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.
Chris Diaz, a Mendocino man whose arrest for pot possession in Texas has rallied the medical marijuana community, is headed back to the Lone Star state. An extradition order from Texas has been signed by California state officials and Texas officials are making plans to retrieve Diaz soon, rendering moot his request for bail at a Tuesday hearing. His family and supporters had lobbied locally for his release but prosecutors said that was not an option, Glenda Anderson reports in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat. California officials by law cannot refuse to comply with extradition [...]
SEBASTOPOL — In an old, shingled house not far from the center of town, the trim crew hunkered over trays in the living room, snipping away at the strain of the day, Blue Dream. Its pungency knifed the air, like a medley of French roasted coffee beans and roadkill skunk. Sheets and a sleeping bag blocked the windows facing the neighbors, Joe Mozingo reports in the Los Angeles Times. Panels of jury-rigged fluorescent lights hung from the ceiling. Johnny Cash sang “The Man Comes Around” from a laptop. Jeremiah, from Oregon, presided at the head [...]
In 2009, as Los Angeles’ booming medical marijuana economy inspired an emerald city of weed, Vanessa Sahagun found a business opportunity as “Chacha Vavoom,” maven of the 420 Nurses. Chacha and her “nurses” became a pot culture phenomenon. They savored bong hits on YouTube, modeled skimpy outfits to promote marijuana dispensaries – and stirred young men at medical pot shows teeming with sexual imagery. “I was proud I was opening up a market creating ‘green jobs’ for these ladies,” said Sahagun, 25. But now, the sexual marketing of medical marijuana – with racy promotions that [...]
UKIAH — An intensifying federal crackdown on growers and sellers of state-authorized medical marijuana has badly shaken the billion-dollar industry, which has sprung up in California since voters approved medical use of the drug in 1996, and has highlighted the stark contradiction between federal and state policies. Federal law classifies the possession and sale of marijuana as a serious crime and does not grant exceptions for medical use, so the programs adopted here, in 15 other states and in the District of Columbia exist in an odd legal limbo, Erik Eckholm reports in the New [...]
The federal Department of Justice’s crackdown on medical marijuana dispensaries in California has meant the loss of thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in tax revenue, according to cannabis advocates and government statistics. An estimated 2,500 people statewide have lost their jobs since late September, when California’s four U.S. attorneys sent letters that threatened jail sentences for dispensary owners and the possible seizure of buildings that house the pot clubs, said Dan Rush, director of the United Food and Commercial Workers’ national medical cannabis division. The union began organizing medical marijuana workers in May [...]
Medical cannabis patients and several noted industry leaders rallied Wednesday outside the federal courthouse in downtown Sacramento. They were there to protest the recent federal crackdown on medical marijuana dispensaries and collective growers, with Assemblymember Tom Ammiano calling on President Obama to order federal enforcement agencies to stand down. “I support the president, but he is confusing the issue by having these people muddy up the water and violate civil rights and human rights,” Ammiano said. “(Proposition) 215 is to be respected. It is an issue of state rights.” The rally came days after the [...]
Several members of California’s Congressional delegation are taking their concerns about a federal crackdown on the state’s medical marijuana dispensaries directly to President Obama. In a bipartisan letter signed by nine members of the U.S. House of Representatives, the lawmakers criticized what they called an “unconscionable” multi-state effort targeting medical marijuana dispensaries. They also called for the reclassification of marijuana as a controlled substance subject to fewer federal restrictions, Jason Hoppin reports in the Santa Cruz Sentinel. “It is critically important for patients to have safe access to this treatment that continues to be recommended [...]
A nearly 2-year-old Orangevale medical marijuana dispensary said Monday that it has become the first in the Sacramento area to unionize. The 20 employees at Magnolia Wellness at 9198 Greenback Lane are now active members of UFCW 8, also known as the Golden State United Food and Commercial Workers Union. “We are extremely happy to have Magnolia Wellness on board,” said Darin Ferguson, district union representative of UFCW 8. “We believe they are a legitimate business providing an important service in their community.” UFCW claims more than 30,000 members throughout the western United States, Mark [...]
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