“Eat a bagel, lose your baby” [Jacob Sullum, Reason] For more on the problematic legal status of the classic bagel and European-bread enhancement, see Michael Pollan’s classic 1997 Harper’s article.
Posts Tagged ‘illegal drugs’
Marijuana legalization and employment law
I’ve got some thoughts at Cato at Liberty on the overreaching way California’s Proposition 19 tried to curtail employers’ liberty in employment decisions related to pot smoking — which might have contributed to the measure’s defeat at the polls on Tuesday. Earlier here. Jacob Sullum points out that much of employers’ tendency to treat off-job marijuana use more harshly than off-job alcohol use is itself stimulated by government mandates and exhortation, prominently including drug testing programs (& welcome Instapundit readers). More: Nancy Berner, California Labor & Employment Law Blog (“Merely smelling marijuana on a worker’s clothes after lunch would not be sufficient to justify a write-up” had the measure passed.)
November 2 roundup
Headline stories of the week:
- Crude for sure: Law.com runs highlights of the tapes of American lawyers stage-managing the Ecuador-Chevron suit [Corporate Counsel, ShopFloor]
- Why such broad gag orders in Kansas pain-doc advocacy case? [Jacob Sullum, Reason; Adam Liptak, NYT]
- Spectacular fall of lawyer Adorno in Miami fire fee case [ABA Journal, PoL, earlier]
- Fiscal 2010 saw biggest increase in regulatory burdens placed on US economy since measurements began [Heritage]
- Watch for nonstandard definitions of “rights”: “Unions Fear Rollback of Rights Under Republicans” [NYT]
- Marijuana, freedom and the California ballot [David Boaz, Cato at Liberty] Alas, text of Proposition 19 also contains “antidiscrimination” provisions that restrict private liberty [David Henderson]
- New papers from U.S. Chamber’s Institute for Legal Reform unveiled at last week’s Legal Reform Summit: ways to fix the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) (more on FCPA from Nathan Burney via Greenfield); Beisner-Miller-Schwartz on cy pres in class actions, via CCAF and Trask; and a new paper on asbestos claiming in Madison County, Illinois;
- Will Supreme Court clients be as keen on hiring Tribe after revelation of his letter trashing Sotomayor? [Whelan, NRO]
“D.A.R.E.: Ripping Families Apart Since 1983”
Children inform on their parents. [Radley Balko]
Poppy seed bagels and false positive drug tests
If you thought such happenings were just an urban legend, the “Kafkaesque” experience of this Florida woman might make you think again. [John Pacenti, Daily Business Review via Radley Balko]
Beer lobby fighting California pot initiative
The California Beer & Beverage Distributors has contributed money to defeat the marijuana-legalization measure, as have police groups. One consideration that might shed light on the latter stance: “Police forces are entitled to keep property seized as part of drug raids and the revenue stream that comes from waging the drug war has become a significant source of support for local law enforcement.” Surprisingly, the politically active prison-guards union has not (yet) thrown its weight onto the “no” side, though prison supervisors have. [Ryan Grim, HuffPo via Tabarrok]
“Court Rejects Pill Addiction Suit Against Pharmacies”
“A law that makes drug dealers liable for the injuries they cause does not apply to two pharmacies, a California appeals court has ruled, rejecting the case of a woman who got addicted to painkillers she acquired illegally from an employee of the pharmacies.” [Heller, OnPoint News]
Ban on driving days after sobering up
A new law enforcement trend seems to press impaired-driving law into service as a way of pursuing other, unrelated law enforcement goals [Sullum, Reason]
February 6 roundup
- Wronged wife loses suit under California “Drug Dealer Liability Act” (DDLA) against mistress who supplied crack cocaine to husband [OnPoint News]
- “D.C. Circuit to Former Judge in Pants Lawsuit: Follow the Rules” [NLJ, more, earlier]
- “Law firm demands retailer destroy all copies of Olivia Munn comic, retailer refuses” [BoingBoing, HeavyInk, earlier on TJIC]
- Can’t find jury for tobacco trial: “Lawyers excused a woman who said people have no right to sue over diseases that are disclosed on the warning label of a package.” [Russell Jackson, Chamber-backed W.V. Record]
- Despite widespread misconception to the contrary, editing comments generally does not open blogger to liability over what remains [Citizen Media Law]
- To heck with HIPAA, introduce your patients to each other if you think they’ll get along [Musings of a Dinosaur]
- Devoted daughter vs. RSPCA: epic will contest in Britain over family farm bequest [Times Online]
- Woman found guilty after planting dead rat in meal at upscale restaurant [Appleton Post-Crescent via Lowering the Bar and Obscure Store]
December 15 roundup
- “Truck drivers with positive drug tests should not file lawsuits … period.” [Jon Hyman, Ohio Employer’s Law]
- Tiger Woods hires a Hollywood law firm famous for its nastygrams to the press [Bronstad, NLJ; earlier on Lavely & Singer]
- “Mom Who Let Kids Play Outside Threatened by Cops” [Aliso Viejo, Calif.; Free-Range Kids]
- When you’re embarking on the business of not raising pigs, best to start small and ramp up from there [Coyote, U.K.]
- Harvey Silverglate, author of Three Felonies a Day, guestblogging at Volokh Conspiracy on, inter alia, “honest services fraud“;
- If you’re uneasy about the FTC’s claims to regulate blogger freebies and other entanglements of commerce with online speech, wait till the agency gets the beefed-up enforcement powers it’s seeking [WSJ editorial]
- Replaying a discussion familiar in this country, Israel wonders whether it’s got too many lawyers [Jerusalem Post]
- “Wrongful Death Suit Filed Against O’Quinn Estate Over Fatal Car Crash” [Texas Lawyer]