Medical Marijuana

An initiative to undo the state legislature's undoing of Montana's 2004 voter-approved medical marijuana program appears poised to make the ballot as a Friday deadline draws near.

States' rights can take a conservative Republican to some unexpected places, like supporting medical marijuana. Rick Perry is against medical marijuana but for allowing it as a states' rights issue, and Rick Santorum is attacking him for that.

Between now and the seating of a new Congress after the 2012 elections, drug reform is going to be a tough slog on Capitol Hill. But that doesn't mean reformers are going away, or that there aren't battles to be fought and won.

After a state appeals court effectively shut down dispensaries in Michigan, medical marijuana patients rallied in large numbers in Lansing, the state capital.

The religious right is rising up to contest an Arkansas medical marijuana initiative, but the pot people have some ecumenical resources on their side, too.

John Ray Wilson was sent to prison Wednesday in New Jersey for the crime of growing his own medicine. Meanwhile, medical marijuana is now legal there and state-registered dispensaries are about to open. Go figure.

The Rhode Island Medical Society is calling on Gov. Chafee to quick blocking the licensing of medical marijuana dispensaries, but he doesn't appear to be ready yet.

A second initiative to legalize marijuana in California has now been filed. This one would repeal all criminal penalties for adult use, cultivation, and distribution and give the state six months to come up with regulations for cannabis commerce.

A Michigan appeals court has shut the door on medical marijuana dispensaries, ruling that sales are not legal, even among patients.

Two of the leading contenders for the Republican presidential nomination had comments related to drug policy this week, and it wasn't pretty.