Faced with legal threats from Uncle Sam, the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday gutted its innovative, revenue-generating medical marijuana permitting program that allowed cooperatives to grow up to 99 plants. “The mistake was made when we pushed the envelope,” said Supervisor Kendall Smith. Rather than issuing permits — a process that was recently suspended — the county now limits the number of plants to 25, well within the limits set in other counties and less likely to raise a red flag for federal authorities who consider pot for any purpose to be illegal. [...]
Mendocino County’s one-of-a-kind, income-generating medical marijuana cultivation permit process has been suspended pending the outcome of a Southern California court case that challenges the legality of issuing permits for activities that are illegal under federal law. “We’re waiting to hear something,” said Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman. The popular permits allowed medical marijuana collectives to as many as 99 plants under a fee structure that includes inspections and zip-tie identification markers for each plant, Glenda Anderson reports in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat. Ukiah Daily Journal: County pot permits not suspended The annual permit application [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
UKIAH — An intensifying federal crackdown on growers and sellers of state-authorized medical marijuana has badly shaken the billion-dollar industry, which has sprung up in California since voters approved medical use of the drug in 1996, and has highlighted the stark contradiction between federal and state policies. Federal law classifies the possession and sale of marijuana as a serious crime and does not grant exceptions for medical use, so the programs adopted here, in 15 other states and in the District of Columbia exist in an odd legal limbo, Erik Eckholm reports in the New [...]
REDWOOD VALLEY – The U.S. drug agents’ vehicles rumbled past vineyards and cattle ranches, traversed winding roads through oak woodlands and cleared a gate marked with a sign: “Member, Mendocino Farm Bureau.” Camouflaged and heavily armed, Drug Enforcement Administration officers brought a battering ram to the door of Matthew Cohen and a chain saw to cut down his 99 marijuana plants earlier this month, as Peter Hecht reports in this A1 Sacramento Bee story. The raid on Cohen’s Northstone Organics garden, which boasted of “farm direct” marijuana deliveries to medical users, has stoked a fierce [...]
The Mendocino Major Crimes Task Force on Wednesday seized more more than 100 marijuana plants from the the home of Angela Pinches, daughter of a member of the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors, authorities said. The search of the Redwood Valley property was based on evidence found during a Sheriff’s Office incident earlier in the month, said Task Force commander Bob Nishiyama. At that time, sheriff’s officers did not arrest Pinches, who has a medical recommendation for pot, but confiscated the outdoor plants growing in excess of the 25 allowed per land parcel under the [...]
A member of the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors and a sheriff’s sergeant testified Thursday in a Santa Rosa courtroom on behalf of two employees of a Ukiah medical marijuana cooperative charged with transporting pot through Sonoma County. Supervisor John McCowen and Sgt. Randy Johnson testified in the preliminary hearing for Daniel Harwood, 33, of Willits and Timothy Tangney, 29, of Lucerne. The employees of Northstone Organics were stopped twice in two days on Highway 101 near Cloverdale while delivering marijuana to people in the Bay Area. About three pounds of marijuana was seized and [...]
The Mendocino County Board of Supervisors will consider a moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries that would last until burgeoning regulations for the dispensaries are in place, Tiffany Revelle reports in the Ukiah Daily Journal. The item wasn’t on the board’s agenda, but 1st District Supervisor Carre Brown suggested putting the discussion on the board’s Sept. 20 meeting agenda after 18 people voiced strong opposition to a dispensary proposed in downtown Boonville. “It’s a sacrilege to even consider having a dispensary in our community, and I think it’s a disgrace,” Boonville resident Donna Reily said, noting [...]
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