George Mull opposed Proposition 19. Steve DeAngelo campaigned for it. Which made it all the more interesting at the recent CalNORML conference in Berkeley, where both said that medical cannabis distribution in California is — and I’m paraphrasing here — a total fucking mess. Mull is a Sacramento attorney who represents several NorCal collectives, and their struggles in assorted cities and counties have convinced him that statewide regulation is necessary. To that end, he co-founded the California Cannabis Association and actively campaigned against Prop. 19, which he feared would erode patient rights under Prop. 215 [...]
The Drug Policy Alliance gets top billing today in our belated video coverage of CalNORML’s marijuana reform conference in Berkeley. Ethan Nadelmann, DPA’s founder and executive director, and California director Stephen Gutwillig both possess a keen understanding of the political process, and their thoughts on legalization in 2012 deserve special attention. First and foremost is understanding that political compromises will be necessary to craft a winning initiative. Politics is a contact sport, after all, and purists can only watch from the sidelines. “It’s what’s winnable that goes as far as possible,” Nadelmann told the CalNORML [...]
Today’s videos arrive from the better-late-than-never department, considering a month has passed since the CalNORML conference in Berkeley. But context is important, as is video editing, so taking my time isn’t a bad thing. We begin with a new and slightly improved video of Oakland Vice Mayor Desley Brooks, who has taken the lead on rewriting the city’s proposed regulations for large-scale cultivation. Brooks credited Oakland City Council President Larry Reid and Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan for their leadership, but she also noted the difficulties caused by City Attorney John Russo’s reluctance-turned-refusal to work on the [...]
I wish I could tell you more about what’s happening in Oakland, but sometimes it’s more useful to tell you what’s NOT happening. For the past month or so, we’ve been hearing that the feds have warned city officials to back off on its medical cannabis cultivation ordinance. That’s probably because that’s exactly what the feds have been telling the media, and now Oakland’s city attorney has such cold feet he won’t even work on the thing. Big, bad, scary feds. Enter Desley Brooks, Oakland’s vice mayor and the latest on the City Council to [...]
So I’m at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, watching folks set up for the International Cannabis and Hemp Expo. There are large areas indoors and outdoors for Prop. 215 patients (bring current recommendation and California ID) to sample all sorts of cannabis products, but the new focus on edibles is readily apparent. And that’s a good thing, folks, because oral ingestion is better for you than smoking. To see videos of INTCHE panel presentations and excerpts from the Prop. 19 debate, go to the INTCHE 2010 playlist on my YouTube channel. Before you go, [...]
Lanette Davies, whose family operates the Canna Care medical marijuana dispensary in Sacramento, is getting coverage across the nation — and beyond. It’s all because she paid for an advertisement, Peter Hecht writes in his “Weed Wars” blog for the Sacramento Bee. But not just any ad. Since early this month, Canna Care and KTXL Fox40 television in Sacramento have been airing a 30-commercial for the medical marijuana dispensary. The spot is believed to be the first television advertisement for marijuana. But it never uses the commonly used word for cannabis. The commercial shows testimonials [...]
Medical marijuana advocates are rallying to the cause of San Diego County defendant James Stacy, expressing hand-wringing outrage that the former dispensary operator is facing federal drug prosecution. Stacy operated a medical pot shop, called “Movement in Action,” in Vista, “Weed Wars” blogger Peter Hecht writes. He was charged with federal counts of illegally manufacturing and distributing marijuana after a series of undercover buys by a San Diego County sheriff’s detective and subsequent raids by U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officers on his home and business. Last week, U.S. District Judge Barry Ted Moskowitz rejected Stacy’s [...]
By Bud Green CalPotNews.com A funny thing happened on the way to Tuesday’s vote to ban new medical marijuana dispensaries in Fresno County: Existing dispensaries supported the moratorium and pleaded for new regulations. They got their initial wish when county supervisors voted to pass a 45-day ordinance banning new pot shops, which likely will be extended in August. Whether new regulations will result is less clear, according to Fresno attorney Brenda Linder. “I represent four collectives who self-regulate because the city and the county would not get on board as far as initiating regulations,” Linder [...]
Bud’s note: Brace yourselves for more TV coverage of medical marijuana as the campaign for legalization gears up. This “special report” from CBS47 in Fresno goes nearly 5 minutes, which is quite a haul for the attention-challenged, and features a pot doc who opposes legalization for recreational use. The headline on the eye-catching TV graphic: Abuse of privilege or helpful medicine? ======================= Medical marijuana: Is it abuse of privilege or helpful medicine? Medical marijuana continues to face scrutiny in California, especially as pot clinics open and close in the (San Joaquin) Valley and we get [...]
What if California could raise hundreds of millions of dollars in new revenue to preserve vital state services without any tax increases? And what if at the same time, we could, without any new expense, help protect our endangered wilderness areas while making it harder for our kids to get drugs? That is precisely what the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010 initiative slated for the November ballot would do, Assemblymember Tom Ammiano writes in the New Times of San Luis Obispo. This measure, building off the legislation I introduced last year, is [...]
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