A new state law intended to clarify local governments’ role in regulating medical cannabis dispensaries seems to support Redding’s and Shasta County’s recent bans on the storefronts, local officials claim. But a lobbyist for local dispensaries, who differs from state and nationwide advocacy groups worried that the law does just that, believes the new law could permit Redding to withdraw its dispensary ban, Sean Longoria reports in the Record Searchlight. Assembly Bill 1300, signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in August and taking effect this month, modifies California’s Medical Marijuana Program to permit cities, counties and [...]
One of Redding’s most vocal medical cannabis advocates is questioning whether a low-income housing program run by the city illegally discriminates against marijuana patients, and he’s asked the Shasta County district attorney to weigh in on the matter. Meanwhile, city officials maintain they’re following guidelines set forth by the federal agency funding the program, Sean Longoria reports in the Record Searchlight. Rob McDonald, 50, said the city’s policy of denying or terminating assistance to Section 8 participants who use medical marijuana may be illegally discriminatory, regardless of any federal policies in place. “The city has [...]
An outspoken Redding medical marijuana patient and advocate presented three City Council members with recall notices Tuesday night. Rob McDonald, 50, presented council members Francie Sullivan, Rick Bosetti and Patrick Jones with the notices during the meeting’s public comment period, Sean Longoria reports in the Record Searchlight. “Tonight I do something that isn’t easy for me,” McDonald said before announcing and presenting the notices. “Four weeks ago you basically listened to a group of people who basically wanted to violate another group of people’s rights and you closed down the dispensaries.” The notice presented to [...]
The director of the local chapter of a nonprofit organization seeking to reform California’s marijuana laws has been booted for his angry outburst during Tuesday’s meeting of the Shasta County Board of Supervisors after they banned medical marijuana dispensaries in the county’s unincorporated areas. Russ Belville, the Portland-based outreach coordinator for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), said in an apology issued to the supervisors that James Benno of Redding is no longer a representative of NORML. The chapter also is under suspension, Jim Schultz reports in the Record Searchlight. “They [...]
The Shasta County Board of Supervisors unanimously adopted an ordinance Tuesday banning medical marijuana dispensaries in unincorporated parts of the county and narrowly passed a second law hours later regulating pot growth for county residents. “I am convinced based on the testimony today of the legal sufficiency of our actions, and I also believe, while inconvenient, there’s a certain amount of reasonableness associated” with banning dispensaries, said Supervisor David Kehoe. But dozens of medical pot advocates at Tuesday’s meeting didn’t see it that way, Alayna Shulman reports in the Record Searchlight. James Benno of Redding [...]
Redding’s dispensary ban will go into effect today after a Shasta County Superior Court judge Wednesday refused to issue a temporary restraining order sought by two attorneys representing five local dispensaries. But that won’t stop at least two dispensary owners who said their shops will remain open despite the judge’s ruling, Sean Longoria reports in the Redding Record Searchlight. Judge Stephen Baker ruled Los Angeles attorney Randall Rich and Berkeley attorney Alec Henderson didn’t properly file for a restraining order on behalf of their clients. They’re representing Trusted Friends, Safe Arbor, Herbs and Edibles, Northern [...]
Staring straight down a Dec. 1 deadline to close his business, Jess Brewer was in full “scramble mode” Wednesday. Along with the other cannabis collective operators in Redding, Brewer was wondering what was going to happen to his business, Trusted Friends, and the patients who rely on it. “I’m freaked out. I’m going to lose my house,” Brewer said. “They put us out of business before Christmas, oh ho-ho!” The Redding City Council voted Tuesday night to pass an urgency ordinance that requires marijuana collectives serving more than 10 patients to close by Dec. 1. [...]
Even if the city of Redding orders its many medical-marijuana “co-ops” to close their doors by the end of the month, and they comply, does anyone think fewer users will be buying marijuana under the protections of Proposition 215? That’s the question asked in this insightful Redding Record Searchlight editorial. Whether you sympathize with patients suffering severe health problems who find cannabis eases their pain or think that pot smokers are just scamming the system to avoid criminal prosecution, it’s hard to see the business going away. Not so long as state law grants near-total [...]
Staring down a room full of angry medical marijuana advocates and shrugging lawsuit threats, the Redding City Council voted unanimously Tuesday evening to ban cannabis collectives by Dec. 1. Redding is perhaps the first city in California to impose such a ban following a state appellate court decision in October striking down a medical marijuana permitting system in Long Beach. Sacramento has temporarily frozen new medical marijuana permits but not moved against existing collectives, Scott Mobley reports in the Record Searchlight. The discussion was often heated between medical marijuana supporters saying collectives give patients safe [...]
To hear medical marijuana advocates and insiders tell it, businesses associated with the north state’s medical marijuana trade have gotten a boost — or are outright booming — in the middle of the Great Recession. They worry the crackdown that federal authorities started this month on medical marijuana growers and sellers might bring further economic woes to an area already suffering from double-digit unemployment rates, flat sales taxes and a rash of vacant retail buildings. The problem is no one — from city and state officials to economists and business experts — really knows just [...]
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