Medical marijuana use and sales won't be prosecuted by the federal government, according to a new Justice Department memo from Deputy U.S. Attorney General David Ogden (inset, right).

But there's a catch: the federal directive only applies in states that have laws authorizing medical marijuana usage.

The DOJ also made clear that this new policy cannot be used as a 'get out of jail free card' by drug traffickers or those who grow pot on federal land.

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, Inc., and its drug subsidiary Pharmacia & Upjohn Company, Inc. are paying $2.3 billion to settle the largest criminal and civil health care fraud action ever brought by the U.S. Department of Justice.

According the DOJ, six whistleblowers ('relators' in legalese) who filed qui tam lawsuits under the False Claims Act will collectively receive more than $102 million for their roles in uncovering fraud and "off-label" use of Pfizer drugs that were not approved by the FDA.

Which former Pfizer employees will reap millions for helping expose the company's illegal practices?

It's a beautiful day in convicted Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff's new neighborhood.  The disgraced former investment manager is serving his 150-year prison sentence at the Butner Federal Correction Complex in Butner, North Carolina.

Here is a sampling of Bernie's new neighbors, and the answers to frequently asked questions about conjugal visits, gifts, and more.

A federal judge in San Jose, California heard arguments today about the constitutionality of the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (18 U.S.C. § 413), a law used to prosecute violent acts of anti-animal research activists.

The defendants were indicted in March 2009 on charges alleging that they conspired to threaten, harass, and intimidate bio-medical researchers at their homes near Berkeley and Santa Cruz, and at animal research facilities on the University of California at Santa Cruz campus.

You can read the federal grand jury indictment here: