Law Enforcement

New Zealand law enforcement officials have ended the country’s annual cannabis eradication operation, choosing instead to focus on combating “more harmful substances such as methamphetamine.”

Protestors in Pensacola, Florida rallied last weekend in support of the release of Nedal Abdel Mohammad, a local smoke shop owner who was arrested in 2019 after authorities mistook a legal CBD shipment for cannabis.

The DEA published a new rule on Thursday that will allow researchers to apply to cultivate cannabis for research purposes.

A former civilian employee for the U.S. Marine Corps was sentenced to four years and four months in prison in Japan after he was arrested last year for illegal cannabis sales.

A New York plant nursery is suing the Washington County Sheriff after deputies destroyed more than 250 of the group’s licensed hemp research plants.

Two police officers in South Dakota have filed a lawsuit claiming the state’s voter-approved cannabis legalization initiative violates the state constitution.

Police in Fort Worth, Texas have opted out of enforcing low-level cannabis possession laws due to the legal status of hemp, which is indistinguishable from cannabis without lab testing.

About 260,000 plants were destroyed and 30 tons of evidence confiscated last week during a police raid on a hemp farm accused of growing illicit cannabis on Navajo Nation land.

The FBI joined Navajo Nation Police and over a dozen other law enforcement agencies in a raid on the hemp operation owned by Dineh Benally. The raid is part of a unified investigation into reports of illegal cannabis cultivation, drug trafficking, and labor law violations.

Nevada regulators have extended the expiration dates for cannabis industry employment ID cards by 90 days as the state works through a backlog of applications.

Law enforcement confiscated over 15,000 cannabis plants last week around the San Francisco Bay Area, highlighting ongoing issues with California’s highly taxed cannabis marketplace.

The FBI last week raided the offices and homes of several California officials as part of an investigation into cannabis-related corruption.

A woman is suing a Tennessee State Highway Patrol officer after he charged her with drug-related felonies despite the substance in question being hemp, confirmed by hemp permits from the state Agriculture Department and six certificates of analysis by a private laboratory.

A coordinated law enforcement raid in Washington state last week brought down a large cannabis smuggling operation based out of 27 homes in Skyway, Renton, Kent, Maple Valley, SeaTac, and other Puget Sound communities.

The DEA is seeking a contractor capable of incinerating up to 8,000 pounds of cannabis and other federally prohibited substances per day.

California and federal law enforcement have cooperated to eradicate more than 1.1 million unregulated cannabis plants in the state over the last 13 weeks.

Recently released data from the FBI shows that U.S. police made 565,602 cannabis arrests in 2019 — an 18% decrease from 2018.

Judge Samuel Junkin in Pickens County, Alabama has denied a motion to release disabled Iraq war veteran Sean Worsely from jail for cannabis possession, despite a community supervision agreement for Worsely that included an employment offer and stable, local housing options.

Officials in Rock County, Wisconsin have reduced the fine for cannabis possession to just one dollar; the fines previously ran from $150 to $500 depending on the offense.

A former NYPD officer is suing the department after being forced into early retirement due to his status as a registered medical cannabis patient. The lawsuit alleges extreme instances of workplace harassment, disability discrimination, and retaliation.

King County, Washington is considering shifting its cannabis-derived funds from the Sheriff’s Office to instead pay for community programs and to help individuals vacate cannabis-related convictions.

Eight Canadian cannabis brands sent a joint letter to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police requesting law enforcement action against Weedmaps, who they say is hindering the legal industry by listing unlicensed dispensaries.

The Virginia Senate advanced a measure last week that blocks police from searching vehicles during traffic stops based on cannabis odor alone.

A judge in Laramie County, Wyoming last week threw out drug trafficking charges against hemp growers who were accused by prosecutors of growing cannabis with plans to distribute.