State Courts

It's been 20 years since Janet Reno established the first drug court in Miami. Now, there are more than 2,100 of them, but the nation's leading criminal defense attorneys' group says they are distorting justice and need serious reforms.

It was strike two Monday for the Church of Cognizance and its argument that its members have a religious right to use marijuana. The Arizona Supreme Court rejected that claim from a church member. Last year, a federal court rejected a similar claim from church founders Dan and Mary Quaintance, who are currently in federal prison.

Maine marijuana activist Don Christen is getting ready to do eight months behind bars after the state Supreme Court rejected his appeal in a marijuana cultivation case where he argued he was growing for patients.

South Dakota's loudest voice for marijuana law reform has just been silenced. In imposing a sentence for a marijuana possession conviction, a Rapid City judge has ordered Bob Newland to shut up about legalizing it.

Cops who confiscate legally permitted marijuana or plants from patients and growers in California could pay out the nose for their violations of the constitution, a California appeals court has ruled in the first decision of its kind. That just might rein in some of those renegade, recalcitrant departments who want to ignore a law they don't like.

When he got a 93-year sentence for a small medical marijuana grow in Oklahoma, Will Foster became a poster child for drug war abuses. A national campaign helped free him, and he headed for the friendlier climes of northern California, which released him from parole after three years. But Oklahoma wants him back, and now Foster has been in jail in California for the past 15 months fighting extradition. He needs your help.

The US Supreme Court has refused to hear appeals from two California counties challenging the state's medical marijuana law. San Diego and San Bernardino counties had refused to implement an ID card program, arguing that federal drug laws preempted the state's medical marijuana law, but no court was buying.

The cops can't search your car after they arrest you unless they have a warrant or probable cause, the Supreme Court has ruled.

By some measures, drug courts are a success. They reduce recidivism and drive down criminal justice system costs, most observers agree. But when it comes to whether they are a desirable response to drug use, that's a different story.

As violent intruders were battering down his door one night last January, Ryan Frederick picked up his rifle and shot through it, killing one. Now he's most likely going to prison for 10 years. Another misbegotten SWAT-style drug raid gone bad -- for everybody.