The leader of the nation's largest drug reform group steps down, Maine becomes the eighth legal pot state, Seattle approves safe injection sites -- and isn't asking federal approval -- and more.

Maine Becomes Eighth State to Eliminate Marijuana Possession Penalties. The personal possession and cultivation provisions of the Question 1 legalization initiative went into effect Monday. Adults may now possess up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana and cultivate up to six plants and keep the harvest without any criminal penalty. Marijuana sales won't come until next year.

Maine Governor Signs Bill Delaying Implementation of Legal Marijuana Commerce. Gov. Paul LePage (R) last Friday signed into law LD 88, which delays the onset of retail pot sales for a year. LePage had threatened to veto the bill unless it included $1.6 million to fund the costs of creating rules and regulations and unless it transferred oversight of the industry from the agriculture department to the Bureau of Alcoholic Beverages and Lottery Operations. The bill did neither of those things, but he signed it anyway.

Maryland Legalization Bill Coming. Lawmakers were set to announce today plans for a pair of bills related to marijuana legalization. One would make it legal for adults and regulate it like alcohol; the other would enact taxes on legal, non-medical marijuana. The state decriminalized pot possession in 2014.

South Dakota Bill Would End "Internal Possession" Charge for Pot. State Rep. David Lust (R-Rapid City) and Sen. Justin Cronin (R-Gettysburg) last week introduced Senate Bill 129, which would no longer make it legal for someone to have marijuana in their system. Under current state law, people who test positive for marijuana can be charged with "unlawful ingestion" or "internal possession," a misdemeanor.

Medical Marijuana

Arkansas Lawmaker Files Bill to Ignore State Voters' Will Until Federal Law Changes. State Sen. Jason Rapert (R-District 18) last week filed a bill that would delay the voter-approved medical marijuana law until marijuana is legal under federal law. The measure is Senate Bill 238, which has been referred to the Senate Committee on Public Health, Welfare, and Labor.

Utah Lawmakers Scale Back Medical Marijuana Plans. Legislators said last Friday they were retreating from plans to expand the state's CBD-only medical marijuana law and will instead call for more research. They also said they wanted to see what the Trump administration was going to do before they moved forward with a broader medical marijuana bill.

Drug Policy

Ethan Nadelmann Steps Down as Head of the Drug Policy Alliance. "The time has come for me to step aside as executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance," Nadelmann wrote in a letter last Friday to DPA staff announcing his resignation. "This is just about the toughest decision I've ever made but it feels like the right time for me personally and also for DPA. It's almost twenty-three years since I started The Lindesmith Center and approaching seventeen years since we merged with the Drug Policy Foundation to create DPA. We've grown from little more than an idea into a remarkable advocacy organization that has built, led and defined a new political and cultural movement." Click on the link to read the whole letter.

Maine Governor Wants to Ban Welfare Benefits for Drug Felons. As part of his budget proposal, Gov. Paul LePage is calling for a ban on food stamps and cash assistance for anyone convicted of a drug felony in the past two decades. He also wants to try again to pass a welfare drug test law. Similar efforts by LePage and the Republicans have failed in the past.

Drug Testing

Montana Woman Faces Felony Charge for Trying to Beat Drug Test. A Helena woman on probation who tried to pass off someone else's urine as her own to beat a drug test is now facing a felony charge of tampering with or fabricating evidence. Jessica McNees said she wouldn't have done it if she knew she faced a felony charge.

Indiana Legislator Files Bill to Criminalize Fake Urine. State Rep. Greg Beumer (R-Modoc) has filed a bill that would make it a misdemeanor crime to distribute, market, sell or transport synthetic urine with the intent to defraud an alcohol, drug or urine screening test. The measure is House Bill 1104.

Harm Reduction

Seattle Approves Nation's First Supervised Injection Facilities. The city of Seattle and surrounding King County have approved setting up "Community Health Engagement Locations," better known as supervised injecting sites, for injection drug users in a bid to reduce the associated harms. The city and county are not seeking prior federal approval and acknowledge that the federal government could intervene, but say they are confident it won't. Two such sites will be set up.

International

Colombian Government and FARC Announce Coca Substitution, Eradication Plans. The government and the leftist rebels of the FARC announced plans eradicate and provide substitute crops for some 125,000 acres of coca plants. President Juan Manuel Santos and the FARC leadership agreed on the plan as part of a peace agreement to end a civil war running since 1964. "The goal is to replace approximately 50,000 hectares of illicit crops during the first year of implementation in more than 40 municipalities in the most affected departments," the government and the rebels said in a joint statement.

Colombia Coca Producers March Against Crop Eradication, Substitution Program. Coca producers have taken to the streets to protest against the new program, undertaken jointly by the Colombian government and the FARC. "The areas with coca cultivations are isolated areas, with simple people, good workers," said Edgar Mora, leader of a coca growers' union. "Rural people haven't found an alternative to cultivating coca because if they cultivate other products they'll lose money and they don't find profitability in the legal products the government talks about."