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 [...]
OROVILLE — Medical marijuana will be back on Butte County supervisors’ agenda Tuesday, but this time it shouldn’t generate crowds or controversy. In fact, the item is on the board’s consent agenda and could well be handled without any discussion, Roger H. Aylworth reports in the Chico Enterprise-Record. The measure is a mandated resolution that will put Butte County’s medical marijuana cultivation ordinance up to a referendum vote during the June 5, 2012, primary election. On May 24, after a series of hugely crowded, passionate, often angry hearings, the supervisors adopted the ordinance. Applicable only [...]
LONG BEACH — An accessory to murder charge was dismissed Monday against a Granada Hills woman who was accused in the slaying of a medical marijuana distributor. The stunning move was made Monday morning when the prosecutor announced to the court the people could not meet the statutory time limit for the trial against Rosemary Sayegh, said Shiara Davila, a Los Angeles County District Attorney’s spokeswoman. The 32-year-old Sayegh (pronounced Sage) was charged as an accessory in the slaying of Philip Victor Williamson, 29, of Los Angeles, Tracy Manzer reports in the Long Beach Press-Telegram. [...]
A Long Beach judge ruled Monday there was sufficient evidence to try a 32-year-old woman as an accessory in the slaying of a medical marijuana distributor. Rosemary Sayegh (pronounced Sage) is charged with her husband, Marcel Mackabee, in the killing of Philip Victor Williamson, a 29-year-old Los Angeles man who regularly delivered marijuana grown in the Chico area to clinics and collectives in the Los Angeles region. Police said robbery was the motive for the slaying of Williamson, whom they say may have had $500,000 cash and seven pounds of marijuana at the time of [...]
The Eureka City Council is slated to reconsider its medical marijuana ordinance Tuesday night after receiving a letter from the U.S. Department of Justice threatening possible legal action. The letter from U.S. Northern District Attorney Melinda Haag warns that — despite state law legalizing marijuana for medical purposes — the substance remains illegal under the federal Controlled Substances Act, classified as a Schedule I drug along with heroin and other narcotics. While Haag wrote that the Department of Justice will not focus limited resources on “seriously ill individuals who use marijuana as a part of [...]
Our view: Four city councilors wanted to provide something for medical marijuana users, but now the users may end up with nothing. The City Council’s plan to endorse two huge marijuana-growing operations in Chico is quickly unraveling. Wow, who saw that one coming? Well the truth is, everyone, except the four city councilors who voted for it knew this would happen, the Chico Enterprise-Record opines in this unsigned editorial. Ignoring the warnings of the Department of Justice, the Butte County district attorney, the police chief and the local police force, the council voted 4-3 on [...]
The Chico Police Officers’ Association executive board said today it will not enforce the city’s medical marijuana dispensary ordinance. The association planned to deliver letters to council members today stating that the ordinance allowing for two dispensaries conflicts with federal law, the Chico Enterprise-Record reports. “Our only option is this. The members of the Chico Police Officers’ Association will not participate in any part of the medical marijuana ordinance that involves commercial marijuana growing or selling operations,” the letter reads. “We will not assist in any way in any activity that normalizes, standardizes, expedites or [...]
A letter from the Department of Justice stating its concern for Chico’s medical marijuana plan did not stop the City Council from passing the ordinance Tuesday. Council members voted 4-3 to adopt the ordinance that would allow two dispensaries of 10,000 square feet or less each to open in the city. The dispensaries would have to go through a public hearing process and get approval from council, Katy Sweeny reports in the Chico Enterprise-Record. Mayor Ann Schwab and Councilmen Bob Evans and Mark Sorensen dissented. Councilman Scott Gruendl said his yes vote does not support [...]
CHICO — The federal government has notified the city of Chico of concerns about a medical marijuana ordinance on the City Council agenda tonight. The measure would allow two dispensaries in town, the Chico Enterprise-Record reports. The council would issue permits for the operations after public hearings. The measure is on the “consent agenda,” which is a collection of non-controversial items that are approved on a single vote of the council. However items can be pulled from that portion of the agenda for further discussion. That may happen in light of a letter to Mayor [...]
Long Beach detectives investigating the death of a 29-year-old Los Angeles man gunned down in an alley in the downtown area last March are taking their search for the killer to the Northern California town of Chico. That is because the victim, Philip Victor Williamson, was a distributor of marijuana grown in the Chico area and shipped to various medical marijuana collectives throughout Los Angeles County, and that may have played a part in the killer’s motive, said Nancy Pratt, a Long Beach Police Department spokeswoman. LBPD began its investigation into the slaying of Williamson [...]
Reading is cool; interacting is better