Collectives | CalPotNews.com

Collective president hits Upland speaking circuit

Dec 282011

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 [...]

Delivery services on rise as dispensaries shut down

Dispensaries

Dec 262011

Medithrive, a cannabis dispensary in San Francisco’s Mission District that was forced to close last month, has re-emerged as a delivery-only service, part of a growing trend in California’s billion-dollar medical marijuana industry that’s recently come under attack by federal authorities. Threats of property forfeiture, fines, lawsuits and raids this winter have made brick-and-mortar locations less enticing to pot entrepreneurs, David Downs reports for the San Francisco Chronicle. Hundreds of storefronts have closed amid the new federal crackdown. Delivery services remain, offering a lower-profile, albeit more dangerous, alternative. “It just makes sense. When you have [...]

Appeal of judge’s ruling delays Red Bluff cultivation trial

Courts

Oct 052011

RED BLUFF — About to enter its third year, the marijuana case against two Red Bluff men was prolonged once more Tuesday, this time pending the decision of a state appellate court. Proceedings for Joseph Froome, 49, and his son-in-law Daniel Ludwig, 28, were continued to 9 a.m. Nov. 21 in Tehama County Superior Court. The two are charged with cultivation of marijuana and possession of marijuana for sale in connection with an Oct. 21, 2009, raid on a Baker Road warehouse. Froome also faces eight counts of money laundering, Janet O’Neill reports in the [...]

Collective makes bid for San Mateo County permit

Dispensaries

Jul 192011

San Mateo resident Rob Bueno knows it won’t be easy to convince San Mateo County to let him open a medical marijuana dispensary in an unincorporated pocket of Redwood City. He is well aware that the county has not allowed any medical pot clubs since the Board of Supervisors adopted an ordinance in 2009 allowing them in unincorporated areas, Bonnie Eslinger reports in the Palo Alto Daily News. “I’m sure there will be people protesting it,” Bueno said. “But if the county didn’t really want to have these, why do they even have a law?” [...]

3 charged in connection with 2010 Butte County raids

Law Enforcement

Jun 242011

The first charges have been filed against one of the Butte County medical marijuana dispensaries raided in June 2010. Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey announced Wednesday that three Forest Ranch residents have been arrested on three felony counts of sales of marijuana and one count of possession for sale of marijuana, the Chico Enterprise-Record reports. Jason Allen Anderson, 35; Michael Franklin Anderson, 46; and Kaitlin Christine Sanchez, 23, operated the Mountainside Patient Collective at 3330 Highway 32 west of Chico. The Anderson brothers are also charged with cultivation and possession for sale of marijuana, [...]

Judge tosses case against Bakersfield-area collective

Courts

May 252011

A Superior Court judge has thrown out a criminal case against a Bakersfield-area medical marijuana cooperative that was shut down in 2009, saying the search warrant that led to the closure was based on incomplete information because it omitted a tape recording that seemed to indicate the cooperative was complying with the law. Judge Michael Dellostritto on Friday called the affidavit in support of the search warrant “false and misleading,” Courtenay Edelhart reports in the Bakersfield Californian. He said he never would have issued the warrant had he heard the recording. Defense attorney H.A. Sala [...]

Mendo collective drivers charged by Sonoma DA

Law Enforcement

May 232011

Northstone Organics, a medical marijuana cooperative based in Mendocino County, appears to be about as legitimate as such an organization can be. It has a Mendocino County sheriff’s permit to grow medical marijuana as a cooperative and undergoes county inspections, Glenda Anderson reports in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat. Its plants are tagged with Sheriff’s Office zip ties, a measure aimed at protecting them from being seized by law enforcement. “If what Northstone Organics is doing isn’t legal, no collective or cooperative is legal,” said Mendocino County Supervisor John McCowen, who spearheaded the county’s medical [...]

Tehama County planners delay dispensary vote

Dispensaries

May 202011

RED BLUFF — Trying to avoid a deadlock while seeking more time to get questions answered, the Tehama County Planning Commission on Thursday delayed a vote on regulating medical marijuana dispensaries until June 9. The Board of Supervisors aims to get a permanent ordinance either banning dispensaries or regulating them in place before September, when a nonrenewable moratorium expires. Any vote on the two drafts by the commission is advisory, Janet O’Neill reports in the Redding Record Searchlight. “I would be leaning toward the ban ordinance,” panel member Lynn DeFreece said toward the end of [...]

San Jose nets $290K in first dispensary tax report

Dispensaries

May 152011

For the last couple of years, medical marijuana has been a booming business in San Jose, but now it’s also a promising new source of tax revenue, according to new figures released by the city’s finance department. San Jose officials say the city’s medical marijuana collectives paid $290,000 in the first month the city levied a 7 percent tax on businesses selling the drug, John Woolfolk reports in the San Jose Mercury Register. Councilman Pierluigi Oliverio, who has led the city effort to regulate and tax medical marijuana collectives, called it a positive sign for [...]

Chico City Council set to hear collective regulations

Collectives, Medical marijuana, Ordinances

Feb 282011

The Chico City Council will consider potential regulations Tuesday on the cultivation, processing and distribution of medical marijuana by collectives and cooperatives after passing restrictions on residential medical marijuana grows late last year. The city has been vetting an ordinance that would regulate medical marijuana for more than a year, Toni Scott reports in the Chico Enterprise-Record. In December, the council adopted regulations that limit medical marijuana grows in residential neighborhoods. The council decided to consider restrictions on collectives and cooperatives at a later date. The current language of the proposed ordinance would allow for [...]