State & Local Legislatures

And the beat goes on. From the West Coast to the East Coast and from the Great Lakes to the Gulf Coast, medical marijuana is on the agenda.

Remember Bernie Goetz? He made the news again over the weekend, and so did Florida's medical marijuana initiative. There's also drug policy news from around the world.

Marijuana and medical marijuana activism continues, a prescription drug monitoring bill moves in Pennsylvania, a West Virginia official jumps to conclusions on drug testing results, and Israelis are switching from hash to buds.

State level marijuana legalization activists look ahead, Colorado announces hemp farming rules, Denver backs away from a backyard pot-smoking ban, and strife continues in Mexico.

Budweiser sponsors a medical marijuana campaign event in Arkansas, California localities continue to grapple with regulating the business, and there is action afoot in Utah. And that's not all.

Uruguay appears poised to legalize marijuana Friday, the Afghan opium crop is at an all-time high, and the ACLU issues a report on people doing life without parole for nonviolent offenses. And there's more.

Here's our first try at altering our format to continue to bring you comprehensive coverage of what's going on in the war on drugs and the world of drug reform. Look for this or something similar on a daily basis from now on.

If you like to wager, Alaska, Oregon, and Rhode Island look like the best bets for legalizing marijuana next year. But the situation is fluid, and there could be others.

A Michigan couple get their child back, New Jersey gets its second dispensary, and Washington regulators get an earful over attempts to do away with patient home grows under I-502 legalization. And much, much more.

In a move that cuts against more than a decade of sentencing reform efforts in California, Gov. Jerry Brown has vetoed a bill that would allow some people caught with small amounts of drugs to face misdemeanor charges instead of felonies.