In another example of marijuana policy reform’s growing approval by the mainstream political establishment, this week two major state-level political organizations gave their backing to local initiatives to end marijuana prohibition. Citing inherent racism in the government’s war on marijuana, the California state chapter of the NAACP announced its support for the Tax Cannabis initiative, which will appear on the California ballot this November. Meanwhile, the Washington state Democratic Party voted…

Doctors at Oregon’s two organ transplant centers will not provide organs to people who have marijuana compounds in their blood, even if they are legal medical marijuana patients, The Portland Tribune reports today. This restriction has had dire consequences for patients like Jim Klahr, a Portland medical marijuana patient who suffers from hepatitis and cirrhosis, but hasn’t been able to take his medicine since 2004 because he’s on the waiting list for a liver transplant at Oregon Health and Science…

Today, by a unanimous vote, the D.C. Council approved amendments to a medical marijuana law first passed in 1998 by 69 percent of District voters. Congress had blocked implementation of Initiative 59 for more than a decade, until it lifted its ban last year. Mayor Adrian Fenty is expected to sign the bill, at which point Congress will have 30 days to review before it becomes law. Once that happens, the District of Columbia will join 14 states across the country in allowing qualified patients to use…

MPP’s Aaron Houston will be interviewed on CNN’s “The Situation Room” today regarding progress toward lifting the “Barr amendment,” which has blocked Washington D.C. from implementing its medical marijuana law passed by voters in 1998. The show airs at 6 p.m. Eastern time, 3 p.m. Pacific. Bear in mind that TV news schedules are always subject to last-minute change if there’s breaking news, but they are pre-taping the interview even as I post this.