2009 November | CalPotNews.com

San Diego Co. dispensary does business ‘by the book’

Business, Collectives, Cultivation, Dispensaries, Medical marijuana

Nov 302009

San Diego Co. dispensary does business 'by the book'

The Fallbrook Chamber of Commerce has an unlikely new member — a licensed medical marijuana dispensary. Bob Riedel, co-founder of Mother Earth’s Alternative Healing Cooperative Inc., told the North County Times in this article that he joined the chamber for the same reasons other members join: It’s a good way to get involved in the community and to network. The co-op has already signed up as one of the sponsors for Fallbrook’s Dec. 5 Christmas parade, for example. “We wanted to get involved with the community and to let people know who we are,” Riedel [...]

Woodland dispensary ban on tap

Courts, Cultivation, Dispensaries, Law Enforcement, Medical marijuana

Nov 302009

On Tuesday the Woodland City Council will vote on an ordinance barring storefront medical marijuana dispensaries. The action follows a 2007 raid on a home-based dispensary run by Cheri Barr, according to this article in the Woodland Daily Democrat. The Yolo County district attorney’s office dropped felony charges against Barr, the newspaper reports, but her home was raided a second time in 2008.

Three tons of pot seized at Cal-Mex border

Courts, Law Enforcement

Nov 302009

CALEXICO – Border authorities announced Sunday that they seized more than 6,000 pounds of marijuana with a street value of $5.9 million and arrested the driver of a truck where the drugs were found mingled with a shipment of door knobs. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers made the seizure Friday at the Calexico Port of Entry’s secondary cargo inspection area, according to this brief story from the San Diego Union-Tribune, which is also posted in its entirety here. A canine team alerted officers about the possibility of drugs inside a 1998 trailer. Officers found [...]

Elias: Obama hasn’t eased medipot fears

Courts, Law Enforcement, Medical marijuana, Opinion

Nov 302009

“There’s no doubt the Obama administration has been – as promised – less eager than its predecessor to flout state laws and insist on the primacy of federal drug regulations. “But if you’re a cancer patient who legitimately needs relief, if you’re the grower supplying that patient and others with aches and pains for which doctors recommend pot as the safest palliative, the uncertainty that still remains is unsettling, at best.” So writes Thomas D. Elias in his weekly syndicated column, which is carried by newspapers statewide. This one is posted by the Torrance Daily [...]

L.A. dispensary ordinance work in progress

Courts, Dispensaries, Medical marijuana

Nov 232009

“It seems clear to me that the (Los Angeles City) council intends to ignore the advice of their attorney and authorize (medical cannabis) sales in some respect, though not for profit sales. They also seem certain to cap the total number of legal dispensaries, though whether it will be approximately 70 (a number many of them liked, from a city planner) or as many as 400 (argued for by some medical pot activists) remains to be seen. Developing, as they say.” So writes Brian Doherty in this blog post from Reason.com, with a promise of [...]

Grow site next to L.A. police station busted

Courts, Cultivation, Law Enforcement

Nov 202009

File this under “bad idea”: A marijuana-growing operation located just 25 feet from a Los Angeles Police Department substation in Canoga Park was shut down after officers caught a whiff of herb in their parking lot. This post from the L.A. Now news blog described two grow rooms and a harvesting station set up in a Canoga Avenue warehouse. “It was very sophisticated,” LAPD Officer Karen Raynor said. Three men were arrested early Wednesday; their names were not released.

Cy Young winner Lincecum: ‘I made a mistake’

Courts, Law Enforcement, Media

Nov 202009

At the end of the Cy Young conference call, San Francisco Giants ace pitcher Tim Lincecum read a statement addressing his marijuana charges from an Oct. 30 traffic stop in Washington. Here is his full statement, as posted in this San Jose Mercury News sports blog: “I made a mistake and regret my actions earlier this month in Washington. I want to apologize to the Giants organization and to the fans. I know that as a professional athlete I have a responsibility to conduct myself appropriately both on and off the field. I certainly have [...]

Redding police gear up for new pot law

Collectives, Courts, Cultivation, Dispensaries, Law Enforcement, Medical marijuana

Nov 202009

Redding police are preparing to enforce regulations designed to yank illicit marijuana dealers from the medical cannabis clubs that have sprouted around the city over the past eight months. “It will be a drain on our resources to manage this for a while, until we narrow down the medical marijuana collectives,” Police Chief Peter Hansen says in this Redding Record-Searchlight article. The ordinance, approved Tuesday on a 3-2 vote, has consumed at least 50 hours of the Police Department’s time already, Hansen said. The major work crunch will come in January when police begin conducting [...]

San Diego prosecutor joined pot co-op

Collectives, Courts, Cultivation, Dispensaries, Medical marijuana

Nov 192009

A deputy district attorney in San Diego County has confirmed that he was a member of a defunct marijuana collective, according to this Examiner.com report. The disclosure was made during court proceedings for San Diego resident and Navy veteran Jovan Jackson, who’s charged with possessing and selling marijuana after several San Diego dispensaries were raided in September. The deputy DA, James Pitts, works in the office of DA Bonnie Dumanis, who reportedly follows the same prosecutorial mantra as L.A.’s top prosecutor, Steve Cooley. Both have taken the position that pot dispensaries act illegally any time [...]

L.A. pot ordinance set for overhaul

Dispensaries, Law Enforcement, Medical marijuana

Nov 192009

The Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday postponed a vote on a medical marijuana ordinance after major changes were proposed by one councilman who said they were “the tip of the iceberg.” As the Los Angeles Times reports, city officials have struggled for more than two years to write a law to regulate the dispensaries. And whatever action the council takes, L.A. County District Attorney Steve Cooley has vowed to prosecute pot shops handling cash transactions.