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Toronto Sun, 22 Sep 2017 - To combat organized crime on pot sales in Ontario, legal marijuana is going to have to be competitive with the black market on price, availability, quality and variety. With legal pot coming July 1 - unless Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delays the law - Premier Kathleen Wynne's provincial government already appears to have conceded the field on price and availability.

Detroit Free Press, 22 Sep 2017 - SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Two plainclothes detectives were driving a white unmarked pickup truck through a heavily forested road in Polk County on an overcast day in March 2012. A woman had called the sheriff's office in December. Her identity had been stolen, she said, and new credit cards were being sent to an address in Polk County.

Herald News, 22 Sep 2017 - PATERSON -- About a dozen men and women sat on hard plastic chairs early Wednesday morning inside a conference room at the Well of Hope Drop-In Center on Broadway, where a flat screen television broadcast sports highlights on ESPN. Some came for the free coffee. A sign said the limit was one cup per hour. Others were there to use the showers and toilet facilities. A 57-year-old man who would only give his name as "Julius" was waiting to see a nurse about a blister on his foot.

The attorney general makes clear yet again that he doesn't like legal weed, a Kentucky court throws out a medical marijuana lawsuit, one of the nation's largest pharmacy chains is moving to tighten up on opioid prescriptions, Rodrigo Duterte is ready to kill his own kid for the sake of the drug war, and more.

[image:1 align:right caption:true]Marijuana Policy

Sessions Attacks Marijuana Legalization Again. "I've never felt that we should legalize marijuana," Sessions said Wednesday in San Diego in remarks reported by Reuters. "It doesn't strike me that the country would be better if it's being sold at every street corner," he added, noting that it remains prohibited under federal law. But despite the attorney general's repeated anti-legalization comments, the Justice Department has yet to move seriously against states where it is legal. Last week, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said the Cole memo, which set the Obama administration's largely laissez-faire policy toward legal pot states, is now under review.

Maine Legislators Propose Online and Drive-Through Pot Sales. Proposed regulations from the legislature's marijuana committee would let adults buy pot over the Internet and at drive-through windows at licensed pot shops. The rules are not yet set, however, and opponents are seeking to tighten access. Stay tuned.

Las Vegas Gets First 24-Hour Pot Shop. The city council voted unanimously Wednesday to allow a pot shop, Oasis Cannabis, to stay open 24 hours a day. It will be the first 24/7 pot shop to be located near the Strip, but other pot shops in nearby North Las Vegas are already open around the clock. In approving the move, the council overrode its own city code, which requires pot businesses to shut down between 3:00am and 6:00am.

Medical Marijuana

Kentucky Court Dismisses Lawsuit Aimed at Governor, Attorney General. A lawsuit filed against Gov. Matt Bevin (R) and Attorney General Andy Beshear (D) seeking to force them to legalize medical marijuana in the state was thrown out Wednesday. A Franklin circuit court judge ruled that legal precedent makes it clear that only the legislature can regulate the use of marijuana in the state -- not the executive branch and not the courts.

Heroin and Prescription Opioids

CVS to Limit Opioid Prescriptions in Bid to Address Crisis. The national drug store chain announced Thursday it will take steps to limit initial prescriptions to seven-day supplies for new patients facing acute pain. It will instruct pharmacists to contact prescribing doctors if they see prescriptions with what they believe are more opioids than necessary. The chain will also cap daily dosages and require new patients to get medications that offer short-period pain relief instead of longer duration ones. CVS did not address how the moves would impact patients suffering from chronic pain.

Nevada Governor Sets Opioid Task Force Meeting. Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) has announced that the state's task force on opioid abuse is set to meet Monday. He said the task force will hear updates from state and federal agencies on their progress in fighting opioid abuse. The task force has already made the overdose reversal drug naloxone available to first responders, Sandoval noted.

Asset Forfeiture

lIllinois Governor Signs Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Bill. Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) signed House Bill 303 into law on Tuesday. The new law does not end civil asset forfeiture, but raises the bar for seizures, mandates the collection and reporting of seizure data, and imposes new sanctions for abuse or violations of asset forfeiture rules. Under the new law, the government's burden of proof standard rises from probable cause to a preponderance of the evidence. The law also provides that possession of small amounts of drugs will no longer be a legal basis for forfeiture.

International

Duterte Tells Cops to Kill His Own Son if Drug Smuggling Rumors Are True. In a not very reassuring effort to demonstrate that his own family is not above the law, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte said in a speech Wednesday that police could kill his children if they prove to be involved in drugs. The remarks came amid reports that his 42-year-old son Paolo was involved in drug smuggling. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Duterte said he warned his son: "My orders are to kill you if you are caught, and I will protect the police who kill you." That way, people wouldn't think the first family was getting special treatment. "That's better ... so I can say to the people: "There, you keep talking. That's my son's corpse,' he said.

[image:1 align:left caption:true]The 2017 International Drug Policy Reform Conference will convene in Atlanta, Georgia on October 11-14. More than 1,500 people who believe the war on drugs has failed will be in attendance to network, to strategize and to lift up policies grounded in science, compassion, health and human rights.

Attendees will join a broad range of drug policy stakeholders -- activists, academics, healthcare and public health advocates, veterans, formerly incarcerated people, elected officials, students, and many others from around the country and across the globe!

This year, attendees will have the opportunity to spend three days deepening connections with people committed to finding alternatives to the war on drugs while participating in sessions facilitated by leading experts.

[image:2 align:right]Visit http://www.reformconference.org to register. Get updates on the Reform Conference on Facebook and Twitter, and follow hashtag #NoMoreDrugWar.

A reduced rate is temporarily available for Atlanta-area residents -- email asha bandele for information.

Philadelphia Daily News, 21 Sep 2017 - Prosecutors in New York announced this week that an August drug raid yielded 140 pounds of fentanyl, the most in the city's history and enough to kill 32 million people, they told New York 4. Those numbers underscore the dizzying size of the current opioid crisis, and the report of the New York bust comes the same week as another shocking piece of evidence that America's pill problem has reached a critical milestone: On Tuesday, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published an analysis showing the crisis has actually negatively impacted life expectancy in the United States.

The Niagara Falls Review, 21 Sep 2017 - The impending legalization of recreational marijuana in Canada has prompted Niagara-on-the-Lake town council to look into whether land designated for specialty crops would be impacted. A motion by Coun. Betty Disero that council request Niagara Region and the province to develop a policy to protect these lands, which are used for vegetables, tender fruit and grapes, from marijuana greenhouses was defeated.

Toronto Star, 21 Sep 2017 - Couche-Tard co-founder says it's a 'shame' Quebec won't even talk to them about sales LAVAL, QUE.- Alimentation CoucheTard is still interested in selling marijuana, and its co-founder says he thinks provincial governments should stay out of selling this product.

Toronto Sun, 21 Sep 2017 - Ontario pot will be "competitively priced" to discourage black market sales, Finance Minister Charles Sousa says. When asked about reports that other jurisdictions in Canada are looking at a retail sales price of about $10 a gram, Sousa refused to dismiss the figure.

The Valley Voice, 21 Sep 2017 - The Kootenay Outdoor Producers' Co-op, a local coalition formed to create the first legal marijuana production operation in the West Kootenay, has elected its first board. The inaugural meeting for the co-op was held at Taghum Hall May 16 with a standing-room only audience. But president Todd Veri says there remain many uncertainties as Ottawa and the provinces drag their feet on finalizing legislation. "We have been patiently waiting for some word or direction on the upcoming regulations from government and how they will apply to our business plan," says Veri. "Unfortunately, no information has been forthcoming. Will it be - as we initially feared - that preference is once more going to be given to large corporate weed factories?"

Former Republican US senator from New York Alphonse D'Amato will be a lobbyist for the Marijuana Policy Project, the New York Daily News reported last week.

[image:1 align:right caption:true]The marijuana law reform group, which has played a leading role in medical marijuana and legalization campaigns across the country, is starting a state affiliate in New York and has hired Amato as a "senior advisor."

New York has not legalized marijuana, but it does have an existing medical marijuana program, and the MPP New York affiliate will initially focus on ways to promote and strengthen it. Still, D'Amato didn't rule out a change of focus to legalization in the future.

"If we want to be realistic, you've got to look at the nation, what is taking place around us," he told the Daily News. "It's been implemented in seven [sic] states." Actually, eight states have legalized marijuana so far.

"The conversation and the discussion about adult use and the legalization of adult use is taking place and will be taking place," he said. "There is no doubt that that is something that will come more and more to the forefront as time goes on."

And while New York isn't there yet: "It's not something we're promoting but it's something that's taking place around the country and we can't be naïve to it," he said.

Amato's embrace of marijuana reform is an amazing turnaround for a man who made a political career as an ardent -- some might even say rabid -- conservative during his rise to power in state politics and his tenure as a US senator from 1981 to 1999. As a US senator, he was a strong advocate of "law and order," campaigning on issues such as support for capital punishment and harsher drug policies.

That's when he wasn't busy pursuing Bill and Hillary Clinton in the first of the nebulous "scandals" that have plagued the couple to this day. He was a leading critic of the Clinton's over the Whitewater scandal, and chaired the Senate Special Whitewater Committee.

D'Amato credits Howard Stern for showing him the light on weed. A 2009 discussion with the radio personality opened his mind to the notion, he said.

"I think I'm a conservative, but I don't think I'm a right-wing kook," D'Amato proclaimed.

Real conservatives are for states' rights, he said, throwing a jab at his former Senate colleague, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who wants to see a federal crackdown on states that have legalized medical or recreational marijuana.

"It's a ridiculous position," he said. "I say how can you on the one hand be for states' rights and on the other hand say the states that have legalized the use of marijuana, that you're not going to recognize that. You can't be a states' rights person only when you like what the states are doing and not what the feds are doing. It's one or the other."

Who would have thought? Senator Pothole has become Senator Pot.

A Louisiana cop gets nailed for having sex and peddling dope on the job, a sticky-fingered Pennsyvlania cop gets nailed for stealing drug money, a South Carolina cop gets nailed -- nine years after the fact -- for lying on a drug search warrant, and more. Let's get to it:

[image:1 align:right]In Conway, South Carolina, a Horry County police officer was fired last Friday after he was found to have "misrepresented the truth" in a search warrant application nine years ago. Kent Donald went down after a Horry County man sentenced to 25 years in prison for cocaine trafficking got his conviction reversed after convincing an appeals court that the search warrant used against him was "maliciously and intentionally issued upon false information and for the purpose of securing a criminal investigation." The man, who spent five years in prison, is now pursuing a civil lawsuit against Donald and the Horry County Police Department.

In Muncie, Indiana, a Delaware County sheriff's deputy was arrested last Wednesday on charges related to his tight relationship with a drug-dealing informant. Deputy Jerry Parks was caught on surveillance tapes while present during a marijuana deal and on recordings providing the description of an undercover officer to the informant. When the informant was arrested on drug charges in Indianapolis, he told investigators Parks gave him information on undercover officers, held his drugs for safekeeping, gave him a department issued gun to use while transporting drug money, and gave him drugs he had seized on duty. It's not clear what the exact charges are.

In Alexandria, Louisiana, an Alexandria police officer was arrested last Thursday for allegedly selling drugs and having sex while on duty. Officer Kenneth Seth Thomas went down after somebody snitched him out to state law enforcement, and an investigation found that Thomas "had engaged in illegal activities by having sex with at least one woman while on duty and distributing illegal drugs." He is charged with malfeasance in office, distribution of a controlled dangerous substance I and possession of a firearm in the presence of drugs.

In Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, a former Fairview Township police officer was convicted last Friday of stealing money seized as evidence in drug arrests. Tyson Baker, 43, a 17-year veteran of the force, was suspected of making off with between $2,000 of $15,0000 seized from a marijuana dealer. He went down in a sting where an undercover agent was pulled over by township police. A video camera recorded him searching the car without a warrant and stealing $3,000 from a cash stash hidden in a gym bag. He was found guilty in federal court of two counts of theft of seized drug money, one count of falsifying records to impede a drug investigation, one count of theft of federal property, and one count of making false reports to the FBI. He will be sentenced at a later date.

In Augusta, Georgia, a former youth detention center guard pleaded guilty last Friday to bringing marijuana into the facility. Devin Lott, 24, admitted the offense and pleaded guilty to possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and violation of oath by a public officer. He was sentenced to 10 years' probation instead of jail time after the judge took mercy on him. His mother and nephew had been killed in a recent car crash and his sister, who was driving, was severely injured and needs assistance with daily activities.

In Hagatna, Guam, a former Guam police officer was sentenced last Thursday to six months in jail after a police search found drugs and paraphernalia at his home. Manuel Joaquin Perez. Perez claimed he'd found and discarded syringes and a baggie with meth residue, but his wife admitted using the stuff. He pleaded guilty to hindering apprehension and official misconduct, both misdemeanors, but had a felony drug possession charge dismissed.

A white-haired conservative Mormon Republican senator from Utah files a medical marijuana research bill, the Arizona Supreme Court tells recalcitrant local officials they can't hide behind federal law to mess with the state's medical marijuana law, and more.

[image:1 align:left]National

Last Wednesday, Orrin Hatch filed a medical marijuana research bill, complete with a pun-filled news release. Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) introduced the Marijuana Effective Drug Study Act of 2017, or MEDS Act, to improve the process for conducting scientific research on marijuana as a safe and effective medical treatment. In introducing this legislation, Senator Hatch was joined by Senator Schatz (D-HI) and cosponsors Senator Chris Coons (D-DE), Senator Cory Gardner (R-CO), and Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC). "It's high time to address research into medical marijuana," Hatch said. "Our country has experimented with a variety of state solutions without properly delving into the weeds on the effectiveness, safety, dosing, administration, and quality of medical marijuana. All the while, the federal government strains to enforce regulations that sometimes do more harm than good. To be blunt, we need to remove the administrative barriers preventing legitimate research into medical marijuana, which is why I've decided to roll out the MEDS Act. I urge my colleagues to join Senator Schatz and me in our joint effort to help thousands of Americans suffering from a wide-range of diseases and disorders. In a Washington at war with itself, I have high hopes that this bipartisan initiative can be a kumbaya moment for both parties." [Bolding done by Chronicle AM.]

Arizona

Last Tuesday, the state Supreme Court refused to let state officials use federal law to get around state medical marijuana laws. The high court on declined to review a Court of Appeals ruling that federal law does not trump the state's voter-approved medical marijuana law. The lower court had ruled that even though marijuana remains illegal federally, federal law does not preempt the state from allowing patients to use it. The case had been filed by recalcitrant Maricopa County Bill Montgomery (R), who didn't want to heed the will of the voters.

Arkansas

On Monday,a filing deadline saw a rush of applicants for grower and distributor licenses. A deadline for grower and distributor applications saw applicants flood the state office building where the paperwork is delivered. Firm numbers weren't available, but applicants overwhelmed the clerks on duty and faced hours-long waits to get processed.

Michigan

On Tuesday, a pair of Detroit municipal initiatives qualified for the November ballot. Two local ballot measures that would open up business opportunities for medical marijuana in the city will go before voters in November. One measure would formally have the city join the state medical marijuana regulatory system and the other would amend the city's cannabis business zoning laws. The two measures overcame a challenge from the Detroit Elections Commission and have now been approved by the county election commission.

Utah

On Wednesday, Ua poll showed high levels of support for a medical marijuana initiative. A proposed medical marijuana initiative from the Utah Patients Coalition has supermajority levels of support, according to a new UtahPolicy.com poll. The poll has support for the initiative at 74%, with only 22% opposed. More strikingly, it also has support among Mormon Church members at 63%, even the Mormon leadership has announced its opposition. The initiative push comes after the legislature has repeatedly refused to pass a medical marijuana bill.

[For extensive information about the medical marijuana debate, presented in a neutral format, visit <MedicalMarijuana.ProCon.org.]

The Bay State's highest court just made it harder for cops to charge people with marijuana-impaired driving, Las Vegas-area county commissioners put a stop to talk of pot lounges anytime soon, Colombia's president speaks out against the drug war (again) at the United Nations, and more.

[image:1 align:right caption:true]Marijuana Policy

Massachusetts Court Rules Drivers' Field Sobriety Tests Not Valid for Marijuana. The state's Supreme Judicial Court ruled Tuesday that the field sobriety tests used in drunk driving cases cannot be used as conclusive evidence that a driver was driving high. Police officers could testify as non-expert witnesses about how drivers performed in the field sobriety tests, but cannot tell juries if a driver passed or failed the test, nor provide their own opinions about whether a driver was too high to drive, the court held. The court noted that there is no reliable scientific measure for marijuana impairment, as there is with blood alcohol content.

Nevada's Clark County Says Not So Fast to Las Vegas Pot Lounges. Clark County commissioners are in no hurry to give an okay for marijuana social consumption clubs in Las Vegas. In a Tuesday meeting, they voted 6-1 to hold off on moving to allow and regulate such clubs. The move comes after attorneys for the state legislature issued an opinion saying there is no state law prohibiting the establishment of pot social clubs. Commissioners said they had regulatory concerns, as well as fears of "inviting the feds" to intervene.

Medical Marijuana

Utah Poll has Very Strong Support for Medical Marijuana Initiative. A proposed medical marijuana initiative from the Utah Patients Coalition has supermajority levels of support, according to a new UtahPolicy.com poll. The poll has support for the initiative at 74%, with only 22% opposed. More strikingly, it also has support among Mormon Church members at 63%, even the Mormon leadership has announced its opposition. The initiative push comes after the legislature has repeatedly refused to pass a medical marijuana bill.

Detroit Initiatives Qualify for November Ballot. Two local ballot measures that would open up business opportunities for medical marijuana in the city will go before voters in November. One measure would formally have the city join the state medical marijuana regulatory system and the other would amend the city's cannabis business zoning laws. The two measures overcame a challenge from the Detroit Elections Commission and have now been approved by the county election commission.

International

Colombian President Uses UN Speech to Call for New Approach to Drugs. President Juan Manuel Santos used the occasion of his final speech before the United Nations to repeat his call for a change in the way the world wages the war on drugs. Saying that under drug prohibition, "the remedy has been worse than the disease," he argued that the drug war "has not been won, nor is being won and we require new approaches and new strategies." Santos' remarks came just days after President Trump criticized Colombia for an increase in coca and cocaine production and threatened to decertify the country as cooperating with US drug war aims.

The California safe injection bill comes up two votes short of passing this year, Toronto authorities ignore the pleas of pot lounge operators for a place under legalization, Virginia's Democratic attorney general comes out with a plan to fight opioid overdoses, and more.

[image:1 align:left caption:true]Marijuana Policy

New Mexico Democratic Gubernatorial Candidates Want to Legalize It, Republicans Not So Much. Three leading Democratic contenders for the party's gubernatorial nomination support legalization, while the sole Republican in the race does not. Democrat Peter DeBenedittis released a statement Monday calling for legalization, prompting Democrats Jeff Apodaca and US Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham to come out for it as well. The sole Republican, US Rep Steve Pearce opposes legalization, as does one Democrat, state Rep. Joseph Cervantes. But Cervantes noted that he has sponsored legislation reducing penalties for possession.

Medical Marijuana

Arkansas Deadline Sees Rush of Applicants for Grower, Distributor Licenses. A Monday deadline for grower and distributor applications saw applicants flood the state office building where the paperwork is delivered. Firm numbers weren't available, but applicants overwhelmed the clerks on duty and faced hours-long waits to get processed.

Heroin and Prescription Opioids

Virginia Attorney General Releases Plan to Fight Opioid Epidemic. State Attorney General Mark Herring (D) on Monday released a plan to address the growing number of deaths caused by the use of heroin, fentanyl, and prescription opioids. Among the proposals: harsher laws for people dealing in fentanyl, enhanced electronic prescription monitoring, requiring health insurers to cover alternative treatments for pain, teaching schoolchildren about opioids beginning in middle school, and an investigation into price gouging by companies selling naloxone. News accounts don't indicate any discussion in Herring's plan of the need to ensure the availability of opioid pain relievers to those patients who do need them, nor any critical examination of his proposal for increased sentences.

Harm Reduction

California Safe Injection Site Bill Falls Short in State Senate. A bill that would have opened the way to safe injection sites in the state has come up two votes short in the state Senate. The measure, Assembly Bill 186, is not dead, however. Even though the Senate did not vote to pass it, it did vote to reconsider it next year.

International

Toronto Just Says No to Marijuana Lounges. Despite the pleas of pot consumption lounge owners, some of whom have been open for years, the city's municipal standards and licensing committee voted 4-1 to limit marijuana businesses to government-run stores. The committee also voted to increase penalties for businesses that allow on-site consumption. The city is staying within the parameters set by the Ontario provincial government, which recently announced plans for a government monopoly on pot sales.

Lesotho Becomes First African County to Issue Medical Marijuana License. The country's health ministry has licensed a South African company, Verve Dynamics, to manufacture medical marijuana products, marking a first for the continent.

Peru Medical Marijuana Bill Advances. Spurred by a recent raid on a makeshift medical marijuana facility that mothers were using to soothe their sick children, the Peruvian congress is advancing a medical marijuana bill. The bill has now passed the congressional Committee on National Defense and heads to the full Congress for debate and a final vote. President Pablo Kucyzinski has supported the legislation.

Amnesty International Criticizes Indonesia's Turn to Harsh Drug War. The government's tough stance against drug dealers is leading to an increasing death toll, the human rights group said. Amnesty's Indonesian affiliate said some 80 people had been killed by police in the drug war so far this year, more than four times as many as last year.

(This article was prepared by StoptheDrugWar.org"s lobbying arm, the Drug Reform Coordination Network, which also pays the cost of maintaining this web site. DRCNet Foundation takes no positions on candidates for public office, in compliance with section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, and does not pay for reporting that could be interpreted or misinterpreted as doing so.)

The Sun Times, 19 Sep 2017 - When it comes to my son's possible future use of marijuana, I'm not sure if "It's legal, mom!" will have a material impact on my response. I have imagined this conversation, and others like it, about life's many potentially addicting substances and behaviours -- alcohol, prescription and other drugs, gambling, speeding, texting and driving, pornography, sugar, etc. -- because I know the kind of world we live in today and that the values of the majority are less and less aligned with the old-fashioned values espoused at my craggy old kitchen table. Even when those values feel like a fruitless cause that might better have been taken up in a cloistered community, I try not to give in to pessimism. There's what happens out there, in the world, and there's what happens in here, within the walls of my home, and I am happy to do my part to contribute to a climate of uncomfortable difference between the two.

Toronto Star, 19 Sep 2017 - A city committee has endorsed the province's highly regulated approach to marijuanalegislation, despite pleas from dispensary operators and pot users. The licensing committee voted 4-1 Monday in favour of city staff recommendations endorsing Premier Kathleen Wynne's plan to sell marijuana only in government run, LCBO-type shops across Ontario after federal legalization takes effect next year.

London Free Press, 19 Sep 2017 - Zero-tolerance rules for drivers impaired by drugs or alcohol applauded by police A blast from the past - and jacked-up fines - will usher in legal pot in Ontario as the province races to put the brakes to drug-impaired driving, including by marijuana, before weed becomes legal next summer.

Ottawa Sun, 19 Sep 2017 - Pot legalization brings tougher penalties for all impaired drivers The impending legalization of marijuana has the Ontario government planning to toughen the penalties for driving drunk, not just stoned.

Toronto Star, 19 Sep 2017 - Ontario modelled new laws on U.S. drunk-driving fines Ontario will have a "zero tolerance" policy toward young drivers and truckers who use marijuana. Premier Kathleen Wynne on Monday said those 21 and under, commercial drivers and novice motorists will face stiffer penalties if caught behind the wheel while under the influence of cannabis or booze.