Opponents of a Kern County ban on storefront medical marijuana collectives temporarily blocked the law from taking effect Friday morning. Activists with the Kern Citizens For Patient Rights turned in 26,335 signatures to Kathleen Krause, the clerk of the Board of Supervisors, at about 4 p.m. Thursday — an hour before they were due. They needed to turn in at least 17,350 signatures to stop the ordinance, James Burger reports in the Bakersfield Californian. By 5:15 p.m., elections workers had confirmed the number of signatures turned in and were preparing for the long task of [...]
The Eureka City Council directed staff to put together an ordinance placing a moratorium on the permitting of medical marijuana facilities Tuesday, spooked by threats of federal prosecution. The city’s medical cannabis ordinance — passed by a previous council in August 2010 and modified by the current council in May — regulates personal residential marijuana cultivation on a land-use basis and allows the permitting of four medical marijuana dispensaries. But city staff recently sought input on the ordinance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office and received a sternly written letter warning of possible prosecutions and other [...]
Mary Ann Nihart has had some surprises since becoming mayor of Pacifica. Stumbling into a pot dispensary was, by far, the weirdest. Not that it took her long to work out what kind of business she, the chief of police, and a county supervisor had randomly discovered while touring some local businesses in the city’s Palmetto neighborhood last month. “Let’s just say it’s a distinctive odor that if you ever went to college, you won’t forget,” Nihart told Julia Scott of the San Mateo County Times. “The look on everybody’s face was pretty priceless.” Ever [...]
Growing medical marijuana just became a bit more difficult in the Town of Paradise, which was once made famous for its agricultural potential with fruit trees. The Paradise Town Council unanimously approved a medical marijuana ordinance Tuesday which outlaws co-ops and limits gardens to a 50-square-foot plot at patients’ homes. It also retains the town’s policy against dispensaries, and also outlaws outdoor growing within 600 feet of schools, Paul Wellersdick reports in the Paradise Post. The ordinance was met with some forceful opposition from marijuana users and advocates. Thomas Wahl began to shout during his [...]
The men accused of trying to steal processed marijuana from a Shasta Lake man last month apparently hoped he would believe they were law enforcement officers conducting a pot raid at his home, a Shasta County sheriff’s report says. In what sounds almost like a SWAT-style operation, three of the men, clad in tactical-style clothing and carrying weapons, approached Michael Wayne High’s Mason Drive home on the night of Aug. 29 and began to yell “search warrant, get on the ground,” according to the sheriff’s report. But High wasn’t buying any of it and fought [...]
A man shot and killed south of Dinuba on Monday was tending to a marijuana garden, the Tulare County Sheriff’s Department said Tuesday. The victim – Cesar Ramirez, 39, of Hayward – was staying on the property on the 38600 block of Road 64. He was found in the garden about 3:45 p.m. with a gunshot wound. He died at the scene. Deputies went to the property after a 911 call about gunshots heard in the area, Eddie Jimenez reports in the Fresno Bee. The marijuana garden had about 315 plants, deputies said. The Sheriff’s [...]
After losing rounds in trial and appellate courts, the Shasta Union High School District has backed off its policy of mandatory random drug testing of non-athletes. The policy, expanded beyond athletics and instituted three years ago, applied to all students who participate in competitive extracurricular activities such as marching band, math, mock trials, choir and drama. Non-athlete students were randomly chosen weekly for testing, Denny Walsh reports in the Sacramento Bee. They were pulled from class, taken to a bathroom and required to urinate in a cup while a monitor listened outside the stall. The [...]
Tulare County Sheriff’s Department officials have served four medical marijuana operations near Visalia, Ivanhoe and Seville with notices of violation requiring they shut down within the next 10 days. If the owners and operators refuse to comply, the county will file for a preliminary and permanent injunction to enforce compliance, Tulare County officials announced Thursday. The move comes nearly four weeks after a Tulare County Superior Court judge found the Foothill Growers’ Association, a medical marijuana cooperative that was previously located in Ivanhoe, violated a county ordinance adopted by the Board of Supervisors in 2009. [...]
New medical marijuana restrictions will go before the Paradise Town Council on Tuesday that would limit pot gardens to 50 square feet at qualified patients’ homes only. The town is now under an emergency ban of collectives and cooperatives and the new ordinance would ban them and dispensaries, Paul Wellersdick reports in the Paradise Post. The law has seen a number of changes since its initial drafting following the January 2011 emergency moratorium that expires mid-December. The newest version cuts out any provision for collectives lest the town be federally prosecuted. While the previous version [...]
The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors will hear from Mendocino officials Tuesday regarding that county’s seemingly successful medical marijuana ordinance. Mendocino County 2nd District Supervisor John McCowen, Mendocino Sheriff Tom Allman and Mendocino County Counsel Jeanine Nadel will make a presentation to the board at 1:30 p.m., Donna Tam reports in the Eureka Times-Standard. McCowen said the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors set out to find a balanced approach to address issues related to illegal grow operations. The ordinance, originally adopted in 2008 before significant changes were adopted in June 2010, sets restrictions on the [...]
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