State & Local Legislatures

The 2011 Montana legislature will be taking up changes to the Montana Medical Marijuana Act voters passed in 2004. Demonstrators held signs in Missoula, saying "Leave medical marijuana alone' and 'Don't take our medicine from us.' They warn the legislative bill could double fees for patients, limit caregivers' service, charge a $10,000 fee to dispensaries, and set other restrictions.

A Michigan Court of Appeals judge urged lawmakers to clarify the state's medical marijuana law, saying the "inartfully drafted" measure has resulted in confusion and arrests. The judge said the law is so confusing that users "who proceed without due caution" could "lose both their property and their liberty."

Authorities in 13 states thought they were acting to curb a public health threat when they outlawed a form of synthetic marijuana known as K2, a concoction of dried herbs sprayed with a synthetic cannabinoid. Barely six months after Kansas adopted the nation's first ban on K2, even police acknowledge that the laws are all but meaningless because merchants can so easily offer legal alternatives.

San Diego City Council has voted to start developing land use regulations that would define where medicinal marijuana dispensaries can legally operate. Currently, more than 100 dispensaries operate in the city. Kate Valentine of Americans for Safe Access calculates the proposed zoning would only allow about 15 dispensaries.

Michigan drivers could become the first in the nation subject to roadside drug testing under a bill introduced Wednesday in the legislature.

The operators asked the LA's City Council on yesterday to allow more dispensaries, saying many medical marijuana distributors will simply operate illegally.

Just months after a proposed initiative legalizing marijuana failed to qualify for the fall ballot, marijuana is back again on the political agenda. With a new session beginning in January, several legislators are poised to introduce bills that would liberalize marijuana laws, whether by legalizing medical marijuana dispensaries or by legalizing marijuana altogether.