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]
Others Might Go Underground, As City's New Rule Gets Mixed Reaction From Consumers, Business Owners OAKLAND -- Medical marijuana patients who packed into the Dragonfly Holistic Solutions dispensary on Telegraph Avenue on Tuesday seemed unaware the business had been told by the city to shut down. They said they were seeking the most potent medicine in town -- a strain of marijuana called "Barney Purple" -- and didn't like hearing that new city rules will limit them to four city-sanctioned establishments. [continues 923 words]
SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal judge in San Francisco, following instructions of a U.S. appeals court, has issued a preliminary injunction shielding two ill women from federal prosecution for using medical marijuana. U.S. District Judge Martin Jenkins issued the injunction protecting Angel Raich of Oakland and Diane Monson of Oroville on Friday. The order bars officials of the U.S. Justice Department and Drug Enforcement Administration from arresting or prosecuting the women for using medical marijuana. The officials also are forbidden to seize the patients' marijuana or seek civil sanctions against them. [continues 209 words]
As Oakland considers whether to vote on decriminalizing marijuana, a new study comparing patterns of use has found little difference between Amsterdam where it's decriminalized and San Francisco, where recreational use remains a crime. In fact, the study in the American Journal of Public Health's May issue found more use of "hard drugs" such as powder or crack cocaine, opiates, amphetamines or Ecstasy among San Francisco's marijuana users than among Amsterdam's. "Dutch decriminalization does not appear to be associated with greater use of other illicit drugs," wrote researchers Craig Reinarman, chairman of the University of California, Santa Cruz's Sociology Department, and Peter D. A. Cohen and Hendrien L. Kaal of the Centre for Drug Research at the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. [continues 359 words]
THE Alameda High School Gym was full of electricity Thursday for the 36th Drug Abuse Resistance Education graduation ceremony. Some 500 fifth-graders from across the Island gathered with families, friends, teachers, DARE officers and others to celebrate their completion of the program. This brings the total to about 18,000 DARE graduates since the program began in Alameda schools in 1986. DARE is a comprehensive 10-week program that educates Alameda youth about the danger of drugs, alcohol and violence. The specific task is to teach kids skills to resist the pressures to experiment with alcohol, tobacco and marijuana and to make healthier and wiser decisions. [continues 247 words]
Children Complete Program Teaching Them ALAMEDA -- The police department is holding a graduation celebration on Thursday for more than 500 students who have successfully completed the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program. The program is co-sponsored by the Alameda Unified School District and supported by neighborhood businesses and the community. It's designed to give kids tools to resist peer pressure that might lead to experimenting with drugs and alcohol. Alameda was one of the first cities to implement the D.A.R.E. program in 1986. Since then, D.A.R.E.'s popularity has spread, and now more than 35 million kids in the United States and 49 other countries around the world have participated in the program. [continues 58 words]
BELMONT -- As a Ralston Intermediate School eighth-grader who overdosed on Ecstasy remained in critical condition at an area hospital Monday, parents and administrators called for more community involvement to end student drug abuse. "We're concerned that drugs are so prevalent in our schools, but it's not just a Ralston issue," parent Melinda Hartford said outside Belmont-Redwood Shores Elementary School District offices. "We can stand here and point fingers at parents, and point fingers at the school district, but the bottom line is it's society problem," Hartford said. "If a middle school student can access these drugs there's a huge problem that everyone needs to address." [continues 373 words]
Medical marijuana patients, supporters want city to match 72-plant rule in effect in Oakland BERKELEY -- Medical cannabis users and advocates are lobbying city leaders to increase Berkeley's indoor marijuana plant limit from 10 to 72, which is the amount allowed in Oakland. Advocates say residents with cancer, AIDS, chronic pain, anorexia, glaucoma, migraine headaches and other severe illnesses need more than 10 indoor plants to cultivate marijuana for medical treatment. Berkeley allows 10 indoor and outdoor plants under a March 2001 ordinance that was brokered under political compromise. The Berkeley City Council will consider an increase proposal Tuesday. [continues 719 words]
For Amanda Gelender, testifying before state senators in Sacramento last month was a thrill she will never forget. And perhaps the legislators she addressed felt the same way, as the Castro Valley High School junior brought a jolt of infectious energy to the proceedings, said Glenn Backes, director of health policy of Drug Policy Alliance. Praising the 17-year-old for her composure and intelligence, Backes added that Gelender's enthusiasm re-engaged legislators on the Education Commitee who "were starting to drift" after hours of testimony. [continues 516 words]
Editor, Index-Tribune: As author on two critically acclaimed books on marijuana, I must make it clear that the information on the front page of The Sonoma Index-Tribune (March 2) "Medical marijuana co-op set to open," included a major inaccuracy. It stated: "Doctors who prescribe the drug are subject to revocation of their licenses by the state medical board and prosecution by the federal government." That is no longer true! It is misinformation such as this which is frightening doctors from recommending medical cannabis to sick and dying patients. [continues 273 words]
Riders Reforms Are Behind Schedule OAKLAND - The police department is still behind schedule in complying with some reforms in the Riders settlement, and the department's Internal Affairs Division is especially problematic, according to a report from an independent monitoring team released Tuesday. Files have been lost, investigations have taken so long that deadlines for handing out discipline have passed, and there is no system for tracking Internal Affairs complaints, according to the four-member monitoring team. The team's second quarterly report praised police for significant progress in some areas. [continues 735 words]
SAN FRANCISCO - Perhaps only here could someone go to court to enforce the terms of a marijuana deal gone bad. Ed Rosenthal, the Oakland "Guru of Ganja" who was convicted but avoided prison time on federal marijuana charges last year, was back in court Monday, but this time of his own volition. He was in small claims court in his lawsuit against Bob Martin, a man who has been involved with several of San Francisco's medical marijuana dispensaries. At issue is just how much protection the state's medical marijuana law affords marijuana providers -- marijuana costs money to produce, and if dispensaries must pay providers for plants, does the law ensure those payments will be made in good faith? [continues 411 words]
Thousands Given To Boys Clubs, Girls Clubs In Hayward, San Leandro These days, amid ongoing budget slashings, local youth program leaders such as Lance Frederick aren't used to getting phone calls from people saying they want to send a check. But Frederick was grateful for the surprising news last week that the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program he runs in Hayward would be getting a $2,500 donation from San Leandro-Hayward Elks Lodge No. 2795. The nonprofit Elks group voted earlier this month to distribute some $25,000 worth of bingo proceeds to local youth programs. [continues 309 words]
Angel Wings Patient Outreach Inc. Gives State's Attorney General OAKLAND -- After a day facing questions about his handling of the gay marriage controversy and a nascent recall effort, state Attorney General Bill Lockyer was honored Tuesday by a medical marijuana patients' group for his support of their legal case. Other state and local officials were mostly no-shows at an awards ceremony by Angel Wings Patient Outreach Inc. at downtown's Black Box Theater and Gallery. Lockyer spent about 15 minutes in front of television cameras outside the theater, dismissing the recall talk as a move by the "extreme fringe of the right wing of the Republican party." [continues 215 words]
HAVE YOU noticed how seriously Oakland police are taking cues from Oakland City Council policy makers? It make me wonder whether this is the way to run a police department. I called an Oakland police officer after the Presidents Day planting of marijuana seeds in the lawn at City Hall. There seemed to be no effort to stop the medical marijuana protesters from scattering seeds on the well-kept grass of another kind. Why not, I asked, especially since it was reported in the Tribune along with a photo of the planting spree that there were some cops standing not far away. [continues 695 words]
Oakland Group Wants Voters to OK Levy on Pot OAKLAND -- Advocates for the legalization of marijuana plan to ask voters to adopt an initiative in November that aims to tax and regulate the sale of pot in Oakland. While the measure, to be submitted to City Attorney John Russo today, would not decriminalize pot, it would direct the Oakland Police Department to treat the private use of marijuana by adults as its lowest priority until cannabis is legalized by California officials. [continues 541 words]
Medical Marijuana Users Protest City's Proposed Limits OAKLAND -- Medical marijuana advocates dipped into burlap sacks filled with cannabis seeds and planted a pot crop on the City Hall lawn Sunday to protest a proposal to tighten restrictions on "Oaksterdam" dispensaries. Two dozen self-described medical marijuana patients dressed in wide-brimmed hats, bib overalls and other gardening garb hefted hoes and shovels as they prepared for an unauthorized planting in Frank Ogawa Plaza. An estimated 1 million marijuana seeds weighing a total of 25 pounds were in two sacks on the ground. [continues 502 words]
Jim Gray Isn't Easily Pigeonholed He's a veteran of both the U.S. Navy in Vietnam and the Peace Corps in Costa Rica. He's a lifelong Republican now running for the U.S. Senate as a Libertarian while reaching out to Bay Area liberals. He's a Republican-appointed Orange County Superior Court judge whose main platform plank is drug legalization. He says he might be the only person ever to get standing ovations for giving the same speech to the American Civil Liberties Union and the Young Republicans. [continues 933 words]
Disputed Plan Would Allow Maximum Of Four Dispensaries In Oakland OAKLAND -- The City Council will consider a plan next month to prune back the flourishing medical cannabis trade to a maximum of four local clubs. The dozen or so pot clubs already operating in Oakland would have to apply for city permits to remain open, and those that don't make the city's cut would be shut down as of June 1. The wide-ranging regulations put together by Council President Ignacio De La Fuente (San Antonio-Fruitvale) and Councilmember Jean Quan (Montclair-Laurel) would prohibit smoking at the clubs and require dispensaries to operate on a not-for-profit basis. [continues 748 words]
OAKLAND -- An irrational-acting man found vandalizing a car early Wednesday at a West Oakland live-work space prompted police to seize at least $100,000 worth of marijuana and arrest the suspected grower. Joshua Betts, 47, claimed the 250 plants were for a medicinal marijuana club and some were for personal use, police said. "He said he was trying to make up for what (marijuana activist) Ed Rosenthal was not able to produce," said Officer Tim Bergeron, adding police have not been able to confirm if he was supplying the clubs. [continues 415 words]
THE ALAMEDA High School Gym was filled with electricity Thursday for the 35th Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) graduation ceremony. Some 500 fifth-graders from across the Island gathered with their families, friends, teachers, DARE officers and others to celebrate their completion of the anti-drug program. This brings the total to some 16,000 DARE graduates since the program began in Alameda schools in 1986. DARE is a comprehensive 10-week program that educates Alameda youth about the danger of drugs, alcohol and violence. The specific task is to teach kids skills to resist the pressures to experiment with alcohol, tobacco and marijuana and make healthier and wiser decisions. We graduate almost 1,000 students each year and every graduation celebration reminds us of the great community, team effort to educate our future leaders. DARE is funded by the Alameda Police Department and the Alameda Unified School District but counts on generous financial support from across the community. [continues 243 words]
An Oakland man who went to state court this week to mount a medical defense to marijuana charges was instead handed over to federal authorities, who have filed charges that could put him and a co-defendant behind bars for the rest of their lives. David Davidson, 52, an Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative member, and Cynthia Blake, 53, of Red Bluff, are to be arraigned today by U.S. Magistrate Judge Gregory G. Hollows of Sacramento. They're charged with manufacturing more than 100 marijuana plants and conspiracy to cultivate more than 1,000 marijuana plants. The former is punishable by five to 40 years in federal prison; the latter by a mandatory minimum of 10 years and a maximum of life. [continues 263 words]
OAKLAND - Police officers serving a search warrant at a West Oakland warehouse at 8 a.m. Thursday were greeted by the strains of Rick James singing "I love Mary Jane" and a pungent smell. They said they uncovered the largest pot-growing operation any of them had ever seen -- just seven blocks from the police station. The Glove Company building at 1121 7th St. had been converted into a massive marijuana nursery. The basement and second floor contained more than 1,000 potted plants -- from seedlings to mature plants heavy with large buds -- as well as bags of soil, empty pots, drying plants and bags of weed ready for sale. [continues 494 words]
Appellate Judges Rule Case Fighting For Medical Marijuana Has Merit. U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft and Drug Enforcement Administration chief Asa Hutchinson should be temporarily barred from treating medical marijuana patients as criminals, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday. Lawyers for the plaintiffs -- a medical marijuana patient from Oakland, two unnamed Oakland growers who supply her and an Oroville patient who grows her own -- called the 2-1 ruling a major victory. "We feel we've been vindicated after a long, hard effort," said Oakland attorney Robert Raich, both a lawyer for and husband of Oakland plaintiff Angel McClary Raich. He said his wife "was jubilant, absolutely elated" and will "take a deep sigh of relief knowing she will finally be safe," no longer fearing she'll be denied medicine she needs to stay alive. [continues 536 words]
House bill acts against transit agencies that allow medical-marijuana or drug-reform posters Local transit agencies allowing medical-marijuana and other kinds of drug-reform advertisements would be denied federal funding under a bill passed Monday by the House of Representatives. Deep within the $373 billion omnibus spending bill is a paragraph that says no money from the bill can go to any bus, train or subway agency "involved directly or indirectly in any activity that promotes the legal-ization or medical use of any substance listed in schedule I of section 202 of the Controlled Substances Act." [continues 461 words]
HAYWARD -- The City Council might reconsider a decision it made Tuesday that forces the closure of The Hayward Hempery's medical marijuana dispensary. At the request of Mayor Roberta Cooper, who is concerned about "fairness issues," the council is scheduled Tuesday night to decide whether to revisit a surprise decision it made a week before. Earlier that night, Cooper warned the crowd of medical marijuana proponents to keep testimony brief because the council's ability to make rational decisions drops significantly after 11 p.m. [continues 282 words]
Medical marijuana activists are trying to hit four Congressmen where they live, contacting their constituents to blast their voting record with phone messages recorded by two Bay Area women. Registered voters in the districts of Wally Herger, R-Marysville; Elton Gallegly, R-Simi Valley; Joe Baca, D-Rialto; and David Wu, D-Oregon, began receiving phone calls Thursday morning that told them the lawmakers had voted against a bipartisan amendment to cut off funding for federal raids on California's and Oregon's medical marijuana providers and patients. [continues 454 words]
San Francisco -- White House drug czar John Walters received a chilly welcome Monday as he brought his 25-city tour to the Bay Area -- dozens of protesters blasted his stance against medical marijuana, and even his host said he'd been disingenuous. Walters held a news conference in the drug recovery center at the Tenderloin's Glide Memorial United Methodist Church, which he praised as having "a clear record of achievement" in helping addicts rebuild their lives. He said he's touring the country's biggest cities to meet with local officials and tour anti-drug programs so they can more effectively work hand-in-hand with strategies, priorities and goals he sets as the Bush Administration's director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. [continues 452 words]
Health Officials Say It's Time To Talk Seriously About Creating A Program Here Twice a week, carloads of San Luis Obispo County residents head south to Santa Maria to get what they need. These aren't big-box shoppers looking for a bargain. Most are drug addicts in search of clean needles. They come to the cramped office of Pacific Pride Foundation on West Church Street to exchange used syringes at the only place to get sterile equipment for injecting their drug of choice - heroin, cocaine, methamphetamines. [continues 1627 words]
OAKLAND -- A medical marijuana club in Oakland's so-called Oaksterdam district was the target of an invasion-style armed robbery Sunday morning. Four men, one with a gun, tied up a bouncer outside Compassionate Caregivers at about 8:10 a.m. and barrelled their way to where the cannabis club is located on the top floor of the three-story building, police said. Several medical marijuana patients and staff members were inside the club at 1740 Telegraph Ave., part of an area known as Oaksterdam because of the proliferation of marijuana dispensaries that have opened in the triangle between Telegraph Avenue, Broadway and 17th and 19th streets in recent months. [continues 195 words]
Man Will Pursue Complaint Against Cops For Killing Dog During Raid Fremont -- A 41-year-old Fremont man, whose dog was shot and killed by police when they burst through his front door looking for marijuana plants, will not be charged with a crime, his lawyer said Wednesday. Robert Filgo was arrested Sept. 2 after seven police officers served a search warrant at his Niles home and found 79 plants in the backyard and garage. During the raid, his 1-year-old shepherd-Akita mix, Little Bear, was killed when officers fired their guns as the dog charged them, police said. Filgo disputed officers' assertions that the dog charged. [continues 196 words]
