News Brief

Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy has signed a medical marijuana bill passed by the legislature last month.

A bill to make simple hard drug possession a misdemeanor instead of a felony was defeated in the California Senate by members who were afraid they could "see Amsterdam" on the horizon. Oh, the horror!

New York decriminalized pot possession 35 years ago, but NYPD keeps arresting and jailing people for "possession in public view" after forcing them to empty their pockets. Now, the governor and NYC mayor are behind a change in the law to prevent that practice.

Connecticut becomes the 17th medical marijuana state, localities in various medical marijuana states continue to try to keep a lid on the green medicine, and two raids go down and 34 warning letters go down in LA County right at press time.

Decriminalization bills passed both houses of the Rhode Island General Assembly Monday night. There are just a pair of housekeeping votes before the measure heads to Gov. Lincoln Chafee (I).

Detroit elected officials' efforts to block city residents from voting to legalize marijuana have been shot down by the state Supreme Court. The issue should be on the primary ballot in August.

A new poll show support for marijuana legalization below 50% in California and suggests some demographic groups that need some attention if it is to receive majority support.

Barry Obama and his buddies in the Choom Gang spent their high school and undergraduate years in a haze of pot smoke, a new biography reveals. Drug reformers are chiding him now for his current positions on the issue.

Marijuana decriminalization is just a pair of floor votes away from passage in the Rhode Island General Assembly after companion bills were approved by respective judiciary committees Tuesday.

A former El Paso city council member who wants to legalize marijuana has knocked off drug warrior Rep. Silvestre Reyes in the Texas Democratic Party primary.