By Reuters (Reuters) – Loretta Lynch won Senate approval as U.S. attorney general on Thursday, becoming the first black woman to occupy the post at a time when deadly altercations between white police and unarmed black men are making headlines. The Senate confirmed Lynch by a vote of 56-43 to end a five-month partisan deadlock …
By Drug Policy Alliance Congress Passed One-Year Amendment in December Prohibiting Justice Department from Undermining State Medical Marijuana Laws; Members of both Parties Sought to Stop Prosecutions and Let States Set Their Own Medical Marijuana Policies A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) told the Los Angeles Times that a bi-partisan amendment passed …
By Drug Policy Alliance Property Seizures by Local and State Police Often Conducted Under Pretext that Property Is Connected to Illegal Drugs WASHINGTON, DC — [On Friday], Attorney General Eric Holder issued an order establishing a new policy prohibiting federal agencies from accepting civil asset forfeiture assets seized by state and local law enforcement agencies unless …
Attorney General Eric Holder is open to rescheduling cannabis, removing it as a Schedule 1 controlled substance which finds it alongside dangerous drugs such as heroin. “I think it’s certainly a question that we need to ask ourselves — whether or not marijuana is as serious a drug as is heroin,” Holder said in a …
The United States Sentencing Commission (USSC) voted unanimously this week to reduce sentences for the majority of federal drug trafficking defendants. The move will effect up to 70% of all federal drug offenses, reducing the sentence by an average of 11 months per case. Unless Congress votes to stop the amendment, it will go into effect on November 1st. Attorney …
The Obama administration is willing to work with Congress on rescheduling cannabis, Attorney General Eric Holder said Friday during a House Appropriations Committee hearing. “We’d be more than glad to work with Congress if there is a desire to look at and reexamine how the drug is scheduled, as I said there is a great degree …
A bipartisan coalition of 18 federal lawmakers sent a letter today to President Obama, urging him to put an end to cannabis prohibition by removing it as a Schedule 1 substance. “Dear Mr. President: We were encouraged by your recent comments in your interview with David Remnick in the January 27. 2014 issue of the New Yorker, …
By Jack Healy and Matt Apuzzo, The New York Times Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said Thursday that lawful marijuana businesses should have access to the American banking system and that the government would soon offer rules to help them gain it. The rules are not expected to give banks a green light to accept deposits …
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder told the governors of Washington and Colorado in a phone call Thursday that the Department of Justice is “actively considering” ways to explicitly allow, and regulate transactions between banks and cannabis retail outlets in states where they’re legal. This consideration, which will come as a surprise to many, is in …
In a new policy shift which will be officially announced Monday by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, the United States Justice Department will be scaling back the war on drugs, including ending the use of mandatory minimum charges for nonviolent drug offenders. Attorney General Holder will announce the changes tomorrow at a speech being given …
