San Jose’s new ordinance to regulate medical marijuana clubs has run into a buzz saw of challenges, not the least of which is a referendum qualified for the June ballot to repeal the regulations. Rather than take on that fight, the City Council should suspend the ordinance, as Mayor Chuck Reed has proposed, and hope that the courts, the Legislature or both will clarify what cities can do to regulate dispensaries. Pot clubs need to move back to the spirit of Proposition 215, the Compassionate Use Act voters passed in 1996, the Mercury News editorial [...]
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A proposed ballot initiative aimed for the November elections begs a key question looming over California’s medical marijuana industry: Can stricter state regulation keep the federal government from shutting it down? Dispensaries, medical marijuana growers and a powerful union local are rallying behind an initiative that would regulate California’s $1.5 billion pot trade, Peter Hecht reports in the Sacramento Bee. They predict they will be able to raise $2 million from medical marijuana businesses and drug policy groups to qualify the measure for the November ballot. A drive to gather a required half-million valid voter [...]
Thirty bales of marijuana with an estimated street value of $500,000 were found floating in the waters off Marina del Rey, sheriff’s deputies said Thursday. Sheriff’s Sgt. Michael Carriles said a recreational boater first found five bales in the water around noon Wednesday and alerted deputies and the U.S. Coast Guard, Kristin S. Agostoni reports in the Los Angeles Daily News. Not long after, authorities found another 25 bales in the same vicinity – within a roughly 4-square-mile area about six nautical miles northwest of the harbor entrance, he said. Carriles said it appeared as [...]
A Nevada City woman was arrested after being stopped in Illinois, for allegedly carrying 167 pounds of marijuana. Cara Ringland, 32, was pulled over by officers Tuesday afternoon on Interstate 80 near Peru, Ill., The Union of Grass Valley reports. She has been charged with unlawful possession of cannabis with intent to deliver, with a possible prison term of between six and 30 years with no possibility of probation. A bond hearing was pending Thursday. No further information was available from the La Salle County State’s Attorney.
A federal grand jury in Sacramento has indicted a Trinity County man on marijuana conspiracy and cultivation charges, months after a series of raids resulted in the seizure of more than 2,700 pot plants. According to a criminal complaint, William Robert Barsanti, 26, who was indicted Thursday, bragged to local sheriff’s deputies that he could beat any charges against him because he was protected under California’s medical marijuana laws, the Sacramento Bee reports. Redding Record Searchlight coverage Trinity County authorities referred the case to federal prosecutors after 2,769 marijuana plants and five pounds of pot [...]
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SANTA CRUZ – Two armed men robbed a medical marijuana dispensary just after 7 p.m. Thursday. Employees inside the dispensary on the 3100 block of Paul Sweet Road reported that two armed men burst into the business wearing clown masks and sporting guns. They got away with an unknown amount of money from the safe. No one inside the business, Creme de Canna, was reported injured, the Santa Cruz Sentinel reports. Police are looking for two Latino males, ages 15 to 20, thin build. One had a single-action revolver, the other had a small Beretta, [...]
Has your medical cannabis business been targeted with an IRS notice or tax audit? If you haven’t been hit yet, YOU WILL! Harborside Health Center’s Stephen DeAngelo and the country’s leading tax experts on 280E will present effective strategies for dealing with current tax audits and for minimizing your 2012 tax liabilities. OAKLAND Saturday, February 25, 1 to 6 p.m. Main Ballroom (enter thru Just Dance) 2500 Embarcardero, Oakland, CA 94606 (Map) (Hotels/motels) (Restaurants) SEATTLE Saturday, March 10, 1 to 6 p.m. Courtyard Marriott 925 Westlake Avenue North, Seattle, WA 98109 (Map) (Hotels/motels) (Restaurants) TELL [...]
Live Oak trail-blazed through thickets of medical marijuana law last month where few, if any, cities have journeyed. The city of 8,600 residents became one of, if not the first city in California to ban growing medical marijuana — both indoor and outdoor — but it’s one of hundreds struggling to protect residents, allow sick people their medicine and navigate state law. James Maral, a Live Oak resident who grows marijuana for himself and his mother, is already testing the ban and state law, Jonathan Edwards reports in the Appeal-Democrat. Maral filed a lawsuit last [...]
The California Legislature will soon vote on two marijuana reform bills that seem to be more popular with the public than with the politicians in Sacramento: SB 129 by state Sen. Mark Leno, which would prohibit employment discrimination against medical marijuana patients, and AB 1017 by Assemblymember Tom Ammiano, which would allow for reduced, misdemeanor charges in marijuana cultivation cases. Both bills have strong public support according to a newly released poll of state voters by EMC Research, CalNORML Director Dale Gieringer writes in an e-mail advisory. However, both have had trouble getting through the [...]
Faced with legal threats from Uncle Sam, the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday gutted its innovative, revenue-generating medical marijuana permitting program that allowed cooperatives to grow up to 99 plants. “The mistake was made when we pushed the envelope,” said Supervisor Kendall Smith. Rather than issuing permits — a process that was recently suspended — the county now limits the number of plants to 25, well within the limits set in other counties and less likely to raise a red flag for federal authorities who consider pot for any purpose to be illegal. [...]
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