State & Local Executive Branches

As politicians dither, New Yorkers hoping to end New York City's reign as marijuana arrest capital of the world will have to wait. In the meantime, another thousand people are getting popped for pot in the Big Apple every week.

New York City and the NYPD are under fire this week for both their stop-and-frisk policing program and their massive number of marijuana possession busts in a state where it is supposed to be decriminalized.

Medical marijuana action was concentrated in state legislatures this week, although there was also news from the Massachusetts attorney general's office.

Recalcitrant law enforcement and opposition from the governor's mansion is scuttling medical marijuana in Minnesota this year, even though it has broad popular support. But there's always next year.

A marijuana decriminalization and depenalization bill has passed the New Mexico House, but the margin of victory was close, the clock is ticking on the Senate, and the Republican governor has threatened a veto.

There is action in various state houses, Michiganders continue to tussle over their medical marijuana law, and there's an investigation going on in Maine.

From the village board to the halls of Congress, medical marijuana is popping up all over. And there's action at various state houses, too.

The US 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a preliminary injunction blocking the state of Florida from implementing its welfare drug testing law. The law violates the Fourth Amendment's proscription against warrantless searches, the court found.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has announced that police will no longer hold people arrested for small-time marijuana busts, but will instead merely have them make a desk appearance and then be released.

In the latest example of the drug testing fever sweeping Charleston, a West Virginia delegate has introduced a bill requiring teens to pass not one but three drug tests before being granted full drivers' licenses.