State & Local Executive Branches

Bills to drug test people seeking public benefits have been all the rage at the statehouse this year, but they're having a surprisingly hard time passing. We have some reasons why.

Saying that West Virginia employers can't find enough workers who aren't doped up, Gov. Tomblin has issued an executive order mandating drug tests for participants in the state's job training program. He already successfully championed drug testing for miners in the legislature.

Georgia has now followed Florida's lead in passing a bill requiring that welfare applicants undergo mandatory, suspicionless drug testing. Florida's law has been stymied by a legal challenge, and one is coming in Georgia, too.

Seattle's mayor has made a clarion call for marijuana legalization as his state prepares to vote on the issue in November.

If grand jury indictments earlier this month are any indication, there's not enough real crime in Pitt County, North Carolina, to keep cops and prosecutors busy. The most common grand jury charge: possessing marijuana with intent.

It's taken ever so long, but it now looks like dispensaries will soon be operating in New Jersey and Washington, DC. Meanwhile, the battles over medical marijuana continue across the country.

The federal offensive against dispensaries in California and Colorado continues, even as more state legislatures take up medical marijuana.

A bill lowering penalties for the possession of small amounts of marijuana and one making possession a citeable offense have passed the Maryland General Assembly and await the governor's signature.

Monday's federal raid on Oaksterdam University in Oakland has ignited a firestorm of criticism of heavy-handed federal efforts to clamp down on medical marijuana distribution. Meanwhile, battles continue to be fought from Washington, DC, to local city halls.

Medical marijuana patients in the nation's capital could be buying their medicines in dispensaries by this summer after the District government selected growers Friday.