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 [...]
SHASTA LAKE — The planning commission will take public input Thursday on proposed changes to the city’s rules on medical marijuana dispensaries. Shasta Lake is the only place in Shasta County where dispensaries can legally operate. Anderson, Redding and the unincorporated county all have banned dispensaries, Sean Longoria reports in the Record Searchlight. Commissioners will decide whether to recommend to the City Council that Shasta Lake remove its permitting system for dispensaries while keeping zoning regulations in place for the businesses. “We are looking at our ordinance and taking out all of the requirements for [...]
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 [...]
A medical marijuana group seeking to recall Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko was unable to gather 20 valid signatures that would have started the process. Cathy Darling Allen, the county’s registrar of voters, said Friday that though the group had submitted 23 signatures, she was able to confirm the legitimacy of just 14 of them, Ryan Sabalow reports in the Redding Record Searchlight. She said the rest of the signatures either didn’t belong to registered voters, were illegible or were missing an actual signature, though the person had printed a name. Rob McDonald, the 50-year-old [...]
A group of local medical cannabis advocates is trying to gather 10,000 signatures to overturn a recent ordinance Shasta County supervisors passed that restricts marijuana growing for county residents. Nor Cal Safe Access member Dave Shore said about 30 people have been gathering signatures outside medical marijuana dispensaries and less controversial local businesses like Walmart for about a week now. While county supervisors passed two ordinances regulating medical marijuana earlier this month — one banning dispensaries and one introducing cultivation restrictions for county residents — the group is seeking a referendum only for the growth [...]
SHASTA LAKE — The City Council voted Tuesday night to let this city’s two medical-marijuana collectives remain in business and to revise the city zoning code to comply with a recent California Court of Appeal ruling that has put collectives’ local permits in legal jeopardy statewide. City Councilwoman Dolores Lucero had asked the council to consider closing down the 530 Collective and the Queen of Dragons under an urgency ordinance, similar to the one the Redding City Council passed in mid-November, the Record Searchlight reports. Instead, after hearing from about two dozen medical-marijuana patients and [...]
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 [...]
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