marijuana
Virginia criminal defense- Determining retroactivity of SCOTUS rulings for appellants & habeas litigants
						Every once in awhile, the United States Supreme Court issues a great decision for criminal defendants. For instance, in March 2013, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that police need probable cause to believe the existence of relevant criminal activity before taking a drug-sniffing dog to...					
					
					
				National Academy of Sciences releases lengthy report on “Health Effects of Cannabis and Cannabinoids”
						On January 12, 2017, the National Academy of Sciences released its lengthy report on "Health Effects of Cannabis and Cannabinoids." The report is too lengthy for me to have reviewed yet. A cursory check seems to show the report's recognizing potential medical benefits of cannabis/marijuana,...					
					
					
				DEA says Marijuana Extract & CBD are Schedule I Drugs – Virginia law on CBD and THC-A oil
						After all the dizzying strides that the marijuana industry has made in Colorado and other states where marijuana has become lawful, and continued efforts to legalize domestic hemp production, the Trump administration's marijuana policies may make federal litigation all the more necessary and extensive to...					
					
					
				At NoVa NORML – Discussing Police, Weed and You – Your Liberty in the Balance
						It always is all the more an honor when a NORML chapter invites me to speak at one of their gatherings. My most recent such speaking engagement was at the Northern Virginia NORML's August 9 meeting in Arlington, Virginia. There, my talk on marijuana reform...					
					
					
				Criminalizing driving over a specific THC/marijuana blood level ignores the absence of a cause-effect correlation
						It was bad enough that 2000 federal highway legislation shoved mandatory criminalization of driving with a 0.08 blood alcohol level down the states’ throats under the penalty of otherwise losing federal highway funding. Now we have a slippery slope of governments trying to criminalize threshold...					
					
					
				The DEA will decide whether to reclassify marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule II
						The articles are many about the United States Drug Enforcement Administration's plans to decide in the first half of 2016 whether to reclassify marijuana from a Schedule I to Schedule II drug. Unfortunately, too many mass media and even special interest websites do not link...					
					
					
				A sampling of recent case successes
						Most criminal defense lawyers have a high number of clients who actually committed a criminal act. That reality does not automatically preclude an outright acquittal or dismissal.					
					
					
				
