At the Statehouse: Sentencing, Drug Testing, Good Samaritan, Hemp, and SWAT Bills
In the final installment in our series on drug reform legislative activity, we look at sentencing, Good Samaritan laws, drug testing, and a couple of odds and ends.
State & Local Executive Branches
Comerica Park, Detroit (wikimedia.org)
Michigan Court Keeps Detroit Marijuana Initiative Off Ballot
A Detroit pot legalization initiative had enough signatures to qualify for the ballot, but a city commission disqualified it, and now a local judge has agreed. An appeal may come, but it may be too late.
Trevon Cole
Raid Victim Family May Hit Vegas Police with RICO Suit
The coroner's inquest for Trevon Cole is over and his killer has been cleared. Now, the attorney for Cole's family is getting ready to file a wrongful death, civil rights, and maybe even a RICO lawsuit.
Trevon Cole and his fiance Sequoia Pearce, nine<br>months pregnant at time of shooting
Cop Cleared in Killing of Unarmed Man in Marijuana Raid
A coroner's inquest has found the killing of an unarmed 21-year-old man in a Las Vegas drug raid over 1.8 ounces of pot "justified."
Gov. Bill Ritter Turns to Medical Marijuana Fund to Help Balance Colorado Budget
The plan Ritter announced to bridge a nearly $60 million shortfall in the current budget year relies on $9 million from the state's Medical Marijuana Program Cash Fund, financed by fees on patients who get cards to use medical marijuana. With the number of applicants for medical marijuana cards expected to double to 150,000 this year, there will still be about $1 million left in the fund even after $9 million is swept from it.
seat of injustice
Texas Now Prosecuting TWO Medical Marijuana Patients [FEATURE]
Two extreme cases from Texas demonstrate why legislation to protect medical marijuana patients there is badly needed.
gavel_0.jpg
California Appeals Court in Split Decision on Medical Marijuana Dispensaries
A California appeals court Wednesday held that federal law did not preempt California laws allowing medical marijuana dispensaries, but did not decide the bottom line issue: Can cities or counties ban dispensaries?
never forget
Atlanta Pays $4.9 Million for Kathryn Johnston Botched Drug Raid Killing
When you gun down an old lady on a bogus warrant, then plant pot at the scene to cover your misdeeds, you're a bad cop indeed. Now, Atlanta is paying for some of its bad cops.
Detroit skyline
Detroit Marijuana Legalization Backers Appeal Ballot Rejection
Will Detroiters be able to vote in November on legalizing marijuana? Petitioners gathered the required number of signatures to put the question onto the ballot, but an unexpected roadblock thrown up by a city commission has sent them to the courts.
DC City Hall
DC Issues Draft Regulations for Medical Marijuana [FEATURE]
District of Columbia voters overwhelmingly passed medical marijuana but waited 12 years for it to become law. Now the DC government is making them wait an extra five months before even beginning to set up a medical marijuana system, and the framework they've crafted has problems.