Experts: New Year Won't Bring Clarity on Legality, but Courts Could Answer Questions on Regulation Palm Springs - Just over a year ago, voters were on the verge of making California the first state to legalize marijuana for recreational use, but public opinion turned, and the idea swiftly went up in smoke. That voter rejection left courts and local municipalities to grapple, yet again, with medical marijuana laws that are often vague, confusing, contradictory and vary from city to city. In 2012, don't expect any new laws or decisions that will clear the murky legal landscape for the hundreds of thousands of Californians who use medical pot - or for opponents of legalization. [continues 844 words]
The fight over farming marijuana as medicine is growing in Live Oak. Growers are thinking about launching a campaign to recall the five Live Oak City Council members who voted to ban growing medical marijuana. The council voted for the ban Dec. 20, which takes effect Jan. 20. "This town is disgusted with these people," said James Maral, who started the Live Oak Patients, Caregivers and Supporters Association. "This town is disgusted with what they're doing." Council member Diane Hodges isn't getting the same reaction. About 20 people approached her over the past eight days to thank her for voting to ban marijuana grows, because they stink and threaten public safety, she said. [continues 344 words]
So who's benefiting from the federal crackdown on medical-marijuana dispensaries? Why, black-market pot growers and dealers, that's who. According to a recent report by the Center for Investigative Reporting's California Watch, prices for high-grade, outdoor-grown marijuana, after slumping precipitously in 2010, have risen by 20 to 40 percent since four U.S. attorneys began cracking down on growers and dispensaries and threatening local agencies-like the Chico City Council and city staff-with prosecution. [continues 194 words]
FOR the past four months, the four United States Attorney offices in California have begun a "crackdown" on medical marijuana dispensaries in our state. The crackdown is a departure from previous policy and judicial commitments by the Department of Justice to prioritize scarce enforcement resources elsewhere. Recent events in Fairfax demonstrate that the crackdown is inhumane and counterproductive. In 1996, the voters of our state overwhelming approved the Compassionate Use Act which allows patients to grow and possess marijuana with a physician's recommendation. The Marin Alliance of Medical Marijuana began operating as the state's first publicly licensed medical marijuana dispensary pursuant to a use permit issued by the town of Fairfax in 1997. [continues 435 words]
A young Mendocino man whose legal plight has become a cause celebre for medical marijuana advocates appeared in Mendocino County court Thursday in hopes of halting extradition to Texas. Mendocino County Judge Ann Moorman told Chris Diaz' attorney, Don Lipmanson, he needed to submit that request to Texas authorities. "I don't have any jurisdiction," she said. But Moorman said she will consider releasing Diaz on bail at a hearing she then scheduled for Tuesday. Supporters of Diaz, 22, an asthmatic and father of two children, ages 1 and 4, contend that he is emblematic of the problems wrought by inconsistent laws governing medicinal marijuana. [continues 581 words]
California's year in medical marijuana might best be summed up with the story of prominent Sacramento County dispensary Magnolia Wellness. Sporting huge ads and a great selection of strains such as Violator Kush, the Orangevale club boasted an estimated 40,000 patients at its peak. But it drew increasing fire from fed up local and federal prohibitionist-minded officials. Facing fines and potential forfeiture, Magnolia held a widely publicized marijuana giveaway on Friday, December 16. Hundreds of patients lined up for free grams as police cruisers idled nearby. [continues 770 words]
A group of local medical cannabis advocates is trying to gather 10,000 signatures to overturn a recent ordinance Shasta County supervisors passed that restricts marijuana growing for county residents. Nor Cal Safe Access member Dave Shore said about 30 people have been gathering signatures outside medical marijuana dispensaries and less controversial local businesses like Walmart for about a week now. While county supervisors passed two ordinances regulating medical marijuana earlier this month "" one banning dispensaries and one introducing cultivation restrictions for county residents "" the group is seeking a referendum only for the growth ordinance, Shore said. [continues 580 words]
The tug-of-war between county government and marijuana proponents continued to make headlines in Nevada County in 2011, and promises to heat up again early next year when a proposed cultivation ordinance goes before the Board of Supervisors. Early in the year, local jurisdictions made it clear that dispensaries were not welcome here. In January, Grass Valley City Council members voted down a proposed ordinance to allow and regulate dispensaries, instead joining 214 California cities that have banned them outright. Council members cited concern about the effects of marijuana use on young people and worries over crime associated with dispensaries in some areas, saying those who genuinely need marijuana for medical reasons can get it at the nearest dispensary in Colfax, about half an hour away in Placer County. [continues 563 words]
Members of California's largest medical marijuana advocacy group mounted a protest at the San Luis Obispo County Courthouse to commemorate-albeit reluctantly-the anniversary of the county's largest raid on medical marijuana providers to date. After a year, a majority of the defendants from "Operation Green Sweep" have yet to make it to trial, thanks to a series of legal wranglings over multiple cases that hang on state law. On Dec. 27, members of the local chapter of Americans for Safe Access (ASA) wielded signs reading "STOP Medical Raids Now" and "DA Shea: Drop the charges against ALL of the 'SLO 12.'" Though protester turnout was significantly less than at a similar demonstration held during the defendants' arraignments in the first days of 2011, the organizers weren't dissuaded. [continues 239 words]
RIVERSIDE - Riverside County officials are moving swiftly to shut down storefront medical marijuana dispensaries, seeking an injunction against one and ordering the owner of another to appear before the Board of Supervisors to explain why he's refused to close his doors, it was announced today. The actions come two weeks after the board committed to taking legal steps to shutter the 35 dispensaries violating a county zoning ordinance that prohibits the operation of medical marijuana facilities in unincorporated communities. Last week, the board filed a request in Superior Court seeking an injunction against Platinum Collective on Magnolia Avenue in Home Gardens. The dispensary has been notified that it's operating illegally but has refused to acknowledge the county's demand for cessation, according to county Executive Office spokesman Ray Smith. [continues 398 words]
A year after 12 were arrested, protesters in SLO argue the sting was not necessary, aggravating for defendants and a waste of taxpayer money One year after a group dubbed the "SLO 12" was arrested during an undercover investigation into medical marijuana dispensaries, some local activists are still fuming. About 10 people gathered Tuesday morning outside San Luis Obispo Superior Court on Monterey Street to protest the arrests. They held signs supporting "safe access" to medical marijuana and criticized the ongoing handling of the cases. [continues 408 words]
The stores have become popular over last several years There's a growing phenomenon sweeping across Tulare County - and across the nation, for that matter. It's called "indoor grow shops," and it's taking many people - from farmers-market fanatics to, yes, those who grow marijuana legally - by storm. There are two indoor grow shops in Porterville alone. Maximum Harvest Grower Supplies, the city's oldest indoor grow shop, is located at 730 E. Date St. The other shop, M&J's Grower Supply, is located at 128 N. Second St. [continues 382 words]
Riverside County officials said Wednesday they have begun legal action to close about three dozen medical marijuana dispensaries in unincorporated areas. Attorneys filed for an injunction and issued legislative subpoenas against two of the stores, the latest volley since the Board of Supervisors authorized crackdowns on Dec. 13. The county asked a Riverside County Superior Court judge to declare Platinum Collective in Home Gardens, near Riverside, a public nuisance and issue an injunction to shut down operations at the shop in the 12000 block of Magnolia Avenue, east of McKinley Street. According to the Dec. 21 court filing, the dispensary creates traffic problems, and officials said it poses a safety issue for children who walk past the shop on their way to Villegas Middle School. [continues 349 words]
Proposition 215, passed by voters in 1996, leaves too many things open to interpretation and needs to be clarified by the Legislature. As the California Legislature gets back to work next week, there's no more important duty than addressing the state's budget crisis. A close second in terms of priorities should be medical marijuana. While the budget is job one, the Legislature can't say it doesn't have time for clearing up the medical marijuana confusion at the same time. After all, the Legislature last year had the time to debate and pass new laws for 2012 about tanning beds, child safety seats, carrying handguns and a raft of new requirements for employers. [continues 434 words]
This week the California Supreme Court received an emergency request to temporarily set aside a Second Appellate Court District ruling which could have made the Mendocino County zip tie program illegal. The appeals court ruled Long Beach dispensaries crossed the line between decriminalizing medical marijuana possession and authorizing the possession and cultivation of the drug. The county has chosen to wait until the courts decide the case before changing course on zip ties or drafting a new ordinance regulating marijuana dispensaries. [end]
The year in which many people thought they'd see the county's first medical marijuana dispensary selected and on its way to opening ended with no dispensary or drug in sight. City staff spent the early part of the year reviewing applications in-house from six would-be dispensaries vying to be the chosen one. The city had estimated it would announce a preferred dispensary applicant in January or February, but that decision did not come until late summer. The delay was reportedly caused by the close detail with which staff reviewed the applicants, city officials said. [continues 336 words]
Veterans Affairs Allows It in Some States While Justice Department Cracks Down For two years, John Riccio worried that smoking marijuana to relieve his chronic back and shoulder pain would get him in trouble with the Department of Veterans Affairs. Then the department last year began allowing former service members to use medical marijuana -- in states that have laws permitting it -- in conjunction with their regular treatment. Riccio, a Navy veteran living in South Park, says he sleeps easier now that he can talk about it with his VA doctor without risking his benefits. [continues 1070 words]
With Feds Threatening Storefronts, Couriers Become Alternatives Medithrive, a cannabis dispensary in San Francisco's Mission District that was forced to close last month, has re-emerged as a delivery-only service, part of a growing trend in California's billion-dollar medical marijuana industry that's recently come under attack by federal authorities. Threats of property forfeiture, fines, lawsuits and raids this winter have made brick-and-mortar locations less enticing to pot entrepreneurs. Hundreds of storefronts have closed amid the new federal crackdown. Delivery services remain, offering a lower-profile, albeit more dangerous, alternative. [continues 714 words]
I wish to reply to Tiffany Hughes' Dec. 12 letter concerning drug testing for welfare applicants. She is of the opinion that if the state did this it would lose money. She writes, "If California were to require everyone to submit to a drug test, the state would actually lose money overall." Her strawman scenario assumes that all Californians would be tested for drug use. I know times are tough, but I don't think all Californians are going to be drug tested. [continues 132 words]
I'm writing about Joanne Crouch's not-so-thoughtful letter: "Marijuana not a harmless herb," Dec. 10. If Crouch is opposed to marijuana use, medical or otherwise, I have some simple advice: don't buy it, don't grow it and don't use it. Period. What somebody does to themselves in the privacy of their own home should be their business. Not their neighbors. It seems to me that the right to self-medicate should be a fundamental right granted to all adult citizens or legal residents. Kirk Muse Mesa, Ariz. [end]
Just in time for Christmas, "Reefer Madness" is back. Federal prosecutors are threatening to shut down California's medical pot dispensaries, which are legal under state law. California Attorney General Kamala Harris is asking the state Legislature to clarify and close loopholes in the state's medical marijuana laws, saying those laws are so confusing that users, growers, sellers, cops and even the people who work in her office have a hard time telling what's legal from what's not. Meanwhile, one group is preparing a ballot initiative for next year that would tax and regulate medical marijuana, while another group is pushing for a vote to legalize pot for any and all uses. [continues 663 words]
It was very unfair of Bob Thompson to suggest in his letter to the editor that I want to legalize any hard drugs, but not marijuana. I was only saying that marijuana should be no easier to get than any other pain reliever for legitimate users. If I ever need to try it for severe pain, I probably will. But, I will get it from a "real" physician, not from a street corner clinic. And only if it becomes legal for that purpose, which it probably will. [continues 122 words]
Local law enforcement agencies got a holiday bonus Thursday when more than $1.2 million of assets seized in a 2006 marijuana bust in Hayward were distributed among five organizations to finance new technology and equipment. The funds were handed out through the federal government's asset-forfeiture program, which seizes assets used in or bought with the profits of crime and redistributes the money to law enforcement agencies that helped bring down the criminals. A federal investigation including five Bay Area law enforcement agencies found that Local Patients Cooperative, a medical marijuana dispensary in Hayward, was actually operating as a "sophisticated indoor grow" with hundreds of pounds of marijuana on hand even though their license only allowed three pounds of marijuana in the dispensary at one time, said Scott O'Briant, an agent with the Internal Revenue Service's criminal investigation unit. [continues 266 words]
California Attorney General Kamala Harris formally asked the state Legislature earlier this week to clarify state laws on medical marijuana to bring certainty and consistency to both law enforcement and patients. It's about time someone took action on the issue. The Legislature needs to take up the request. Under the state's medical marijuana law, the attorney general is authorized to issue guidelines on legality. As attorney general, Gov. Jerry Brown essentially made dispensaries legal if they were nonprofit cooperatives or collectives. As a result, storefront dispensaries boomed -- and the federal government stepped up efforts to go after them. [continues 87 words]
While I agree with your observation ("Nasty outbursts do nothing for marijuana cause," Dec. 14) that marijuana proponents are not always fond of the rules of decorum, it seems inappropriate to castigate them like unruly children. Please consider what is actually happening here: People dealing with serious medical issues are being systematically denied access to the medicine that best eases their suffering. Faced with the looming likelihood of being unable to obtain relief from that suffering and dealing with stress caused by such knowledge, it is understandable that they find it difficult to be polite to those hellbent on worsening their situations. [continues 348 words]
Can we please address this issue honestly? What is the difference at this point whether the desire for pot is medical or emotional? Some people use marijuana to control medical symptoms, and some to get high, relax and enhance. Marijuana has many emotional as well as medical gifts. Alcohol, however, does not, but it is legal to use it for the sole purpose of altering consciousness. Why then do we not legalize pot so that people have a choice of intoxicants? Alcohol is a very dangerous drug, and has been the cause of millions of deaths. [continues 95 words]
SHASTA LAKE -- Council members reversed the local trend of banning medical marijuana dispensaries Tuesday night and voted instead to ditch their permit system. The council voted 4-1 to have city staffers prepare an ordinance that will remove dispensary permitting requirements from the municipal code while keeping existing zoning regulations in place, City Manager Carol Martin said Wednesday. The discussion of a possible ban, placed on the agenda at Councilwoman Dolores Lucero's request, comes more than a month after Redding's City Council voted to outlaw at least 14 dispensaries in its city limits. Anderson's City Council approved a ban in October, while the Shasta County Board of Supervisors approved a dispensary ban for the county's unincorporated areas last week. [continues 399 words]
Patients, partyers and profiteers have a month to chop down their marijuana if they want to stay on the right side of the law in Live Oak. The City Council on Wednesday night finalized a ban on growing marijuana for medical use, which will now take effect Jan. 20. Council members first approved the ban at their Dec. 7 meeting, saying marijuana grows stunk up neighborhoods and threatened people's safety as criminals tried to steal plants and growers tried to protect them, sometimes with razor wire and guard dogs. [continues 507 words]
Glenn County planning commissioners are in no hurry to approve a medical marijuana ordinance for the unincorporated areas of the county. They opted to wait on the issue Wednesday to get more information on how Sheriff Larry Jones feels about the proposal. Planning Director John Linhart said the proposed ordinance would regulate the cultivation and other issues surrounding medical marijuana. The code would restrict the growing area to a maximum of 100 square feet per parcel, and keep the plants out of neighbors' views. [continues 586 words]
Although no substance is harmless (Letter: Marijuana not a harmless herb, Dec. 10, 2011), cannabis (marijuana) is among the safest. In over 5,000 years of documented medical use, there has not been a single death directly related to the relatively safe God-given plant (see the first page of the Bible). That's safety on a Biblical scale Stan White Dillon, Colo. [end]
LAKE COUNTY -- There will not be two measures regarding local marijuana laws on the June ballot after one group of proponents failed to submit signatures by Thursday's deadline. Supporters of the proposed "Lake County Act to Adopt Federal Marijuana Laws" informed county election officials on Thursday that they would not be turning in names, according to Maria Valadez, deputy registrar of voters. The group began its signature-gathering effort last week and needed to gain support from at least 2,115 registered Lake County voters by the end of business Thursday to qualify for the June election. [continues 188 words]
California Attorney General Kamala Harris formally asked the state Legislature earlier this week to clarify state laws on medical marijuana to bring certainty and consistency to both law enforcement and patients. It's about time someone took action on the issue. The Legislature needs to take up the request. Under the state's medical marijuana law, the attorney general is authorized to issue guidelines on legality. As attorney general, Gov. Jerry Brown essentially made dispensaries legal if they were nonprofit cooperatives or collectives. As a result, storefront dispensaries boomed -- and the federal government stepped up efforts to go after them. [continues 85 words]
Re "Medi-pot collective charges dropped" (Downstroke, Dec. 8): Good news for Mountainside Collective. [Assistant District Attorney Helen] Harberts states, "The public-safety risk of having a marijuana store has been abated. Justice has been served." If that was their goal, why continue the prosecution? It should always be pointed out these would-be heroes deprived thousands of chronically ill people of their holistic medical choice. A choice we the people voted on and our suppressors tell us we were too stupid to know what we voted for. [continues 76 words]
An outspoken Redding medical marijuana patient and advocate presented three City Council members with recall notices Tuesday night. Rob McDonald, 50, presented council members Francie Sullivan, Rick Bosetti and Patrick Jones with the notices during the meeting's public comment period. "Tonight I do something that isn't easy for me," McDonald said before announcing and presenting the notices. "Four weeks ago you basically listened to a group of people who basically wanted to violate another group of people's rights and you closed down the dispensaries." [continues 544 words]
Riverside County supervisors are right to shut down all illegal medical marijuana dispensaries in the unincorporated areas. The Board of Supervisors outlawed dispensaries in 2006, as has every city in the county except Palm Springs. However, county officials estimate there are now at least 36 illegal pot dispensaries, not counting the ones in cities. There's a cluster of 11 of them in, of all places, unincorporated Thousand Palms, which has less than 8,000 residents. Even Palm Springs, which allows up to three dispensaries or collectives to operate legally, has 10 of them and home-delivery services. [continues 198 words]
What a difference the city limits can make. Last month the Redding City Council - after granting wide rein and official Police Department blessing to its medical marijuana collectives since 2009 - abruptly ordered them to shut down in response to a Southern California Court of Appeal ruling that found city licensing schemes in fatal conflict with federal law. Just up the road in the city of Shasta Lake, on the other hand, the City Council reacted to the latest legal twist Tuesday night not by rushing to shutter collectives, a move suggested by City Councilwoman Dolores Lucero, but by declaring them welcome local businesses that serve a real need for patients. The council voted 4-1 to take a new stab at writing a zoning ordinance, this one in compliance with the law, at least as it stands this week. [continues 284 words]
Group Proposes Own Regulations After Helping Block Previous SD Ordinance Medical marijuana collectives on Monday unveiled specifics of a proposed ballot initiative that would regulate storefront operators and generate additional revenue through a sales tax to the city of San Diego. The 18-page ordinance, which had been foreshadowed for two weeks, would create operating zones for dispensaries and levy a 2.5 percent sales tax on their retail transactions. It also would impose a fee for the city to recover its expenses, establish security measures and hours of operation and mandate inspections and certification by a third-party group. [continues 671 words]
Glenn County planning commissioners are in no hurry to approve a medical marijuana ordinance for the unincorporated areas of the county. They opted to wait on the issue Wednesday to get more information on how Sheriff Larry Jones feels about the proposal. Planning Director John Linhart said the proposed ordinance would regulate the cultivation and other issues surrounding medical marijuana. The code would restrict the growing area to a maximum of 100 square feet per parcel, and keep the plants out of neighbors' views. [continues 584 words]
Tragic as it was, the death of Thousand Oaks High School senior Griffen Kramer could be the tipping point in this area's fight against heroin. Word this week from the Los Angeles County coroner's office confirming the drug as the cause of the 18-year-old's death (see related story on page 1) puts an end to any debate and provides another opportunity to address this life-and-death topic. We're amazed by how many people we've talked to in the past month who had no idea high schoolers were using heroin and no clue about the prevalence of prescription painkillers in the local party scene. Along with this spike in awareness is a desire for action. [continues 348 words]
Trumpets and trombones blast across a rodeo ring where women in miniskirts dance with men in cowboy hats and gold chains. Some fans try to climb onto the stage while others whoop to the deafening music and sing along to an outlaw ballad about one of the most-wanted criminal suspects in North America, an alleged drug kingpin. "We take care of El Mayo "Here no one betrays him... "We stay tough with AK-47s and bazookas at the neck "Chopping heads off as they come [continues 1031 words]
Drug-sniffing dogs searching the Westlake High School campus for illegal narcotics earlier this month caught a scent. It led them to a teacher's car. On Dec. 8, Thousand Oaks police issued a citation to Courtney Stockton, a 35-year-old special education teacher, for having less than one ounce of marijuana on school grounds after they found the controlled substance in his vehicle in the staff parking lot, said Capt. Bill Ayub. Ayub said the amount of marijuana found in Stockton's car is considered small and for personal use. [continues 532 words]
Petaluma Mayor David Glass says that three months ago he might well have voted for lifting his city's ban on marijuana dispensaries. He has no doubt medical cannabis helps some and has the support of many more. But times have changed. When the topic of lifting the ban arose at Monday's City Council meeting, Glass told the audience his views had been tempered by the recent federal crackdown on the state's medical marijuana industry. "I believe the people want it," Glass said. "I just don't think at this time, in this environment, it's the right thing to do because of the risks that are there." [continues 495 words]
San Diego's medical marijuana collectives have unveiled a proposed ballot initiative that tries to ensure that dispensaries "operate as good, responsible neighbors" and that seeks to mollify City Hall with the promise of fees to cover regulatory costs and new sales taxes to help the city's beleaguered budget. Nice try. But as long as marijuana remains illegal under federal law, and as long as dispensaries throughout the state flagrantly abuse it, this initiative is a waste of effort. The federal government classifies marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug defined as having the greatest potential for abuse and no accepted medical use and is against federal law for all purposes. California voters in 1996 approved an initiative legalizing medical marijuana and, for most of the years that followed, the feds largely kept their distance, leaving local authorities to keep the dispensaries reasonably in check. [continues 86 words]
A new twist in a long-running debate within the transplant community: Should people whose use of drugs or alcohol may have contributed to liver problems be candidates for transplants? And if so, how long should they be clean before becoming eligible for a new organ? LOS ANGELES - Norman Smith, who has liver cancer, was placed on the transplant list at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center last year. But early this year, doctors removed him because he was using medical marijuana and failed to show up for a drug test. [continues 913 words]
The Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana, the oldest dispensary of its kind in the state, quietly shut down over the weekend, the victim of a federal crackdown. "They moved out of the premises just before 2 a.m. on Sunday morning," said Peter Goldstone, a Santa Rosa attorney who has represented the Alliance, and its operator, Lynnette Shaw, in an eviction proceeding that was brought by the Alliance's landlord. Shaw could not be reached for comment. The landlord, Farshid Ezazi of Orinda, initiated the eviction proceeding after Melinda Haag, the San Francisco-based U.S. attorney for the Northern District of California, threatened to confiscate the building in which the Alliance operated at 6 School St. in Fairfax. The Fairfax dispensary is among dozens statewide that federal prosecutors say they have targeted due to the dispensaries' proximity to parks, schools and other facilities used by children. [continues 585 words]
I am 73 years old. I've never smoked pot and never truly approved of it. But I know this. People who use marijuana will go back to paying for it from people who obtained or grew the product illegally. This is Prohibition all over again - in its worst form. Where is the good in this close down and shut down and re-regulation? If it provided decently for those who use it for medical purposes, it might make a teeny bit of sense. It doesn't. Worse, or equally stupid, is the fact it will not make a dent in recreational use. As with Prohibition, people who never drank before made bathtub gin to show that the government could not tell them what to do. So, bring it on Mexican Cartels. We are now throwing our arms open to your product. You will make it easy and you will be grinning from ear to ear, all the way to the bank. [continues 89 words]
The Shasta Lake City Council on Tuesday will consider a request by Councilwoman Dolores Lucero to possibly ban medical marijuana dispensaries. There are two dispensaries in town, the Queen of Dragons on Shasta Dam Boulevard and the 530 Collective on Locust Avenue. Jamie Kerr, founder and CEO of the 530 Collective said Friday she doesn't expect the city to pass an urgency ordinance banning the collectives outright. "I respect the city not wanting to be liable to trigger federal pre-emption, and I obviously want to keep my doors open," Kerr said. "I believe there are a few options that can accomplish both those goals." [continues 427 words]
The two Coachella council members who were part of "Team Coachella" have apologized for entertaining the idea of making their city a hub for medical marijuana cultivation and distribution. Their remarks came after a resident, Lupe Rodriguez, got up at the City Council meeting last week and called Mayor Eduardo Garcia and Mayor Pro Tem Steve Hernandez "Cheech and Chong," saying their involvement in the pot discussions embarrassed the city. The Wednesday meeting was the first council session since the Nov. 20 Desert Sun report on the meetings that Garcia and Hernandez had with Rancho Mirage Councilman Scott Hines, who is also a public policy consultant. [continues 629 words]
The director of the local chapter of a nonprofit organization seeking to reform California's marijuana laws has been booted for his angry outburst during Tuesday's meeting of the Shasta County Board of Supervisors after they banned medical marijuana dispensaries in the county's unincorporated areas. Russ Belville, the Portland-based outreach coordinator for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), said in an apology issued to the supervisors that James Benno of Redding is no longer a representative of NORML. [continues 325 words]
OROVILLE -- Almost two years to the day after they first voted to ban medical marijuana dispensaries in Butte County, county supervisors will find the topic back on the agenda for their Jan. 10, 2012 meeting. On Jan. 12, 2010, the supervisors voted in favor of a temporary ban on dispensaries that was later extended. This Oct. 25, the board voted to make the ban permanent. Almost immediately afterward, opponents began a petition drive seeking to have it removed from the county code. [continues 241 words]
Inside California
