A citywide voter initiative to control marijuana odor and set rules for cultivation was filed Dec. 29 with the city clerk. The city attorney has 15 days to issue a Title and Summary so the signature gathering process can begin. The new initiative requires 856 valid voter signatures to qualify for the Nov. 6 ballot, Steve Kubby writes in a Lake Tahoe News opinion column. (Bud’s note: Kubby is co-author of the Regulate Marijuana Like Wine initiative in circulation.) When people come to South Lake Tahoe, they expect to smell pine trees and fresh air. [...]
A young Mendocino man whose legal plight has become a cause célèbre for medical marijuana advocates appeared in Mendocino County court Thursday in hopes of halting extradition to Texas. Mendocino County Judge Ann Moorman told Chris Diaz’ attorney, Don Lipmanson, he needed to submit that request to Texas authorities. “I don’t have any jurisdiction,” she said. But Moorman said she will consider releasing Diaz on bail at a hearing she then scheduled for Tuesday. Supporters of Diaz, 22, an asthmatic and father of two children, ages 1 and 4, contend that he is emblematic of [...]
Three months after federal authorities seized its bank account in a probe of alleged concealment of medical marijuana proceeds, a Sacramento dispensary announced Thursday it will close its doors on New Year’s Eve. The One Love Wellness Center, a 7,000-square-foot dispensary on El Camino Avenue near Business 80, was one of 38 dispensaries allowed to apply to stay in business by the city under a local medical marijuana ordinance passed by the City Council. But the dispensary attracted the attention of federal authorities in September when officials obtained a warrant to seize its bank account, [...]
The fight over farming marijuana as medicine is growing in Live Oak. Growers are thinking about launching a campaign to recall the five Live Oak City Council members who voted to ban growing medical marijuana. The council voted for the ban Dec. 20, which takes effect Jan. 20. “This town is disgusted with these people,” said James Maral, who started the Live Oak Patients, Caregivers and Supporters Association. “This town is disgusted with what they’re doing.” Council member Diane Hodges isn’t getting the same reaction, Jonathan Edwards reports in the Appeal-Democrat. About 20 people approached [...]
A group of local medical cannabis advocates is trying to gather 10,000 signatures to overturn a recent ordinance Shasta County supervisors passed that restricts marijuana growing for county residents. Nor Cal Safe Access member Dave Shore said about 30 people have been gathering signatures outside medical marijuana dispensaries and less controversial local businesses like Walmart for about a week now. While county supervisors passed two ordinances regulating medical marijuana earlier this month — one banning dispensaries and one introducing cultivation restrictions for county residents — the group is seeking a referendum only for the growth [...]
UPLAND — Aaron Sandusky has found another way to fill his time while his medical marijuana cooperative is no longer open for business. Sandusky, president of G3 Holistic in Upland, has gone on a speaking circuit at various clubs and groups in the community, Sandra Emerson reports in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin. “I need to get in front of all these people. It’s important obviously to spread the message and at least tell my story because they need to hear it,” Sandusky said. Sandusky has spoken to other co-op owners, has spoken at City [...]
Americans for Safe Access (ASA) provides legal training for and medical information to patients, attorneys, health and medical professionals and policymakers throughout the United States. It also organizes media support for court cases, rapid response to law enforcement raids, and capacity-building for advocates. ASA just posted some of the highlights from its work in 2011, which are excerpted below. Click here to read the full post. LEGAL • We filed a groundbreaking federal lawsuit challenging interference and intimidation in medical cannabis states. This lawsuit invokes the 10th Amendment in an effort to stop the Department [...]
One year after a group dubbed the “SLO 12” was arrested during an undercover investigation into medical marijuana dispensaries, some local activists are still fuming. About 10 people gathered Tuesday morning outside San Luis Obispo Superior Court on Monterey Street to protest the arrests, Nick Wilson reports in The Tribune. They held signs supporting “safe access” to medical marijuana and criticized the ongoing handling of the cases. The bust has led to ongoing prosecutions they say are unnecessary, draining for defendants and wasteful of taxpayer money. They contend that those arrested were complying with Proposition [...]
SANTA CRUZ — A soft drink laced with the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, a tsunami that swept through the Santa Cruz Small Craft Harbor and a woman arrested on suspicion of throwing a duck were just a few of the stories that captured online readers’ attention in 2011. The Santa Cruz Sentinel website averages more than 400,000 unique visitors each month, and the top story of the year about Canna Cola was viewed more than 150,000 times since it appeared in January 2011, Stephen Baxter reports. Canna Cola, a soft drink aimed at medical marijuana [...]
Proposition 215, passed by voters in 1996, leaves too many things open to interpretation and needs to be clarified by the Legislature. As the California Legislature gets back to work next week, there’s no more important duty than addressing the state’s budget crisis. A close second in terms of priorities should be medical marijuana, the Chico Enterprise-Record writes in an unsigned editorial. While the budget is job one, the Legislature can’t say it doesn’t have time for clearing up the medical marijuana confusion at the same time. After all, the Legislature last year had the [...]
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