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Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is proposing a $10 billion federal program to help former convicts work in the marijuana industry. The proposal, which he released Thursday at approximately 4:20 p.m. Eastern, is part of his comprehensive plan to legalize marijuana nationwide.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, a longtime proponent of legalized marijuana, promised on Thursday that in his first 100 days in the White House he would issue an executive order directing the drug be removed from the list of controlled federal substances.

PHILADELPHIA — When New Jersey lawmakers debated earlier this year whether to legalize recreational use of marijuana, the Garden State’s police organizations were adamantly against it. The cops said legal weed might lead to an explosion in the numbers of impaired drivers operating under the influence. And the police would be caught flatfooted trying to tell whether drivers they pulled over were high. “With alcohol, if you have over 0.08% in your blood, there’s the presumption that you’re intoxicated,” said Christopher Leusner, head of the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police. But because marijuana stays in the bloodstream...

In 2004, Vermont implemented a medical marijuana registry, promising patient confidentiality on its state website. Then, in 2018, Vermont legalized recreational marijuana use and imposed a universal background check on gun-purchasers. Here's the rub: the federal government was not consulted, and the ATF maintains that anyone using marijuana will be denied clearance to purchase any gun. This was already the case prior to Vermont's recreational cannabis legalization — those who were on the state's marijuana registry were not allowed to buy guns from federally licensed dealers, as the state of Vermont provided the list of registrants surreptitiously to the federal...

With a camera hidden in a hollowed-out Bible, peeking through the “O” of the word “Holy,” and a pair of rigged reading glasses, Scott Whitney secretly filmed the world behind bars, inside one of Florida’s notoriously dangerous prisons. For four years, the 34-year-old convicted drug trafficker captured daily life on contraband cameras at the Martin Correctional Institution. He smuggled footage dating back to 2017 out of the prison, and titled the documentary “Behind Tha Barb Wire.” The video — given to the Miami Herald — allows the public to see with their own eyes the violence, rampant drug use and...

When the alarm went off at Jennifer Hrobuchak's work, the 22-year-old district manager didn't think twice. She got in her car in the early morning hours and headed off to the store to investigate. The new college graduate, who had hoped to have a career saving people from drugs, never saw the man run through the red light straight at her. At 82 miles per hour, he slammed Jennifer's car across the road into a building that crushed and killed her. After seven years of telling the story, her mom, Corinne, still gets emotional. And it's no wonder. The man...

The largest county in Indiana announced Monday it will no longer prosecute simple marijuana possession cases. Ryan Mears, the acting prosecutor of Marion County, which contains Indianapolis, said the end of prosecution against possession is “effective today.” “If it is less than one ounce of marijuana, we are not going to file that charge,” Mr. Mears said, the Indianapolis Star reported.

Pennsylvania’s top law enforcement officer is joining several other top state Democratic officials in backing the legalization of marijuana for recreational use by adults.Attorney General Josh Shapiro said in a Friday statement on Twitter that he changed his mind after months of internal research and discussions with law enforcement colleagues. 🗣️ANNOUNCEMENT After months of internal research & discussions with fellow law enforcement, I am in support of efforts to legalize, regulate and tax marijuana use for Pennsylvanians over the age of 21.— AG Josh Shapiro (@PAAttorneyGen) September 27, 2019 Shapiro’s announcement comes two days after Gov. Tom Wolf made a...

PITTSBURGH - Pittsburgh Public Schools are investigating after possible marijuana-laced desserts were discovered at a high school. Channel 11 has learned marijuana may have been baked into what appeared to be brownies and Rice Krispies Treats at Taylor Allderdice High School. The discovery was made on the same day Gov. Tom Wolf announces his support for legalizing marijuana for adults over the age of 18.

Marijuana would not only be legalized under a plan proposed on Thursday by Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke, but cannabis tax revenue would be used to directly repay formerly incarcerated people through a new "Drug War Justice Grant" program. Unlike other contenders who have come around to supporting marijuana legalization in just the past couple of years, the former Texas congressman has long called for ending prohibition—and his new plan in many respects goes further than those rolled out by other campaigns. While rival candidates have proposed funding programs to begin repairing the harms of the war on drugs through...

New research shows crime rates dropped substantially in areas with marijuana dispensaries, running counter to fears that pot shops drum up crime. The study, published this month in the journal of Regional Science and Urban Economics, analyzed crime data from Denver between January 2013 and December 2016. Colorado, which legalized medical marijuana nearly two decades ago, kicked off sales of recreational pot in 2014. ”The results imply that an additional dispensary in a neighborhood leads to a reduction of 17 crimes per month per 10,000 residents, which corresponds to roughly a 19 percent decline relative to the average crime rate...

It is clear to me that in its investigation of more than 400 cases of acute respiratory failure tied to the vaping of certain products, the CDC is doing everything it can to undermine the proven connection between most of these cases and illicit marijuana vape carts, while exaggerating a potential, but completely unproven connection with traditional electronic cigarettes. This was highlighted last Friday with the complete split between the FDA and CDC with respect to their public communications and warnings regarding the disease outbreak.

A man was found beaten and bound in the basement of a Bronx bodega when two cops who were chasing separate suspects entered the cellar early Wednesday morning, police said. While they were searching for the suspects in the store, an employee let them into the basement, where they discovered the kidnapped 49-year-old, cops said. The officers freed the man, who then told them he had been kidnapped three days prior by four people on a Bronx street corner, police said. The victim — who sources said has a lengthy arrest record — said the four suspects forced him into...

A Massachusetts mayor was arrested on Friday for allegedly extorting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from marijuana vendors. Mayor Jasiel Correia, the Democrat mayor of Fall River, allegedly operated a scheme to help marijuana stores conduct business in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes, according to a tweet from the FBIÂ’s Boston field office. Fall River Mayor Jasiel Correia was arrested this morning by @FBIBoston IRS-CI & @HUDOIG special agents at his home. HeÂ’s accused of conspiring to extort hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from marijuana companies. Details to follow at 11 a.m....

Colorado's experiment with marijuana legalization has been an epic disaster, according to one doctor seeing its effects on the front lines. Dr. Karen Randall, an emergency room physician certified in "cannabis science and medicine," said the legalization of marijuana has damaged, rather than helped, her home state. Randall, who spoke alongside former White House drug czar John Walters at the right-leaning Hudson Institute on Friday, said the public is being misled about the effects of recreational marijuana. "I think the public needs to know that we are not okay," Randall said. "The grand experiment is not going so well. I...

FALL RIVER, Mass. — Fall River Mayor Jasiel Correia II was arrested early Friday morning at his home in the city. Correia, 27, was charged in a superseding indictment with bribery; extortion conspiracy; extortion and aiding and abetting; wire fraud; and filing false tax returns. He is accused of conspiring to extort hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from marijuana companies. In federal court Friday afternoon, Correia entered a plea of not guilty and was released on $250,000 bond. He will be required to pay $25,000 of that amount by the end of the day Tuesday. Genoveva Andrade, Correia's...

U.S. college students are using marijuana at the highest rates in 35 years, according to a report released Thursday. About 43% of full-time college students said they used some form of pot at least once in the past year, up from 38%, a University of Michigan survey found. About 25% said they did so in the previous month, up from 21%.

U.S. Border Patrol agents seized over 1,200 pounds of marijuana in a single incident. Late Monday evening, Border Patrol agents assigned to the Special Operations Detachment working near Fronton, Texas, observed several subjects carrying bundles of narcotics across the Rio Grande. As agents approached, the smugglers abandoned the bundles and fled to Mexico. A search of the area resulted in the seizure of over 1,200 pounds of marijuana worth an estimated street value of $979K. Additionally, over the past three days, agents stopped five marijuana smuggling attempts resulting in the arrest of six narcotic smugglers and the seizure of over...

Federal health officials issued a national warning Thursday against marijuana use by adolescents and pregnant women, as more states legalize the increasingly potent drug for medicinal and recreational use. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Surgeon General Jerome Adams made the announcement, with Azar calling marijuana “a dangerous drug.” Officials said President Donald Trump has donated $100,000 — one-quarter of his annual government salary — toward a digital campaign to raise awareness of the risks. Trump has forgone his official salary since taking office. The warning comes as legal marijuana has grown into a $10-billion industry in the...

Oakland based Hound Labs has created a breath detector for pot and alcohol, giving police and employers a new tool to detect whether someone has been using weed.OAKLAND, California -- Since recreational cannabis became legal in 2018, the California highway patrol says arrests and injuries from drivers getting behind the wheel stoned has increased, but there are no consistent standards for determining when a driver took that cannabis, until now. One Bay Area company says it can now narrow down when someone is too stoned to drive. At DUI checkpoints across the state, police are seeing an increase in the...