Resolution Could Allow Dispensaries, Which Would Sell Marijuana To Those With a Prescription SAN LUIS OBISPO - Medical marijuana dispensaries could soon spring up in San Luis Obispo. The City Council is set to vote Tuesday on a resolution that could allow dispensaries - centers for selling marijuana to people with a doctor's prescription - to open under council guidelines. Such dispensaries are currently legal under California law. The council could also decide to wait for the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on whether medical marijuana is legal, or whether there should be a ban on such facilities. [continues 519 words]
I'm writing about: "Pot bust yields 4 pounds, 33 plants, 5 arrests and three children" (Oct. 4). I'm sure many marijuana growers and sellers are thankful to the Sheriff's Department narcotics detectives for this recent bust and others like it. Without operations like this, marijuana would be worth what other easy-to-grow weeds are worth -- very little. Thanks to the Drug Enforcement Administration and other so-called "drug warriors," the easy-to-grow weed is worth more than pure gold -- and completely tax free. Any marijuana growers or sellers arrested will soon be replaced; they always are. Kirk Muse Mesa, AZ [end]
Four Bay Area activists were among more than a dozen arrested Tuesday for civil disobedience on the steps of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C., as they protested federal marijuana policy. Steph Sherer of Oakland, executive director of Berkeley-based Americans for Safe Access; Stacey Swimme of Oakland; and John Shaw and Alex Franco, both of San Francisco, were taken into custody but released later in the day. Several dozen protesters had turned out to demand the federal government acknowledge marijuana has medical use and change its policies. Americans for Safe Access on Monday filed a legal petition with HHS claiming the department is violating the Data Quality Act, which requires federal agencies to use sound science in developing policies and disseminating information. [end]
City Council Imposes 45-day Moratorium To Deter Cannabis Facilities Seeking New Home FREMONT -- As several East Bay cities move to shut down medical marijuana shops over concerns they are magnets for crime, distributors have been turning to places like Fremont to keep cannabis flowing to their patients. But Fremont officials, initially caught off guard, approved a 45-day emergency ban on the dispensaries Tuesday night to "protect the public health, safety and welfare." The City Council voted by consent to ban medical marijuana dispensaries as the city studies related licensing, zoning and other regulations. The council will have an opportunity in November to extend that ban by up to two years. [continues 394 words]
Berkeley Group Wants U.S. Recognition of Medical Use of Pot A Berkeley-based organization announced Monday it will file a petition with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services charging the agency with putting politics over science on the issue of medical marijuana. Americans for Safe Access believes the department provides bad information on marijuana's value as medicine, in violation of law that requires federal agencies to rely on sound science. ASA's goal is to force the department to admit publicly that marijuana is routinely used for medical treatment, which they hope would help clear the way for easing restrictions on access to medical marijuana. [continues 188 words]
Authority Members Say Cops Must Bust Smokers Regardless of Vote Result OAKLAND -- Busting pot-smoking fans at the Network Associates Coliseum complex in Oakland should remain a top priority for law enforcement agents regardless of how city voters feel, Coliseum officials said Thursday. Members of the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority said it would be too confusing -- and dangerous -- to treat marijuana use at the complex as a low priority for law enforcement. Measure Z, an initiative on the Nov. 2 ballot, calls for making private use of marijuana in one's own residence a low priority for local police. Initiative backers say the Coliseum Authority's focus on the issue is irrelevant, since the complex is a public place. [continues 278 words]
Proposal's Critics Call Fear of Oaksterdam-Type Proliferation Unwarranted BERKELEY -- City officials want to limit the number of medical marijuana dispensaries to three, hoping to avoid a mecca of Berkeley pot clubs similar to Oakland's once-thriving "Oaksterdam" area. The plan, by Councilmembers Linda Maio and Margaret Breland, would keep medical marijuana dispensaries away from schools and prohibit them from clustering in one area of the city. With Oakland now limiting its medical marijuana clubs to four, Berkeley city leaders -- who will tonight consider limiting the number of dispensaries -- aren't the only ones scrambling to keep pot clubs out of their city. [continues 563 words]
Three county cases among 38 in state filed by medical users entitled to cannabis. Oakland -- More than three dozen medical cannabis patients from 36 California counties filed simultaneous lawsuits Tuesday demanding the return of about $1 million worth of marijuana seized by law enforcement officers the past few years. In all those cases, the plaintiffs proved they were medical marijuana patients and were never charged with possessing the drug, or they had charges against them dropped, according to the Berkeley nonprofit that organized the lawsuits. But they never got their pot back, and they want it now, or at least its cash value. [continues 613 words]
Unlicensed Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Face Closure OAKLAND -- Police have begun citing operators of unlicensed medical marijuana outlets, and neighboring cities are feeling the effects of the crackdown, officials said Friday. One unlicensed dispenser -- Dragonfly Alternative Healing Clinic at 1727 Telegraph Ave. -- has been cited twice since the enforcement started Thursday at the direction of the city administrator's office. Repeated violations could lead to further sanctions, including permanent shutdown through public nuisance ordinances, officials said. "The city established only a few sites to be permitted, and we're seeking compliance with the ordinance," said Deputy Chief of Police Pete Dunbar. [continues 713 words]
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Marion Jones ran slowly Friday night, lost her race and then refused to talk about it. There was no need to panic, really, because this was just a quarterfinal heat in the 100-meter dash and Jones advanced to Saturday's semifinals at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials. But Jones has been under a microscope lately, and she suffered another bad day at the oval. Jones, wearing a white track suit instead of her more familiar black outfit, finished second in her heat in 11.38, three-hundredths of a second behind LaTasha Colander. She appeared to have something in reserve, which Jones will need Saturday as she tries to qualify for Athens to defend her 100-meter gold medal. "She's not talking until after the finals tomorrow," a USATF official said after the race. "That's what her people are saying." [continues 601 words]
Nanticoke: Joseph Gronka, 34, Was Cited With Disorderly Conduct After Music Fest Incident. NANTICOKE - City police say the man who drove a naked Lisa Drozdowski past Music Fest on the back of a motorcycle acted in a disorderly manner. Police recently charged the driver, Joseph Gronka, 34, of Bloomsburg, with a summary offense of disorderly conduct in connection with the June 12 incident. Police said Gronka drove Drozdowski up Prospect Street near Patriot Square. Police stopped the motorcycle on Orchard Street, where Drozdowski, 39, of West Noble Street in Nanticoke, propped her feet up on the male driver, further exposing herself, arrest papers said. [continues 152 words]
Oakland Pot Bust Heats Up Oakland -- A routine traffic stop Wednesday afternoon for an illegal turn resulted in the discovery of what could be the largest pot-growing operation ever found by police in the city. But what the California Highway Patrol described as "a major criminal grow" is being claimed by medical marijuana advocates as a legitimate business operation for one of three city-approved medical marijuana clubs. The dueling descriptions coupled with the past criminal history of the building's owner and the involvement of a federal drug enforcement agency turned what appeared to be a simple drug bust into a possible test of the city's medical marijuana laws. The CHP said it is turning the case over to the DEA, which doesn't recognize the state's medical marijuana law. [continues 770 words]
Oakland Cannabis Initiative Has 20,000 Signatures Required. Oakland -- Local support for recreational pot smoking will be tested in November under a largely symbolic ballot measure. The Alameda County Registrar of Voters late Monday certified the 20,000 signatures required to get the Oakland Cannabis Initiative on the ballot, said City Clerk Ceda Floyd. The initiative directs local police and prosecutors to turn a blind eye to recreational use of marijuana by adults at least 21 years old, giving it the lowest priority for enforcement that police already give to medical cannabis users. [continues 399 words]
Medical Marijuana Issue to Be Ruled on by Next Summer, Justices Decide The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear an Oakland-based case that could bring the ultimate decision on whether people who grow and use marijuana as medicine face federal arrest and prosecution. The court will hear the case this winter and rule by next summer. "This gives us an opportunity to make a nationwide precedent that will benefit patients," said Oakland attorney Robert Raich, among the lawyers for patient Angel McClary Raich, his wife; patient Diane Monson of Oroville; and two unnamed marijuana growers from Oakland. [continues 635 words]
It's summer, and the predators are out again. Last Wednesday, The Tribune reported the first shark sighting of the season, off Morro Bay. On Friday, the front page carried a big story on a mountain lion spotted at an Arroyo Grande children's camp. Speculation and worry, of course, ensued. Is it safe to go to camp? Should we stay out of the ocean? It shouldn't come as a huge surprise, living in a semirural county on the ocean, that there are animals on the land and in the water. [continues 444 words]
Cannabis Proponents Say They Collected 12,000 More Than the 20,000 Signatures Required for a City Vote OAKLAND -- It may be awhile before you can pick up some party pot at the store when you stop for cigarettes, tomatoes and milk in the city of Oakland. But that's the ultimate vision held by advocates for the legalization of marijuana -- for recreational use, not just medical. And they're hoping Oakland voters will nudge it closer to reality. On Monday, members of the Oakland Civil Liberties Alliance turned in more than 32,000 signatures to city election officials to get the Oakland Cannabis Initiative on the November ballot. [continues 926 words]
All but One Facility in 'Oaksterdam' Denied City Permits for Distribution OAKLAND - New city rules have effectively snuffed out "Oaksterdam" - the uptown area's thriving mecca for thousands of medical marijuana patients. The triangle between 17th and 19th streets and Broadway and Telegraph Avenue was, until recently, home to five busy cannabis clubs. Under new regulations that took effect June 1, it appeared three of the dispensaries -- along with a fourth one on West Grand -- would continue to operate. But now just one Oakster dam dispensary will keep its doors open. Two others a few blocks outside the district will also get permits. [continues 823 words]
IN a powerful victory recently, the ACLU, the Drug Policy Alliance and other groups defeated the Bush administration in federal court. Our freedom of speech and our right to tell the truth were at stake -- in the face of a federal law that banned, from certain public areas, advertisements that question any aspect of the federal policy of prohibition of marijuana. The law that was struck down had even banned paid ads on public transit facilities regarding the legalization of medical cannabis. [continues 385 words]
Apparently, congressman Dennis Cardoza is even more out of touch than we thought. Cardoza's spokesman said, "Like most Americans ... Congressman Cardoza does not believe the use of marijuana for 'medicinal' purposes should be legal." We're not sure what planet Mr. Cardoza inhabits, but here on Earth, support for medical marijuana is overwhelming. A national CNN/Time poll taken in October 2002 found 80 percent public support for allowing adults to legally use marijuana for medical purposes. This January, a California Field poll found 74 percent support -- a sharp increase from the 56 percent who voted for Proposition 215 in 1996. Both of these polls -- and many others showing strong public support for medical marijuana -- have been widely publicized. Perhaps Rep. Cardoza just doesn't care what his constituents think. Bruce Mirken Director of Communications Marijuana Policy Project [end]
Supporters Want Representative To Change Vote On Raids Activists today are marking the first anniversary of the conviction of Oakland's "Guru of Ganja" by protesting about 150 lawmakers nationwide -- including one near the Bay Area -- who voted against halting federal raids on patients, caregivers and cooperatives. Patients and caregivers plan to gather at 11:15 a.m. today outside U.S. Rep. Dennis Cardoza's district office at 445 West Weber Ave., Stockton, in an attempt to pressure Cardoza, a Democrat, into changing his vote when the matter is raised again this summer. [continues 442 words]
