State & Local Executive Branches

Nearly a year after it went into effect, New Mexico's medical marijuana program is registering and providing ID cards to patients, but its innovative provisions for state-licensed, -owned, or -operated marijuana production and distribution are stalled in the regulatory process.

The Texas attorney general has issued an opinion that a law passed last year to allow a needle exchange program in San Antonio does not protect exchange workers from arrest under state paraphernalia laws, so the Lone Star State's first officially-sanctioned needle exchange is dead -- for now.

A Minnesota medical marijuana bill is headed for a House floor vote soon. It already passed the Senate last year, so is only one vote away from passage, but the Republican governor is threatening to veto it.

Last week, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy was loudly pursuing criminal perjury charges against the mayor and his one-time paramour. This week, her chief drug prosecutor is accused of abetting perjury by cops and an informant in a drug case, but there's no talk yet of any criminal charges.

For more than 30 years, Alaska's courts have held that the state constitution's privacy provisions protect citizens who want to smoke and possess small amounts of marijuana in their homes. Last week, the Alaska Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the state's latest effort to undo the status quo.

Idaho legislators want to increase funding for drug treatment and prevention, but the governor vetoed their funding line-items. Now, the state Senate has overridden one veto, and it's time for the House to step up to the plate.

The black community in Lima, Ohio, cried for justice after a SWAT team member killed Tarika Wilson and wounded her infant son during a raid in January. Those cries are unlikely to be quieted now as local authorities charged the police shooter with a pair of misdemeanors for the killing. He faces a maximum of eight months in jail.

California's prison system is the nation's second largest, behind only the federal prison system. Now, an initiative that would dramatically expand Proposition 36-style "treatment not jail" programs, as well as other systemic reforms, is headed for the November ballot.

With the DEA raiding dispensaries in the Bay Area this year, the Berkeley City Council voted Tuesday to make the city a medical marijuana sanctuary.

Eric Sage got pulled over on his motorcycle as he left South Dakota after the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally last summer and ended up being charged with possession of paraphernalia even though he didn't possess any paraphernalia. He fought the charges and faced threats from prosecutors if he didn't plead. Finally, the prosecutors gave up, but Sage still wants justice.