State & Local Legislatures

Marijuana decriminalization will be on the Vermont legislature's agenda this session. A bill was filed Tuesday.

The New Hampshire legislature will once again decide on marijuana decriminalization. Last year, it passed in the House, but died in the Senate.

As governors and legislators ponder deflated budgets at statehouses around the country, opportunities are emerging to move forward on long-stalled prison, sentencing, and drug reform issues.

A Nebraska man prosecuted for selling salvia -- even though it isn't illegal there -- has been acquitted, but moves to ban the psychedelic member of the mint family are ongoing across the land.

With the number of medical marijuana states growing at the rate of one a year, and with Michigan last November becoming the first state in the Midwest to embrace therapeutic cannabis, two Upper Midwest state legislatures are about to grapple with the issue -- again.

Massachusetts voters approved a decriminalization initiative by a two-to-one margin in November. Now, decrim foes are fighting back with local ordinances banning public consumption, but they are finding that once again they have a battle on their hands.

Activists in Kalamazoo, Michigan, are laying the groundwork for making it the next town or city to pass an ordinance making adult marijuana possession offenses the lowest law enforcement priority.

One Montana legislator wants to make medical marijuana patients who get into a traffic accident or get pulled over for a violation to have to automatically submit to a drug test. It doesn't appear to be a popular idea.

A Harris County, Texas, judge began a lonely crusade two years ago to get the legislature to reduce drug possession penalties. Now, it's not so lonely as some of his colleagues sign on.

In the face of ominous warnings from US Rep. Silvestre Reyes and the city's state legislative delegation, the El Paso City Council has backed away from last week's resolution calling for a national debate on drug legalization. But some council members aren't too pleased with the heavy-handed interference.