Law Enforcement

Maryland lawmakers passed a bill this week to prohibit police officers from conducting vehicle searches based solely on the presence of cannabis odor.

Seven police officers who helped carry out a raid on Afroman’s house in Ohio last year are now suing the artist over his use of footage from the raid, which depicts the officers’ faces, in music videos and on social media. The rapper says he plans to countersue.

Since Killeen, Texas voters opted to decriminalize low-level cannabis possession last November, city police have released 77% of the individuals they encountered who were in possession of cannabis.

California cannabis regulators and law enforcement agencies collectively seized nearly 440,000 pounds of illicit cannabis during enforcement actions last year.

An annual report found that police in California searched teenagers they perceived to be Black at nearly six times the rate of teens they perceived to be white during 2021 vehicle and pedestrian stops.

The alleged “straw” owner of the Oklahoma cannabis farm where a quadruple homicide occurred last November has been arrested.

Police in Hays, Kansas recently raided the hospital room of a terminally ill cancer patient, confiscating a THC-infused edible paste and vaping device said to contain cannabinoids. The patient was given a ticket and court summons but law enforcement later dropped the charges.

Police in northern India said that a stash of 500 kilograms of confiscated cannabis that had gone missing was eaten by rats.

South Florida police arrested a man yesterday who is suspected of murdering four people at an Oklahoma cannabis farm over the weekend.

The Missouri Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP) is campaigning for voters to approve adult-use cannabis reforms during the midterm elections with the aim of rectifying the harm done to communities by the war on drugs.

The California Unified Cannabis Enforcement Taskforce announced on Wednesday that it recently eradicated 7,503 plants and more than 936 pounds of cannabis flower.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol contested cannabis legalization advertisements which have since been pulled from YouTube. Police claimed copyright infringement over an actor in uniform.

Despite adult-use reforms in Virginia, Black people are still disproportionately arrested for cannabis-related charges than other races.

The Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics is working with law enforcement in an effort to target criminal organizations operating within the state’s medical cannabis program.

The California Department of Justice’s annual Campaign Against Marijuana Planting said that nearly 1 million illegally grown plants were eradicated and more than 200,000 pounds of processed cannabis were seized during the 2022 season.

California Gavin Newsom (D) called for creating the Unified Cannabis Enforcement Taskforce, a multi-agency unit designed to combat illegal cannabis operations.

DEA Museum historian Kasey Sease, Ph.D. admitted that the reasons for criminalizing drug use were based on racial, ethnic, and class prejudice. 

Massachusetts authorities are investigating the circumstances around the death of former Trulieve employee Lorna McMurrey, who OSHA concluded died after inhaling “ground cannabis dust” at the company’s Holyoke facility.

The Amsterdam council is expected to vote against banning tourists from the city’s cannabis-serving coffee shops.

Conservative police commissioners in the United Kingdom want to reclassify cannabis from a Class B to a Class A drug, which would put the plant in the same category as heroin and cocaine.

New Mexico Supreme Court Chief Justice Shannon Bacon wants individuals to file their own expungement applications instead of requiring the state’s judicial branch to find eligible cases, a change to the current legalization law. 

Michigan State Police have not made any additional statements regarding the decision to halt cannabis blood testing after discovering a pattern of false positives for THC which could affect more than 3,000 cases.

New Jersey has recorded a precipitous drop in arrests related to cannabis manufacturing, distributing, and dispensing since legalizing adult-use cannabis.

A group of New York state lawmakers sent a letter last week urging New York City Mayor Eric Adams to “move swiftly” in clamping down on illegal cannabis sales.