SAN DIEGO - Four medical marijuana collectives that applied for permits from San Diego County will be allowed to proceed with their plans for facilities despite a moratorium on new places to grow or distribute the controversial substance. The collectives in North and East County were far enough along in the permit process when the ban was put in place in March, and the county determined that they have the right to continue with their plans for three new dispensaries and one indoor cultivation center. The county also determined that another facility that wasn't as far into the approval process may not proceed. [continues 588 words]
No One Speaks Against Extension Surprisingly, not one person spoke Tuesday for or against an ordinance which will extend the ban on new medical marijuana collectives or cooperatives in Tulare County. Following a detailed staff report into why the county wants to extend its interim ordinance prohibiting the establishment of new or expansion of existing medical marijuana entities in the county, supervisors passed the extension on a 5-0 vote after no one spoke during the public comment portion of the hearing. [continues 376 words]
A new interim zoning ordinance will put the kibosh on new medical marijuana businesses and restrict those already operating in Tulare County. Supervisors approved the ordinance, following a recommendation from county administrators and a lengthy presentation on Tuesday. The ordinance is set for 45 days, but it can be extended to 22 months, 15 days. The ordinance goes into effect immediately and, if it were to be extended, a public hearing would be needed. Previously, county supervisors had adopted regulations and ordinances related to marijuana, said Resource Management Agency Interim Director Benjamin Ruiz. The ordinance presented Tuesday was initiated when county administrators noted a combination of factors. There's an increased interest in commercial marijuana activities, civil enforcement concerns and fire hazards. [continues 629 words]
On Monday, the state Assembly approved a bill aimed at curbing abuses of civil asset forfeiture, a practice by which law enforcement may seize a person's property, cash and other assets without first achieving a criminal conviction. If approved by the Senate and signed by Gov. Jerry Brown, Senate Bill 443, proposed last year by Sen. Holly Mitchell, D-Los Angeles, and Assemblyman David Hadley, R-Torrance, will require a criminal conviction before assets worth less than $40,000 can be seized. [continues 358 words]
Should Santa Rosa aspire to be the "New Age Amsterdam," a Wine Country cousin to the Dutch city known for its permissive attitude about marijuana? OK, that vision comes from a Penngrove pot farmer quoted in Staff Writer Kevin McCallum's report on the city's efforts to create a regulatory framework for the burgeoning medicinal marijuana industry ("SR aims to be epicenter of legal pot industry," Sunday). Santa Rosa officials are more circumspect, but their direction is clear. "We're the fifth-largest city in the Bay Area, located between a major market and port and the supply," Councilwoman Julie Combs said. "I think that puts us in an excellent position to get the most public benefit possible from an industry that is here now." [continues 433 words]
A year after vallejo's mayor mulled shutting down dispensaries, marijuana offerings are better than ever. Vallejo's medical-marijuana industry has weathered yet another crackdown and is in full bloom this year. Thanks in part to state-level regulations, medical-marijuana patients throughout the north and east bays can obtain some of the best regionally grown cannabis flowers, and hence the world - all from a sleepy, bedroom community just across the Carquinez Bridge. Thirty minutes north of Berkeley by freeway, Vallejo Holistic Health Center had a line nine-people deep on a recent Tuesday afternoon. The huge, community center-like club was stocked with eighth ounces of elite cuts of trendy Wedding Cake, Alien OG, Sherbet and Gelato, as well as Bay Area staples such as Jack Herer and Grand Daddy Purple. VHHC has seven sales stations and a veritable Target aisle worth of starter marijuana plants, or clones; edibles such as Yummi Karma medicated sriracha potato chips; and hyper-potent extracts like "The Clear" vape pen cartridges. [continues 548 words]
It's an outbreak of reefer madness, meaning the disconnect between federal drug czars and 25 states that allow marijuana for medical or recreational use. The latest instance is the Drug Enforcement Administration's decision to keep cannabis on the high shelf of dangerous drugs. There's a crumb of sanity in the outcome, with the DEA allowing more research into marijuana, but the overall result is extra confusion over national drug policy. In the short run, states will still operate under their own pot rules, a live-and-let-live approach that the U.S. Justice Department accepted in 2013 after going back and forth on cracking down. For California, that means a loose system that makes marijuana easily available and largely unregulated. Proposition 64 in November seeks to clarify this hazy world. [continues 244 words]
Please join me in opposing Measure L scheduled for the November ballot. My issue with marijuana is not whether smoking it is good or bad. What I care about is the impact of growing marijuana has on the personal safety and health of our citizens, the local water supply and the environment. In July, there was a double homicide related to marijuana growing in my neighborhood. The violence was not isolated to the actual property upon which the grow was located. The homes of our neighbors were hit by stray bullets during the shootout between the growers and perpetrators. [continues 141 words]
UPLAND - A proposal that will ban both medical and recreational marijuana-related activities in the city is going to the Planning Commission for review. After making numerous revisions to the ordinance, the commission will look at zoning and land issues. The council voted Aug. 8, 3-2, expedite to have a total ban in place before the November election - when voters across the state may approve the use of recreational marijuana. "If we don't have a ban in place, Upland will have not regulations to prohibit recreational marijuana or anything dealing with recreational marijuana, which means the day after the election could be anarchy," said Councilwoman Carol Timm. [continues 249 words]
County Looking at Continued Enforcement County supervisors are being asked on Tuesday to extend the county ordinance prohibiting medical marijuana collectives, cooperatives or businesses. Extending that ordinance, which was first passed in 2013 then extended in 2015, will be the subject of a public hearing at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday in the board chambers in Visalia. The recommendation before the supervisors is to once again extend the ban, a decision sure to come under fire from those medical marijuana proponents. [continues 307 words]
On a Sunday morning in late July, in a small town in southwest Alabama, Barbara Moore Knight gave her fellow church members news that brought spontaneous applause and murmurs of "Amen!" She told them that her son, James LaRon Knight, was among the drug felons whose sentences had been commuted by President Barack Obama the week before. In 2004, Knight was convicted of conspiracy to sell cocaine. Although the crime was nonviolent, he was sentenced to more than 24 years in a federal prison. The sentence was a travesty, an unduly harsh punishment for a family man never accused of running a substantial criminal enterprise. [continues 535 words]
Re: "DEA rules that marijuana has no medical value" [News, Aug. 12]: The Drug Enforcement Administration will not change the Schedule 1 designation for marijuana because of the strength of new pot strains compared to 1968. Perhaps one should remind the government that the strength of the THC content in marijuana was never considered or even measured before making it Schedule 1. The schedule change was done purely in the spirit of retribution. Rescheduling stems from Leary v. United States, which found the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 unconstitutional. Congress responded by placing marijuana on the Schedule 1 list the next year. [continues 180 words]
I'm no fan of Debra J. Saunders, but in "Willful blindness, reefer madness" (Insight, Aug. 14) she makes a good case for marijuana's use. I wonder: Can the liquor industry be part of the opposition for legalizing sales of marijuana? It is definitely a competitor in the market for bliss. Doris Mendell, Oakland [end]
At least once a week, Steve McDonald drives from his home in Irvine to an industrial stretch of Santa Ana filled with auto shops and home-improvement wholesalers. Inside a beige storefront, McDonald consults with young budtenders about the jars of raw cannabis flowers and rows of infused edibles that fill the shelves at From the Earth medical marijuana dispensary. The 40-year-old said cannabis products help him avoid prescription medications for pain from severe burns he suffered in a fire two years ago, as well as lingering back trouble and anxiety that plague him from his days as a paratrooper in the Army's 82nd Airborne Division. [continues 1823 words]
For the first time since 1988, both major parties' nominees - Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump - say that they have never smoked or experimented with marijuana (without inhaling). President Obama has been open about having used marijuana and other drugs in his youth, yet his administration has taken insufficient steps to inject some sanity into the federal government's approach to marijuana policy. In 2008, the Obama campaign talked about keeping federal prosecutors from going after medical marijuana dispensaries in states that have legalized medical use such as California. To the contrary, in his first term especially, Obama's Department of Justice was merciless on medical marijuana providers, as well as users. If you hoped for big change, get over it. Wednesday, the Drug Enforcement Administration announced it would not change marijuana's classification from the Schedule I drug status it has held since 1970. [continues 531 words]
Larry Schaeffer has grown marijuana in Sonoma County for more than a decade. His Cherry Kola Farms outside Penngrove supplies award-winning strains of pungent pot to one of Sonoma County's largest medical cannabis collectives, as well as discerning dispensaries around the state. But after years of operating in a quasi-legal status as a nonprofit collective, Schaeffer is ready to go legit. He wants to be an above-board business, in an approved location with proper permits, and pay taxes like any other legitimate enterprise. [continues 2814 words]
D.A.'S Offices Dealing With Fallout About a dozen felony marijuana-related criminal cases have been thrown out or reduced to misdemeanors - the fallout of the December arrest of a Yuba-Sutter drug task force agent. Christopher "Mark" Heath's career as a Yuba County sheriff's deputy came to an abrupt end when he resigned from his position of 12 years soon after he was arrested in Pennsylvania on suspicion of trafficking more than 200 pounds of marijuana. The effects of his arrest sent ripples through the Yuba-Sutter criminal justice system, some of which have yet to be worked out. [continues 490 words]
Two North Coast Legislators' Medical Pot Tax Bills Go Down to Defeat Two medical marijuana tax proposals submitted by North Coast lawmakers have failed in Sacramento, leaving California voters to decide on higher taxes incorporated in a pot legalization measure on the November ballot. The tax rates in Proposition 64, the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, exceed the rates in the two failed bills by state Sen. Mike McGuire and Assemblyman Jim Wood, both Healdsburg Democrats whose districts include the pot-rich Emerald Triangle. [continues 318 words]
Roadside drug tests can be a good tool for police to determine whether someone has broken law and potentially poses a threat to others, but they can also get you locked up for eating a glazed donut. A Florida man is suing the Orlando Police Department after he was arrested on officers' mistaken claims that he was in possession of crystal methamphetamine. During a traffic stop, the officers noticed a few whitish flakes on the floorboard of Daniel Rushing's car and alleged that they were crystal meth. "I recognized through my 11 years of training and experience as a law enforcement officer the substance to be some sort of narcotic," one of the officers wrote in a report. In fact, it was just some crumbs from the glaze of a Krispy Kreme doughnut Mr. Rushing had consumed. [continues 383 words]
Both advocates for and opponents of California's marijuana legalization measure are claiming victory after a judge determined Friday that they each made misleading statements in arguments to be included in official ballot pamphlets for the Nov. 8 election. Pro- and anti-Proposition 64 groups sued each other last week in Sacramento County Superior Court, challenging comments submitted to the secretary of state concerning how the initiative might affect pot advertising and minors, among other things. Opponents were ordered to tweak all six statements objected to by the Yes on 64 team, while proponents were instructed to change four of the six arguments challenged by the No on 64 campaign. [continues 214 words]
The federal government has for years employed a bizarre circular logic when it comes to marijuana. Officially deemed to have a high potential for abuse and no currently accepted medical application, marijuana is listed by the Drug Enforcement Administration as a Schedule 1 drug under the Controlled Substances Act - on a par with heroin and LSD. Yet that very listing has severely limited the research that could settle the question of whether marijuana does indeed have therapeutic value, as attested to by countless glaucoma sufferers, nauseated cancer patients and a raft of other ailing people and their physicians who report anecdotally that marijuana eases suffering. [continues 317 words]
Reading the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's report on marijuana, on how it should remain one of the nation's most dangerous drugs and has no medical value, we can't help but wonder what rock the agency's leaders have been living under. Or what they've been smoking. Twenty-five states and the District of Columbia have legalized weed for medical use, starting with California way back in 1996. Three more states Arkansas, Florida and North Dakota - will decide whether to follow suit this November. [continues 391 words]
Wasn't the DEA supposed to have released its decision on rescheduling cannabis by now? - -John E. Law Of course it was, and of course it hasn't. Word was that the Drug Enforcement Administration was in talks to bump cannabis to Schedule 2 within the first half of 2016. Do you know how hard it is for government agencies to admit they've made a mistake? Currently, marijuana is classified as a Schedule I drug, meaning it supposedly has no medicinal value and has a high risk for abuse. You know, like other Schedule I drugs such as heroin or LSD. [continues 458 words]
At least one barrier to asset forfeiture reform has been cleared, as a compromise has been reached between law enforcement groups and state Sen. Holly Mitchell, D-Los Angeles. Last year, California seemed set to join a growing number of states in reforming civil asset forfeiture, a means by which law enforcement agencies can seize a person's assets without first obtaining a criminal conviction. As initially conceived, Senate Bill 443, bipartisan legislation authored by Sen. Mitchell and Assemblyman David Hadley, R-Torrance, would have required a criminal conviction before assets in excess of $25,000 could be seized, granted a right to counsel for the indigent and authorized attorney's fees for those who successfully appeal forfeiture cases, among other requirements. [continues 495 words]
Recently in Denver, Donald Trump told a television station that states should decide for themselves whether or not to legalize marijuana. Trump has expressed contradictory views in the past, but this is one of his more believable campaign promises. If Trump believes in anything besides himself, it's in the virtue of making money. He allocated a prime speaking slot at the Republican National Convention to Peter Thiel, the Silicon Valley billionaire who - aside from celebrities - is the most prominent businessperson to get his hands green. Thiel's Founders Fund invested millions in Privateer Holdings, the parent company of weed site Leafly and cannabis brand Marley Natural. Like every speaker at either party's conventions, Thiel declined to mention the plant, but he has a stake in the industry's future. [continues 678 words]
Oakland Museum's marijuana exhibit is worth visiting. In the center section, a large glass case encloses mature marijuana plants. On the side of the case, different strains are mounted beneath magnifying glasses. Materials made of hemp are displayed: rope, cloth, edible, cooking oil, etc. An illustration depicts the mechanism by which cannabinoids affect the body. Cubicles surround the centerpiece. In one there is video of politicians condemning marijuana. Opposite the video are posted photographs and quotations from famous personalities praising or denouncing marijuana. Visitors' opinions are posted as well. [continues 120 words]
The capital city is readying to become a cannabis production center under a plan advanced Tuesday by a City Council committee. The council's law and legislation committee moved forward with a conceptual plan to allow indoor cultivation of marijuana in commercial, industrial and agricultural zones in Sacramento with a possibility of granting conditional use permits for limited facilities operating just outside of residential areas. The city's push toward marijuana industrialization is expected to culminate in a plan to be voted on by the City Council in November, with facilities to be given operating licenses next year. [continues 893 words]
There is much discussion about the legalization of marijuana for recreational use in California, and it will be on the November ballot. As someone who is involved in programs to address chemical dependency, there is no doubt that marijuana is a "gateway drug." As CEO of the Fresno Rescue Mission, I recently asked our staff to survey individuals who are in our 18-month recovery program. These individuals come from all walks of life, various age groups and different social levels. The survey was not conducted to be research but rather to be anecdotal. [continues 556 words]
Operators of a Costa Mesa medical marijuana dispensary that was raided by police in January sued the city and its Police Department on Tuesday, alleging that officers had no right to force their way into the Harbor Boulevard storefront. The lawsuit, filed in Orange County Superior Court, claims that Costa Mesa police never presented a warrant during or after the search, in which they arrested employees and confiscated marijuana products. According to attorney Matthew Pappas, who is representing the dispensary, Costa Mesa Collective, the city has refused to provide a list of the items the officers seized. [continues 427 words]
The War on Drugs fueled the modern-day prison industrial complex for decades, and many politicians now agree that it was a misguided federal policy that resulted in the needless incarceration of millions of Americans - particularly Black and Latino folks. From 1990 to 2010, the amount of people in state prisons for drug offenses increased by 52 percent according to the American Civil Liberties Union. These arrests for non-violent crimes tore apart communities of color nationwide, separating families and saddling the loved ones of incarcerated individuals with financial burdens - from legal costs to drastic reductions to their household incomes. [continues 198 words]
Mendocino County District Attorney David Eyster has issued a response to a May grand jury report that stated the GJ intended to "determine the validity of concerns expressed by members of the public and certain public officials of the propriety of the marijuana program." Eyster began the marijuana restitution program in 2011, after being elected to his first term. Under state Health and Safety Code Section 11470.2, certain circumstances allow felony offenders of state and local marijuana laws to instead accept a misdemeanor charge in exchange for payments of law enforcement costs in enforcing marijuana laws. [continues 738 words]
SAN DIEGO - More than two years after San Diego approved legal sales of medical marijuana, the city has just eight dispensaries - far fewer than predicted - with no others even close to opening. Medical marijuana advocates blame the relatively small number primarily on restrictive city zoning and regulations, but six dispensaries got final city approval months ago yet still haven't opened for a variety of reasons. The struggles could mean recreational marijuana, which state voters might approve on the November ballot, could be harder to find in San Diego than in many other cities. [continues 1162 words]
Opponents of an effort to legalize marijuana for adults in California have filed a lawsuit that claims advocates made "false and misleading" statements about how the measure regulates advertising, sales and more. The suit was filed one day after backers of Proposition 64 filed a lawsuit of their own over what it called "reefer madness-style misinformation" from opponents. Both petitions aim to force the Secretary of State to throw out portions of statements that would otherwise appear in official voter information guides for the Nov. 8 election. [continues 199 words]
COSTA MESA - A lawyer for a former medical marijuana dispensary said he filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the Costa Mesa Police Department, alleging that officers exceeded their legal authority when they raided the facility this year. The complaint attorney Matthew Pappas said he filed with Orange County Superior Court seeks unspecified damages and the return of marijuana, money, confidential patient records and other property seized Jan. 27 at the now-closed Costa Mesa Collective on Harbor Boulevard. "The city of Costa Mesa ... believes it is above the law," Pappas said of the suit. "No longer can cities and police departments violate people's rights based on marijuana once being part of failed drug prohibition policies." [continues 402 words]
A January guns-drawn raid in the 2000 block of Harbor Boulevard put an end to Costa Mesa Collective, a marijuana dispensary acting in contravention of that city's ban on such businesses. But while the Costa Mesa Police Department has a right to enforce its laws, it is also important for the police to follow the law in the process. While the department has insisted that it acted lawfully, and obtained a warrant, that warrant has been hard to come by. [continues 306 words]
Regarding "Pro-pot forces sue over ballot language" (Aug. 5): I don't believe those in favor of Proposition 64, the legalization of recreational marijuana, will be dissuaded by "TV commercials" and children targeted by ads for "marijuana gummy candy and brownies." The Public Policy Institute of California's latest poll shows 60 percent in favor of legalization and 37 percent opposed. Of those 60 percent, likely most, if not all, are now or have been recreational smokers, be it legal or not, and have already been exposed to the federal government's "Reefer Madness" form of propaganda for years. Besides, TV advertisement for marijuana, like hard liquor, is already banned by the federal government, and recreational marijuana will only be sold, as is liquor, to adults over 21, so children don't even enter the equation. The inevitability of legalization has surrounded us for decades. President Obama, who has admitted smoking marijuana, agrees that it's less harmful than alcohol. When legal, the process of pardoning those California inmates incarcerated for nonviolent marijuana offenses, as Obama has recently done, can begin. Michael Haworth, Vallejo [end]
There's no reason someone would know the vehicle across the street is delivering medical marijuana. Such deliveries, which happen in Nevada County, produce no strong odor like marijuana grows. They draw no increased traffic and lead to no formal complaints. And then, once the transaction occurs, the vehicle is gone. What remains are questions about the legality of delivering medical marijuana in a county that prohibits commercial cannabis and in cities that forbid dispensaries. Stakeholders in the state's burgeoning medical marijuana industry have different opinions about the law and the delivery of medicinal cannabis. Authorities point to local ordinances restricting the practice, though they add they've taken a hands-off approach. Managers of collectives say they're within the law to deliver medicine to their members. [continues 984 words]
California tokers, why are you trippin' so hard? You keep saying that marijuana helps manage anxiety. But those of you who work in or partake of the cannabis industry sound like the most stressed-out people in California. And that leaves me wondering what's in your bongs, especially since 2016 is supposed to be a year of great triumph for you. Cannabis is booming in California. New regulations on medical marijuana are coming together, and a November ballot initiative to legalize recreational use seems likely to pass. California is thus well on its way to becoming Mary Jane's global capital, and a national model for how to pull cannabis out of the black market shadows and into the legal light. [continues 669 words]
Today's pot is typically four times stronger than the marijuana of just a couple of decades ago. That's timely to note in the current push to legalize the drug, because much of the research showing marijuana has only modest health effects on adults is based on weaker strains that have been largely bred out of the marketplace. That means that, as Californians prepare to vote this November on a recreational marijuana initiative, they'll do so without conclusive answers from the medical community on how today's pot may affect mental health and the debate over the gateway drug theory. [continues 1080 words]
Once again, California voters will decide whether to legalize the recreational use of marijuana. They have previously rejected initiatives to do this, but while this year's Proposition 64 isn't perfect, it is a much more thoughtful proposal. It's time to say yes. Prop. 64 would allow adults 21 years or older to use pot, grow up to six plants in their homes and possess about an ounce of marijuana and about a quarter ounce of hash. The details piggyback on the regulatory framework for medicinal use that state lawmakers finally developed last year. [continues 372 words]
Republican political consultant Mike Madrid isn't used to getting calls from the ACLU, and yet he has found himself working with the civil liberties group because some practices are so egregious that Republicans and Democrats should have no trouble finding common cause. The issue is civil asset forfeiture - also known as "policing for profit." The federal government can seize your property, and the only way you can get it back is to prove you are not guilty of a crime. California law prohibits local authorities from permanently seizing most property without a conviction, but there's a loophole in the law - called "equitable sharing." Local police can seize your property, hand jurisdiction over the feds, and get rewarded with up to 80 percent of the goodies even if prosecutors fail to convict - or even charge - an offender. [continues 774 words]
When I hear people stressing out about the millions of Americans who use marijuana on a regular basis, a little voice pops into my head. It belongs to the comedian Chris Tucker. "Ain't nothing wrong with smoking weed," his character, Smokey, said rolling a joint in the movie "Friday." "Weed is from the Earth. God put this here for me and you. Take advantage, man, take advantage!" In California, many of us do just that. (Not me, though. I swear!) [continues 457 words]
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Supporters of a California initiative to legalize recreational marijuana filed a lawsuit Thursday accusing opponents of including false and misleading language in official ballot materials. The Yes on Proposition 64 committee sued in Sacramento County Superior Court, asking a judge to change or delete several arguments that opponents make against the measure on the November ballot. The lawsuit objects to opponents' claims about television advertising and arguments that the measure would undo consumer protections that Gov. Jerry Brown recently signed into law. [continues 65 words]
Compromise Boosts Support for Measure to Protect Poor Residents SACRAMENTO - Major law enforcement groups and state Sen. Holly Mitchell (D-Los Angeles) have reached a deal on legislation to limit the ability of police in California to permanently seize cars, cash, homes and other property from suspected criminals without a conviction, potentially paving the way for California to join the growing list of states that have reined in the practice. Known as civil asset forfeiture, the tactic began in earnest as a response to the drug war in the 1980s, allowing law enforcement to fund their anti-narcotics operations by taking drug dealers' property. [continues 428 words]
The campaign to legalize marijuana for adults in California is suing over what it calls "grossly false" and "provably wrong" claims made by the opposition. The lawsuit aims to force the Secretary of State to throw out portions of official statements from Proposition 64 opponents, including U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, that would otherwise appear in voter information guides for the Nov. 8 election. "Defenders of the failed war on marijuana are entitled to their own opinions but not their own facts," said Jason Kinney, spokesman for the legalization campaign. [continues 260 words]
Again, again? Are you kidding me? Yes, the Inland Cannabis Growers Association (better known to law enforcement in Butte County as pot profiteers) have done it again. Last Tuesday they presented enough signatures to the Board of Supervisors to put measure MC-3 on the ballot in November. We, the voters, thought we had voted to limit pot growing in Butte County by voting overwhelmingly for Measure A two years ago. But no. We had to vote to stop them again last June (with Measures G and H). [continues 112 words]
COSTA MESA - A raid by Costa Mesa police at a medical marijuana dispensary that was caught on hidden cameras is being challenged by an attorney who alleges officers exceeded their legal authority during the operation. "These guys were doing this to shut down a business without due process because they don't like it," said Matthew Pappas, a Long Beach lawyer who represents the now-closed Costa Mesa Collective in the 2000 block of Harbor Boulevard. "They became judge, jury and executioner." [continues 956 words]
Cannabis Reducto Ad Absurdum Damn, but we love our views. We love them so much that, back in 2011, some of us successfully levied this love into stopping the big baddies at Shell Energy from installing wind turbines on Bear River Ridge, just south of Ferndale. "Unsightly!" was the argument. OK, well, there were other arguments, like the prospect of large equipment trucks barreling down the Wildcat and the well-documented negative impact of wind farms on bird species. But the loudest shouts came from those who didn't want Ferndale's postcard-ready face pockmarked by progress, even if that progress represented a step toward alternative energy. [continues 471 words]
Legalizing Recreational Cannabis May Have Varying Implications for Health of Kids and Teens Come November, California could join Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington by becoming a state where adults can legally buy, possess and use cannabis recreationally as well as medically. What would this mean for kids and teens? We now may have an idea. Colorado was the first of these states (plus the District of Columbia) to enact laws calling for such blanket legalization, passing Amendment 64 in 2012. Two recent reports focused on Colorado-one on teenage use, one on kids' accidental ingestion-offer a mixed picture. [continues 852 words]
What kind of pot should I smoke if I want to be social at a party? - -Wanda Wallflower Good question. Different kinds of weed can definitely make you feel a certain way. Most indicas will give you the quiet introverted couch lock in a hurry. I have definitely killed a party or two with a fat indica joint (usually the Granddaddy Purple). Also, be careful with concentrates and hashes. More than one person has dabbed into oblivion and sat in a corner at the party, staring into space and thinking their own thoughts. [continues 399 words]
Inside California
