If Hesperia planning commissioners vote as staff recommends on Thursday, the medical marijuana dispensaries proposal by the West Coast Patients Group could become a distant pipe dream. But at previous meetings, several of the five-member commission expressed mixed feelings about the issue. They noted that they knew people with serious health conditions who were helped by smoking medicinal marijuana. Only Vice Chair Bill Muller’s comments appeared to lean against allowing the dispensaries, Hesperia Star Editor Peter Day reports. “There’s much more at stake,” Muller said. “We have to look at the community at large.” The [...]
Medical marijuana advocates have obtained enough signatures to qualify a ballot measure that could force a repeal of new restrictions on storefront collectives in San Diego. Citizens for Patient Rights, the Patient Care Association and the California Cannabis Coalition submitted 44,106 signatures — 31,029 of which were deemed valid, San Diego City Clerk Liz Maland said Wednesday. After it is formally presented with the matter, the City Council will have 10 days to either repeal the ordinance or put the question to the voters, Christopher Cadelago reports in the San Diego Union-Tribune. Leaders of the [...]
What is it that makes marijuana more frightening to the federal government than cocaine or morphine? The Drug Enforcement Administration has steadfastly, over decades, listed marijuana as a Schedule I drug, meaning that it has no medical value and that the potential for abuse is high. Cocaine and morphine, far more dangerous and habit-forming, are listed as Schedule II because they have some medical value. Last week the DEA ruled once again, a decade after it made the same decision, that marijuana is a potentially dangerous drug without known medical benefits. During the intervening 10 [...]
RED BLUFF — A judge Tuesday deferred a ruling on special jury instructions until the upcoming marijuana trial of Red Bluff businessman Joe Froome and his son-in-law, Daniel Ludwig. Judge S. William Abel, retired from Colusa County Superior Court, told attorneys he was reluctant before hearing the evidence to grant the defense motion asking to instruct jurors on medical cannabis law. “I just think I’m kind of in a Never-Neverland before I hear the facts,” he said. Both Froome, 48, and Ludwig, 27, are charged with cultivation of marijuana and possession of marijuana for sale. [...]
A San Jose law firm representing the city of Gilroy in its efforts to keep medical marijuana dispensary MediLeaf out of town has released more than 60 pages of attorney bills that offer a glimpse into the city’s $200,000-plus legal tab. Berliner Cohen released copies of the bills – 62 pages worth totaling $202,500 – following a public records request by the Gilroy Dispatch. The copies are heavily redacted, the Dispatch’s Mark Powell reports, with many details regarding meetings between city officials and attorneys blacked out. “I had originally forecast it would be more than [...]
DANVILLE — The Town Council is moving toward a permanent ban on marijuana dispensaries. The council, with member Newell Arnerich absent, discussed the issue Tuesday. No formal vote was taken, but the other members — Mayor Karen Stepper, Candace Andersen, Robert Storer and Mike Doyle — directed the town’s staff to draft a resolution to ban dispensaries. City Attorney Rob Ewing said it would likely come to the council in September for adoption, Eric Louie reports in the Contra Costa Times. “I don’t know why we would change what we’re doing,” Stepper said. Andersen said [...]
Medical marijuana dispensaries are banned from operating in Nevada County. County Supervisors voted 4-1 Tuesday to ban dispensaries from opening up in the unincorporated county, following the lead of Grass Valley and Nevada City, which have banned dispensaries, and the Town of Truckee, which doesn’t allow for dispensaries in its zoning. District 3 Supervisor Terry Lamphier opposed the ban, Kyle Magin reports in The Union. “”We cannot make decisions based upon the welfare of a small number of people,” said District 1 Supervisor Nate Beason, in reference to advocates for medical marijuana who were present [...]
An illegal marijuana garden in Dobbins where a man allegedly fired a shot at deputies contained thousands of plants, a Yuba County Sheriff’s Department spokesman said Tuesday. A search for a man — apparently a caretaker for the garden — was called off late Tuesday morning after about three hours, Rob Young reports in the Appeal-Democrat. The incident in the 10000 block of Marysville Road began about 7:30 a.m. when deputies went to eradicate the plants. When the deputies were about 30 yards away, they saw the man in the garden and tried to detain [...]
11:55 a.m.: Dozens packed the Fresno County Board of Supervisors’ chambers this morning to protest efforts to rein in the local medical marijuana trade. But the objections fell short. Amid the vocal and at times unruly crowd, supervisors unanimously approved an ordinance that would shut down the county’s more than 15 storefront pot dispensaries and confine marijuana cultivation to a handful of industrial areas. The law must be voted on a second time before taking effect, Kurtis Alexander reports in the Fresno Bee. The second hearing is scheduled for Aug. 9. Updated Fresno Bee story [...]
The clock is ticking on 26 medical marijuana dispensaries throughout San Bernardino County, including two on the mountain, as the county moves to shut them down. But even as enforcement efforts move ahead, a pair of recent court rulings has cast doubt on the county’s ability to force the dispensaries to close, Glenn Barr reports in the Mountain News. Acting under a land-use regulation enacted by county supervisors, effective on May 5, Code Enforcement officials have begun a 13-step compliance process against all 26, including Budmart in Skyforest and the Woodland Healing Center in Crestline, [...]
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