A Sacramento businessman behind plans for a medical marijuana dispensary already booted from one Stockton neighborhood said he’s now receiving resistance for asking to open shop not far from Cesar Chavez High School. Nicholas Street is applying to run Stockton Non-Profit Collective Inc. from 3646 Telstar Place, next to Hertz Car Sales. Street said he chose the location because it’s on a fenced-off lot and is tucked away in an industrial area, Scott Smith reports in the Stockton Record. That’s exactly the kind of place city leaders told him to find, he said, when they [...]
STOCKTON – The city’s planning leaders refused Thursday to approve a proposed medical marijuana dispensary, opposed by some for its proximity to homes and over fears of inadequate parking. The Planning Commission voted 4-2 to reject the dispensary, proposed for one of the primary entrances into Stockton, 1220 W. Fremont St., within walking distance of another dispensary approved in May. “This is in my backyard,” said Commissioner Christina Fugazi, who voted against the project. In a bid to save their proposal, the pot dispensary’s applicants gave commissioners 41 letters of support from nearby businesses and [...]
LODI — Medical marijuana dispensaries are banned within the city of Lodi. On Wednesday night, the City Council unanimously approved an ordinance banning the sale and distribution of medical marijuana within city limits through dispensaries or cooperatives. Deputy City Attorney Janice Magdich said the ordinance does not prohibit patients from growing or using medical marijuana for individual use, so long as they follow state law. The move comes two months before a moratorium on medical marijuana sales within the city is set to expire, Keith Reid reports in the Stockton Record. City leaders have been [...]
STOCKTON — Add at least one more hopeful to the medical marijuana dispensary applicants vying for Stockton’s three permits. An administrative hearing officer Wednesday granted an appeal by a collective disqualified last month when one of its applicants failed — by one question — a city-mandated test on medical marijuana laws, Daniel Thigpen reports in the Stockton Record. Collective 99, which wants to open a dispensary at 3646 Telstar Place, near Highway 99 and East Hammer Lane, will join eight other groups that have applied for the three permits allowed under Stockton’s new medical marijuana [...]
STOCKTON — Wednesday was supposed to be the day a special panel selects three finalists from those competing to become Stockton’s first permitted medical marijuana facilities. Instead, two previously disqualified dispensary applicants will try to force the city to return them to the contest, Daniel Thigpen reports in the Stockton Record. Their appeals center on a city-mandated test of medical marijuana laws, which City Hall requires applicants to pass under new medical pot regulations adopted last year. One applicant failed the test. The other didn’t show up to take it. They’ll argue their cases before [...]
STOCKTON — Deputy City Attorney Lori Whittaker, who has a sexual-harassment lawsuit pending against the city, was fired Wednesday in part for applying to operate a Stockton medical marijuana dispensary, she and her attorney said. Whittaker said she believes her firing was retaliation for not dropping the harassment suit, Daniel Thigpen reports in the Stockton Record. She said she was a finalist for a promotion just two weeks ago and that she previously had discussed her dispensary application with her boss, City Attorney John Luebberke. “He had no problem with it then,” she said. “It’s [...]
STOCKTON — The San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday rejected an appeal from the operator of a medical marijuana dispensary off Tomahawk Drive in unincorporated Stockton. Central Valley Caregivers Cooperative — formerly known as Pathways — has no business license and is in violation of the county’s moratorium on marijuana dispensaries, the Stockton Record reports. The cooperative filed an appeal to stay open. Lynn Smith, director of the cooperative, first asked supervisors to delay a decision on his appeal for 90 days. He said the cooperative is working on an agreement with another [...]
Whether this Stockton medical marijuana dispensary will be allowed to continue doing business remains to be seen. But one thing is certain: Central Valley Caregivers Cooperative — better known by its former moniker, Pathways — is persistent, Daniel Thigpen reports in the Stockton Record. The dispensary is waging multiple legal fights in the months since a San Joaquin County judge ordered it to shut down at a previous Stockton location. That includes an appeals court case and a county code enforcement action over a second location opened earlier this year. Lynn Smith, the cooperative’s director, [...]
While dressed in a cowboy hat, boots and Wrangler jeans, Howard Wooldridge sits on his one-eyed American Paint horse, Misty. He looks like he could be out of a scene from a Western movie. Instead he is waving down traffic at a Lodi intersection. Describing himself as a modern-day Paul Revere, Wooldridge, 59, has taken to the streets on horseback to encourage people to vote for Proposition 19, a statewide initiative to legalize pot. As people drive through the intersection, they honk horns, give thumbs up, wave coffee cups and cheer. “A majority of Californians [...]
As many as three medical marijuana dispensaries will be allowed in Stockton under regulations approved Tuesday by the City Council. City leaders for months have reviewed and revised proposed rules for pot shops, Daniel Thigpen reports in the Stockton Record. On Tuesday, attorneys and other medical marijuana advocates mostly spoke favorably of Stockton’s proposed rules before the council took action. Councilman Elbert Holman Jr. cast the lone dissenting vote after expressing concerns about possible increases in marijuana-related crime and violence. Though much language was revised in recent weeks at the request of dispensary supporters, the [...]
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