Federal Appeals Court Upholds Temporary Ban on Florida Plan to Drug-Test Welfare Recipients

From the article:

A federal appeals court upheld the temporary ban on Florida’s drug-testing for welfare recipients Tuesday, saying that a lawsuit challenging the program had a good chance of succeeding.
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta sided with a lower court decision, stating that Florida failed to show that the drug testing plan was so critical that the Fourth Amendment, which bars unreasonable searches by the government, should be suspended.
The decision — which did not weigh in on the case’s ultimate constitutionality question — is the latest setback in Gov. Rick Scott’s controversial drug testing push. In 2011,Scott and the Florida Legislature instituted a program for drug-testing all recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. Luis Lebron, a single-father and TANF applicant who refused to take the test on constitutional grounds, filed a lawsuit with help from the American Civil Liberties Union.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/02/26/3255553/temporary-ban-on-fla-welfare-drug.html#storylink=cpy

Read more at:
TALLAHASSEE: Temporary ban on Fla. welfare drug testing upheld - Florida - MiamiHerald.com

Suicide Over a Minor Pot Possession Charge?

This story comes from the North Wales Weekly News: 50p drugs case youth killed himself. From the article:

A teenage lacrosse star killed himself after he was summoned to court for possessing cannabis worth 50p, an inquest heard.
Ex-head boy Edward Thornber was found hanged on September 15, 2011, after being caught smoking the drug in Cornwall.
Two days earlier, the 17-year-old from Didsbury , Manchester, had received an order to appear in court - but a law firm acting on behalf of his family say the teenager should have only been given a warning.
A student at Loreto College in Hulme, Edward had been head boy at The Barlow RC High School in Didsbury and was hoping to coach lacrosse in America before going to university. However, he had been caught smoking cannabis with a friend earlier that summer while on holiday in Newquay. It was the second time he had been caught with the drug.

At the town's police station, he agreed to accept a "final warning", which he believed would not result in him having a criminal record - or jeopardise his chances of pursuing a lacrosse career in the US.

Read the rest at http://www.northwalesweeklynews.co.uk/conwy-county-news/uk-world-news/2013/02/23/50p-drugs-case-youth-killed-himself-55243-32867563/

Everything You Need To Know About Stoned Driving

My latest piece for CelebStoner has just been posted: Everything You Need To Know About Stoned Driving. From the story:

Drugged, or stoned, driving has been an issue of concern for several years. The Drug Czar's office and Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) recently joined together to make passage of such laws, including per se limits for blood THC levels, a legislative priority. The success of marijuana legalization measures in Colorado and Washington has pushed concerns over drugged driving to the forefront for many. Washington's measure imposes a whole-blood THC limit of 5 nanograms per milliliter. Colorado's measure did not have such a provision but some legislators in the Mile High State have been working for years to enact such a limit and had already announced plans to reintroduce their bill before November's vote.

Read more at: http://www.celebstoner.com/blogs/doug-mcvay/everything-you-need-to-know-about-stoned-driving.html

New Ipsos MORI poll shows 53% of GB public want cannabis legalised or decriminalised

From the UK's Transform Drug Policy Foundation: New Ipsos MORI poll shows 53% of GB public want cannabis legalised or decriminalised

From the release:

A new poll by Ipsos MORI, commissioned by Transform Drug Policy Foundation, shows that over half of the public (53%) support cannabis legalisation (legal regulation of production and supply) or decriminalisation of possession of cannabis. Only 1 in 7 support heavier penalties and more being spent on enforcement for cannabis offences. In addition, the survey shows that around two thirds (67%) support a comprehensive independent review of all the possible policy options (from legal market regulation to tougher enforcement) for controlling drugs.

The findings indicate that 45% of mid-market newspaper readers (including Daily Mail and Express readers) support cannabis legalisation (legal regulation of production and supply) or decriminalisation of possession of cannabis, with less than one in five (17%) supporting heavier penalties and more being spent on enforcement for cannabis offences. For tabloid readers these figures are 47% and 20%. Around 65% of mid-market newspaper readers and 66% of tabloid readers support a full review of all drug policy options.

You can download a PDF of the full poll results directly or via the news release.