Welfare

It's looking like at least one Oregon marijuana legalization initiative will make the fall ballot, a legalization initiative gets underway in Oklahoma, proposed medical marijuana rule changes in New Mexico run into stiff opposition, Georgia gives up on drug testing food stamp recipients, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon gets a coca birthday cake in Bolivia, and more.

Advocates of drug testing people poor people lost another battle today as the USDA told Georgia its law mandating drug tests for some food stamp recipients violates federal policy and cannot be implemented.

Another poll has marijuana legalization at the tipping point, a Colorado bill to form credit co-ops for pot businesses passes, an Illinois bill to let kids with epilepsy use medical marijuana is moving, a New York naloxone bill passes, Pittsburgh needle exchanges get some breathing room, and more.

There was marijuana talk on Capitol Hill yesterday, a Vermont dispensary bill passes the Senate, Georgia's governor signs a welfare drug testing bill, a California drugged driving bill dies, and -- oh, yeah, we spent $7.5 billion to reduce Afghan opium production and got squat. And more.

Medical marijuana continues to be contested terrain, a legalization bill gets a hearing in Boston, hemp is on the move in Hawaii and New York, New Zealand cracks down on its regulated synthetic drugs, and more.

A DC marijuana legalization initiative is about to start signature-gathering, we have a trio of state pot polls, the US Sentencing Commission moves to cut drug sentences, German criminal law professors call for marijuana legalization, and more.

Talk about unintended consequences! Faced with a declining US market share, Mexican pot farmers are switching to opium poppies. Plus, AG Holder has some words about rescheduling, the Maryland decrim bill is back from the dead, it looks like 2016 for California legalization, and more.

Cops like to say they don't make the laws; they merely enforce them, but that wasn't exactly the case today in Louisiana, Oregon, and Washington, DC. Plus, decrim has a last hurrah in Maryland, an Alabama welfare drug testing bill passes, Vermont moves against the new pain reliever Zohydro, and more.

Medical marijuana dominates the drug policy news today, plus a legalization bill is filed in New Jersey, welfare drug testing advances in a pair of states, the Russians halt anti-drug cooperation with the US, and more.

Legalization initiatives get ready to advance in Oregon and Washington, DC, decrim bills move in Illinois and are filed in Pennsylvania, as do medical marijuana bills in Illinois and Maryland, another mass drug sweep in Detroit, and a world ayahuasca conference is set for the fall, and more.