State & Local Legislatures

Here is yet another poll showing broad support for medical marijuana, this time in New York state. The surprise is no longer that people support medical marijuana, but that the New York legislature can't get around to passing it.

$38 an ounce for kind bud?!?!? That's what RAND says could happen if California legalizes it. Tax revenue estimates are all over the place, depending on multiple factors. And consumption could go up dramatically, but it might not. Bottom line: Nobody knows for sure what's going to happen.

California half-way decriminalized simple pot possession back in the 1970s, setting a maximum $100 fine, but leaving offenders with a misdemeanor criminal record. Now, a bill that has already passed the Senate and is moving in the Assembly would complete the process by downgrading the offense to a civil citation.

Who knew the Kentucky legislature could be so progressive? A state maternal health law passed in 1992 protects women from being prosecuted as child-endangerers for drug use while pregnant, and last week the state's Supreme Court told prosecutors to obey the law.

Medical marijuana is hitting the Pacific. There was already interest in the Northern Marianas, and now a Guamanian senator has introduced a bill in that US territory.

Will the second time be the charm in South Dakota? A medical marijuana initiative was barely defeated there in 2006; this time the scent of victory is in the air.

Washington is now the second state to adopt a "911 Good Samaritan" laws in a bid to prevent drug overdose fatalities. It's a smart harm reduction move.

Fire bombs. Graffiti attacks. Anonymous anti-medical marijuana flyers handed out to school children. Whether medical marijuana has gone too far is a hot issue in Billings, Montana, and it's simmering all over Big Sky Country as "ganja-preneurs" push the envelope.

There has been a dramatic increase in methadone overdose deaths in Pennsylvania and the nation in recent years. Keystone State legislators are misguidedly aiming at the state's methadone maintenance treatment clinics.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to help balance the budget by cutting out almost all Medi-Cal funding for more than 35,000 methadone maintenance patients. The nicest thing opponents can say about that idea is that it's penny wise but pound foolish, and the legislature seems to agree. But the Governator can still wield the line-item veto, so the fight isn't over yet.