One year after a SWAT team shot and killed two Labrador retrievers in a marijuana raid on an innocent small-town mayor’s family, the Prince George’s County, Md., sheriff responsible has announced his department did nothing wrong. [Read more →]

The House committee that oversees the Department of Justice (DOJ) passed an amendment today that adds language to the committee’s report urging the DOJ to clarify its position on state-legal medical marijuana. The provision is a non-binding recommendation, but carries weight given the committee’s role in funding the department. [Read more →]

After MPP passed the medical marijuana ballot initiative in Michigan and the marijuana decriminalization ballot initiative in Massachusetts — both on November 4 — I thought the MPP staff might get a little downtime to regroup for the 2009-2010 election cycle. Not so.

In the last four months, the MPP staff and our allies have been working almost nonstop to respond to — and take advantage of — the many opportunities that have been presenting themselves across the country. I’ve never seen so much evidence of positive change in such a short amount of time … [Read more →]

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder reinforced the White House’s policy that federal resources shouldn’t be wasted raiding medical marijuana dispensaries that operate within state law yesterday in a Justice Department press conference.

You already know this, but considering that the DEA has conducted hundreds of these stupid raids over the past several years, this is a very big deal for medical marijuana patients and fans of compassion and sanity.

The last of three Atlanta police officers pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the shooting death of 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston nearly two years ago, thus concluding the federal investigation of that tragic incident.

It appears likely the investigation report will fault shortcuts taken by Atlanta narcotics officers to secure illegal search warrants, which, if you’ll read our summary of the incident, you’ll see is a grotesque understatement in Ms. Johnston’s case. These officers arbitrarily targeted the woman’s home as a crack house, lied to secure a no-knock warrant, shot her five or six times, and then attempted to plant a small amount of marijuana in order to justify their rampage.

Vile abuses of authority are a terrible, inevitable part of human nature. Accountability and harsh justice for the men involved in Ms. Johnston’s death are necessary and appropriate. But until we look at the policies that embolden such men, expect more abuse.

After all, these drug enforcement professionals believed they might get away with the senseless slaying of a 92-year-old woman if she were found possessing marijuana. What does that say about the attitudes that underlie our marijuana policies?