Clemency and Pardon

Marijuana legalization bills get filed in Guam and the District of Columbia, the Global Drug Policy Commission asks Obama to commute more sentences, Chris Christie vows to fight drug addiction during his last year in office, and more.

President Obama has two more weeks to grant more clemencies to prisoners. Please write and call the White House and ask him to take a responsible but blanket approach to freeing as many drug war prisoners as he can.

It was a big year in US domestic drug policy reform, and here are the 10 biggest stories.

The DEA has clarified that it still considers CBD to be illegal, Arkansas moves forward on implementation of its new program, Michigan gets legal dispensaries and a favorable court ruling, and more.

President Obama has just commuted the sentences of another 153 drug offenders, Maine legalization foes concede their recount isn't going anywhere, Marc Emery's Montreal pot shops get raided in a hurry, and more.

Barack Obama has already commuted the sentences of more prisoners than the last 11 presidents combined. But there is still a backlog of thousands, and time is running out.

Scholars, advocates, and a US congressman are calling on Obama to ramp up the commutation process in the final weeks of his term, the CDC issues a report calling for expanded syringe exchange, Maryland moves to address racial diversity (or the lack thereof) in the medical marijuana business, and more.

The president continues to exercise his commutation power on behalf of drug war prisoners, the Florida face-biting killer was not on any new psychoactive substances, Montana activists want their medical marijuana program to restart now, not later, and more.

The president continues granting clemency to federal drug war prisoners, Iran executes more drug prisoners, Filipinos approve of their president's dirty, deadly drug war, and more.

Obama has now commuted more sentences than the last nine presidents combined, but there are still nearly 18,000 commutation applications pending, and the clock is ticking.