bill that would only legalize possession and cultivation -- not commerce -- and a Senate bill that envisioned a full-blown tax and regulate law. This bill postpones the effective date of personal legalization to next year and creates a commission to study whether to advance on taxation and regulation. The bill has already passed the Senate and now heads to the desk of Gov. Phil Scott (R). It is unclear whether Scott will sign the bill or not.

Medical Marijuana

Texas Medical Marijuana Bill Dies. Despite the strongest support yet in Austin, the fight to pass a medical marijuana bill is over. House Bill 2107 is dead, killed by the House Calendars Committee, which failed to take action on it by a Tuesday deadline.

Asset Forfeiture

Iowa Governor Signs Asset Forfeiture Reform Bill. Gov. Terry Branstad (R) on Tuesday signed into law Senate File 446, which requires a criminal conviction before property valued at less than $5,000 can be seized by police. The new law also raises the standard of proof from a preponderance of the evidence to "clear and convincing" evidence, and implements record-keeping requirements.

Drug Policy

Attorney General Sessions Could Bring Back Harsh Drug War Prosecutions. Sessions is reviewing policy changes that could reverse Obama era sentencing practices aimed at reducing the federal prison population. According to reports, Sessions could be on the verge of reversing an Eric Holder memo that instructed prosecutors to avoid charging low-level defendants with crimes carrying the most severe penalties and to avoid seeking mandatory minimum sentences. "As the Attorney General has consistently said, we are reviewing all Department of Justice policies to focus on keeping Americans safe and will be issuing further guidance and support to our prosecutors executing this priority -- including an updated memorandum on charging for all criminal cases," Ian Prior, a department spokesman, in a statement to The Washington Post.

Drug Testing

Labor Department Removes Obama Rule Blocking States' Drug Testing for Unemployment Benefits. The department will publish in the Federal Register on Thursday notice that it is officially removing the Obama era rule that limited states' ability to force unemployment applicants to undergo drug testing. Congress had repealed the rule under the Congressional Review Act in March.

International

Irish Senators Approve Supervised Injection Sites. The Seanad on Wednesday approved legislation permitting the creation of supervised injection sites with a bill that will allow for the preparation and possession of drugs on such premises. The measure was approved by the lower house, the Dail, in March.

Mexico's Drug War Was World's Second Deadliest Conflict Last Year. Some 23,000 people were killed in prohibition-related violence in Mexico last year, making the country second only to Syria in terms of lives lost to conflict. About 50,000 were reported killed in the Syrian civil war in 2016. The numbers come from an annual survey of armed conflict from the International Institute for Strategic Studies. "The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan claimed 17,000 and 16,000 lives respectively in 2016, although in lethality they were surpassed by conflicts in Mexico and Central America, which have received much less attention from the media and the international community," said Anastasia Voronkova, the editor of the survey. Last year's toll is a dramatic increase from the 15,000 conflict deaths in Mexico in 2014 and the 17,000 in 2015. "It is noteworthy that the largest rises in fatalities were registered in states that were key battlegrounds for control between competing, increasingly fragmented cartels," she said. "The violence grew worse as the cartels expanded the territorial reach of their campaigns, seeking to 'cleanse' areas of rivals in their efforts to secure a monopoly on drug-trafficking routes and other criminal assets."

Colombian Coca Production More Than Triples. Thanks largely to "perverse incentives" linked to the end of the decades-long conflict between the Colombian state and the FARC, Colombia is growing more coca than ever. As a result, the cocaine market is saturated, prices have crashed, and unpicked coca leaves are rotting in the fields. "We've never seen anything like it before," said Defense Minister Luis Carlos Villegas. The country produced a whopping 710 tons of cocaine last year, up from 235 tons three years earlier.

An Arizona initiative would legalize all drugs, Delaware will see a marijuana legalization bill this year, a West Virginia medical marijuana bill advances, and more.

A Spanish court has refused to convict a man of drug trafficking for importing coca leaf. (YouTube)

Arkansas Attorney General Rejects Marijuana Legalization Initiative Proposal. Attorney General Leslie Rutledge has rejected a proposed marijuana legalization initiative, saying the ballot title is ambiguous and that "a number of changes or additions" are needed "to more fully and correctly summarize" the proposal. The initiative came from Larry Morris of West Fork and would allow for the possession, cultivation, production, distribution, and sale of marijuana in the state.

Delaware Legalization Bill Coming. State Sen. Margaret Rose-Henry (D-Wilmington) is preparing a marijuana legalization bill that she says has support from law enforcement. "Law enforcement wants this bill. I'm pleased to tell you that there are police officers who think this is a good thing that we are going to reduce their having to arrest people who don't need to be arrested," said Rose-Henry. She is currently putting the finishing touches on the bill, she said.

Tennessee House Approves Bill to Undo Nashville's Decriminalization. The House on Thursday approved a bill that would take away Nashville's ability to issue civil citations for small amounts of marijuana instead of arresting people for it. House Bill 173 passed the House 65-28 and now goes to the Senate.

Medical Marijuana

Arkansas Senate Passes Two Medical Marijuana "Fix" Bills. The state Senate on Thursday approved two bills aimed at modifying the state's voter-approved medical marijuana law. The Senate approved House Bill 1400, which would ban the smoking of marijuana anywhere tobacco smoking is banned. That bill now goes to the governor's desk. The Senate also approved Senate Bill 721, which would require dispensaries to appoint a pharmacist director who would be available for consultations with patients during hours the dispensary is open. That bill now heads to the House.

Colorado Patient Plant Limit Rises to 24 as Bill Advances. A bill aimed at limiting marijuana home grows has been amended -- again -- in the House Judiciary Committee. In a Wednesday vote, the committee approved raising the plant limit under House Bill 1220 to 24 plants. The bill had originally set the number at 12, but lawmakers then upped the count to 16, and now 24 -- if patients register with the state. The bill now heads for a House floor vote.

West Virginia Medical Marijuana Bill Advances. The Senate Health and Human Resources Committee voted Friday to approve Senate Bill 386, the West Virginia Medical Cannabis Act. The bill would create a system of regulated cultivation sites and dispensaries and allow the use of medical marijuana by persons suffering from a list of qualifying conditions. The bill now heads to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Industrial Hemp

West Virginia Hemp Bills Head for Floor Votes. Both the House and the Senate sent hemp-related measures to floor votes in their respective chambers Wednesday. The Senate Agriculture Committee advanced Senate Resolution 35, which calls on Congress to distinguish between hemp and marijuana by THC threshold. Meanwhile, the House Judiciary Committee advanced House Bill 2453, which would allow the state agriculture commissioner discretion to issue commercial hemp production licenses.

Drug Policy

Arizona Groups Files Initiatives to Legalize Marijuana, All Drugs. An organization called RAD Final has filed a pair of initiatives relating to drug policy. Initiative I-13-2018 would legalize all drugs and forbid government from taxing or regulating them, while I-14-2018 would legalize marijuana alone. Initiative organizers would have to gather 150,642 valid voter signatures for each initiative by July 2018 to qualify for the 2018 ballot.

Drug Testing

West Virginia Employee Drug Testing Bill Advances. A bill that would let employers require employees to undergo suspicionless drug tests passed the House of Delegates on Thursday. House Bill 2857. The bill now goes to the Senate.

International

Spanish Court Acquits Man of Importing Coca Leaf. The provincial court of Girona has acquitted a Colombian man of drug trafficking charges for importing coca leaf. The decision came after the defense presented evidence and testimony about the historical, cultural, social and medicinal value of the coca leaf.