HIS IMAGE always was pure fabrication, manufactured by those seeking a neat symbol for American supremacy. As the undisputed king of the Olympics yet still projecting a blue-collar sensibility, Michael Phelps was uniquely suited for mass consumption. He was packaged so well that we shrugged when in interviews away from the pool he was exposed as a young man of modest presence. There was no regal bearing. No aura, no discernible charisma, certainly no halo. Part of Phelps' appeal, we reasoned, stemmed from him being a regular kid, an everyman who happens to swim like a shark. [continues 687 words]
SAN FRANCISCO - A lawyer asked a federal appeals court Wednesday to overturn the re-conviction of Oakland's Ed Rosenthal, claiming the "Guru of Ganja" wasn't allowed to present a full, adequate defense at his second trial. Attorney Michael Clough told a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that Rosenthal, now 64, was denied the ability to present witnesses who would corroborate his claim that he honestly, reasonably believed he'd been deputized by the city of Oakland to grow marijuana for area medical marijuana cooperatives, and so was protected from federal prosecution. [continues 521 words]
OAKLAND - An Oakland police officer at the center of the department's search warrant imbroglio has been notified that the department plans to fire her pending an administrative hearing. Officer Karla Rush, an eight-year member of the force, was notified late last week of the department's decision, sources said. She can now fight the decision by presenting mitigating factors, a process that can take several months. Rush, who was placed on paid administrative leave last month, is responsible for writing more than 30 faulty sworn affidavits that were used to convince judges that search warrants were needed to raid the homes of suspected small-time drug dealers. [continues 593 words]
Before this year, the Alameda County Sheriff's Office had never seized more than 10,000 marijuana plants in one year. The department now stands near the brink of hitting an all-time high of 30,000 seized plants. Two recent related busts pushed the total to 26,376 so far this year. On Sept. 5, deputies seized 1,790 plants from a heavily wooded location in Southern Alameda County near the Calaveras watershed. The seized plants had an estimated street value of $5.3 million, said Sgt. Shawn Peterson, who heads the sheriff's special investigations unit. [continues 498 words]
Even as state Attorney General Jerry Brown was preparing to release new medical-marijuana guidelines praised by advocates, his narcotics agents were busting a Southern California dispensary. Mixed messages? Not necessarily. Both Brown and medical marijuana advocates say the new guidelines issued Monday finally flesh out the state's notoriously vague 1996 Compassionate Use Act and pose a threat only to illegal drug dealers using the voter-approved medical marijuana law as a smoke screen. "We've always believed that dispensaries should be regulated as opposed to the 'Wild, Wild West' situation," said Americans for Safe Access Chief Counsel Joe Elford, who conferred with the state on these guidelines. "Many, if not most, of the clubs are already in compliance, and I think in the not-so-distant future the vast majority of them will be. They wanted guidelines too, so they'd know what to do to comply with California law." [continues 776 words]
Marijuana Outlet Created Fearful Atmosphere, Resident Says Many area residents rejoiced after federal drug enforcement agents closed a Cherryland medical marijuana sales outlet last October. "You were frightened to walk down Mission Boulevard, with 30 to 40 18-year-olds waiting to get in," claimed Kathie Ready of San Lorenzo. "Now you don't see a huge group of gang members in front. Anything that allows that horrible place to open (again) is a crime against this community." She spoke Wednesday at the county's monthly unincorporated services meeting in San Lorenzo, where county law enforcement representatives proposed stiffer controls on marijuana sales in unincorporated areas. [continues 429 words]
More Back State Ballot Questions, Particularly on Law-And-Order Issues SACRAMENTO -- California conservatives, stifled by the Democratic majority in the Capitol, are turning to the people in hopes of advancing their stalled agenda in 2008. Four conservative-backed ballot campaigns, including one to etch a ban on gay marriage into the state constitution, have amassed $8.9 million to put measures before voters in November. The other measures would require minors to notify a guardian before obtaining an abortion, stiffen anti-gang statutes and expand crime victims' rights. [continues 1108 words]
Use of Salvia Divinorum Causing Concern SACRAMENTO - California kids legally can tune in, turn on and freak out these days with a potent, mind-altering drug that is readily available but targeted for a crackdown by police and lawmakers. Typically smoked or chewed, salvia divinorum has become increasingly known on the Internet the past few years through sales on eBay and through YouTube videos of users tripping with it. The drug is produced from a Mexican plant used by Mazatec Indians for healing and ritual prophecy. Users in the United States have reported effects ranging from relaxation and sensual pleasure to out-of-body experiences and frightening hallucinations. [continues 899 words]
A new Assembly bill with two Bay Area co-authors seeks to protect medical-marijuana users' jobs. AB 2279, introduced Wednesday, would prohibit employment discrimination against those who use marijuana as medicine in compliance with state law away from the workplace. It would leave intact already-existing provisions barring consumption in the workplace, and would protect employers from liability by carving out an exception for safety-sensitive jobs. Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, had vowed to introduce such a bill last month after the state Supreme Court ruled 5-2 that an employer can fire a worker solely because he or she uses medical marijuana outside the workplace. [continues 173 words]
City Resolves to Guarantee Access to Drug The Berkeley City Council unanimously passed a plan this week to help get medical marijuana to patients if Drug Enforcement Administration raids' shut down any of the city-permitted dispensaries. The resolution passed Tuesday night declares Berkeley a sanctuary for medical marijuana users and distributors and commits the city to "uphold patients' rights to safe access to medical marijuana" should the DEA move on one of two dispensaries in town. What that means is up to debate at the moment, but the city would at least help a new distributor get started or help one restart after a DEA raid, council members and activists said. The DEA has shut down five medical marijuana dispensaries in the Bay Area in the past year. [continues 98 words]
City Council Will Consider Commission Suggestions For Troubled Department's Handling Of Seized Substances, Money BERKELEY -- Two years after police discovered the biggest drug scandal in the Police Department's history, the City Council on Tuesday will consider adopting more than a dozen recommendations for storing, handling and auditing seized drugs and money. Last October, the city's Police Review Commission found that systems for tracking drug evidence were inadequate to prevent or catch the theft of narcotics from the police department's evidence locker, according to a detailed and lengthy report. [continues 492 words]
DEA Warnings Counter City's Compassionate Care Tradition, Mayor Asserts OAKLAND -- Mayor Ron Dellums has asked a long-time former colleague, U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., to investigate the federal Drug Enforcement Administration's use of "threatening letters" to target medical cannabis dispensaries throughout California, including at least one in Oakland. The DEA has sent hundreds of letters to people who own property on which cannabis dispensaries are operating. A DEA official called the notices a "courtesy" even though they threaten landlords with imprisonment and property forfeiture. [continues 598 words]
Probably Dooms Future Attempts in Sonoma Valley The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors voted 3-0 Tuesday afternoon to deny a pot club permit in the old Nicholas Turkey building just across the Ig Vella Bridge at 19445 Riverside Drive. Following nearly three hours of discussion and public testimony, the Supervisors, sitting with a bare, three-person quorum, voted to deny the application by Dona Frank of Creekside Medical Organics. Frank had been hoping to open the dispensary in leased office space toward the back of the concrete block building that sits adjacent to Sonoma Creek just across from Maxwell Farms Regional Park. The permit application had won the support of the Sonoma Valley Citizen's Advisory Commission in a nonbinding 6-1 vote. [continues 417 words]
Recommendation Sent to Supes A controversial medical marijuana dispensary was cautiously approved by the Sonoma Valley Citizens Advisory Committee Wednesday before a standing-room-only crowd of about 80 people in the Sonoma Fire Station meeting room. The SVCAC is an advisory body and will send its nonbinding recommendations to the Board of Supervisors. The facility is proposed for 19445 Riverside Drive. The vote was 6-1 with Clarence Jenkins opposing it. "This is a tough issue," he said. "But we have to make decisions that are in the best interest of the community we represent." Jenkins represents Verano West where the facility will be located. [continues 751 words]
Activists Protest Arrests of Two Alameda County Business Owners CHERRYLAND -- Federal agents raided a medical marijuana dispensary in Cherryland early Tuesday, prompting activists to converge on the location in protest. The Compassionate Collective of Alameda County, at 21222 Mission Blvd. near Blossom Way, just north of Hayward, was invaded at 6 a.m. by employees of the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Internal Revenue Service. The Alameda County Sheriff's Office provided security and traffic control during the raid. Sites in Oakland, Berkeley, Lafayette and Albany also were raided in connection with the dispensary bust, officials said. [continues 665 words]
WITH ALL DUE RESPECT to Chief Wayne Tucker and the fine officers of Oakland Police Department, there is no reason to think that these arrests will reduce violence in Oakland. In fact, they will increase violence. The reason is simple: demand for heroin will remain strong because addicts cannot simply decide to stop using. Which means that the lower level dealers (who were not arrested) are even now working hard to re-establish distribution. Those dealers are now in competition with each other for who will control that lucrative trade. And that competition will not be peaceful - they will shoot it out in the streets. [continues 56 words]
30 Arrested in Raids Throughout Region OAKLAND -- Oakland police and federal authorities announced Wednesday they had dismantled a major drug ring that they said brought heroin from Mexico into California's Central Valley and ultimately Oakland and other Bay Area locations. The announcement came after law enforcement personnel conducted dozens of raids beginning at 6 a.m. Wednesday in Oakland and throughout the region. Police Chief Wayne Tucker said he believed the streets of Oakland will be safer after the bust, because of the violence often associated with drug dealing. [continues 469 words]
Governor Cites Federal Ban in Rejecting Redrafted Legislation On Thursday Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed the Industrial Hemp Farming act again, even though the bill's authors said they had redrafted the legislation from last year's version to address the governor's concerns. The bill authorizes farmers in four counties to grow plots of nonpsychoactive hemp as a pilot project, but has no effect on federal legislation. In a statement on his Web site, Schwarzenegger said, "I would like to support the expansion of a new agricultural commodity in this State. [continues 538 words]
Supervisors Urged to Consult With Law Enforcement OAKLAND -- Color him skeptical. Sheriff Greg Ahern on Tuesday questioned the proposed update of Alameda County's medical marijuana dispensaries ordinance and what the regulation is trying to accomplish. He wants county supervisors to call a temporary halt to a yearlong ordinance revision and sit down with law enforcement to evaluate what should be permitted. "Do the governing officials of Alameda County want to have an ordinance allowing easy access to marijuana by young adults, or do they want to work on an ordinance that may provide a small, limited amount of mariuana to elderly people who are very ill?" he asked. [continues 296 words]
An Alameda County Superior Court judge has nullified the results of a hotly-contested 2004 election due to mishandling of a recount by Alameda County election officials, and ordered Berkeley's Measure R - -- a citizen-sponsored medical-marijuana initiative -- back on the ballot for a re-vote in 2008. Judge Winifred Smith upheld a tentative decision from July where she sided with an organization of medical marijuana advocates who sought to contest the narrow defeat of the marijuana dispensary initiative that year. The initiative failed by 191 votes, or less than half a percent of the ballots cast. [continues 365 words]
Livermore has joined its neighbors Dublin and Pleasanton in banning medical cannabis dispensaries within city limits. The City Council passed the ordinance Monday night. The new law was passed after its first and second readings without any opposition or fanfare - in the consent calendar, along with a dozen other items considered noncontroversial. Broader discussions on the topic were held in November, at which time it was decided such facilities tend to attract crime and have other drawbacks that ultimately outweigh the benefits to the community. [continues 197 words]
Legislation Would Revise Marijuana's Definition in California SACRAMENTO -- A revised bill that would allow some state farmers to grow hemp is en route to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's desk, and both sides of the argument are optimistic the governor will agree with their position. The California Industrial Hemp Farming Act was redrafted from last year's version to address gubernatorial concerns about law enforcement issues. The act was passed by the legislature on Sept. 12. Proponents of the bill, such as the Hemp Industries Association and the nonprofit advocacy group Vote Hemp, argue that hemp products -- including food, body care products and textiles -- are a multimillion-dollar industry that could benefit California's economy by allowing the raw materials to be grown here instead of importing hemp from overseas. [continues 907 words]
DISTRICT ATTORNEY James Fox's claim that local governments cannot regulate medical marijuana dispensaries is nonsensical (Medical pot advocates speak up," 9/5). There is absolutely nothing in state law preventing cities and counties from regulating medical marijuana dispensaries, and cities all over the state -- including San Francisco and Oakland -- have been doing so for some time, with no complaints from Sacramento. It's truly scary that San Mateo's top law enforcement official is so clueless. Bruce Mirken Director of Communications Marijuana Policy Project [end]
San Mateo County DA Calls in Feds After Group Contests Desist Order REDWOOD CITY -- Soon after the Patients Choice Resource Cooperative moved into its new digs in downtown San Mateo, the group received a cease-and-desist letter from the San Mateo County District Attorney's Office. Patients Choice is a medical marijuana dispensary, one of dozens in the Bay Area providing medicine for patients in possession of doctors' letters prescribing the drug. But the cooperative was not complying with state and federal law, according to the November 2006 letter, and it was told to close. [continues 1523 words]
Officials Cite Crime Associated With Other Dispensaries in Area COLMA -- Medical marijuana dispensaries are now banned from this town. While no one has applied to open up shop, the Colma City Council unanimously approved an ordinance Wednesday night to prohibit any establishments that would sell medical marijuana. Police Chief Robert Lotti said city staff has discussed the issue for more than a year and that it was just "time to take it off the back burner and get it done." At the meeting, council members did not debate the issue during the public hearing, nor did anyone in the public speak for or against the dispensaries described by police as "dangerous enterprises." [continues 327 words]
Medical Marijuana Dispensary Says It Will Shut Down This Month HAYWARD -- More than a dozen patients from the Hayward Patients Resources Center pleaded with council members at the meeting to keep the city's last medical marijuana dispensary open. But their pleas Tuesday were moot because the speakers missed the vote a week before. The issue never made it to the public agenda before council members decided in a closed session July 24 not to extend the agreement with the dispensary at 22500 Foothill Blvd., effectively shutting it down. [continues 659 words]
Council Members Call for New Laws to Protect Marijuana Businesses BERKELEY -- A city-sanctioned medical marijuana dispensary had its assets frozen this week, prompting some city council members to call for new city laws protecting such businesses. The Berkeley Patient Group was notified Monday that its bank account was frozen by the Los Angeles Police Department during a joint operation with the Drug Enforcement Agency. The operation targeted about 10 dispensaries in Los Angeles, including the California Patients Group, a sister organization to the Berkeley-based business. [continues 405 words]
A federal jury in San Francisco convicted Oakland "Guru of Ganja" Ed Rosenthal on Wednesday of three of the five marijuana-growing felonies of which he stood accused. After starting deliberations Tuesday afternoon, jurors convicted Rosenthal, 62, of one conspiracy count; one count of growing, intending to distribute and distributing marijuana; and one count of using a commercial building -- 1419 Mandela Parkway in Oakland -- as a site for growing and distributing marijuana. But they acquitted him of growing and distributing marijuana at the Harm Reduction Center medical-marijuana club on San Francisco's Sixth Street, and they deadlocked on whether he had conspired to do so. [continues 706 words]
Verdict May Redefine Legal Standing of Drug SAN FRANCISCO -- The fate of Oakland "Guru of Ganja" Ed Rosenthal once again rests in a federal jury's hands -- in a manner of speaking. A federal prosecutor and Rosenthal's lawyers rested their cases and made closing arguments Tuesday on whether Rosenthal should be convicted of five marijuana-growing felonies. Then jurors began deliberating. But even if convicted, Rosenthal, 62, faces no more than the one day behind bars -- time he already served -- to which he was sentenced after his first trial and conviction in 2003, later overturned by a federal appeals court. Whether with a clean slate or as a convict, Rosenthal will walk free no matter what this jury decides. [continues 721 words]
Rosenthal Says, 'I May As Well Get My Money's Worth and Have a Trial' SAN FRANCISCO -- Federal prosecutors said Friday they would retry Oakland marijuana activist Ed Rosenthal on five counts of illegal cultivation charges -- even though he will face no jail time if convicted. At a hearing, U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer demanded to know who in the Department of Justice made the decision to continue pursuing Rosenthal, whose original conviction was overturned last year. Rosenthal, 62, can't be sentenced to prison even if he is convicted because the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the one-day prison sentence ordered by Breyer in 2003. [continues 431 words]
Money Laundering And Tax Charges Dismissed; Prosecution Accused Of Vindictiveness A federal judge dismissed money laundering and tax charges against "Guru of Ganja" Ed Rosenthal on Wednesday, gutting the government's case by ruling the new charges amounted to vindictive prosecution. The government said the new charges it filed against Rosenthal in October resulted from their re-evaluation of the case, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer of San Francisco noted, but "it is apparent that it decided to re-evaluate its strategy in response to Rosenthal's (and his supporters') public criticism of the trial. [continues 698 words]
Despite Sympathies, Appellate Judge Rules Federal Law Trumps Oakland Woman's Needs Medical necessity doesn't shield medical-marijuana users from federal prosecution, a clearly sympathetic federal appeals court ruled Wednesday in an Oakland woman's case that earlier went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. "Nothing in the common law or our cases suggests that the existence of a necessity defense empowers this court to enjoin the enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act as to one defendant," 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Harry Pregerson wrote. So plaintiff Angel Raich of Oakland can't get a court order to block federal officials from arresting and prosecuting her. She might, however, be able to make a medical-necessity argument as a defense at trial. The court also found the Constitution's guarantee of due process of law doesn't embrace the right to make a life-shaping decision, on a doctor's advice, to use medical marijuana to avoid intolerable pain and preserve life when all other prescribed medications have failed. Although the court agreed medical marijuana is slowly gaining legal acceptance - 11 states including California have passed laws allowing its use - it found "that legal recognition has not yet reached the point where a conclusion can be drawn that the right to use medical marijuana is 'fundamental' and 'implicit in the concept of ordered liberty.'" "For now, federal law is blind to the wisdom of a future day when the right to use medical marijuana to alleviate excruciating pain may be Advertisement deemed fundamental," Pregerson wrote. [continues 929 words]
If I ever meet Tommy Chong, I will thank him for personally setting the marijuana legalization movement back 30 years ("Tommy Chong to help 'Ganja Guru,'" Feb. 24). If it wasn't for his exaggerated stoner buffoonery in his movies and "That'70s Show," the general public wouldn't be so keen to buy the "stupid pothead" stereotype. Thanks to Tommy and other actors like him, people are still too afraid to legalize pot for fear of their child becoming like Tommy's on-screen alter egos. Russell Barth Ottawa, Canada [end]
Rosenthal Expects More Than $300,000 In Legal Expenses From Trial To Begin In March "Guru of Ganja" Ed Rosenthal is bringing in another celebrity of the marijuana movement to help him raise funds for his upcoming federal trial. Tommy Chong, of the Cheech and Chong comedy duo renowned for stoner movie classics such as "Up in Smoke" and "Nice Dreams," will appear at a $125-per-head event March 4 at Rosenthal's Lake Avenue home in Piedmont. Some advance tickets are available for only $100 from Rosenthal's legal defense fund's Web site, http://www.green-aid.com. "The party will celebrate how far we've come in legalizing medical marijuana as well as provide me with the money I need to fund my current trial that is defending all of our rights," Rosenthal, 62, said in an e-mail Thursday. [continues 393 words]
"Guru of Ganja" Ed Rosenthal is bringing in another martyr of the marijuana movement to help him raise funds for his upcoming federal trial. Tommy Chong -- half of of the Cheech and Chong comedy duo renowned for stoner movie classics such as "Up in Smoke" and "Nice Dreams" -- will appear a $125-per-head event March 4 at Rosenthal's Lake Avenue home in Piedmont. Some advance tickets are available for only $100 at Rosenthal's legal defense fund's Web site, www.green-aid.com [continues 434 words]
HIV patients who smoked three joints of marijuana per day for five days experienced relief from chronic foot pain associated with the disease, researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, reported Monday in a rare U.S. study on medical marijuana. "These results provide evidence that there is a measurable medical benefit to smoking cannabis for these patients," said study lead author Dr. Donald Abrams, UCSF professor of clinical medicine. [continues 775 words]
Investigators Find 30 Pounds of Pot on Premises, 10 Times City's Legal Limit HAYWARD -- The Local Patients Cooperative marijuana dispensary was raided by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration on Tuesday as part of a yearlong investigation that also involved the Internal Revenue Service and Hayward police. "The distribution of marijuana is a federal offense, and this place was making millions of dollars," said DEA Assistant Special Agent in Charge Michael Chapman. Along with the Foothill Boulevard marijuana club, two additional residences in Hayward were raided and searched, authorities said. Northbound traffic on Foothill, between B and C streets, was halted during the police activity. [continues 658 words]
HAYWARD -- One of two medical marijuana dispensaries in Hayward will be forced to close down next month, city officials said. "The place that is being closed down clearly violated their conditions," Mayor Mike Sweeney said. "And apparently, they violated it twice." Officials said the Local Patients Cooperative broke its three-year operating memorandum with the city by having more than 3 pounds of marijuana on the premises at one time. Police officers inspected the club in September and said they observed 30 pounds of the drug -- 10 times the city's limit. Officers returned again last month and claimed to have observed 200 pounds. [continues 435 words]
SAN FRANCISCO -- The first reaction to the thriving marijuana plant encased in Plexiglas in a San Francisco art gallery is to its pungent odor. Then come the questions. "They say, 'Is it real and is it for sale?' The plant is not for sale, but the photos are," replies Wendi Norris, an owner of Frey Norris Gallery on Geary Street where the "Marijuana Project" is on display through Nov. 16. The pot plant, accompanying photos of another plant, and buds encased in resin and mounted in petri dishes, as well as Pred's grower's permit and medical marijuana identification card, are part of the "Who's Afraid of San Francisco" exhibit, which includes installations on gay marriage, immigrants, anti-war movements and racial justice by artists from Oakland and elsewhere. [continues 592 words]
DALY CITY -- Imagine buying a $700,000 home in a sparkling new subdivision and learning your neighbor has filled every room in his house with pungent marijuana plants worth millions. That's where some Central Valley residents found themselves when authorities discovered 41 homes being used for an indoor pot-growing operation and arrested eight Bay Area suspects in the case. And a San Mateo County real estate agent is at the sticky center of it all, according to search warrant affidavits obtained by a Sacramento TV station. [continues 650 words]
Rosenthal Says Feds Are on a Mission to Shut Down Every Dispensary in State Oakland "Guru of Ganja" Ed Rosenthal was reindicted by a federal grand jury Thursday on a host of marijuana-related charges, roughly six months after an appeals court tossed out his earlier convictions. The superseding indictment filed Thursday contains 25 counts against Rosenthal, 61, and two of his original co-defendants, Kenneth Hayes and Richard Watts. Rosenthal faces 14 counts including conspiracy, use of a place to manufacture marijuana for distribution, manufacturing marijuana for distribution, laundering money from marijuana sales, and filing false tax returns. "I knew they had a grand jury but I didn't know what was going to happen," Rosenthal said Thursday night. "What they're trying to do with these indictments and with my continued persecution is to close down all of the dispensaries in California, to deprive people of their medicine." [continues 480 words]
OAKLAND - A change to the state's treatment-not-jail law for drug users can't take effect until a lawsuit challenging its constitutionality runs its course, an Alameda County Superior Court judge ruled Thursday. After a 35-minute hearing, Judge Winifred Smith wasn't inclined to deviate from her tentative ruling that a temporary restraining order she'd issued in July should become a preliminary injunction.The plaintiffs are likely to succeed on the merits of their case, she found. [continues 350 words]
SAN FRANCISCO -- Federal prosecutors not only are preparing to retry Oakland "Guru of Ganja" Ed Rosenthal, but seem to be searching for more charges to file against him. Rosenthal, 61, was in federal court Wednesday for the first time since his 2003 convictions were overturned earlier this year. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer ordered him to return Sept. 13, when he and attorneys will try to set a trial date. "The government might want to take a hard look at this case, is my suggestion," said Breyer as the brief status hearing ended. [continues 462 words]
A federal appeals court on Wednesday overturned the felony convictions of "Guru of Ganja" Ed Rosenthal of Oakland, finding juror misconduct warrants a new trial for the renowned marijuana activist and author. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco found a juror's conversation with an attorney-friend during deliberations compromised Rosenthal's right to a fair trial and verdict. But while the ruling is good news for Rosenthal, it's not terribly good news for medical marijuana advocates. The appeals court rejected Rosenthal's claim of immunity from prosecution as an officer of Oakland who grew the drug under the city's medical marijuana ordinance. [continues 606 words]
Pronouncement From Feds Contradicts Scientists' 1999 Review WASHINGTON -- The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday that "no sound scientific studies" supported the medical use of marijuana, contradicting a 1999 review by a panel of highly regarded scientists. The announcement inserts the health agency into yet another fierce political fight. Susan Bro, an agency spokeswoman, said the statement resulted from a past combined review by federal drug enforcement, regulatory and research agencies that concluded that "smoked marijuana has no currently accepted or proven medical use in the United States and is not an approved medical treatment." She said the FDA was issuing the statement because of numerous inquiries from Capitol Hill but would likely do nothing to enforce it. [continues 864 words]
Like bowling pins, the number of medical marijuana clinics in unincorporated areas continues to tumble. A Natural Source on Foothill Boulevard in Ashland closes Friday. And in three weeks, after new boundaries are effective for medical marijuana dispensary sales areas, a lottery will result in either an Ashland or Cherryland cannabis club biting the dust. None of which will happen too soon for sheriff's Capt. Dale Amaral, who has the "law" part taken care of and now would like to see just a little "order." [continues 277 words]
Alameda County Considering Ban on Hemp-Flavored Treats Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley wants to protect your children from Chronic and Hydro and Sticky Icky Buds. All are part of a line of marijuana- and hemp-flavored candy Miley wants banned. The Board of Supervisors is expected to discuss a ban on the sale of such products today. The candy improperly influences youths and adults, and its only use is to promote illegal behavior, the proposed ordinance says. "The inappropriate and/or mistaken use of marijuana can have negative health effects," a staff report signed by Miley said, and it is a gateway to additional drug use. [continues 301 words]
Feds Arrest 12, Seize Marijuana Plants, Cash And Weapons From Massive East Bay Operation OAKLAND - It looks like candy, but check the label on the Keef Kat or the Pot Tarts: "This product contains cannabis and is for medical purposes only." Hundreds of boxes of such pot-laced candy, treats and soda pop - all with labels mimicking name-brand products - plus thousands of marijuana plants, $150,000 in cash and several weapons were seized Thursday in five simultaneous Drug Enforcement Administration raids in Oakland, Emeryville and Lafayette. Authorities called it the largest West Coast manufacturing and distribution operation of its type. Twelve people were arrested without incident, DEA Special Agent Javier Pena said as he displayed samples of the candy and sodas in DEA offices in the federal building in downtown Oakland. Suspect Kenneth Affolter, 39, of Lafayette was identified as the head of the candy-making operation. All 12 suspects will be arraigned today in San Francisco federal court on charges of distribution of marijuana. [continues 414 words]
Officials Hope To Lower Infection Rates Of HIV And Hepatitis C With The Help Of Pharmacists Bull Chaney is one of the estimated 324 people in San Luis Obispo County living with HIV. The Los Osos man and former addict got it from sharing needles in the 1980s - but he says his life might be different if he'd been able to use a needle exchange program, like the one county health officials are starting up. On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors unanimously authorized the development of a two-pronged attempt to lower the infection rates of HIV and Hepatitis C, both of which are frequently transmitted when intravenous drug users share needles. HIV is the virus that causes AIDS; Hepatitis C is a disease that attacks the liver. [continues 405 words]
AUBURN, Calif. - A Placer County judge rejected a request for a hearing to modify a 120-day jail sentence for a medical marijuana activist who fled the country. The attorney for Steven Wynn Kubby had asked Superior Court Judge John Cosgrove to revisit the sentence because Kubby was in Canada in 2003 when an appeals court reinstated his misdemeanor drug conviction as a felony and imposed a new sentence. "I don't see why Mr. Kubby wants another sentencing just because he absconded (to Canada)," Cosgrove said Friday. [continues 128 words]
