It was a quiet weekend on the drug policy front, except for the Million Marijuana Marches in cities around the world, and all the news was marijuana-related.
Our campaign to change global drug policy saw its first stage come to fruition with the release last week of our sign-on statement and media coverage. Your help is needed now to ensure this work can continue without interruption.
Marijuana reforms pass the Kansas House, a dispensary bill passes the Hawaii legislature, another Ohio legalization initiative is moving, one Republican presidential contender makes some nice noises about drug policy, and more.
Holy Cow! A marijuana legalization bill wins a committee vote in Texas! Also, decrim bills are moving in Delaware and Illinois, welfare drug testing gets shot down by Democrats in Iowa, but advances thanks to Republicans in Wisconsin, and more.
A ring of crooked North Carolina deputies gets popped, so do some Connecticut cops involved in a steroids rings, and so do more jail and prison guards. And more. So it goes.
CBD cannabis oil bills become law in Georgia, Oklahoma, and Tennessee, a similar bill is moving in Texas, Hawaii moves closer to allowing dispensaries, and more.
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The pro-legalization billboard that went up in Providence this week.
Lots of marijuana policy at the statehouse today, a Texas CBD cannabis oil bill moves, Montana's governor signs asset forfeiture reform into law, Vermont heads in the opposite direction on asset forfeiture, and more.
No, it's neither California nor Nevada, and not one of the New England states. This is a Middle American battleground state, and it may be ready to go green.
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Coca production is up in Colombia. It could end up as cocaine, like this haul seized by Spanish police.
Mexico drug war flares, Colombia coca production jumps, a Texas decrim bill is moving, so is a Hawaii dispensary bill and a Louisiana medical marijuana bill. And more.
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The high court is considering that lawsuit against Colorado. (wikimedia.org)
The Supreme Court wants to know what the Obama administration thinks about that lawsuit over Colorado's marijuana law, a Hawaii dispensary bill is back from the dead and being considered today, a Nevada harm reduction bill advances, a federal drug defelonization bill is introduced, and more.
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La Fortaleza -- the Puerto Rican governor's mansion in San Juan (wikipedia.org)
The House rejects medical marijuana for vets, Georgia's governor signs a CBD cannabis oil bill, Congressmembers call for a progressive DEA head, the US spent $8.4 billion to wipe out Afghan poppy crops and got squat, there's a new report on prohibition-related violence in Mexico, and more.
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Facing an HIV outbreak in one county, Indiana has approved statewide needle exchange programs. (wikipedia.org)
Seventeen congressmembers introduced a federal marijuana banking bill, CBD cannabis oil gets approved in Oklahoma, medical marijuana advances in Louisiana, Indiana approves needle exchange programs, and more.
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launch of the Civil Society Task Force, UN Headquarters, NY, December 2014 (idpc.net)
Organizations concerned with drugs and drug policy are requested to fill out the Global Civil Society Task Force, looking toward the April 2016 UN General Assembly Session on Drugs
Scholarship assistance is available for individuals wishing to attend this year's International Drug Policy Reform Conference, taking place from November 18-21 in the DC metro area. May 22 is the deadline to apply.
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.