Free Talk Live

(CBS News) While the New York City Board of Health approves of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's plan to cut all large sugary drinks from New Yorker's diets, some members are taking issue with one major point: They don't think the plan goes far enough. -- Andrew Moesel, spokesman for the New York Restaurant Association, attended the meeting and told the New York Daily News he didn't approve of the changes, and his group is considering legal action.

"We don't know if next it'll be 16 fries on a plate or only one hot dog a day," Mosel said to the New York Daily News.

Monday’s Gallup poll showing that a record 44% of Americans favor making marijuana legal has brought increased attention to the need for an open, national debate on marijuana policy.

The San Francisco-based Center on Juvenile & Criminal Justice (CJCJ) recently released a policy briefing with an analysis of arrest data collected by the California Department of Justice’s Criminal Justice Statistics Center. The briefing, “California Youth Crime Plunges to All-Time Low,” identifies a new state marijuana decriminalization law that applies to juveniles, not just adults, as the driving force behind the plummeting arrest totals. Police don’t arrest people for infractions; usually, they ticket them.

New York, NY: City police made over 46,000 arrests in 2009 for marijuana possession in public, according to statistics from the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, and analyzed by Queens College sociologist Harry Levine. The annual arrest total is the second highest in the city’s history, and is up over 4,600 percent from 1990, when police reported fewer than 1,000 pot arrests.

Department of Public Health has guidelines for edible marijuana treats --- "You know you're a Californian when you have to ask if the brownies someone brought to a potluck are "special" or not. But while the casual peddler of edible marijuana on sunny days in the City's parks still faces arrest, the City's Department of Public Health has rules for legitimate edible cannabis treats at medical marijuana dispensaries."

Flint decriminalization of marijuana vote only 'symbolic;' arrests will continue

FLINT, MI -- Flint police will continue to arrest people for marijuana possession despite a ballot proposal that voters approved Tuesday, Nov. 6, to decriminalize the drug, according to a statement released by the city Wednesday.

Mayor Bloomberg went on a spitting-mad rant Tuesday against a city cab-fleet boss — vowing to “destroy your f--king industry” and “After January, I am going to destroy all you f--king guys.”

U.S. government studies have consistently found that young whites use marijuana at higher rates than young blacks or Latinos. Yet, in 2010, the New York Police Department arrested blacks for marijuana possession at seven times the rate of whites, and Latinos at nearly four times the rate of whites. In New York City 87% of the people arrested for marijuana possession are blacks and Latinos.

Pete Holmes, the newly elected Seattle city attorney, is already making good on his campaign promise to dismiss any marijuana possession charges that come through his office, the Seattle Times reported last week. Holmes dismissed two marijuana-related cases on his first day on the job, and several others are about to be dismissed, including cases taken up by the previous city attorney.