Tarheel state voters are ready for marijuana legalization whether their Republican lawmakers are or not, Hegseth is deploying US troops to Panama for jungle training as part of his ever-expanding anti-drug crusade, and more. 

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Marijuana Policy 

North Carolina Poll Shows Strong Backing for Marijuana Legalization. For years, state legislators have blocked marijuana law reforms, but they may want to take a look at what their constituents want because what they want is legal weed. A new poll from SurveyUSA has support for adult use legalization at a solid 63 percent and support for medical marijuana even higher at 74 percent. 

Only 15 percent of respondents thought medical marijuana should remain illegal, and only 26 percent thought adult use marijuana should remain illegal. 

Voter attitudes have definitely shifted, SurveyUSA president Ken Alper said. 

"They’re much more comfortable with [legalization] than they would have been 10 or 20 years ago," he said, noting that state residents have seen that "society hasn’t collapsed" in other states.

The state is one of only eight with no licensed and regulated medical marijuana program, and Republicans, who have dominated the state legislature in recent years, have said there is not enough support from their constituents to move forward. 

But even among Republicans, 52 percent support adult use legalization and nearly two-thirds (65 percent) support medical marijuana. And even among voters who identified themselves as "very conservative" were evenly split—44-44—on adult use legalization. 

"Majorities in all parts of the state and among all demographic subgroups favor legalization of medical marijuana," the polling memo said. "Opposition to [adult-use] legalization does not exceed 44 percent and does not outweigh support for legalization among any demographic subgroup."

Medical Marijuana

Oklahoma's New Medical Marijuana Packaging Rules Will Go into Effect on November 1. New medical marijuana packaging rules, mandated by the passage of House Bill 4454 during the last legislative session, will take effect in just over two weeks, on November 1. Lawmakers who approved the bill said the changes were designed to make medical marijuana less appealing to children. 

The new law requires that medical marijuana drinks and edibles be clearly marked with the amount of THC in each serving and the number of servings in each package. It also mandates that packaging cannot appeal to children, including packaging that resembles people, animals, and cartoons, and gummy bears that look like candy. 

In a Monday press release, the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority said any products transferred to a dispensary after November 1 must meet the new law's requirements. 

"Beginning on November 1, the transfer of any products to a dispensary that are not in compliance with HB 4454’s new requirements is prohibited," the release said. However, the authority added that remaining non-compliant inventory can still be sold. 

The authority warned dispensaries it would begin enforcement promptly on November 1. 

"The agency’s compliance inspection team is undergoing thorough training ahead of the effective date to support consistent, fair enforcement statewide," the press release said.

International

US Deploys Troops to Panama as Hegseth's Drug War Expands. The U.S. military is sending nearly 200 troops to Panama for jungle warfare training. It is the latest example of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's ever-expanding military operations against drug trafficking organizations in Latin America and the waters around it. 

Troops are coming from Fort Drum in upstate New York and will train in survival and combat tactics. A US official who spoke anonymously to The Hill said they will not be conducting counter-narcotics training but that they could undertake additional training with Colombian, Guatemalan, and Honduran troops. After this assignment, set to last a matter of weeks, the troops will return to Fort Drum. 

An unnamed Pentagon official told The Hill that the deployment was taking place under the Bilateral Jungle Operations Training program and is part of the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition (A3C), which seeks"collaboration, complementary capabilities and persistent engagement with allies and partners." 

"This sharpens the capabilities of U.S. and partner nation troops in harsh jungle environments like the remote areas in which cartels hide," the Pentagon official said. "These activities reflect the ongoing A3C approach of working with capable allies and partners to deepen collaboration and maintain persistent pressure against hemispheric threat networks." 

"For operational security reasons, we do not discuss specific force posture, movement timelines, unit disposition, or mission details," the official said. 

At least one analyst, Lee Schlenker, a research associate with the Global South program at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, while lauding the administration's focus on Latin America, was skeptical of what the deployment would achieve. 

"While the administration is right to focus on its near abroad and provide regional governments with support to tackle pressing security challenges, surging troop deployments without proper Congressional authorization or a clearly stated legal rationale risks leading us into an interminable war against a shifting set of targets with no clear entry or exit strategy," he said.

But he added that the deployment would do "remarkably little to address the drivers of the drug trade," which he named as "surging demand, public corruption, lack of formal employment and deficient judicial and law enforcement institutions."