State & Local Executive Branches

There's medical marijuana news from the far Pacific, with Hawaii okaying dispensaries and Guam releasing draft medical marijuana regulations, plus more.

A long-awaited (and overdue) report on California marijuana policy reforms is out, an Arizona appeals court rules that the odor of marijuana in a medical marijuana state is not sufficient grounds for a search warrant, the DEA gets criticized over its snitch program, and more.

There will be an open container law for weed in Washington state, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) files a bill to expunge some federal marijuana offense records, cops in one British county effectively decriminalize small-time pot offenses, there's a mystery surrounding a dead North Dakota student informant, and more.

Ohio election officials have disqualified more than half the signatures gathered for the ResponsibleOhio initiative, but the battle isn't over; a Michigan legalization initiative gets rolling, an Oklahoma report raises the curtain on asset forfeiture abuses, and more.

We're waiting for the big one to drop in California, there's marijuana arrest expungement news from Jamaica and Ohio, Colorado rejects medical marijuana for PTSD, Chris Christie talks crime and drug policy, and more.

The president gives a major speech calling for greater criminal justice reform, there's a revised version of a California pot legalization initiative, North Carolina is moving to ban new synthetic drugs, the Israeli Knesset squabbles over marijuana policy, and more.

Medical marijuana continues to be an issue in Congress, medical marijuana programs in Illinois and New York move ahead, a federal appeals court decision hits dispensaries in the pocketbook, and more.

More marijuana reform initiatives get filed, Wisconsin's governor modifies a food stamp drug test bill to make it mandatory and suspicionless, the world's wealthiest drug lord breaks out of prison, and more.

Nearly half the country thinks roads will be less safe with pot legalization, researchers debunk the gateway theory... again, applicants pile up for medical marijuana programs in Florida and New York, Connecticut's governor signs a bill doing away with mandatory minimums for drug possession, and more.

With state legislative sessions winding down, its been pretty quiet on the medical marijuana front, except for California, where both localities and the legislature continue to grapple with the issue.