WASHINGTON: One night last week, police officers in Washington stopped a man carrying a designer handbag after spotting a small, clear plastic bag poking out of it, which they suspected might contain marijuana. It was the kind of encounter that is a staple of…

Washingtons Superior Court handles local criminal cases, and it is where most people arrested in the city end up. Federal agencies were rarely involved in such cases before the crackdown. 
Those cas…