A medical marijuana collective in Olivehurst is open again, weeks after Yuba County shut it down for permit violations. The Garden Shop, at 5040 Olivehurst Ave., reopened Tuesday at noon while an appeal of the permit violation is pending, Ben van der Meer reports in the Appeal-Democrat. Employees at the collective Tuesday would not give their names, but provided a copy of the appeal, which disputes the county’s reasons for revoking the original permit. “The application was for retail use of the premises as a shop. There is no code section that requires a business [...]
Marijuana cultivation is out of control in Fresno County. When men in gun turrets protect plots, medical marijuana plants are diverted to street sales and residents complain that dispensaries foul their neighborhoods, the county has a problem. Criminals and a poorly written medical marijuana law passed by California voters bear the blame, writes Fresno Bee columnist Bill McEwen. So, too, does a Fresno County Board of Supervisors that refused to confront the reality of what voters approved in 1996. Instead of adopting regulations that protected neighborhoods while allowing people that need marijuana for medical reasons [...]
Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims and local attorneys Rick Horowitz and Brenda Linder will debate local regulation of medical marijuana and answer online questions in a one-hour chat beginning at 10:30 a.m. Monday on fresnobeehive.com/news. Fresno County supervisors are expected to enact a ban on medical-marijuana dispensaries at their meeting Tuesday, the Fresno Bee reports. But advocates of the drug are preparing to launch a signature drive to overturn the ban, and local dispensary owners are vowing legal action to block the law.
Medical marijuana is as American as apple pie, and Albany is the perfect place for a more wholesome kind of dispensary, according to a Berkeley mom who hopes to set up shop there. Debby Goldsberry, a co-founder of the 11-year-old Berkeley Patients Group who left that organization in January, applied in July for Albany’s single license to dispense medical marijuana. She has joined forces with former Berkeley Land Use Planning Manager Mark Rhoades and Berkeley developer Ali Kashani, Doug Oakley writes in the Berkeley Voice. The new entity, called the United Cannabis Collective, is hoping [...]
A massive, six-county marijuana eradication operation aimed at ridding the Mendocino National Forest of illegal pot cultivation is in full swing, Mendocino County officials have confirmed. As of Monday, the multi-agency law enforcement operation had yielded about 292,000 plants and 77 arrests, said Michelle Gregory, a Department of Justice spokeswoman. “At this point, the operation is going as planned. We’re making very good progress,” said Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman, who was instrumental in organizing the operation. Citing officer safety concerns, officials declined to give details of the operation, which began early last week but [...]
A sensible ordinance spelling out where medical marijuana dispensaries could be located in unincorporated areas of Solano County goes before the Board of Supervisors this afternoon. Supervisors aren’t likely to adopt it, and more’s the pity since dispensaries are theoretically allowed to locate in the county, even though there are no rules to regulate them. That’s because supervisors two years ago ducked the issue, the Vacaville Reporter concludes in this unsigned editorial. The board couldn’t muster the four votes needed to impose a two-year moratorium on medical marijuana, and rather than instruct staff to write [...]
Five members of a longtime Santa Rosa pot-growing family won a bittersweet court victory Tuesday when a judge reversed their convictions because of an illegal search by sheriff’s deputies. Jim and Peggy Doolaege, along with their sons Justin and Ben, and daughter-in-law Lana, stood before Judge Gary Medvigy, who agreed with a state appeals court that the evidence against them was tainted. Without the barn full of evidence — marijuana seized in 2008 from Justin Doolaege’s rented Llano Road home — prosecutors could no longer proceed against them, Paul Payne reports in the Santa Rosa [...]
Kern County supervisors took the first step toward banning the sale of medical marijuana though organized, nonprofit collectives and cooperatives in county areas Tuesday over the objections of a crowd that filled their chambers and marched down Truxtun Avenue. The Board of Supervisors could have slammed the plan into place immediately, James Burger reports in the Bakersfield Californian. But it chose to wait one week and take more input from staff about the impact on patients. Supervisors voted unanimously to approve a first reading of an ordinance that would create the ban on collectives, limit [...]
A marina in south Sutter County known for hosting zydeco music and pirate festivals will be opening its doors for something else next month: A three-day event dedicated to education, promotion and a bit of celebration of marijuana. Billed as the first annual Hempfest Sacramento — even though it’s neither in the city nor county of that name — the event will have both speakers and performers and should draw 10,000 to 15,000 people, according to organizers. “Every day is going to be a knowledge day,” said events coordinator Kristina Wheeler, who lives in Sacramento. [...]
Isleton’s plans for a massive medical marijuana farm have been scuttled by threats from prosecutors, but officials from the small Delta city insist they acted properly when they approved the project last year. In a 52-page response to a Sacramento County grand jury investigation, Isleton officials say the panel’s report on the project was filled with errors, ignored important facts and cost the cash-strapped town $100,000 to defend itself. “Despite hearing testimony from twenty witnesses, the grand jury’s eleven page report contains more than fifteen material errors of fact,” the report from Isleton City Attorney [...]
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