The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted unanimously to extend a temporary moratorium on new medical marijuana dispensaries for an additional 10 months and 15 days. The supervisors also added language to the ordinance that is meant to protect existing dispensaries from closure. Assistant County Counsel Carolyn Ruth said there are currently three medical marijuana dispensaries operating in the county, Megan Hansen reports in the Eureka Times-Standard. The Humboldt County Collective has a conditional use permit with no time limit, Redwood Legacy LLC has a two-year permit and the Hummingbird Healing Center has [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
With no one from the public addressing the matter and almost no discussion among its members, the Eureka City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to extend a moratorium on the permitting of medical marijuana dispensaries. On an ever-changing legal landscape, the 10-month, 15-day moratorium extension is designed to allow the city to further evaluate the “legal parameters” of the city’s medical marijuana ordinance, which the city has been informed is in violation of the federal Controlled Substances Act, Thadeus Greenson reports in the Eureka Times-Standard. ”I think pretty much our hands are tied at this point,” [...]
While looking to arrest the landowners associated with a massive marijuana growing operation busted in October near Mad River, police uncovered an entire McKinleyville apartment complex dedicated to growing pot. The Humboldt County District Attorney’s Office served a search warrant Oct. 26 in a remote area of eastern Humboldt County that resulted in more than 40 arrests, the seizure of almost 2,000 growing plants, more than 1,450 pounds of dried marijuana and 240 pounds of processed marijuana buds. Most of those arrested at the scene were trimmers hired to process the dried marijuana into a [...]
No new medical marijuana dispensaries will be permitted in Humboldt County for at least 45 days after the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday afternoon to approve a temporary moratorium. Assistant Humboldt County Counsel Carolyn Ruth said the county is awaiting more information from the Pack vs. Superior Court case to see whether local governments can regulate marijuana dispensaries. In the Long Beach case, the 2nd District Court of Appeal concluded that federal law — which deems marijuana an illegal substance — pre-empted the city’s right to regulate marijuana, Megan Hansen reports in the Eureka [...]
Medical marijuana ordinances will once again be a topic of discussion Tuesday at the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors meeting. Starting after the general public comment period at 1:30 p.m., the supervisors will consider approving an ordinance that would govern the indoor cultivation of medical marijuana in single-family residences and detached buildings. Supervisors will also consider a temporary moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries, Megan Hansen reports in the Eureka Times-Standard. Staff have prepared three options for the supervisors to consider in regards to indoor medicinal cultivation. The first option would keep indoor cultivations limited to [...]
Humboldt County supervisors directed staff during their Tuesday meeting to amend a draft medical marijuana ordinance addressing indoor grow operations and enact a temporary moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries within 30 days. The board decided against approving the draft marijuana ordinance put before them Tuesday by county staff after spending more than four and a half hours discussing it, Megan Hansen reports in the Eureka Times-Standard. The ordinance would have prohibited on-site grows for dispensaries and given indoor growers 50 square feet of space per residence to grow in. The supervisors voted to split the [...]
The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors plans to introduce a draft medical marijuana ordinance on Tuesday with some recent changes, including the prohibition of onsite cultivation for dispensaries. The changes, outlined in a staff report, have caused some concern among dispensary owners, who think limiting onsite grows will also limit quality control on medicine and patient access, Donna Tam reports in the Eureka Times-Standard. In addition to the prohibition of onsite cultivation — the previous language allowed for marijuana in its “flowering stage” — the latest version of the ordinance also prohibits medical marijuana research [...]
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