Re "Knocking down the kingpins," Editorial, Dec. 5 Killing the heads of drug cartels has an effect similar to cutting off the top of a weed. It will grow back stronger than ever. The only way to get rid of any weed is to kill the root - and the root of our problem is prohibition. Law enforcement didn't get rid of the alcohol cartels in 1933; re-legalizing alcohol did. Kirk Muse Mesa, Ariz. [end]
Sara Kruzan's Case Shows Why Juveniles Should Not Be Sentenced to Life Without Parole. Sara Kruzan was 16 when she lured her former pimp into a motel room, shot and killed him and took his money. The terrible crime was committed in Riverside County by a girl who had been sexually molested and physically abused since her earliest days, raised by an addicted mother, gang-raped at 13 and at the same age sent into the streets to make a living as a prostitute by the man she would eventually kill. [continues 400 words]
I went down to our local pot shop the other day and scored some grass. That is by way of saying I purchased some medical marijuana to help in our daughter's fight against the nausea of cancer. And it's working. But I had to try it first to make sure it was safe. I considered it a father's duty. I chose the chocolate chip cookie. You don't just bring home raw cannabis anymore. In the new age of legalized useage one can purchase the dope in cookies and candy or use its buds for tea. [continues 462 words]
A judge on Monday denied Wildomar's attempt to shut down a storefront medical marijuana collective operating despite the city's ban on dispensaries. Riverside County Superior Court Judge Mark E. Johnson denied the city's request for a temporary restraining order. The order would have closed the facility while a judge decides whether the city has the right to ban dispensaries. Wildomar Patients Compassionate Group opened a dispensary last week in a building on Mission Trail. The group has sued Wildomar to stay open, arguing the ban contradicts state laws that protect safe access to medical marijuana. [continues 138 words]
CHICO -- Shotgun vandalism at a pot dispensary north of Chico early Monday morning, and the Nov. 27 shotgun wounding of an employee from another local dispensary, may be connected, according to some in the medical marijuana industry. The operator of Cascade Wellness Center, on Highway 99 near Centerfolds gentlemen's club, was called to the business just after 2 a.m. Monday when alarms went off. The Butte County Sheriff's Office was also dispatched and arrived to find the business heavily damaged by gunfire. Sgt. Derek Bell said a shotgun and a rifle were used by unknown shooters who were likely standing in the parking lot. [continues 275 words]
A Warehouse in Sun Valley Catches Fire. The Business Itself and Cause of the Blaze Are Under Investigation. An overnight fire in a Sun Valley commercial building that authorities said contained substantial stores of marijuana was being investigated Sunday. The pot operation also has become a subject of the inquiry. A neighboring businessman described the adjacent tenants as friendly, but secretive and security-conscious. "I knew they weren't operating a winery," said James Reidy. "They were very private. And they were nice to me. The security around it was fairly tough. They had a heavy-duty door." [continues 231 words]
To address concerns raised by various law enforcement agencies and the possible threat to public safety posed by such establishments, Santa Barbara County supervisors on Tuesday will be asked to continue a moratorium on approving medical marijuana dispensaries for another year. Concerns also have been raised about the use of unregistered and illegal pesticides in the cultivation of medical marijuana, particularly regarding the pesticide residue on edible marijuana products, according to a county staff report. Staff is recommending that the supervisors extend the existing urgency ordinance, which was approved in January this year, for another 12 months. [continues 243 words]
As Officials Grapple With How to Regulate Dispensaries, Access to Drug Getting Easier During the past four years, the Coachella Valley's elected leaders have limited and even banned medical marijuana dispensaries. But that hasn't stopped medical pot access from expanding in the valley in bold, creative ways. At least eight medical marijuana "delivery services" have opened across the valley during the past year and a half to cater to local patients. The services openly advertise on "WeedMaps.com." The operators of these services, who say they verify their customers as medical pot patients before making deliveries, are based in Palm Springs, Cathedral City, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert and La Quinta. [continues 856 words]
In a recent column ("Should parents drug test their teens?" Nov. 28), Lauren Forcella casually states that "pot is 10-25 times stronger today" than it was in "the '60s, '70s and '80s." By doing so, she joins the legions of lazy reporters and columnists who routinely repeat the potency falsehood that has become the cornerstone of the government's claims about the dangers of marijuana. In a recent study, the University of Mississippi's Potency Monitoring Project determined that the average THC in domestically grown marijuana -- which comprises the bulk of the U.S. market -- is less than 5 percent, a figure that's remained unchanged for decades. [continues 61 words]
Everyone seems to agree that the Mendocino National Forest is riddled with illicit marijuana gardens and not safe for hikers anymore. The question for Mendocino County and five other counties bordering the forest seems to be how to afford the solution, and it was discussed at length in a recent symposium to hammer out solutions. "A number of people expressed concern about what the cost may be to the county," said Mendocino County Board Chairwoman Carre Brown, also 1st District supervisor. "We have no money to put into this." [continues 727 words]
Mexico's War on Drugs Has Netted Several High-Profile Cartel Leaders. But the Flow of Drugs Continues. Mexico's law enforcement agencies have been on a roll, rounding up formerly invincible leaders of vicious drug cartels in a series of high-profile arrests. In August, federal police arrested U.S.-born kingpin Edgar Valdez Villarreal, known as "La Barbie," who headed a gang battling for control of a drug cartel in a region south of Mexico City. Late last month, the police also arrested Valdez' successor, who happened to be his father-in-law. Then, in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, they captured Arturo Gallegos Castrellon, the leader of the Aztecas, a gang of thugs and assassins affiliated with the Juarez cartel. [continues 380 words]
To address concerns raised by various law enforcement agencies and the possible threat to public safety posed by such establishments, Santa Barbara County supervisors Tuesday will be asked to continue a moratorium on approving medical marijuana dispensaries for another year. Concerns also have been raised about the use of unregistered and illegal pesticides in the cultivation of medical marijuana, particularly regarding the pesticide residue on edible marijuana products, according to a county staff report. Staff is recommending that the supervisors extend the existing urgency ordinance, which was approved in January this year, for another 12 months. [continues 243 words]
Back and forth arguing is ongoing in a lawsuit between Tehama County and attorneys representing 10 county residents fighting for the right to grow marijuana. The lawsuit was filed with Tehama County Superior Court on June 7 by J. David Nick and Editte Lerman on behalf of plaintiffs Jason Browne, Dawn Browne, William Browne, Michael Black, Grant Nott, LIndsay Crooks, Brian Loucks, Jason Cater, Josh Hall and Thomas Scott. It is the county's marijuana cultivation ordinance, which regulates where and how much marijuana a patient or caregiver can grow in the county, that is under fire. The plaintiffs claim that the ordinance makes it impossible for them legally to exercise their Proposition 215 right to cultivate medical marijuana for themselves. [continues 409 words]
A higher percentage of the state's registered voters made it to the Nov. 2 polls than in any gubernatorial general election since 1994, when Republicans celebrated an even bigger victory as they took both the House and the Senate from Democrats. Of course, California didn't help the GOP takeover of the House this time. The state became even more blue, maintaining Democratic majorities in both houses of the Legislature and in the congressional delegation, and sweeping every statewide office. [continues 457 words]
The annual Mexican Christmas pilgrimage, traditionally a joyous journey culminating in pozole stew and Nativity re-enactments, is now fraught with fear and foreboding. About a million Mexican immigrants, including thousands from Northern California, are expected to return to Mexico this month to share the holidays with relatives they left behind years ago. Most are driving. And many, including Sacramento State freshman Alex Rodriguez, wonder if they'll make it to Christmas dinner without being robbed, shot or kidnapped. "My mom doesn't want me to drive down there," said Rodriguez, 18, who was born in Mexico and raised in California. "My uncle was shot to death at 11 a.m. at a carwash in Choix, Sinaloa, in August. My mom said if you're in the business of drugs, that's your destiny." [continues 1169 words]
Burbank Unified students report below-average consumption, according to survey. Nine percent of Burbank Unified ninth-graders have carried a weapon to school, 5% of seventh-graders have smoked marijuana at least once, and 18% of 11th-graders have been drunk or high on campus, according to the recent California Healthy Kids Survey. Funded by the California Department of Education, the biennial survey is designed to gauge the health of a school site by assessing health-risk behaviors that hinder academic success. [continues 461 words]
It's been an interesting year for users of marijuana, as we've watched news media, politicians, law enforcement and fellow community members trot out their usual stale condemnations of marijuana based on the same old ignorance, prejudice and hypocrisy. I say ignorance because it's disappointingly clear that most folks don't know even the basic facts about marijuana, and they won't bother to lift a finger to find out the facts. The idea that anything said by politicians or law enforcement officers or news outlets must be the unvarnished truth has been proven time and again throughout human history to be a bad idea. Yet the information that most community members use to judge marijuana primarily comes from those same often-unreliable or biased sources. [continues 656 words]
THERE are at least two things everyone can agree on when it comes to California's prison population: The prisons are severely overcrowded. Taking the radical step of simply releasing 40,000 inmates means 40,000 more Californians on the streets and out of work. If it's impossible for so many good folks with degrees and deep resumes to get a job, how hard is it going to be for crooks? The state's prisons have been stuffed too full of inmates for over two decades. You don't have to be a softie to recognize that. But you also aren't necessarily hard-hearted if you spend precious little time worrying about the conditions in which the felonious among us bunk down. [continues 409 words]
A six-county symposium to talk about the problem of marijuana growing in Mendocino National Forest resulted in commitments across the board to work on eliminating commercial growing and the environmental damage it does to the forest. Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman was a prime catalyst for the gathering at which there were representatives from a variety of federal and state agencies as well as from Mendocino, Lake, Tehama, Glenn, Colusa and Trinity counties - all of them bordering the Mendocino National Forest. [continues 302 words]
Way Past Absurd The amount of resources spent by law enforcement and the legal system is way past absurd. In a time where revenue is scarce, everywhere, these outdated drug policies suggest a blind unquestioning dogma "" kids will smoke pot, everyone will be high, etc. Truth is they do it now anyway. Consider that if everyone who smoked pot were rounded up, law enforcement you would be prosecuting half the population; and you would need the other half on salary to do it! Dean H., Berkeley [end]
Inside California
