State & Local Executive Branches

An Arkansas marijuana legalization initiative can start signature-gathering, DC's medical marijuana program now includes more eligible conditions, Tennessee's governor unveils his prescription drug plan, Canada's mandatory minimum sentencing law is being challenged, and more.

Advocates of drug testing people poor people lost another battle today as the USDA told Georgia its law mandating drug tests for some food stamp recipients violates federal policy and cannot be implemented.

A Nevada marijuana legalization initiative picks up a key endorsement, Iowa joins the ranks of the CBD medical marijuana states, Tennessee's governor gets ready to roll out a new plan to address prescription drug use, thousands march for legalization in Santiago, Chile, the Peruvian president backs away from forced coca eradication, and more.

In an historic vote, the House tells the DEA and Justice Department to butt out of medical marijuana states, limited CBD medical marijuana bills are signed into law in Iowa and South Carolina, Minnesota becomes the 22nd medical marijuana state, one bill to regulate medical marijuana in California is still alive, and more.

That Georgia drug raid last week that left a toddler seriously burned and in a medically-induced coma continues to spark outrage, the DC pot possession and cultivation legalization initiative is half-way there, New York's governor signs a deal for CBD medical marijuana trials that critics say isn't nearly enough, a former Brooklyn DA is in hot water of misusing seized drug money, and more.

While the nation and the world focus on Colorado's legalization of marijuana, serious work on drug and sentencing reform and harm reduction has also been getting done there. Let's take a look.

We could see a congressional vote on barring the feds from interfering in medical marijuana states this week, California stays contentious, the New York Assembly passes a medical marijuana bill (again), and more.

Kentucky will be growing research hemp crops this year after the DEA backed down from its refusal to issue a permit for imported hemp seed. A lawsuit and a visit from the Senate Minority leader might have had something to do with it.

An evangelical pollster has support for marijuana legalization at 58% (but not among Christians), the Senate Minority Leader takes on the DEA over hemp, a California defelonization sentencing initiative hands in signatures, we have a fascinating look at meth culture in Tehran, and more.

California battles over dispensaries and cultivation rules continue, medical marijuana bills move in Illinois, Minnesota, New York, and South Carolina, and more.