State & Local Executive Branches

The city council in the Virginia college town of Charlottesville had adopted a resolution calling on the state to consider decriminalizing or regulating marijuana, but balked at adding lowest law enforcement priority language.

Faced with a veto threat from Gov. John Lynch (D), the New Hampshire Senate voted Wednesday to kill a marijuana decriminalization bill that had already passed the House.

President Obama is taking flak from comedians and politicians alike over the federal crackdown on dispensaries. Meanwhile, raids and legal battles continue to rage across the country.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott campaign to force drug tests on state workers got slapped down by a federal judge Wednesday, on fourth amendment grounds.

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.