NCAA Panel Recommends Ending Weed Testing, UK Policing Minister OK with Heroin for Addicts, More… (6/20/23)

The Wisconsin Supreme Court uses an outdated precedent to rule that the odor of marijuana is enough for a police search, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler wants to clean up the streets by criminalizing public drug use, and more.

Marijuana Policy

NCAA Panel Recommends Dropping Marijuana from Banned Drugs List. The NCAA's Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sport proposed Friday that marijuana should be removed from the group's list of banned drugs and that drug testing should be limited to performance enhancing drugs.

The NCAA has conducted drug tests at championship events since 1986, but the committee recommended halting marijuana testing at such events until a final decision is made, probably in the fall.

After the committee's recommendation, all three of the NCAA's divisions will have to approve the move. Divisions II and III had sought a committee decision on the issue.

Wisconsin Supreme Court Reverses Lower Court, Holds that Odor of Marijuana is Sufficient to Justify Police Searches. Even though the state has legalized CBD products with an odor indistinguishable from that of marijuana, the state's conservative Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the odor of marijuana in a vehicle is probable cause for police to search a person in that vehicle.

In so doing, the Supreme Court cited a 1999 court decision that held police were justified in searching a driver because of the smell of marijuana, but dissenting justices in the 4-3 decision, saying the 1999 decision was outdated because it did not account for the legalization of substances that smelled like marijuana. "Officers who believe they smell marijuana coming from a vehicle may just as likely be smelling raw or smoked hemp, which is not criminal activity," Justice Rebecca Frank Dallet wrote in the dissent.

Drug Policy

Portland, Oregon, Mayor Has Plans to Criminalize Public Drug Use. Mayor Ted Wheeler (D) is drafting a municipal ordinance to make the public consumption of hard drugs a crime. After voters decriminalized drug possession statewide in 2020, public drug use on the city's streets has exploded, angering downtown businesses and property owners.

Under decriminalization, the biggest penalty for drug possession is a $100 fine. Portland police initially tended not to act against people with drugs, but have begun handing out more of those fines to drug users downtown. How Wheeler can criminalize drug use under decriminalization is unclear. A spokesman for Wheeler said more details would be released "mid-next week."

International                                                                                             

British Policing Minister Calls for Free Daily Heroin Injections for Addicts. Tory Policing Commissioner Chris Philip is backing calls to provide heroin to addicts, saying the move would be "cost effective" and cut drug-related crime. He is supporting injectable opioid treatment (IOT), under which treatment-resistant addicts are given twice daily injections of heroin. In a pilot program in Middlesbrough, a 98 percent reduction in street drug use was observed, albeit at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

"The cost-effectiveness of IOT programs, despite high up-front costs, has been demonstrated," Philip said.

But the Home Office does not appear to be listening to the policing minister, responding to his remarks by saying, "We published a ten-year drugs strategy last month which will support recovery, as well as a tougher response to criminal supply chains."