A small crowd clustered at the top of the stairs of the Humboldt County Planning Department on the morning of Feb. 26, waiting for the doors to open. In their hands, they clutched land use permit applications for medical marijuana cultivation. "We've been gearing up all week for a big day," said interim Planning Director Rob Wall, adding that extra staff were on duty to help local farmers file. "You guys are taking cash, right?" asked someone in line, prompting a ripple of laughter. [continues 538 words]
Friday marks the first day Humboldt County medical marijuana growers can apply to become a certified commercial cultivator, but not all growers are happy about it. Earlier this week, the Humboldt-Mendocino Marijuana Advocacy Project (HUMMAP) filed a notice of intent to sue the county over its recently approved Commercial Medical Marijuana Land Use Ordinance, claiming that it did not properly address the environmental impacts of larger marijuana grows. The lawsuit seeks to prohibit the ordinance from taking effect until a full environmental review is conducted. [continues 614 words]
State Sen. Mike McGuire's proposal to levy a 15 percent tax on the sale of medical marijuana seems to be a reach for revenue at the expense of those who need prescribed pot. In 1996, California voters endorsed the "compassionate use" of marijuana prescribed for medical needs. There already is a sales tax on medical cannabis, but McGuire wants to increase it. Last year, McGuire, Marin's representative in the Senate, helped pass long-needed legislation that brought legal clarity to the enactment of Proposition 215. [continues 330 words]
Symposium to Educate Pot Growers About Water and Environmental Laws Marijuana cultivators flocking to Southern Oregon to grow pot know pot farms are now legal, but it doesn't mean they know how to farm pot legally. The Josephine County Soil and Water District is offering a crash-course in environmental laws and other aspects of marijuana farming to keep growers from running afoul of laws protecting streams, fish and wildlife. More than 100 people have signed up for the one-day seminar Thursday at the Josephine County Fairgrounds, where there is room for 1,000 people who want to bone up on water-quality, water-rights and diversion laws, fisheries protection and other rules that regulate agriculture, including cannabis cultivation. [continues 418 words]
SACRAMENTO - Devout cannabis advocates and social justice reformers believe this may finally be the year California voters legalize marijuana, and that optimism has led to a mashup of proposed statewide ballot measures - more than 20 filed so far. They vary from a one-sentence constitutional amendment that simply declares California adults are free to "grow, own (and) purchase" marijuana to a 62-page treatise on how to best regulate and tax legal pot. But just one has attracted the deep-pocketed donors and leading advocacy groups to emerge as the clear favorite to make the November ballot - the so-called Adult Use of Marijuana Act. The initiative would allow those age 21 and older to possess and use up to an ounce of marijuana, making California the fifth state in the nation to legalize recreational use. [continues 478 words]
The legalization of marijuana, even for strictly medicinal purposes, leads to consequences that create serious concerns regarding public safety and environmental damage. There's a strong case to be made for taxation of the product for the purpose of offsetting the costs ultimately borne by society. But proposing a sales tax that places the revenue into the state's general fund is foolish. Additional taxes levied against citizens of the state, especially those who are purchasing a product for expressly medical purposes, should be wholly set aside to target the negative effects from marijuana cultivation. The general fund is frequently raided by state government that rejects the fiscally sane notion of spending less than it collects. Don't replenish these poorly managed coffers. Todd Kerrin, Sacramento [end]
Up Against Billionaire-Funded Bid, Grass-Roots Groups Stand Down. SACRAMENTO - Devout cannabis advocates and social justice reformers believe this may finally be the year California voters legalize marijuana, and that optimism has led to a mashup of proposed statewide ballot measures - more than 20 filed so far. They vary from a one sentence constitutional amendment that simply declares California adults are free to "grow, own [ and] purchase" marijuana to a 62-page treatise on how to best regulate and tax legal pot. [continues 1272 words]
The Feb. 15 editorial "Success in Colombia" focused almost entirely on counterinsurgency success against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and thus was another sad example of willful amnesia about U.S. drug control policy impacts abroad. Ignored by the editorial were the equally important counternarcotics goals and impacts of Plan Colombia. After 15 years and almost $10 billion in U.S. aid, the question needs to be asked if U.S. taxpayers received their money's worth from this investment in the largest drug control program in the annals of the war on drugs in the Western Hemisphere. Today, Colombian cocaine production is increasing. Moreover, Colombia is a major source of heroin in the United States' national epidemic, with Maryland a sad case in point. [continues 88 words]
It wouldn't exactly be accurate to say Humboldt County marijuana growers are rushing into compliance. But Humboldtians put their neighbors to shame, out-enrolling other Northern California counties in the state Water Board's marijuana compliance program. As the Times-Standard reports, the deadline to enroll in the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board's Cannabis Cultivation Waste Discharge Regulatory Program (take a breath) was Feb. 15. The program is designed to bring grow sites into compliance with water regulations, enforcing rules about grading, water storage and acceptable runoff, among other issues. Low-impact growers are expected to pay enrollment fees, while more environmentally damaging growers will have to prepare and pay for remediation. [continues 444 words]
THE fight to stop police from spraying Eastern Cape dagga plantations with poisonous glysophate stepped up a gear when lawyers representing the affected rural communities demanded proof it complied with environmental legislation. Port Elizabeth attorney Rick Stone, of Boqwana Burns, yesterday confirmed a second letter had been sent to police asking for proof the herbicide was environmentally compliant. Police spokesman Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi yesterday said the product - Round-up - was approved for use in South Africa. [end]
Medical Group's Endorsement of Legalized Pot Guided by Patient Safety Regulation of Marijuana Will Allow Better Understanding of Clinical Uses The California Medical Association has long been at the forefront of controversial issues facing our state. We have proposed and helped implement forward-looking public policies around HIV/AIDS treatment and patient rights, blood donor laws, universal access to health care, physician aid-in-dying and vaccination rates. At the heart of our advocacy lies our fundamental concern for patient safety and the overall health care delivery system. [continues 355 words]
After a Spate of Recalls in Denver, Should Users Be Worried? It's Hard to Say. Because Marijuana Is Still Illegal in Most Places, There's No Official "Safe Level" of Pesticides. Despite fining two marijuana growers and suspending the licenses of two others for using unapproved pesticides, Washington state hasn't recalled any products for pesticides during the 18 months that legal pot sales have been allowed. The city of Denver, by comparison, recently recalled 19 pot products for pesticides in 19 weeks. [continues 1200 words]
As part of the sweeping changes to the state's medical marijuana industry, an expected new tax was introduced Wednesday that would target point of sale transactions for marijuana products. Senate Bill 987, "The Marijuana Value Tax Act," would impose an excise tax of 15 percent on purchasers seeking medical marijuana products for consumption or other uses within California when purchased from any retailer. The tax, if moved forward within the state Legislature, is being proposed to take effect beginning in January 2018, when the Bureau of Medical Marijuana Regulation begins to enforce operatives of the recent Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act, according to Sen. Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg, who authored the bill. [continues 347 words]
There's a marijuana recall saga playing out in Denver that suggests our regulatory system isn't quite up to snuff yet (at least when it comes to quality control.) It first blew up last March when the city of Denver quarantined more than 100,000 plants from six separately owned and operated grows after the fire department discovered off-label pesticide use on the plants during routine safety inspections. The city stepped up its inspections of cultivation facilities, and the Denver Post 's Cannabist blog even commissioned its own tests for pesticides on retail marijuana extracts. [continues 538 words]
Area state Sen. Jim Nielsen last week opposed a bill that would eliminate a deadline for cities and counties without marijuana cultivation ordinances to adopt local growing rules. Nielsen, R-Gerber, voted against Assembly Bill 21, correcting what lawmakers say was a mistake in the state's medical cannabis regulations approved last year. It passed the Senate 35-3 and next moves on to the Assembly. Nielsen, one of three Republicans opposing the bill, told The Associated Press he couldn't support legislation that might help further the medical marijuana industry. [continues 304 words]
POLICE are going to use helicopters to spray dagga fields in the former Transkei with poisonous chemicals again this year despite widespread opposition. Eastern Cape police spokeswoman Col Sibongile Soci said yesterday the spraying of Round-up would take place in the remote "hills and valleys" along the Mzintshana River near Port St Johns. The decision has been slammed by environmental and dagga activists who claim glysophates in the poison "probably cause cancer", according to the World Health Organisation, and they seriously impact flora, fauna and people. They say it has been banned all over the world. [continues 77 words]
Commercial medical marijuana dispensaries are prohibited throughout Ventura County. Now, to meet a March 1 deadline under a new state law, six of the county's 10 cities - Camarillo, Fillmore, Oxnard, Port Hueneme, Thousand Oaks and Santa Paula - are rushing to go a step further by formally banning small-scale, personal cultivation of medical marijuana. The Ojai City Council will take up the issue in February, but currently forbids personal cultivation. Officials argue that they want to retain control over marijuana in their communities, while opponents contend that heavy-handed ordinances reduce patients' access to medicinal pot. [continues 1168 words]
Goal Is to Determine Perfect 'Recipe' For Cannabis Growing GUELPH - Marijuana has been grown in a clandestine manner by a great many growers for a long time. Despite that, an optimal way of cultivating the plant to boost its medicinal properties has not be found, says a University of Guelph plant scientist who is leading the charge to perfect pot growing. Mike Dixon and his research team in the University of Guelph's controlled environmental system research facility and program have received $210,000 from Ontario Centres of Excellence. The money will fund the application of new irrigation technology to medical cannabis growing. It's a process by which small sensors are strapped to the stem of a plant and hooked up to a wireless data logger that measures the water status of the plant every 15 minutes. [continues 421 words]
Canna-Branders Prepare to Hurry Up and Wait "I'm not sure brand dilution can get any worse than it has up to now," says Chrystal Ortiz, marketing and branding coordinator for True Humboldt. True Humboldt, a co-op of local cannabis farmers, is one of several organizations trying to turn the region into a brand and realign that brand with values that will sell. At the heart of the issue is appellation, the protected geographical distinction of where a product comes from. Champagne, for example, can only be called such if it's bottled in Champagne, France. Appellation rights for cannabis growers were one of the provisions in the recent spate of state medical marijuana laws largely celebrated by local growers. But what Humboldt's appellation will actually come to stand for is under pressure from competing visions and practices. [continues 539 words]
