Three people were arrested and marijuana was seized early Sunday after authorities found a smuggling boat near Point Mugu. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials arrested three men they said were transporting drugs in a panga boat found off Pacific Coast Highway and Deer Creek Road, Ventura County sheriff’s officials said. Sheriff’s officials responded to a call about 5 a.m. Sunday to help ICE officials who were looking for the passengers on the boat, the Ventura County Star reports. ICE officials found the three men on foot near the area before 7:20 a.m., Capt. Dave Murray [...]
The Fillmore City Council tonight will consider extending for another year a moratorium on the establishment of medical marijuana dispensaries in the city. Update: Council votes 5-0 to extend dispensary ban The ban was initially enacted for 45 days on April 13 after the city received a number of inquiries from people and their legal representatives interested in opening dispensaries there. On May 11, at the recommendation of City Attorney Ted Schneider, the prohibition was extended for an additional 10 months, 15 days, Mike Harris reports in the Ventura County Star. With the moratorium set [...]
At a legislative hearing last month examining the issues raised by Proposition 19, a representative from the California Chamber of Commerce told lawmakers it was unclear whether, if the measure passed, employers would be able to prohibit workers from bringing marijuana to work. Not so, responded Dale Sky Clare, an advocate for the measure. “Bringing cannabis to work would still be very much illegal, if an employer has a policy against it,” she told lawmakers. “It would be just like bringing alcohol to work, or your dog.” Proponents of Proposition 19 have pitched the idea [...]
The Santa Monica Mountains and other rugged terrain across the region have become fertile ground for illegal marijuana growers, with authorities reporting a major uptick in the discovery and eradication of pot-growing farms. In the last year, park rangers and Los Angeles and Ventura County sheriff’s deputies have confiscated about 42,000 marijuana plants — worth $130 million — in areas under the jurisdiction of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area or the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, said Walt Young, chief operations officer for the authority. The haul is a nearly threefold increase over [...]
Bud’s note: Legal marijuana’s impact on workplace drug-testing policies is an important issue that’s been underreported. Stephanie Hoops of the Ventura County Star provides an excellent overview about what marijuana legalization means for employers and employees. ============================= If California ever legalizes marijuana usage, employers will still have the right to test employees for it, experts say, because the proposed laws don’t offer new protections in the workplace. “The employers will continue to have the right to determine what level of impairments they allow in their workplaces,” said Karen Gabler, an Oxnard lawyer who specializes in [...]
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 [...]
Ventura’s experiment in possibly allowing medical marijuana cooperatives in the city could be over before it starts. The City Council, to the delight of medical pot patients, agreed last fall to study the issue, hold public meetings and look at crafting potential land-use language allowing medical marijuana cooperatives and collectives in certain areas, the Ventura County Star reports. Nonprofit collectives and cooperatives typically are operated by medical marijuana users and focused on patient care, in contrast to for-profit retail dispensaries that are illegal. The council tonight will revisit the controversial topic along with an option [...]
The discovery of 1,000 marijuana plants inside a Lockwood Valley house led detectives to a San Fernando Valley dispensary. Investigators later determined the dispensary sold millions of dollars worth of pot illegally and tried to hide the profits by moving the money between fake businesses, authorities say. Three co-owners of the dispensary were arrested recently on suspicion of money laundering, and details of the allegations emerged this week in a search warrant affidavit and interviews with officials. Steven Kall, 55, and Anne Adams, 47, both of Sherman Oaks, and Jimmy Silva, 26, of Northridge are [...]
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 [...]
Drug investigators have arrested a Thousand Oaks couple on suspicion of operating an illegal marijuana delivery business and are seeking child endangerment charges because food cooked with marijuana was found in a refrigerator at the couple’s home, authorities said Tuesday. Investigators said Fabian Citraro, 32, and his wife, Amanda Citraro, 30, are owners of Mary Jane’s Bud in the 3500 block of Old Conejo Road, Thousand Oaks. Their arrests last week capped a monthlong investigation by the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department. According to its website, Mary Jane’s is a medical marijuana collective and delivery group [...]
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