Assemblyman Tom Lackey, R-Palmdale, this week introduced a bill that would allow officers to take a spit swab from drivers who’ve failed field sobriety tests. Portable instruments promise to detect the presence of pot and other drugs within minutes, telling officers whether they should potentially let the driver go free or take them to the station for a blood test and possible arrest.

“Driving is the most dangerous thing we do,” Lackey said Wednesday. “Using new technology to ... get stoned drivers off the road is something we need to embrace.”

Swab tests are widely used on drivers in the United Kingdom, but the process remains controversial.

Although there was some momentum earlier this year in the Kentucky Legislature regarding the legalization of marijuana, it appears that lawmakers may have given up on the issue in 2017.

According to a list of Kentucky House Bills pre-filed for next year’s legislative session, not a single measure aimed at the legalization of marijuana is set to be heard in the coming months.

Although there is still a possibility that one could surface before the end of the year, previous pot-related measures, specifically the Cannabis Freedom Act of 2016, had already been introduced by this time last year.

In the Drug Enforcement Administration's annual survey of the nation's law enforcement agencies, heroin remained the top concern in 2016 -- head-and-shoulders above all other illicit drugs -- while marijuana was a drug of negligible concern. Only 4.9 percent of law enforcement respondents named it their top drug of concern, down slightly from 6 percent last year.

Concern or not, marijuana remains illegal for all purposes under federal law, a policy the DEA emphatically reiterated this past summer. To that end, the DEA devoted 22 pages of its Drug Threat Assessment to pot -- considerably more real estate than it devoted to, say, prescription painkillers (16 pages), which kill more than 14,000 people per year.

The Green Party say it will legalise cannabis if it forms a government next year.

Under its proposal, people would be able to legally grow and possess marijuana for personal use.

The Green Party would also urgently amend the law so sick people using medicinal marijuana were not penalised.

Arkansas political leaders on Wednesday named five people to the state Medical Marijuana Commission, setting up a panel that will adopt policies and regulations that each of the elected officials opposed when ballot issues were considered at the polls last month.

“We were rather vocal in our opposition to the amendment, but the people spoke and it is our responsibility to take the steps necessary to implement in a fair and responsible way the amendment that was passed by the people of Arkansas,” Gov. Asa Hutchinson said.

President-elect Donald Trump will soon announce the selection of retired Marine Gen. John F. Kelly to lead the Department of Homeland Security, The Washington Post has confirmed.

Opponents of the Maine referendum to legalize marijuana, which passed by a margin of 4,073 votes, or half a percent, have been unable to muster together the 10 volunteers they were asked to contribute to a recount effort they've demanded.

Right now possession of less than a half ounce of marijuana in Virginia is a misdemeanor, punishable by 30 days in jail and a fine of up to $500. A subsequent offense raises the penalties to 1 year in jail and a $2,500 fine. Possession of a half ounce of marijuana or more is a felony, punishable by a fine of up to $2,500 and a whopping 10 years in prison. Ten years in prison for possession 14 grams of a plant that is 114 times safer than alcohol.

A month after the election, marijuana legalization advocates still await some clear indication of President-elect Donald Trump’s official stance toward legal cannabis.

Voters in eight states joined the legalization movement on Nov. 8. Those included two of the largest: California approved recreational marijuana while Florida expanded the use of medical marijuana.

Still, concerns continue to grow among marijuana proponents about how a Trump Administration will address legalized cannabis. They are especially troubled by Trump’s planned Attorney General nomination of Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, a vocal opponent of marijuana legalization.

Hoping to preserve its marijuana law under the next president, Colorado is planning a slate of legislation designed to crack down on pot that is grown legally but then sold on the black market.

The goal is to cut down on complaints that Colorado’s liberal allowances for growing pot without a license has created a thriving network of illegal growers. Colorado allows medical pot patients to grow up to 99 plants, far beyond other marijuana states, and it also allows recreational users to group their allotted six plants into massive co-ops, entire greenhouses of pot that aren’t tracked or taxed.