State & Local Executive Branches

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has conditionally vetoed a 911 Good Samaritan law aimed at avoiding fatal drug overdoses. He's afraid it might let drug dealers "off the hook" and wants the legislature to study the issue for another year-and-a-half instead.

A state Health Department review of New Jersey's needle exchange program has found it is working and should be continued.

The Massachusetts drug lab testing scandal continues to reverberate. Now, the lab analyst at the center of it has been arrested, and courts are scheduling special sessions to free the more than 1,100 behind bars in cases where she was involved.

Award-winning film maker Rick Ray turns his camera and his sharp eye on the ongoing medical marijuana wars with his 2012 documentary Lynching Charlie Lynch. It's quite good.

Last issue, we reported that the DEA had taken the week off. Well, they're back, and so is the push-back.

California will become the 10th state to enact a Good Samaritan law designed to reduce fatal drug overdoses by providing some protections from criminal prosecution for people seeking emergency help for overdose victims.

A Massachusetts crime lab analyst whose zeal to help prosecutors win drug cases has endangered the prosecution of more than 30,000 drug cases after her misconduct in the lab was uncovered.

The battle of Los Angeles continues, Arizona prosecutors don't like their medical marijuana law, and a bill is pre-filed in Kentucky. There's also lots more going on.

Illinois police now have the right to wiretap or record "drug suspects" without a warrant under a new state law. At the same time, they want to arrest you if you do that to them. Some folks are more equal than others.

The feds strike again in California, this time in Orange County, and meanwhile, the battle over the LA dispensary ban heats up. There's plenty more news, too.