State & Local Legislatures

Using YouTube videos of young people under the influence of salvia divinorum as exhibit number one, legislators across the country are stepping up efforts to ban the intense, fast-acting hallucinogen.

For more than 30 years, Alaska's courts have held that the state constitution's privacy provisions protect citizens who want to smoke and possess small amounts of marijuana in their homes. Last week, the Alaska Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the state's latest effort to undo the status quo.

Idaho legislators want to increase funding for drug treatment and prevention, but the governor vetoed their funding line-items. Now, the state Senate has overridden one veto, and it's time for the House to step up to the plate.

The New Hampshire House Tuesday approved a bill that would decriminalize the possession of up to a quarter ounce of marijuana. But Senate leaders say it is dead on arrival, and the governor is vowing to veto it if it passes.

Efforts to legalize medical marijuana via the legislative process are underway in several states. We take a look at where those efforts stand and where they're likely headed.

A bill that would expand eligibility for diversion to drug court has passed the New Jersey legislature. Gov. Jon Corzine (D) is expected to sign it shortly.

The Michigan medical marijuana initiative has been approved by the state Board of Canvassers. Now, it heads to the voters in November -- unless the legislature approves it in the next six weeks.

The effort to pass a medical marijuana bill is dead for this year in Kansas -- killed by an obstructionist committee chair -- but organizers vow it will be back.

Maybe the third time is the charm. After going nowhere in 1999 and 2002, hemp legislation is moving at the Minnesota state capitol. A licensing bill has passed two committee votes despite law enforcement objections.

Two weeks after it voted to remove criminal penalties for marijuana possession, a Vermont Senate committee has voted to halve the quantities of heroin or cocaine necessary to trigger a trafficking charge.