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, [...]
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In what may be the first case of its kind in state history, a Healdsburg man whose marijuana was stolen in a home-invasion robbery will be allowed to seek restitution from the defendants. “It certainly does represent a milestone,” said Kris Hermes, a spokesman for Americans for Safe Access, an Oakland advocacy group for medical marijuana users. “I appreciate the court recognizing this as a lawful substance. Victims should be compensated.” But just how much Michael Steffens’ weed is worth will be open to debate, Paul Payne reports in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat. His [...]
The California Supreme Court has again jumped into the fray over the legality of medical marijuana laws, deciding this week to review two lower-court rulings that affect how and whether local governments can regulate pot dispensaries across the state. In their weekly closed-door session Wednesday, the justices voted unanimously to review cases from Long Beach and Riverside that dealt with the ongoing conflict between California’s 1996 voter-approved law allowing medical marijuana and federal laws barring the use or sale of the drug. The state Supreme Court’s rulings in the cases are likely to widely echo [...]
UPLAND – The California Supreme Court decided on Wednesday to review an appeal filed by an Upland medical marijuana cooperative. Counsel representing G3 Holistic in Upland filed the appeal in December following a decision in November by the Fourth District Appellate Court in Riverside siding with the city’s ban on medical marijuana dispensaries through its zoning code. “I’m totally flabbergasted,” said Roger Jon Diamond, attorney for G3. “I thought they might take it, but you never know for sure.” The co-op appealed an injunction granted by the West Valley Superior Court in August 2010 that [...]
Three people were arrested and marijuana was seized early Sunday after authorities found a smuggling boat near Point Mugu. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials arrested three men they said were transporting drugs in a panga boat found off Pacific Coast Highway and Deer Creek Road, Ventura County sheriff’s officials said. Sheriff’s officials responded to a call about 5 a.m. Sunday to help ICE officials who were looking for the passengers on the boat, the Ventura County Star reports. ICE officials found the three men on foot near the area before 7:20 a.m., Capt. Dave Murray [...]
Michael Steffens gets a little nervous these days when he hears car wheels coming up his rural Healdsburg driveway or one of his dogs barking at the window. A little more than two years ago, the 51-year-old carpenter was the victim of a home-invasion robbery in which he was tied up and beaten by four men who dressed as police officers. Steffens survived and the men were quickly caught and punished, Paul Payne reports in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat. But unlike other victims, Steffens said he’s been unable to get public assistance for the [...]
A young Mendocino man whose legal plight has become a cause célèbre for medical marijuana advocates appeared in Mendocino County court Thursday in hopes of halting extradition to Texas. Mendocino County Judge Ann Moorman told Chris Diaz’ attorney, Don Lipmanson, he needed to submit that request to Texas authorities. “I don’t have any jurisdiction,” she said. But Moorman said she will consider releasing Diaz on bail at a hearing she then scheduled for Tuesday. Supporters of Diaz, 22, an asthmatic and father of two children, ages 1 and 4, contend that he is emblematic of [...]
One year after a group dubbed the “SLO 12” was arrested during an undercover investigation into medical marijuana dispensaries, some local activists are still fuming. About 10 people gathered Tuesday morning outside San Luis Obispo Superior Court on Monterey Street to protest the arrests, Nick Wilson reports in The Tribune. They held signs supporting “safe access” to medical marijuana and criticized the ongoing handling of the cases. The bust has led to ongoing prosecutions they say are unnecessary, draining for defendants and wasteful of taxpayer money. They contend that those arrested were complying with Proposition [...]
In response to a court order, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department Friday afternoon returned 2 pounds of medicinal marijuana to a dispensary from which it was seized earlier this month. A Sacramento Superior Court judge Friday morning ordered the Sheriff’s Department to return the marijuana to the Common Roots Collective, Kim Minugh reports in the Sacramento Bee. On Dec. 1, deputies accompanied code enforcement officers who executed an inspection warrant at the dispensary on 52nd Street in Sacramento, said John Fuery, the collective’s attorney. While at the collective, deputies seized 2 pounds of marijuana, citing [...]
LONG BEACH – A jury Wednesday convicted two local men on all counts for using a trio of medical marijuana collectives to illegally sell the drug, as well as grand theft and filing false tax returns. Supporters of defendants Joe Grumbine and Joe Byron insisted the charges – 13 felony counts – are nothing more than an attack by zealous police and prosecutors in violation of the state’s medical marijuana law, Tracy Manzer reports in the Long Beach Press-Telegram. Deputy District Attorney Jodi Castano countered the case was about two men using the sick and [...]
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