The attorney general makes clear yet again that he doesn't like legal weed, a Kentucky court throws out a medical marijuana lawsuit, one of the nation's largest pharmacy chains is moving to tighten up on opioid prescriptions, Rodrigo Duterte is ready to kill his own kid for the sake of the drug war, and more.

Attorney General Sessions reprises a favorite theme even as his underlings ponder what to do about legal cannabis. (senate.gov)

Sessions Attacks Marijuana Legalization Again. "I've never felt that we should legalize marijuana," Sessions said Wednesday in San Diego in remarks reported by Reuters. "It doesn't strike me that the country would be better if it's being sold at every street corner," he added, noting that it remains prohibited under federal law. But despite the attorney general's repeated anti-legalization comments, the Justice Department has yet to move seriously against states where it is legal. Last week, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said the Cole memo, which set the Obama administration's largely laissez-faire policy toward legal pot states, is now under review.

Maine Legislators Propose Online and Drive-Through Pot Sales. Proposed regulations from the legislature's marijuana committee would let adults buy pot over the Internet and at drive-through windows at licensed pot shops. The rules are not yet set, however, and opponents are seeking to tighten access. Stay tuned.

Las Vegas Gets First 24-Hour Pot Shop. The city council voted unanimously Wednesday to allow a pot shop, Oasis Cannabis, to stay open 24 hours a day. It will be the first 24/7 pot shop to be located near the Strip, but other pot shops in nearby North Las Vegas are already open around the clock. In approving the move, the council overrode its own city code, which requires pot businesses to shut down between 3:00am and 6:00am.

Medical Marijuana

Kentucky Court Dismisses Lawsuit Aimed at Governor, Attorney General. A lawsuit filed against Gov. Matt Bevin (R) and Attorney General Andy Beshear (D) seeking to force them to legalize medical marijuana in the state was thrown out Wednesday. A Franklin circuit court judge ruled that legal precedent makes it clear that only the legislature can regulate the use of marijuana in the state -- not the executive branch and not the courts.

Heroin and Prescription Opioids

CVS to Limit Opioid Prescriptions in Bid to Address Crisis. The national drug store chain announced Thursday it will take steps to limit initial prescriptions to seven-day supplies for new patients facing acute pain. It will instruct pharmacists to contact prescribing doctors if they see prescriptions with what they believe are more opioids than necessary. The chain will also cap daily dosages and require new patients to get medications that offer short-period pain relief instead of longer duration ones. CVS did not address how the moves would impact patients suffering from chronic pain.

Nevada Governor Sets Opioid Task Force Meeting. Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) has announced that the state's task force on opioid abuse is set to meet Monday. He said the task force will hear updates from state and federal agencies on their progress in fighting opioid abuse. The task force has already made the overdose reversal drug naloxone available to first responders, Sandoval noted.

Asset Forfeiture

lIllinois Governor Signs Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Bill. Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) signed House Bill 303 into law on Tuesday. The new law does not end civil asset forfeiture, but raises the bar for seizures, mandates the collection and reporting of seizure data, and imposes new sanctions for abuse or violations of asset forfeiture rules. Under the new law, the government's burden of proof standard rises from probable cause to a preponderance of the evidence. The law also provides that possession of small amounts of drugs will no longer be a legal basis for forfeiture.

International

Duterte Tells Cops to Kill His Own Son if Drug Smuggling Rumors Are True. In a not very reassuring effort to demonstrate that his own family is not above the law, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte said in a speech Wednesday that police could kill his children if they prove to be involved in drugs. The remarks came amid reports that his 42-year-old son Paolo was involved in drug smuggling. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Duterte said he warned his son: "My orders are to kill you if you are caught, and I will protect the police who kill you." That way, people wouldn't think the first family was getting special treatment. "That's better ... so I can say to the people: "There, you keep talking. That's my son's corpse,' he said.

The House votes to defund Attorney General Sessions' newly revived Equitable Sharing asset forfeiture program, Maine lawmakers want a 20% sales tax on weed, Duterte allies in the Philippines vote to defund the country's human rights commission over its critique of the drug war, and more.

The attorney general isn't smiling over the House's asset forfeiture vote. (senate.gov)

Maine Lawmakers Want to Double Pot Sales Tax. In a draft bill released Tuesday, the legislature's marijuana legalization committee is recommending a 20% sales tax on recreational marijuana. Earlier, the committee had supported a 10% excise tax and a 10% sales tax, but now it's going all sales tax.

Medical Marijuana

Arizona Supreme Court Refuses to Lift Restrictions on Medical Marijuana for PTSD. The state Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected without comment an argument from the Arizona Cannabis Nurses Association that the former state health director had illegally imposed restrictions on when doctors can recommend the drug for PTSD. The high court's decision leaves intact an earlier Court of Appeals ruling upholding the restrictions. Attorneys for the association say they may take the case to federal court on equal protection grounds.

Asset Forfeiture

House Slaps Down Sessions' Move to Reinstate Equitable Sharing Program. In a surprise move, the House voted virtually unanimously Tuesday to curb federal asset forfeitures, a slap in the face to Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Sessions had reinstated a federal civil asset forfeiture program that allowed state and local law enforcement to evade state forfeiture restrictions by handing their cases over to the feds, with the feds then returning 80% of the money to the seizing agency. The move came in a voice vote on an amendment to the Justice Department appropriations bill, which was sponsored by strange bedfellows Reps. Justin Amash (R-MI), Mark Sanford (R-SC), Raúl Labrador (R-ID), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Don Beyer (D-VA).

Foreign Policy

Feinstein, Grassley Fret Over Colombian Cocaine. The two senior senators, chair and co-chair of the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Affairs, expressed worries Tuesday that a peace deal between Colombia and the leftist rebels of the FARC had led to a surge of cocaine being imported into the US. Feinstein also used the Senate hearing to express concern that the Trump administration will not adequately fund interdiction law enforcement efforts.

International

Philippine Congress Budgets Measly $20 to Fund Human Rights Commission. No, that's not a typo, and no, we didn't forget some zeroes. Lawmakers allied with President Rodrigo Duterte voted Tuesday to allocate just 1,000 pesos (USD $20) for the Commission on Human Rights, which has repeatedly criticized Duterte's bloody drug war, which has left thousands dead at the hands of police and vigilantes. The funding move was explicit retaliation for the commission's criticism of the human rights disaster. In a Facebook post responding to the move, UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial killings Agnes Callamard said Filipinos deserved an independent organization that could hold the government accountable for its misdeeds. "Instead they are getting a 'war on drugs' which, by the president's own account, has failed to curtail addiction rates, while creating a climate of fear and insecurity, feeding impunity, and undermining the constitutional fabrics of the country," she wrote. "If the Philippines Congress is looking for public money being wasted, damaging and hurting the Philippines society, this is it."

We're seeing progress on pot policy in gubernatorial candidates in Minnesota and Virginia, Tennessee cops get scorched for asset forfeiture spending abuses, black Philly narcs charge their bosses are racist and corrupt, and more.

"Honor, Service, Integrity"

California Lawmakers Propose Allowing Integrated Pot Operations. An Assembly Budget Committee "clean up" bill aimed at addressing inconsistencies and confusion caused by previous efforts to regulate marijuana in the state includes a provision that would allow growers and sellers to group multiple permitted operations together. Under the bill, a dispensary could also sell for recreational use if properly licensed, a pot shop would be to run a same-site manufacturing operation, and multiple groups could be licensed to grow marijuana at the same facility.

Minnesota DFL Gubernatorial Candidates Line Up for Legalization. Five out of six Democratic Farm Labor candidates for governor have come out for marijuana legalization. St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman, state Reps. Erin Murphy, Tina Liebling and Paul Thissen, and US Rep. Tim Walz are all ready to free the weed. Among the major DFL candidates, only State Auditor Rebecca Otto isn't ready to go there.

Virginia GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Calls for Decriminalization. Virginia Republican candidate for governor Ed Gillespie has come out for the decriminalization of small-time pot possession. He said he would try to persuade the General Assembly to adjust the pot laws so that a "person arrested for simple possession of marijuana would not be charged with possession until the third instance." Democratic gubernatorial nominee Ralph Northam has already called for decriminalization.

Asset Forfeiture

DOJ Report Finds Tennessee Cops Misused Asset Forfeiture Funds. A report from the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General found that state law enforcement misused funds from the department's Equitable Sharing asset forfeiture program. In one case, police spent $110,000 on catering services, which is not an allowed use of the funds. The report also cited lax tracking and reporting requirements and recommended the state get on the ball. It also said the state should "remedy" that catering expense.

Law Enforcement

Black Philly Narcs Charge Supervisors With Racism, Corruption. Six black Philadelphia Police narcotics officers have filed complaints with the state Human Relations Commission charging that two white supervisors, Chief Inspector Anthony Boyle and Inspector Raymond Evers, are racist and corrupt and should be removed from their positions. The complaints included allowing a white narc to park his car adorned with a confederate flag on city property, encouraging officers to file false documents and falsify evidence, and denying black officers overtime opportunities and choice work assignments. Boyle is also accused of referring to black citizens as "scum" and referring to the deaths of blacks as "thinning the herd." The black narcs said a civil lawsuit is being considered.

(This article was prepared by StoptheDrugWar.org"s lobbying arm, the Drug Reform Coordination Network, which also pays the cost of maintaining this web site. DRCNet Foundation takes no positions on candidates for public office, in compliance with section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, and does not pay for reporting that could be interpreted or misinterpreted as doing so.)

It's slow in the dog days of August, but there is a bit of news out there: Indianapolis cops have to revise their vehicle seizure practices, Alaska regulators are seeking public comment on proposed on-site pot consumption regulations, and more.

Alaska wants to let pot buyers smoke their purchases where they got them. Public comments being sought now. (Sandra Yruel/DPA)

Alaska Regulators Seek Public Comment on Onsite Marijuana Consumption. The state's Marijuana Control Board has created a draft proposal that would allow some pot shops to provide a space for on-premises consumption of products bought there. Now it's giving the public a chance to weigh in. People who want to comment have until October 27.

Nevada Gaming Commission to Discuss Marijuana-Related Issues. The state Gaming Commission will hold a special meeting Thursday to address problems the gambling industry may have to confront after the state legalized marijuana. The commission is likely to discuss ways to keep gaming companies from being associated with marijuana businesses, which are illegal under federal law.

Asset Forfeiture

Indiana Federal Judge Restricts Indianapolis Police Seizure Practices. The Indianapolis Metro Police Department may no longer hold seized vehicles for up to six months before deciding whether to file formal asset forfeiture paperwork, a federal district court judge ruled on Monday. The ruling came in a class action lawsuit challenging such seizures. "The Court concludes that the statutory provisions allowing for the seizure and retention of vehicles without providing an opportunity for an individual to challenge the pre-forfeiture deprivation are unconstitutional," US District Chief Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson ruled in remarks reported by The Indianapolis Star.

Harm Reduction

Kentucky First Responders Get Naloxone. Gov. Matt Bevin (R) joined officials from northern Kentucky and executives from Aetna to announce Wednesday that first responders in the northern and Appalachian regions will receive720 doses of the overdose reversal drug naloxone in a bid to prevent overdose deaths. Drug overdose deaths in the state were at record levels last year, up more than 7% over 2015.