OROVILLE — The Butte County Board of Supervisors Tuesday repealed an ordinance banning marijuana dispensaries in the county, but the ban still remains in effect.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 [...]
As plastic bottles shuttle along humming conveyor belts in General Hydroponics’ vast Sebastopol factory, a row of nozzles fills the bottles with a bright pink liquid. The production of this proprietary mixture of phosphates, sulfates and potassium is being fueled by the popularity of growing plants indoors. Once an industry focused on orchids, roses and tomatoes, hydroponics is now being propelled into mainstream business by marijuana, Julie Johnson reports in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat. “I used to be put off by seeing the work I did always show up in marijuana-focused stores,” said General [...]
Pressure from California Northern District U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag has led to the closure of an Arcata medical marijuana dispensary, changes in Arcata’s landmark medical marijuana ordinance and a swirl of fear in Humboldt County’s medical marijuana community. As a result, Humboldt County 3rd District Supervisor Mark Lovelace met with Haag on Thursday afternoon to express his disappointment with the recent federal crackdown. In an interview with the Eureka Times-Standard on Friday, Lovelace said the U.S. attorney’s actions “showed incredible disrespect for local governments,” Grant Scott-Goforth reports. Lovelace said his meeting with Haag, which Humboldt [...]
A medical marijuana group seeking to recall Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko was unable to gather 20 valid signatures that would have started the process. Cathy Darling Allen, the county’s registrar of voters, said Friday that though the group had submitted 23 signatures, she was able to confirm the legitimacy of just 14 of them, Ryan Sabalow reports in the Redding Record Searchlight. She said the rest of the signatures either didn’t belong to registered voters, were illegible or were missing an actual signature, though the person had printed a name. Rob McDonald, the 50-year-old [...]
The one-of-a-kind cooperation between medical marijuana growers and the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Department — which legitimized cannabis cultivation in the eyes of the law and saved the jobs of deputies facing layoffs — is at risk, pending the outcome of a court case. Since 2010, Mendocino County marijuana growers with a doctor’s recommendation have been permitted to license plants with Sheriff Tom Allman’s department, Chris Roberts reports in S.F. Weekly. Growers wishing to cultivate up to 99 plants must pay the Sheriff’s Department an inspection fee and a $50 per-plant permit fee under chapter 9.31 [...]
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 [...]
City Councilman Jose Huizar is asking his colleagues to ban medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles. It’s a great idea. Or rather, it would have been a great idea three or four years ago — before the city purported to regulate the storefront cannabis-selling shops. The idea would not be to ban dispensaries forever but to track court rulings, determine what regulations are and are not allowable, and then construct a smart and enforceable ordinance. But it’s too late for that now, this Los Angeles Times editorial concludes. L.A. city government took its seat on [...]
The Arcata City Council will meet today to discuss a temporary moratorium of the city’s ordinance that regulates the cultivation and dispensing of medical marijuana. City Attorney Nancy Diamond said she is recommending the moratorium to give the state and federal government a chance to resolve some legal ambiguities, Grant Scott-Goforth reports in the Eureka Times-Standard. The recommendation does not suggest changes to the ordinance’s residential medical marijuana grows. In related news, at least one Arcata dispensary closed this week after its landlord received a letter from the U.S. Department of Justice. If the council [...]
Chris Diaz, a Mendocino man whose arrest for pot possession in Texas has rallied the medical marijuana community, is headed back to the Lone Star state. An extradition order from Texas has been signed by California state officials and Texas officials are making plans to retrieve Diaz soon, rendering moot his request for bail at a Tuesday hearing. His family and supporters had lobbied locally for his release but prosecutors said that was not an option, Glenda Anderson reports in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat. California officials by law cannot refuse to comply with extradition [...]
San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed said Tuesday he would consider softening the city’s recently approved medical marijuana ordinance after critics succeeded in qualifying a referendum to repeal the new rules. The ordinance the City Council approved in September would shrink the number of medical marijuana collectives allowed in the city from more than 100 to just 10, in addition to requiring them to grow all of the marijuana they distribute on site. Critics collected more than 49,000 signatures in a month to repeal the law, which they argued would require the creation of marijuana superstores [...]
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