Next year, a ballot initiative will allow Californians to decide on legalizing recreational marijuana. While I am strongly opposed, there is a very real possibility that voters will approve the measure and follow what four other states have already done. State lawmakers must be prepared if this becomes the law of the land. If California's experience legalizing recreational marijuana will be anything like Colorado's, we will have a very serious drug-impaired driving problem on our hands that inevitably will increase the number of fatal traffic accidents. [continues 529 words]
California's medical marijuana industry may soon be craving pain relief instead of selling it. The state Legislature recently passed the Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act, a combination of three laws that together will impose a massive, multi-agency regulatory framework on the cultivation, distribution and sale of cannabis. Nate Bradley, executive director of the California Cannabis Industry Association, said his group lobbied Sacramento for "sensible regulations." In a panel discussion presented by the Republican Liberty Caucus of California at the recent state GOP convention, Bradley said he tells his members it's better than "having your doors kicked in." [continues 481 words]
California lawmakers are finally considering legislation to regulate medical marijuana, which has been legal under state law for nearly two decades. Among the proposals is a bill calling for an excise tax on marijuana that could raise nearly $60 million in revenue each year. As a fiscal conservative and opponent of recreational marijuana, I'm an unlikely voice in the cannabis tax policy debate. Yet after speaking with parties on all sides of the issue, I'm convinced an excise tax on medical marijuana could make sense, and if done correctly, would help ensure California taxpayers are treated fairly. [continues 419 words]
QUESTION OF THE WEEK - Has the time come to legally light a joint and inhale deeply without fear of penalties? Or is pot a detrimental, mind-altering drug ripe for abuse? That's at the heart of our question of the week: Should California legalize the recreational use of marijuana? And it's one voters are likely to be faced with come November 2016 when proponents of legalization are expected to place a measure on the state ballot. California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom - a supporter of legalization who has declared his run for governor in 2018 - has led an ACLU-backed commission examining some of the difficult issues of taxation and regulation. [continues 243 words]
Over a Century Marijuana Has Played a Huge Role in Pop Culture and Has Gone From Hush, Hush to Widely Accepted and Legal. Stricken with cerebral palsy after almost being strangled in the womb by his umbilical cord, the 41-year-old Valley Village resident takes a few puffs of medical marijuana and immediately feels relief. "Weed works," he says simply. The "Diablo Kush" and "Velvet Kush" strains from Reseda Discount Caregivers dispensary relax his stiffly contorted muscles and stave off the severe depression that prompted him to make several suicide attempts over the years, including cutting his wrists and injecting Drano and Raid into his veins. [continues 1020 words]
LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles City Council will meet behind closed doors today to discuss threats of legal action by the operators of two medical marijuana dispensaries ordered to shut down under voter-approved Proposition D, which pared back the number of pot purveyors in the city. Voters approved Proposition D on May 21, banning medical marijuana businesses in Los Angeles while exempting shops that registered for licenses prior to a 2007 suspension on new dispensaries. The proposition went into effect June 20. [continues 292 words]
Federal prosecutors are targeting more than 100 marijuana shops in Los Angeles County this week, threatening prosecution if dispensary owners stay in operation. Officials also moved to seize two properties in Long Beach catering to marijuana users. Letters from the federal government were sent to dispensaries in Los Angeles, Long Beach, Lancaster, and Pearblossom, U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman Thom Mrozek said. The letters informed dispensary owners they are operating in violation of federal laws. In Los Angeles, 71 dispensaries in South L.A., downtown, and the Harbor area were sent notices, Mrozek said. [continues 450 words]
The crackdown against medical pot shops across Southern California began as soon as the state's highest court ruled last month that cities could enforce their dispensary bans, Police have raided a legion of medical marijuana dispensaries across the Southland, while legal threats have been issued to hundreds more. From Santa Ana to San Bernardino, cities that had put the kibosh on the pot shops now had potent legal ammunition in which to shut them down. By late last week, San Bernardino had shuttered all but 10 of its 33 banned dispensaries - including two the city raided Wednesday - and was gunning to finish off the rest. Burgs from Beaumont to Anaheim have followed suit. [continues 1198 words]
A pair of bills that would enhance the legal standing of medical marijuana providers have advanced in the Legislature following this month's landmark court ruling that affirmed the rights of local governments to ban dispensaries. The bills are two components of the ongoing and often passionate arguments between Californians who support brick-and-mortar marijuana dispensaries and those who oppose such storefront operations as "pot shops" that often provide marijuana to people lacking serious medical problems. On one side, two of the Legislature's leading Democrats are backing the bills in the face of opposition from Republicans and law enforcement leaders. The California Police Chief's Association has pledged to oppose the bills, which would create new regulations and protections for medical marijuana providers within state law. The federal government's ban on marijuana would remain in force. [continues 712 words]
The fight over medical marijuana in California has taken another turn. A petition to permit about 100 dispensaries to operate in Los Angeles has received enough signatures to force the City Council to either adopt it or put it on the ballot. This does not necessarily mean a meaningful resolution is at hand. In fact, this citywide measure only muddies what were already cloudy waters. The medical-marijuana conundrum won't be solved until California leaders create a statewide policy on how to make pot available for therapeutic use the way voters intended when they passed Proposition 215 in 1996. [continues 334 words]
Possible Federal Sentence of 10 Years to Life for Selling Medical Pot Unduly Harsh, Given Trend ERSTWHILE medical marijuana purveyor Aaron Sandusky of Rancho Cucamonga must have noted the irony as he cooled his heels in the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles on Nov. 6. It was Election Day, when Colorado and Washington state voters made their states the first to legalize the recreational use of marijuana, when Massachusetts became the 18th state to legalize marijuana for medical use, and when voters in Needles voted overwhelmingly to tax medical marijuana dispensaries in their city on the eastern edge of San Bernardino County. [continues 405 words]
The city's long struggle to control medical marijuana dispensaries took a new turn on Wednesday with the collection of 50,000 signatures on petitions to overturn the city's proposed ban on dispensaries. If the signatures are validated once they are formally submitted on Thursday, it will put the city's ban - scheduled to take effect on Sept.6 - on hold until the March 5 municipal election. Don Duncan, California director of Americans for Safe Access, urged the City Council to rescind its ordinance and return to negotiating with medical marijuana advocates. [continues 346 words]
Even as the city's ban on medical marijuana is facing legal and political challenges, the City Council on Wednesday asked local and federal law enforcement agencies to develop new strategies to enforce the shutdown. "We need to get out of the way of law enforcement," Councilman Bernard Parks said of his request asking the Los Angeles Police Department to coordinate with the district attorney and Drug Enforcement Administration on an enforcement policy. "Federal law is clear. State law is clear," said Parks, a former L.A. police chief. "State law allows collectives. It does not allow for the sale of marijuana." [continues 170 words]
Supporters of medical marijuana clinics said Wednesday they are exploring legal options, including a potential ballot measure, to block a new city ordinance closing all dispensaries. "We think it's absolutely outrageous what the City Council did, and we will be proceeding with our supporters," said Kris Hermes, spokesman for Americans for Safe Access. Don Duncan, executive director for the organization, said they are developing the plan of action for a ballot measure that would repeal the ban and allow at least 182 dispensaries to remain open - those that were operating before the city's 2007 moratorium was imposed. [continues 797 words]
Medical marijuana dispensaries have a little more than a month to shut down and get out of Long Beach. That's because the City Council on Tuesday decided not to extend a waiver for 18 permitted dispensaries that were given six-month exemptions from a citywide ban in February. This was the wisest decision the council could make. Long Beach must be dispensary-free until the state Supreme Court makes a decision on an appeals court ruling from last year that says cities can't restrict the number or locations of outlets. [continues 229 words]
JUST hours before the Long Beach City Council was briefed Tuesday about crimes at medical marijuana dispensaries, an illegal pot shop was busted. That bust came after residents reported criminal and other unpleasant activity at the downtown shop. The next day, Los Angeles police raided two dispensaries in the San Fernando Valley that were allegedly making profits on sales of marijuana. It was the same week the council was set to consider a ban on dispensaries in the city. If the busts were by coincidence or by design, it hardly matters. They illustrate that, despite claims to the contrary, medical marijuana dispensaries are often operating far outside of the intent of Proposition 215. [continues 285 words]
Long Beach and Los Angeles are set to discuss the future of medical marijuana dispensaries in their cities this week. The Los Angeles City Council is expected to weigh the "gentle ban" endorsed by one of its committees. The Long Beach City Council is scheduled to hear an update today on the state of its medical marijuana outlets. It's a good time to remind each city that its own legal counsel suggests a full ban on dispensaries until the state Supreme Court rules on an appeal in a case that could prohibit cities from limiting dispensaries once they are opened. [continues 386 words]
What part of a court ruling on medical marijuana collectives doesn't the Long Beach City Council get? Apparently council members don't quite grasp that under a state appeals court ruling cities can ban medical marijuana outlets but can't allow them through a permitting process like the ones Long Beach and Los Angeles use. Long Beach City Attorney Bob Shannon had urged the council to shut down all dispensaries until an appeal to the state Supreme Court - providing further guidelines to cities - is decided. A similar proposal is before the L.A. City Council, where unpermitted dispensaries abound. Authorities say that crime around the dispensaries - both permitted and not - is a tremendous burden on police. [continues 413 words]
After years of struggling with the issue, the city of Los Angeles headed down the road Friday to a total ban on medical marijuana shops. The City Council's Public Safety Committee sent to the Planning Commission a series of recommendations to ban the estimated 300 dispensaries now open until the state Supreme Court decides if the city can regulate pot shops. Councilman Jose Huizar, whose Eastside district has 47 dispensaries, called for the ban even as he said he supports the right of people to have access to medical marijuana. [continues 544 words]
THE medical marijuana laws never have been as simple as California voters intended. Now, though, the tangle of federal, state and local policies is getting downright silly. Before something really bad happens, authorities must nip this confusion - pardon the expression - - in the bud. Fifteen years after Prop. 215 made marijuana for medical use exempt from anti-drug laws, the story is going five directions at once. The Obama administration announced a stepped-up effort this month to shut down dispensaries that purport to sell medical marijuana but actually deal recreational pot for big money. U.S. attorneys also are considering action against media that accept dispensaries' ads. [continues 650 words]
