Court Rulings

An Irish judge has dismissed drugged driving charges against a young man based solely on the presence of marijuana in his system. That's not sufficient to prove impairment, he ruled.

There was a drug checkpoint on a Louisiana highway last week. Only one problem: they're illegal. Now the local cops are backtracking furiously and claiming it was really a legal highway safety checkpoint. And the drug dogs were there to help read drivers' licenses?

In a bid to regularize the situation of coca growers, one Peruvian department earlier this year moved to legalize the crop. This week, the country's highest constitutional court overturned that move, saying only the national government can set drug policy.

Federal prosecutors won another conviction against a California medical marijuana dispensary operator this week. It's easy pickings when the defense can't mention medical marijuana, and it raises issues about how to deal with local law enforcement officials who work with the feds to get around state law.

In a victory for California's medical marijuana law, a state appeals court has rejected a challenge to the law from San Diego County. But it isn't over yet. The county said Tuesday it would appeal to the state Supreme Court.

If a police officer smells marijuana coming from a car, that's not enough evidence to arrest everyone in it, the Washington state Supreme Court has ruled.

Italy's highest court has recognized the religious use of marijuana in a case involving an Italian Rastafarian.

Selling equipment used to grow marijuana is not in itself a crime, a British appeals court has ruled.

You can't strip search a school girl to see if she's carrying a low-grade pain reliever, the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled. The only shocking thing about this verdict is that five out 11 of the justices disagreed.

The Argentine government is working on a rewrite of its drug laws, but courts there aren't waiting for the politicians. In April, two federal tribunals in Buenos Aires declared the drug possession laws unconstitutional, and now more courts have followed suit.