State & Local Legislatures

A debate on drug policy is gathering steam in Vermont, where the legislature is set to ponder both marijuana decriminalization and harsher sentencing for some hard drug offenses.

For 30 years, Nebraska has lived with marijuana decriminalization. Now, a state legislator wants to take the state back to the bad old days.

The Nebraska attorney general and at least one legislator want to protect Cornhusker youth from salvia divinorum by sending them to prison for five years if they get caught with it.

Possession of salvia divinorum is a felony in Illinois beginning next week.

With California facing a $14 billion budget deficit, the governor's budget cutters have come up with a proposal to release more than 22,000 nonviolent offenders before their sentences are up.

New Jersey's governor, all 21 county prosecutors, and the state sentencing commission all want to reform the state's "drug-free zone" law, but some New Jersey cops like things just the way they are.

A Tennessee medical marijuana bill saw a bunch of hostile witnesses, as the drug czar's office teamed up with the local religious right to try to nip it in the bud.

Ronnie Naulls thought he knew what to expect if the DEA came after his dispensary, but he never thought they'd try to take his kids. He's not the only California medical marijuana patient or provider with problems with child protective services or family courts, either.

Marching boldly backward, the Ohio State Senate has voted to reduce the disparity in sentencing for powder and crack cocaine offenses by raising those penalties for powder -- not reducing those for crack.

Faced with a wave of indoor marijuana growing operations, Florida drug warrior Attorney General Bill McCullom and his law enforcement and legislative allies are fighting back with a bill proposing tougher penalties and new criminal offenses.