Dispensaries | CalPotNews.com

Dispensary tax seminars set in Oakland, Seattle

Feb 022012

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 [...]

Humboldt County extends ban on new dispensaries

Dispensaries

Jan 252012

The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted unanimously to extend a temporary moratorium on new medical marijuana dispensaries for an additional 10 months and 15 days. The supervisors also added language to the ordinance that is meant to protect existing dispensaries from closure. Assistant County Counsel Carolyn Ruth said there are currently three medical marijuana dispensaries operating in the county, Megan Hansen reports in the Eureka Times-Standard. The Humboldt County Collective has a conditional use permit with no time limit, Redwood Legacy LLC has a two-year permit and the Hummingbird Healing Center has [...]

Impact of AB 1300 debated in Shasta County

Dispensaries

Jan 252012

A new state law intended to clarify local governments’ role in regulating medical cannabis dispensaries seems to support Redding’s and Shasta County’s recent bans on the storefronts, local officials claim. But a lobbyist for local dispensaries, who differs from state and nationwide advocacy groups worried that the law does just that, believes the new law could permit Redding to withdraw its dispensary ban, Sean Longoria reports in the Record Searchlight. Assembly Bill 1300, signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in August and taking effect this month, modifies California’s Medical Marijuana Program to permit cities, counties and [...]

With legal respite, S.F. approves dispensary permits

Dispensaries

Jan 242012

San Francisco has begun issuing medical marijuana dispensary licenses again, following a recent state Supreme court decision that will allow local pot dispensaries to do business — for now. The city’s Medical Cannabis Act permitting process had been on hold for several months, following a state appeals court ruling in Pack vs. Long Beach, Chris Roberts reports in The Snitch blog for S.F. Weekly. The ruling said that city or county laws regulating medical marijuana violated federal law; the decision led cities and counties throughout the state to suspend, reconsider, or repeal their regulatory schemes. [...]

Decision looms on Shasta Lake dispensaries

Dispensaries

Jan 172012

SHASTA LAKE — The planning commission will take public input Thursday on proposed changes to the city’s rules on medical marijuana dispensaries. Shasta Lake is the only place in Shasta County where dispensaries can legally operate. Anderson, Redding and the unincorporated county all have banned dispensaries, Sean Longoria reports in the Record Searchlight. Commissioners will decide whether to recommend to the City Council that Shasta Lake remove its permitting system for dispensaries while keeping zoning regulations in place for the businesses. “We are looking at our ordinance and taking out all of the requirements for [...]

San Francisco puts dispensary permits on hold

Dispensaries

Jan 172012

San Francisco, the hotbed of marijuana law reform, has frozen medical cannabis dispensary permitting this winter as the City — and dozens of others across the state — nervously await a decision by the California Supreme Court on the very legality of such permits. Nine groups that are seeking permits to open new San Francisco clubs — mostly in the Mission — have been caught in limbo, the Department of Public Health told Legalization Nation blogger David Downs in the East Bay Express. San Francisco currently has 26 permitted dispensaries. However, an October decision by [...]

Feds file suit to seize Sacramento dispensary site

Dispensaries

Jan 162012

U.S. authorities filed suit Thursday seeking to seize the building of a Sacramento dispensary, charging the marijuana store violated federal laws against drug transactions near schools. The forfeiture complaint filed over the Sacramento Holistic Healing Center – a Southside Park dispensary also known as “Grass on 10th” – marks the first formal federal seizure action against a medical marijuana outlet in the city, Peter Hecht reports in the Sacramento Bee. In court papers filed in Sacramento, U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner suggested the business was being targeted because it was dispensing marijuana within 1,000 feet of [...]

With all eyes on Long Beach, dispensary ban looms

Dispensaries

Jan 162012

LONG BEACH — The Avalon Wellness Center sits in an industrial neighborhood on Long Beach’s Westside. Surrounded by welding and industrial supply businesses, the gray block building almost disappears in the bleak backdrop, but for the green medical cross painted on the wall. Avalon may have to close its doors if the City Council on Tuesday follows a recommendation to repeal existing ordinances allowing medical marijuana dispensaries and to ban the sale and distribution of cannabis. The recommendation from City Attorney Bob Shannon comes in the wake of an Oct. 4, 2010, state Court of [...]

Butte County repeals – then upholds – dispensary ban

Dispensaries

Jan 112012

OROVILLE — The Butte County Board of Supervisors Tuesday repealed an ordinance banning marijuana dispensaries in the county, but the ban still remains in effect. The unanimous vote came in response to a petition drive seeking to rescind the ordinance passed in October that banned all medical marijuana dispensaries within Butte County jurisdiction. After the ordinance was passed, opponents began a petition drive to block the measure. The petitions were turned in to county officials in late November, Roger H. Aylworth reports in the Chico Enterprise-Record. In mid-December, the county’s Elections Office certified the petitions [...]

Arcata council passes ban on new dispensaries

Dispensaries

Jan 052012

Confusion took center stage Wednesday night at the Arcata City Council meeting with the council ultimately voting to move forward with a medical marijuana dispensary moratorium that would not affect any existing dispensaries. The meeting ended with new clarity over the city’s proposed temporary hold on processing applications for new medical marijuana cooperatives and collectives, not personal use grows. Staff will return to the council with a draft moratorium, Donna Tam reports in the Eureka Times-Standard. Community Development Director Larry Oetker said the code would prevent the two dispensaries currently awaiting their application approval from [...]