State & Local Executive Branches

A Missouri technical college's bid to drug test students for "public safety" reasons was largely slapped down by a federal district court judge Friday.

Colorado is first out of the gate with final rules for legal marijuana commerce, with the first shops expected to open around New Year's Day, but Washington state isn't far behind.

A bill that would turn felony drug possession cases into "wobblers," meaning they could be charged as either felonies or misdemeanors, is one housekeeping vote away from heading to the governor's desk.

Federal prosecutors speak out on how the Justice Department's new stance on legalization will affect their medical marijuana prosecutions (not much), an initiative's language gets rejected for a second time in Arkansas, and much, much more.

North Carolina's Republican-controlled legislature has overriden the Republican governor's veto of a welfare drug testing bill.

Dispensaries are on the march in various states, even as in some places, localities fight rear-guard efforts. And there's more medical marijuana news, too.

The head of the Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled a hearing on the federal response to medical marijuana in 20 states and legal marijuana in two states. He has asked Attorney General Holder to testify. The hearing will be September 10.

Dispensaries get regulation in Oregon, a dispensary will open in Delaware, and they're already popping up in Arizona. There's more medical marijuana news, too.

Two years after signing a medical marijuana bill into law, Delaware Gov. Jack Markell is finally moving to get a dispensary up and running. He had been scared off by a federal threat letter, but no longer.