The FDA is seeking public comment on marijuana classification, Mississippi cops continue to seize cash and other goods despite a change in state law that should have stopped them, and more.

No marijuana-infused gummies for you, Washington staters! (Creative Commons)

Trump Administration Seeks Public Comments On Marijuana Reclassification. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is seeking public comment about "the abuse potential, actual abuse, medical usefulness, trafficking, and impact of scheduling changes on availability for medical use" of cannabis and several other substances now under international review. Marijuana is currently Schedule I under US law and international anti-drug treaties. Public comments "will be considered in preparing a response from the United States to the World Health Organization (WHO) regarding the abuse liability and diversion of these drugs," Leslie Kux, FDA's associate commissioner for policy, wrote in a Federal Register filing published on Wednesday. "WHO will use this information to consider whether to recommend that certain international restrictions be placed on these drugs."

Pennsylvania Marijuana Decriminalization Bill Wins Committee Vote. A bill to decriminalize the possession of up to 30 grams of marijuana, House Bill 928, was approved in the House Judiciary Committee Tuesday. Under current state law, possession is a third-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to 30 days in jail and a driver's license suspension. The bill now heads for a House floor vote.

Philadelphia Mayor Again Calls for Marijuana Legalization. Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said once again on Tuesday that Pennsylvania should legalize the recreational use of marijuana statewide. "Legalizing cannabis is the right thing to do for the commonwealth," Kenney said as he announced the 2018 Cannabis Opportunity Conference next weekend. "We don't need to be wasting precious resources locking people up for marijuana possession when we should be focused on improving our schools and other priorities."

Washington State Regulators Move to Ban Marijuana Gummies and Hard Candies. The state Liquor and Cannabis Control Board announced last week it would reverse its earlier approval of marijuana-laced gummies and hard candies because they are "especially appealing to children." The board told pot companies that "all production of hard candy, tarts, fruit chews, colorful chocolates, jellies, and any gummy type products should cease" because they will no longer be approved for sale under new regulations that go into effect January 1, 2019. Stores can sell such products through April 3, 2019, or until existing inventory is depleted.

Asset Forfeiture

Mississippi Police Ignore New State Law, Keep Seizing Property. Police agencies in the state have continued to seize cash, guns, and vehicles under a state law that lapsed on June 30. That law allowed police to seize up to $20,000 in property associated with illegal drugs. Now, Mississippi agencies must sue in court and get a judge to approve seizures, as they already were required to do with larger amounts, but state police agencies have made at least 60 seizures since then without obtaining prior judicial approval.

An Arizona prosecutor gets challenged for trying to profit off small-time pot offenders, Oregon regulators slash the daily purchase amounts for medical marijuana patients, a Louisiana prisoner featured in the Chronicle years ago gets a break, and more.

Oregon patients will only be able to buy one ounce a day under new emergency rules. (Creative Commons)

Arizona County Attorney Sued Over Drug Court Diversion Program for Smalltime Marijuana Offenders. The Civil Rights Corps, a Washington, DC-based advocacy group, and a local law firm have sued Maricopa County (Phoenix) Attorney Bill Montgomery. They allege that he and the county drug court diversion program are preying on and profiting off people charged with minor pot possession offenses. Under the state's harsh laws, possession of even small amounts is a felony, but first- and second-time offenders are eligible for a diversion program. The problem is the diversion program has a $1,000 fee, and those who cannot pay the entire fee linger in the program, paying $15 to $20 fees for drug testing as often as several times a week and face being tried as felons if they fail to complete the program. "The complaint explains that the marijuana diversion program operated by TASC Inc. and the Maricopa County Attorney's Office represents a two-tiered legal system," Civil Rights Corps Attorney Dami Animashaun said in a statement. "Wealthy people buy their way off diversion quickly, while poor people risk being expelled from the program and prosecuted for a felony solely because they cannot afford to pay."

Vermont Democrats Call for Taxed, Regulated Legal Marijuana Sales. Vermont has already legalized the personal possession and home cultivation of marijuana, and now the state's Democratic Party has formally endorsed expanding legalization to include taxed and regulated legal marijuana sales. "We believe that marijuana should be legal, taxed and regulated in the interests of consumer and public health, and economic opportunity," reads a platform plank adopted by delegates at the Vermont Democratic Party's platform convention on Sunday.

Medical Marijuana

Oregon Regulators Slash Daily Purchase Limit for Patients. In a bid to reduce leakage into the black market, the Oregon Liquor Control Commission last Thursday dramatically reduced the amount of medical marijuana patients can purchase each day. Medical cardholders may now buy only one ounce a day, not the 24 ounces that had been the limit. The emergency change is in effect until December 27.

Illinois Governor Signs Hemp Bill. Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) on Saturday signed a bill legalizing industrial hemp, the Illinois Hemp Act. "Legalizing the farming of industrial hemp just makes good sense," Rauner said in a statement. "Roughly 38 states -- including our neighbors in Wisconsin, Kentucky, Indiana, Missouri and Tennessee -- have allowed or are considering allowing cultivation of this crop for commercial, research or pilot programs. Our farmers should have this option as well." The state Department of Agriculture will issue licenses to farmers who want to grow it, and regulators will establish rules for THC-level testing of industrial hemp crops.

Heroin and Prescription Opioids

New York Governor Signs Legislation To Expand Use Of Rehabilitation And Diversion Services To Combat Heroin And Opioid Epidemic. Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) last Friday signed legislation (A.10403/S.8760) to help in the fight against the heroin and opioid epidemic by diverting substance-dependent individuals who are involved in the criminal justice system. This legislation provides another form of support to prosecutors and law enforcement officers as they seek treatment and counseling for people who are addicted to opioids. These diversion models include law enforcement assisted diversion, known as LEAD, and other programs treating substance abuse and addiction. The legislation expands the allowable use of funding from seized or forfeited assets by law enforcement and the Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse."We must use every tool at our disposal to combat this nation's opioid epidemic and the underlying issues that lead people to commit crime, and this legislation makes available additional funding to help New Yorkers in need," Governor Cuomo said. "By helping New Yorkers turn their lives around, this program helps strengthen communities, increase public safety and break the vicious cycle of recidivism once and for all."

Sentencing

One Louisiana Man Gets a Sentence Cut. A Louisiana man sentenced to life in prison for marijuana possession as a habitual offender has received a sentence reduction that will allow him to go free in a matter of weeks. Jody Butler's case was covered by the Chronicle's Clarence Walker back in 2013, but it took until now for justice to be done. New Orleans Parish District Attorney, who made a career of imposing long sentences on small-time drug offenders, raised no objection to a sentence reduction in Butler's case, the latest in which he has backpedaled away from his earlier, harsher stance.

The US Senate votes to legalize hemp, the State Department gets behind Colombia's plan to reintroduce aerial fumigation of coca crops, an Arizona court rules that hash isn't medical marijuana, and more.

The Trump administration is down with dumping herbicides on the heads of these Colombian coca farmers. (DEA)

Arizona Appeals Court Rules Patients Face Can Be Arrest For Hashish. The state Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that medical marijuana patients can still be arrested for possessing hashish because it wasn't included by name in the voter-approved medical marijuana initiative in 2010. The ruling came in the case of card-carrying patient Rodney Jones, who was caught with 0.05 ounces of hash. After spending more than a year in jail, he waived his right to a jury trial, but not his right to appeal. "If the drafters wanted to immunize the possession of hashish they should have said so," the ruling said. "We cannot conclude that Arizona voters intended to do so." Arizona Attorneys for Criminal Justice, which is supporting Jones, said the ruling will be appealed to the state Supreme Court.

Oklahoma Sees First Medical Marijuana Clinic. That didn't take long. Just hours after the polls closed Tuesday and voters approved a medical marijuana initiative, the Tulsa Higher Care Clinic opened for business. The clinic provides doctors who will write medical marijuana recommendations, but it isn't selling any product… yet.

Hemp

US Senate Votes to Legalize Hemp. The Senate passed the omnibus Farm Bill Thursday, and that bill includes an amendment from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) that legalizes the cultivation, processing, and sale of hemp. For years, the DEA has refused to recognize hemp as distinct from marijuana, but that distinction will be enshrined in law if the bill is signed into law. "Consumers across America buy hundreds of millions in retail products every year that contain hemp," McConnell said in a floor speech on Thursday. "But due to outdated federal regulations that do not sufficiently distinguish this industrial crop from its illicit cousin, American farmers have been mostly unable to meet that demand themselves. It's left consumers with little choice but to buy imported hemp products from foreign-produced hemp."

Asset Forfeiture

Idaho Civil Asset Forfeiture Reforms Go into Effect on Sunday. Reforms passed by the legislature and signed into law earlier this year go into effect on Sunday. The new law doesn't end civil asset forfeiture but does ban the seizure of vehicles for simple drug possession, requires that a connection is shown between seized property and a crime, and states that simple possession of a large amount of cash isn't grounds for it to be seized. The bill also requires for the first time statewide reporting of civil forfeitures and includes a provision allowing people accused of crimes to retain their property until found guilty.>

Foreign Policy

State Department Supports Resumption of Aerial Coca Eradication in Colombia. The US State Department Thursday expressed its support for resuming aerial coca spraying in Colombia. "The United States believes that all tools must be used to reverse the sharp increase in cocaine production," a department spokesperson said. Aerial fumigation was banned in 2015 because of environmental damage and health concerns for residents of areas being sprayed. Colombia produced a record amount of cocaine last year.

Responding to myriad tales of abuses, like many other states, Missouri has reformed its asset forfeiture laws to require a criminal conviction before cash or property is seized and, in a bid to prevent "policing for profit," to require that money seized by state law enforcement agencies goes solely to the state's schools.

Under Missouri law, seized cash is supposed to go to the schools, but the cops have found an end-around. (Wikipedia)

That's because police, with the help of the Trump Justice Department, are doing an end run around the state law. Under the Justice Department's Equitable Sharing Program, which was suspended late in the Obama administration but reinstated last year by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, state and local law enforcement agencies can hand their cash-laden cases over to federal prosecutors instead of turning them in to local district attorneys. And when they do, the reporting agency gets to keep 80% of the seized cash, with the Justice Department getting the rest.

The scheme not only subverts state law by diverting much-needed funding for schools to police agencies, but also by allowing state and local cops to seize cash and goods under the federal law, which does not require a criminal conviction first. In this manner, Missouri's cops are not only ripping off the schools, they are also giving a big middle finger to the state's democratically elected representatives who passed the asset forfeiture reform law.

The cops like things just as they are.

"We can immediately put that back in our tool belt if you will," said Major Derek McCollum, the head of the Kansas City Police Department's Asset Forfeiture Squad. The money buys "computer type equipment, covert surveillance type equipment," McCollum told KMBC, adding that he didn't feel like law enforcement was taking money from the schools.

The Missouri School Board Association begs to differ.

"Absolutely, the constitution says it is," said association attorney Susan Goldammer of the forfeiture money. "We still have school districts that don't have air conditioning or have concerns about asbestos. We've got many, many school buildings in the state that are way more than 100 years old," she added.

Instead of turning forfeitures over to the state's school system, the state Highway Patrol spent $70,000 on new weapons. And in Phelps County, which sits astride the east-west throughway Interstate 44 and which profited the most from asset forfeiture, the sheriff spends the money on the department's buildings -- not school buildings.

State Rep. Shamed Dogan (R-St. Louis) is working on a partial fix. He has authored House Bill 1501, under which only cases involving more than $50,000 could be handed over to the feds. (He had originally pegged the figure at $100,000, but has now halved it after "pushback from law enforcement.")

Dogan told KMBC that cases over $50,000 account for about 20% of asset forfeiture cases statewide and that he believes many smaller seizures are from innocent victims or involve rights violations.

"We can eliminate that incentive for them to just take money or take property," Dogan said. "The government seizes their money and says, "we think you're a suspected drug dealer. The government never produces any drugs, never charges you with a crime and then you have to spend more than they've actually seized trying to get your property back. That's unfair."

The $100,000 version of Dogan's bill is currently stalled in the legislature. Facing law enforcement opposition, the House Crime Prevention and Public Safety Committee voted in February to postpone action on it, and the bill has no hearings scheduled and is not on the House calendar.

Perhaps he can get the $50,000 version moving. In the meantime, Missouri's cops continue to perversely profit from prohibition, while the state's schools are out of luck.