A news blog is pretty useless when there’s no news to report, and since Election Day the cannabis headlines have become few and far between. Proposed dispensary bans passed their first vote by Los Angeles and Orange supervisors, but apart from that it’s back to grow house fires, random pot busts and small-town news. Prop. 19 coverage has disappeared, and its 2012 sequel hasn’t been scripted yet. Our focus thus reverts to local issues involving medical cannabis, and it’s a very mixed bag in California. Dispensary bans have gone viral with city councils and boards [...]
Nov 242010
Two local lawyers are taking on the cause of MyCaregiver medicinal marijuana cooperative in Monterey. Richard Rosen and Jeanine Strong say they will not only prove the nonprofit co-op is operating legally, but will go after the “real violators” — local governments and law enforcement agencies that have refused to implement the medicinal marijuana law. In the 14 years since the Compassionate Care Act legalized medicinal marijuana in the state, Rosen told the Monterey County Herald, not one medical marijuana facility has been authorized in the county. “While the rest of the state is following [...]
Medical marijuana dispensaries will be limited to commercial areas in Richmond from now on. After more than three hours of testimony and debate, a divided City Council voted Tuesday night to require pot clubs be nonprofit collectives in commercial districts. They must be at least 1,500 feet from a high school and 500 feet from other schools or day care centers. The new law sets no limit on how many collectives are allowed, the Contra Costa Times reports, but city leaders said they would consider a cap later. The vote was 4-3 with Mayor Gayle [...]
By Bud Green CalPotNews.com A funny thing happened on the way to Tuesday’s vote to ban new medical marijuana dispensaries in Fresno County: Existing dispensaries supported the moratorium and pleaded for new regulations. They got their initial wish when county supervisors voted to pass a 45-day ordinance banning new pot shops, which likely will be extended in August. Whether new regulations will result is less clear, according to Fresno attorney Brenda Linder. “I represent four collectives who self-regulate because the city and the county would not get on board as far as initiating regulations,” Linder [...]
A proposal to allow medical marijuana cooperatives in the city of Ventura went up in smoke Monday night. The Ventura City Council rejected the idea and instead extended an existing moratorium on such establishments, pending the outcome of a November ballot initiative to legalize marijuana in California. The vote was 5-2, with Deputy Mayor Mike Tracy and Councilman Jim Monahan opposing. They wanted a permanent ban on marijuana cooperatives. The council, along with the city attorney and city manager, said approving medical marijuana cooperatives would open the floodgates for illegal resale of the drug, increase [...]
Buddy’s Cannabis Patient Collective, the medical marijuana dispensary that Mountain View shut down for flaunting a city ban, has moved to Sunnyvale — another city that prohibits such enterprises. The dispensary’s Mountain View location was forced to close Wednesday under a court order, but reopened Friday in a warehouse on Old Mountain View Alviso Road in Sunnyvale. “It would’ve been a lot easier and less risky for us to relocate to San Jose, but there’s no way that we’re giving up on you guys!” a Craigslist ad advertising the reopening says. Matt Lucero, who opened [...]
Bud’s note: Talk about focus. Tehama Herbal Collective in Corning has been collecting daily citations in its legal fight to continue operations, yet it managed a third-place finish in the indica category at the recent High Times Medical Cannabis Cup. Now the city plans to extend its moratorium against a dispensary that’s obviously doing something right. ================== It has been more than 11 months since the Corning City Council approved an emergency interim ordinance banning medical marijuana dispensaries, collectives or cooperatives. That ban could be extended for one more year. The ordinance was created as [...]
Ventura County law enforcement officials said Wednesday they intend to crack down on medical marijuana dispensaries and delivery services, days after authorities arrested a couple on suspicion of running an illegal marijuana business in Thousand Oaks. “I have an easy message for them. Shut down or move out of the county,” said Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Gary Pentis of the Special Service Division that oversees major crimes and narcotics. “We are looking at them. This is something that is definitely on our radar.” Every city in Ventura County has a permanent ban or moratorium on [...]
A judge has granted the city’s request for a temporary injunction to close Buddy’s Cannabis Patient Collective on Bayshore Parkway, which must now close by 5 p.m. July 7. “It is a very sad day for the sick and ill in Mountain View,” said Matt Lucero, a former corporate attorney who opened the medical marijuana dispensary in April, the Mountain View Voice reports. San Jose Mercury News coverage The injunction is temporary as the city is also seeking a permanent injunction through more lengthy court proceedings. Lucero has said he is willing to take the [...]
San Bernardino County is proposing to extend its moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries for another year. Officials say they’re not ready to introduce regulations for such operations, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reports. The Board of Supervisors will consider extending the moratorium, which expires Friday, at a meeting Tuesday. The moratorium was imposed last year after the county, in accordance with state law, agreed to begin issuing medical marijuana patient identification cards. At the time, officials said they wanted to study how other jurisdictions handled pot dispensaries and hoped to introduce an ordinance soon. County spokesman David [...]
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