At the age of 17, Mary Jane Curtis was diagnosed with glaucoma and told that she would be blind in five years. Now 51, the Joshua Tree resident credits her ability to see to her use of medical marijuana. "Why can't those of us who are responsible adults have our medicine without too much trouble?" Curtis, welling with tears, asked Cathedral City Mayor Pro Tem Greg Pettis Sunday afternoon. Pettis was speaking at the Marijuana Anti-Prohibition Project's monthly meeting in the Cathedral City Library. [continues 422 words]
County Supervisors to Vote on the Issue Medical Marijuana Is Legal in California but All Marijuana Is Illegal in the U.S. Riverside County's top lawyer wants to rectify what he sees as a contradiction in the law. District Attorney Grover Trask issued an opinion Wednesday that medical marijuana is illegal under federal law, despite a voter-approved California initiative legalizing medical use of the herb. The opinion, issued as a "white paper," comes just as the Riverside County Board of Supervisors is expected to vote on an ordinance that would allow medical marijuana dispensaries in unincorporated parts of Riverside County. The county's Planning Commission recently approved the ordinance at a meeting in La Quinta. [continues 445 words]
LOS ANGELES - Franklin Davis may be homeless, but he has a spot of his own along the city's notorious Skid Row. "I live at Sixth and Maple," the 44-year-old former dispatcher says as he takes a brief break from panhandling. Sixth and Maple is a particularly grimy section of the 50 square blocks of flophouses and seedy stores. It reeks with the smell of cheap wine and human waste. But it's not far from a police station, which Davis says make it a far safer place than most for the makeshift dwelling he has fashioned from his blanket and a shopping cart. [continues 173 words]
A Palm Desert medical marijuana dispensary is being required to turn clients' names over to authorities, and client advocates say that violates their privacy rights. Palm Desert city attorney David Erwin said the deal between the city and the CannaHelp dispensary on El Paseo, is merely meant to ensure that the dispensary is obeying state law. The agreement, negotiated by Erwin and James Warner of San Diego, a lawyer for the CannaHelp dispensary, requires the dispensary to turn over clients' names and state ID card numbers to the Riverside County Sheriff's Department. [continues 1125 words]
For Now, No New Shops Can Open In Palm Springs The Palm Springs City Council voted Wednesday to keep any new dispensaries from opening for 45 days so that the city can draw up regulations for such operations. "This is not a drug, it's a natural herb," said LaVonne Victor, who has used medical marijuana for five years to treat problems associated with multiple sclerosis. "I am not a criminal. I am not a cartel. I am just a sick person trying to make it one day at a time." [continues 819 words]
No Arrests Made, but Plants, Guns Confiscated From Home Federal agents raided a Sky Valley house Tuesday owned by a man who says he grows marijuana for patients of a Palm Desert medical marijuana dispensary. No arrests were made in the morning sweep of Garry Silva's Dowell Lane residence. However, agents armed with a federal search warrant did confiscate "guns and a quantity of marijuana," said Sarah Fenno Beers, a spokeswoman with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Though not the first raid of its kind in California, the incident is significant. Experts say it brings an ongoing national debate over the legitimacy of medical marijuana - and the contradictions in federal and state law about this issue - into sharp relief for Coachella Valley residents. [continues 846 words]
Medical Outlet, City Council in Murky Legal Water Stacy Hochanadel wakes up most mornings wondering if today is the day he'll get arrested. The 29-year-old is the owner of CannaHelp, a medical marijuana dispensary on El Paseo in Palm Desert. Every day he walks a fine line between California's medical marijuana laws, which say what he's doing is legal, and federal anti-drug laws, which say he's a criminal. "Anything can happen," said Hochanadel, a medical marijuana user himself. "I could get arrested. I'm willing to do it." [continues 1303 words]
The Palm Desert City Council has taken a first step toward revoking the business license for CannaHelp, the medical marijuana dispensary on El Paseo. Owner Stacy Hochanadel confirmed Monday that he had received a notice Friday from the city advising him that the council will vote on the possible revocation at its next meeting, 4 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 23. The notice left CannaHelp's 440 clients "kind of confused and frustrated," Hochanadel said. One of them, Alan Layton of La Quinta, said, "If (the council) recognizes the law as law is written, they have no choice but to comply and provide some kind of vehicle that can provide this service (medical marijuana). [continues 918 words]
Marijuana Advocates, City Officials Wrestle 'Head-On' With Issue There were a few tense moments Tuesday at a meeting between medical marijuana advocates and Palm Desert city officials wrestling with how to implement California's medical marijuana laws. But by the end of the hour-and-a-half session, Lt. Steve Thetford, assistant chief of police, was exchanging phone numbers with Stacy Hochanadel, owner of CannaHelp, a medical marijuana dispensary on El Paseo, and an uneasy middle ground had been reached. [continues 412 words]
Local Dispensary Alleges Officers Harassing Clients PALM DESERT - Medical marijuana patients and advocates are calling it harassment. The Palm Desert Police Department says it's just doing its job. And Mayor Jim Ferguson is trying to get both sides to talk to each other today. In the past two weeks, Palm Desert police have stopped a handful of people coming out of CannaHelp, the city's only licensed medical marijuana dispensary, on El Paseo and confiscated both their medical marijuana and the doctors' letters they were carrying to prove they have valid medical conditions for buying the drug. [continues 1342 words]
