A Live Oak resident is suing to stop a ban on growing medical marijuana in the city that he said would force him to make “cruel choices.” James Maral is seeking an injunction in Sutter County Superior Court on to temporarily halt a ban on cultivating marijuana that the Live Oak City Council passed Dec. 21 and that took effect Friday. The suit seeking the injunction was filed Monday afternoon, Jonathan Edwards reports in the Appeal-Democrat. A judge is scheduled to hear arguments from Maral and the city of Live Oak at 3 p.m. today [...]
The Arcata City Council will meet today to discuss a temporary moratorium of the city’s ordinance that regulates the cultivation and dispensing of medical marijuana. City Attorney Nancy Diamond said she is recommending the moratorium to give the state and federal government a chance to resolve some legal ambiguities, Grant Scott-Goforth reports in the Eureka Times-Standard. The recommendation does not suggest changes to the ordinance’s residential medical marijuana grows. In related news, at least one Arcata dispensary closed this week after its landlord received a letter from the U.S. Department of Justice. If the council [...]
Medical marijuana ordinances will once again be a topic of discussion Tuesday at the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors meeting. Starting after the general public comment period at 1:30 p.m., the supervisors will consider approving an ordinance that would govern the indoor cultivation of medical marijuana in single-family residences and detached buildings. Supervisors will also consider a temporary moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries, Megan Hansen reports in the Eureka Times-Standard. Staff have prepared three options for the supervisors to consider in regards to indoor medicinal cultivation. The first option would keep indoor cultivations limited to [...]
Medical marijuana users in Fresno County saw perhaps their last hope for easier access to the drug vanish on Tuesday. By a 4-1 vote, the Board of Supervisors rejected recommendations by an advisory group to loosen the county’s strict marijuana regulations, Kurtis Alexander reports in the Fresno Bee. Citing a drug trade that sells indiscriminately and profits by doing so, supervisors underscored the need for the current law, which bans pot dispensaries and prohibits people from growing marijuana anywhere but in industrial areas. “What happens to all those people who benefit greatly from marijuana?” asked [...]
The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors plans to introduce a draft medical marijuana ordinance on Tuesday with some recent changes, including the prohibition of onsite cultivation for dispensaries. The changes, outlined in a staff report, have caused some concern among dispensary owners, who think limiting onsite grows will also limit quality control on medicine and patient access, Donna Tam reports in the Eureka Times-Standard. In addition to the prohibition of onsite cultivation — the previous language allowed for marijuana in its “flowering stage” — the latest version of the ordinance also prohibits medical marijuana research [...]
The Nevada County Board of Supervisors is preparing an ordinance to restrict or ban marijuana cultivation in agricultural and residential neighborhoods. This ordinance could have unintended consequences on our quality of life and devastate the local economy. I suggest that we would be better served by taxing, limiting, and tightly regulating cannabis cultivation in Nevada County, Patricia Smith writes in a guest column for The Union. Cannabis is our state’s No. 1 cash crop, outpacing the second highest ag producer, dairy, two to one. State tax collectors estimate that $14 billion in marijuana sales remain [...]
SANTA CRUZ — The county has yet to issue a permit under a new set of regulations aimed at medical marijuana operations, and already the law has been thrown into doubt. A state appeals court in Los Angeles last week handed down a decision that raises questions about any local effort to regulate the medical marijuana trade, saying federal drug laws invalidate any licensing of dispensaries and collectives — something many Bay Area governments have tentatively started to do. Local attorney Ben Rice, who represents several marijuana collectives, said he doesn’t expect any immediate impact [...]
In the first local discussion after recent federal crackdowns on medical cannabis in California, Shasta County planning commissioners will consider recommending county supervisors ban dispensaries and update regulations on cultivation in unincorporated parts of the county at Thursday’s meeting. The recommendation from the county Resource Management Department comes after a series of moratoria first enacted by county supervisors in early 2010 on medical marijuana collectives in the county. Establishing dispensaries has been illegal in unincorporated areas since, although the city of Redding currently has 16 collectives, Alayna Shulman reports in the Record Searchlight. Federal strikes [...]
Bolstered by the most recent court ruling in Orange County regarding medical marijuana, the Wheatland City Council voted Tuesday to extend a temporary ban on dispensaries. The year-long extension of two urgency interim ordinances will continue to prohibit medical marijuana dispensaries from being located within Wheatland city limits, Nancy Pasternack reports in the Appeal-Democrat. It would also allow the city staff and the council to further evaluate potential future permitting of dispensary operators, “and to continue to monitor and evaluate evolving legal developments concerning this issue,” according to the city’s public hearing notice posted Sept. [...]
Marijuana dispensaries could sprout at up to three Palo Alto locations, if the City Council or voters were to approve an ordinance legalizing medical marijuana within city limits. A citizens group has gathered more than enough signatures to put the issue on the city ballot, City Clerk Donna Grider said. The success of the signature drive means the council must either adopt the proposed ordinance or bring it to the voters some time next year, Gennady Sheyner reports in the Palo Alto Weekly. Initiative supporters argue in the petition that legalizing and taxing marijuana dispensaries [...]
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