On Friday, Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner signed a bill into law which requires law enforcement officials to obtain a warrant before deploying a stingray device to intercept a person’s cell phone communications to determine their location. A stingray device is basically a cell phone simulator which intercepts the transmission from cell phones without anyone’s knowledge or consent.  In some cases the stingray can intercept actual phone calls and text messages.  The stingray tower will fool the cell phone into thinking it is communicating with the cell phone carrier’s cell phone tower when it is actually communicating with a tower that is being run and monitored by law enforcement agents.  The stingray tower doesn’t just target one device.  It will intercept the cell phone transmission of all the cell phones in a particular location.  Unknown to anyone, law enforcement officials are listening to the conversations and intercepting text messages and other data c...

The DEA has announced that they are considering reclassifying Marijuana from a Schedule 1 Drug to something less.  The implications could have enormous consequences which could drastically change the way we deal with marijuana in the criminal justice system.  Under current federal law, Marijuana is classified as a Schedule 1 Drug.  This is the highest classification for the ranking of drugs.  This classification includes Heroin and Cocaine.  The current classification of marijuana makes it illegal under federal law to prescribe marijuana for medical purposes since Class 1 drugs have no current accepted medical use.  24 states currently permit medical marijuana in violation of federal law.  If the federal government reclassified marijuana to something less than a Schedule 1 drug, this would allow researchers to work with the plant to explore possible medical uses.  Since Marijuana is classified a Schedule 1 drug, researches can only legally obtain the plant through a single federal g...