That's according to the Huffington Post's Ryan Grim.

2) Tiny Dutch border town of Maastricht is ready to tell drug tourists, "not in my backyard." The New York Times reports.

A Bay Area medical marijuana dispensary, the Berkeley Patients Care Collective, has a set of exquisitely photographed and crafted pot trading cards to ensure that weed connoisseurs can identify their favorite stains and extol the effects.

Medical marijuana advocates and opponents statewide were waiting for an appeals court's decision on the ability for cities to ban medical marijuana cooperatives through ordinances. However, the Wednesday ruling ordered that the case be sent back to trial court for more hearings on the matter.

It's not usually what the doctor ordered, but for medical marijuana patients the taste of "medicine" is getting increasingly sweet.

This was the first time it was legal.

That's the latest issue facing proponents of Proposition 19, the ballot measure that would make marijuana legal for adults in California.

The county's office of corporation counsel was scheduled to make its 63-page research document available to local communities Thursday, said Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson.

The California Chamber of Commerce claimed in a legal analysis released Thursday that Proposition 19 would lead to more workplace accidents by forcing employers to let workers smoke pot on the job.

Sloopy Clarice Barreau was charged with transportation of marijuana, possession of marijuana for sale and resisting arrest, Deputy District Attorney Linda Witong said.

The man, who asked that his name not be published, said he and two friends were held up by two armed assailants in a parking lot near the My Office bar on Sacramento Street at about 1:40 a.m.

The major change in the ordinance replaces the conditional use permit with a nontransferable license, which would be valid for one year and eligible for annual renewal.

Sloopy Clarice Barreau, a Mountain View resident, was charged with transportation of marijuana, possession of marijuana for sale and resisting arrest, said Deputy District Attorney Linda Witong.

The major change in the ordinance replaces the conditional use permit with a nontransferable license, which would be valid for one year and eligible for annual renewal.

The ordinance goes next to the Planning Commission.

After a work accident in 1994, Bendula, of Tracy, is now one of about 400,000 Californians who have medical marijuana cards. For Bendula, he smokes between 3 and 5 grams of pot a day to help alleviate his pain.

It doesn't, however, change the difficulty of finding a job where drug tests and screenings are required.

The dispensary will avoid full eviction, however, pending a Solano County Superior Court judge's ruling on a preliminary injunction -- a temporary closure order -- expected later this month, said the property manager's attorney Tom Porta.

The Martinez Municipal Code already includes a law circumscribing the rules for such dispensaries, enacted by the City Council in 2000. After several distinct parties came forward in 2009 expressing interest in opening a Martinez dispensary, and the Chief of Police responded by leading a campaign for a citywide dispensary ban, the Council’s Public Safety Subcommittee began revisiting the topic.

RV DEALER OPENS A POT DISPENSARY

Lino Catabran, 62, of Sacramento built a local recreational vehicles business with three dealerships, 40 employees and millions of dollars in sales. He also smoked marijuana almost daily – as he has for 40 years now.

Sarika Simmons, 35, of San Diego County, sometimes unwinds after the kids are asleep with tokes from a fruit-flavored cigar filled with pot.

Lucero, whose medical marijuana dispensary was forced out of Mountain View under a court order last month, had previously announced plans to move from Campbell to Mountain View to run in the Nov. 2 election. In an e-mailed statement Friday, he said he changed his mind.

Peron authored The Compassionate Use Act of 1996 (Proposition 215) and is regarded as the father of the medical marijuana movement.

Sarika Simmons, 35, of San Diego County, sometimes unwinds after the kids are asleep with tokes from a fruit-flavored cigar filled with pot.

Avery Badenhop, a skydiver and tattoo artist who calls himself "Tattoo Buckaroo," is now facing a potential 10-year minimum prison sentence if convicted in the federal case. Badenhop is charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, according to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco.

If Proposition 19 is approved by voters in November, the state's largest cash crop - with an estimated annual value of $14 billion - would be sold and taxed like alcohol or cigarettes. According to the state Legislative Analyst's Office, Prop 19 could potentially yield hundreds of millions in tax and fee revenues as well as significant savings in corrections spending.

Last Thursday, the Senate passed a bill that would double the penalties for people who sell drug-infused sweets.

Opponents of the measure had less than $19,000 in cash at the end of June.

As one Obama administration official told the Los Angeles Times in March:

"If you are operating a medical marijuana clinic that is actually a front, we'll come after you. But if you are operating within the law, we are not going to prioritize our resources to go after them."

It appears the Council has changed course, as last week the proposal did not limit the number of dispensaries and allowed them to be in major or smaller commercial areas.

Stan the Man Collective founder Ken Estes, who was recently named in the city lawsuit against the dispensary, said he will wait out the eviction, attorney Tom Porta told a Solano County Superior Court judge. The group is required to depart Aug. 13.

The group Americans for Safe Access (ASA) this week filed a legal brief in its own longstanding Ninth Circuit court case in California that challenges the federal government's assertion that "marijuana has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States," according to a statement from the group.

The dispensary is the target of a recent city lawsuit to shut it down. Attorneys are scheduled to appear Thursday before Solano County Superior Court Judge Ramona Garrett to argue the merits of a temporary cease-operations order for the collective.

Following a discussion earlier this year on what will happen to the marijuana industry if pot is legalized, members of the recently formed Humboldt Medical Marijuana Advisory Panel (HUMMAP) are continuing the conversation by organizing.

But the patent office backpedaled last week and eliminated the category, which was established April 1, after an inquiry by the Wall Street Journal.

According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, some creative souls at the USPTO created a new category of trademarkable item: “Processed plant matter for medicinal purposes, namely medical marijuana”.

Hundreds of small growers and collectives complained that the new ordinance could drive them out of business, despite having risked arrest to supply $28 million worth of medical marijuana sold at dispensaries last year.

The city will not enforce the new ordinance until the cultivation permits are issued in January. The ordinance will get a second reading on Tuesday.

After three hours of debate, which included 125 speakers during the public comment session, the council voted 5 to 2 in favor of the plan, with North Oakland’s councilmember, Council President Jane Brunner, abstaining. Councilmembers Jean Quan and Nancy Nadel voted against the plan. If the ordinance passes next week, requests for proposals would be submitted to the city this fall, with marijuana production permits being issued next January.

A city resolution declaring a "public health emergency" over access to medical marijuana is expected to pass at Tuesday's council meeting, but two other pot proposal will likely draw more debate at council meetings this week.

The ordinance would require that landlords write into leases for new renters a prohibition on smoking, with a 14-month grace period for existing tenants.

In the complaint filed in Marin County Superior Court on Friday, Corte Madera Town Attorney Jeffrey Walter requested preliminary and permanent injunctions to stop Marin Holistic Solutions from storing, cultivating or distributing medical marijuana. The lawsuit also names landlord Francisco Properties as a defendant.

If the plan is approved, the city would license four production plants that would grow, package and process cannabis for medical use in every form -- from the buds to the body lotions.

But when it comes to marijuana, the kids are all right. California Young Democrats did what the grown-ups would not, and endorsed the taxation and regulation of pot.

In the complaint filed in Marin County Superior Court on Friday, Corte Madera Town Attorney Jeffrey Walter requested preliminary and permanent injunctions to stop Marin Holistic Solutions from storing, cultivating or distributing medical marijuana. The lawsuit also names landlord Francisco Properties as a defendant.

Proposition 19, if approved by California voters in November, would allow adults to cultivate marijuana and enable local governments to regulate and tax sales of the plant to raise revenue.

The city took large steps in the proposal toward regulating and taxing "cannabusiness," proposing a 2.5 percent business license tax on recognized collectives and dispensaries in the city.

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 Craigs-list ad advertising the reopening says.

Berkeley is considering raising taxes on medical marijuana 20-fold. The city wants to turn marijuana into a cash crop that generates more sales tax revenue. A pair of ordinances could go before Berkeley voters in November at the same time California votes on legalizing marijuana with Proposition 19.

California's First Appellate District Court in San Francisco said the ordinance could go back into effect pending a final ruling.

Look for the thick smoke that comes with a statewide marijuana legalization initiative.

The town Planning Commission approved the move and also granted the Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana permission to serve minor patients who enter its School Street dispensary, and to sell cloned marijuana plants.

But the commission refused to allow the club to grow plants of its own, because founding director Lynnette Shaw has not yet said where the group would do so.

SF Weekly visited with applicant Igor Khavin and toured the nascent Igzactly Health Solutions. Khavin will have his permit hearing today, and all looks well, but his effort to bring legal green to downtown was very nearly toppled by a single phone call.

The Sebastopol councilman is asking his fellow city leaders to consider ways to tax marijuana sales if California voters approve a measure on the November ballot that would legalize pot.

The two-day event slated for June 19-20 will be held at Terra San Francisco and cost $50-$100 depending on access. The $100 ticket gets you in the door for a Saturday night VIP party.

Task force agents made "several covert buys" through contacts employed at one medical marijuana dispensary, task force Cmdr. Lt. Marc Alcantara said.

During the investigation, agents arranged several "covert buys" of marijuana, methamphetamine and two handguns, said Lt. Marc Alcantara, commander of the task force. They seized more than a pound of processed marijuana, small amounts of methamphetamine and cocaine, the guns and paraphernalia associated with drug sales.

Their plan would work like this: Oakland would sanction a small number of commercial medical marijuana cultivators, regulate them carefully, collect taxes on the revenue and, Reid and Kaplan hope, help keep neighborhoods safer.

A driver for the Green Access collective then loads packages of marijuana bearing names of strains like Bubble Berry and Grapefruit and heads out, often to San Mateo County, to make a delivery in what is an increasingly common way for medical marijuana to change hands.

A driver for the Green Access collective then loads packages of marijuana bearing names of strains like Bubble Berry and Grapefruit and heads out, often to San Mateo County, to make a delivery in what is an increasingly common way for medical marijuana to change hands.

After seven months of hearings dominated by passionate testimonials about the medicinal benefits of pot, the City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to make medical pot available to residents.

For example, the California Police Chiefs Association, in their White Paper on Marijuana Dispensaries in April 2009, concluded after a multi-year study of dispensaries across California that: “Marijuana dispensaries are commonly large money-making enterprises that will sell marijuana to most anyone who produces a physician’s written recommendation for its medical use. These recommendations can be had by paying unscrupulous physicians a fee and claiming to have most any malady, even headaches.

Many Chinese families in the Sunset are disappointed about the plan to open a new medical marijuana dispensary in their neighborhood, which was approved by the San Francisco Planning Commission on May 21st. But they’re even more upset with the way their complaints were treated.

The proposed legislation is fairly conservative. It would allow growing, selling and consuming cannabis, but local governments could opt out, smoking in public would remain illegal, cultivation would be limited to a small plot and vendors would face severe penalties for selling to anyone under 21.

United Food and Commercial Workers Local 5 in San Jose, Calif., is thought to be the first union to organize workers in a marijuana-related business, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Friday.

If you can't beat 'em, tax 'em.

Apparently, the thinking is that if we call them "medical marijuana dispensaries," no one will know what's really going on. Like many of you, I support medical marijuana. If a patient needs it for pain relief, glaucoma, depression, whatever — they should have access to it. Doctors can give it to them, directly, they can get it via the Internet, or have it shipped up from San Francisco or Napa where they think these "drug" stores are hip.

The city's Planning Commission voted 5-1 on Friday to approve the neighborhood's first medical marijuana dispensary on busy Taraval Street. One commissioner recused himself.

All three will be heard by the Mental Health Board on Wednesday.

Litwin said after the meeting he was there as a medical cannabis lobbyist in an effort to gain more public support for the booming, if not controversial, industry.

Deputies responded to a 9-1-1 call about a domestic disturbance at about 3:26 a.m. The victim told the dispatcher she had been assaulted by her boyfriend, 47-year-old Jeffrey Moore. The woman didn't have an address, but supplied a description of the residence.

One of the medical pot shops already has more than 2,500 clients and is objecting to the town setting a limit on its number of patients.

“Is this your first visit?” John, a burly twenty-something in shorts who checks ID at the front door, asks an African American woman in nursing scrubs. He’s wearing a baseball cap with the California bear and a pot leaf on it. The woman nods her head.

Bay Area Compassion Health Centers wants to open its doors on Taraval at 32nd. But the district police captain wrote a letter to the Planning Commission expressing concerns about the center attracting crime like fights and homicides.

Police Commission member Petra DeJesus says the City should not be fighting a legal business.

Evidently, however, crime around cannabis dispensaries on Ocean Avenue isn't included in COMPSTAT's data banks. Either that, or Gascon is stalling -- while multiple sources confirm SFPD officers are trolling the vicinity in an attempt to ferret out information justifying the department's assertions that pot clubs cause crime.

The San Ramon City Council voted unanimously last night in favor of an "Interim Urgency Ordinance" placing a 45-day moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries including cooperatives and collectives.

The ordinance also directs the city's Policy Committee and staff, which recommended that the city adopt the ordinance after an April 28 meeting, to study regulation of dispensaries and collectives and report to the Council.

The City Council on Tuesday night unanimously approved a temporary ban on dispensaries. City officials had recently received inquiries about its regulations on operating dispensaries, but because it had none on the books, the council decided to impose the temporary ban until it could set a policy.

At Tuesday night's Sonoma Valley Unified School District board meeting, the board did discuss the issue, but since it was just an information item, the board couldn't take a vote. The matter was brought to the board by Souix Messenger who asked the board to take a stand against medical marijuana clinics. Messinger also brought the matter to the Springs Redevelopment Advisory Committee in March, but that panel refused to take a stand as it wasn't in its prevue.

Greg Schoepp, a medical marijuana user and businessman confined to a wheelchair, says he expects thousands of Sunset customers at his proposed medical cannabis dispensary. Schoepp also co-owns Crown Lock and Safe in the nearby Richmond district.

would they deliver some beer too? me and my bitches dont wanna get outta the hot tub and actually drive to get my swerve on...

"The council is being responsive to the community's interest in the issue both pro and con," Mayor Carla Condon said. "We want to get all the information, we want to ensure that our residents fully understand the ramifications that are behind either permitting the use as well as prohibiting the use."

"The council is being responsive to the community's interest in the issue both pro and con," Mayor Carla Condon said. "We want to get all the information, we want to ensure that our residents fully understand the ramifications that are behind either permitting the use as well as prohibiting the use."

Someone walked into the Pacific Alternative Health Center on Washington Avenue at 11:30 p.m. and left the front door open, said police Lt. George Garcia. Three men wearing hooded clothing came in afterward and confronted an employee. They took cash and some marijuana.

Read more at the San Francisco Examiner: http://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/under-the-dome/supes-to-determine-medical-cannabis-task-force-membership-92891569.html#ixzz0nAhTr0sB

The City Council will consider tonight putting a measure on the November ballot to increase the business license tax on its three marijuana dispensaries. They currently pay $1.20 per $1,000 of gross receipts, which nets Berkeley about $22,000 a year.

Frank Mateljan, spokesman for the city attorney’s office, said the Police Department and city building inspectors compiled the list of illegal dispensaries. “We’re not saying we have them all,” he said. “This is the initial blanketing of locations that we are aware of at this time.”

Ravitch is a Sebastopol resident and current deputy district attorney for Mendocino County.

San Francisco (PRWEB) April 18, 2010 -- This weekend, more than 30,000 attendees at the International Cannabis & Hemp Show 2010 taking place at San Francisco's Cow Palace Arena, will be introduced to the nation's first retail branded, complete medical marijuana product line.

Organizers of the event, which began Saturday at 10 a.m., said they insisted on having an onsite medicating area before holding the expo.

The actions, forced by shrinking state revenues, and budget cuts will make an already dismal rehabilitation process even more ineffective

Members also will hear several presentations about emerging issues related to the Montana Medical Marijuana Act, which voters approved in November 2004.

Conventional wisdom says the Sunset is full of quiet, politically uninterested families who mind their own business. That's true, right up until a plan to put a medical cannabis dispensary on Taraval was announced.

The Upvalley city has been resisting allowing marijuana dispensaries for a year. On March 30, 2009, the city received a business license application for a medical marijuana dispensary, which was later withdrawn by the applicant.

On Monday, the City Council is set to sign off on a set of regulations that lift a previous moratorium on dispensaries and impose restrictions on where and how they operate.

The ordinance only allows collectives to have 10 or less patients, be located in specific areas at least 1,000 feet away from schools, parks and recreation areas and not sell or dispense marijuana for cash or profit. The collectives cannot advertise marijuana, can only have its address on an outside sign or allow anyone under 18 without a parent or doctor.

As expected, the Calistoga City Council Tuesday night voted 4-0 — a unanimous vote, with Councilwoman Karen Slusser absent — to extend the local ban on medicinal marijuana dispensaries for 12 more months, through April 2011.

Judge Michael E. Manning denied Pino's motions to dismiss the charges March 30th.

But he left it open for Pino to introduce more evidence when the case goes to court later this month.

The liberal senator's position might come as a surprise, but it's no surprise to those who follow California politics: Boxer is facing perhaps the toughest reelection race of her career in 2010. She's neck-and-neck with former GOP Rep. Tom Campbell and slightly ahead of former Hewlett Packard chief Carly Fiorina.

At first, the city placed a 90-day moratorium on pot shops, then followed that up with a 10-month interim ordinance. Now the Calistoga City Council wants to extend the moratorium for an additional 12 months.

A county inspection is scheduled for next week at Tree of Life, a small business that has been operating in recent weeks at 292 N. San Pedro Road, between a Laundromat and a 7-Eleven store less than a mile east of the Marin Civic Center.

Not surprisingly, the state's Republican party released a statement expressing their dismay. Also not surprisingly, the statement did not use the word "marijuana" once, instead repeatedly employing the particularly dated euphemism "dope" -- tying marijuana in with any number of hard drugs that voters won't have a choice about taxing and regulating.

So far, the most outspoken groups on the issue are those affiliated with California's legal medical marijuana industry and law enforcement officials who vehemently oppose any loosening of drug laws.

San Francisco police believed they had a similar open-and-shut case with a father and son team they suspected of abusing the state's medical marijuana law by allegedly operating an illegal trafficking operation.

The exposition arrives at the Cow Palace for the first time April 17 and 18, featuring speakers, vendors and a restricted area where legitimate medical-pot patients can consume the drug they themselves bring.

Jed Riffe's award-winning 2006 documentary, Waiting to Inhale, includes extensive footage of the first clinical study of medical marijuana users since the 1970s. It features Dr. Donald Abrams, the chief of oncology at San Francisco General Hospital and professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.

There have been dozens of cases in recent months alone. It's an issue drawing more attention after a prominent medical marijuana activist in Seattle nearly killed a robber in a shootout this week.

City Councilman Sal Torres was unable to attend Monday’s meeting due to an illness, and because a vote of four of the five members was needed, the measure was pushed back until March 22.

Medical marijuana advocates from other dispensaries Thursday called the vote “an amazing positive.”

The Mercy Medical Dispensary Collective will be the first such business in Cotati, where last year a dispensary’s application was rejected over concerns about adequate parking.

He is now looking to add the title "United States Congressional Representative" to his curriculum vitae.

Volunteers intended to submit about 700,000 signatures collected across all 58 California counties, campaign spokesman Dan Newman said.

But the decision wasn't unanimous.

Supervisor Sean Elsbernd cried foul. The west-side supervisor looked at the make-up of the 13-member panel -- weighted heavily toward the people who use, run and advocate for medical marijuana -- and wondered where the representation was for neighbors who are not keen about living near a pot club.

The ruling means patients with a doctor's recommendation can possess and cultivate as much as is "reasonably necessary," The Los Angeles Times reported.

The court's action Thursday struck down a provision of a 2003 state law passed to clarify the amount allowable under the marijuana initiative but affirmed an appellate decision to abolish limits but retain ID cards.

* Dem leaders in uphill push for health overhaul 01.26.10
* Haiti's homeless plead for tents after earthquake 01.26.10
* Scientist: Alien life could already be on Earth 01.26.10
* Study finds drop in age-related hearing problems 01.26.10

The California Supreme Court ruled that state lawmakers were wrong to change provisions of the voter-approved Proposition 215. The 1996 measure allowed for patients with a doctor's recommendation to possess an unspecified amount of marijuana.

The Legislature, seeking to give law enforcement guidance on when to make marijuana possession arrests, mandated in 2003 that each patient could have a maximum of 8 ounces of dried marijuana.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/01/21/national/a105136S79.DTL&tsp=1#ixzz0dkqKiHl1

Hill voted “yes” on the bill despite being urged to vote “no” on it by the California Police Chiefs Association, of which San Mateo Police Chief Susan Manheimer is the acting president.

Manheimer, who spoke to the committee yesterday, was not pleased with the vote.

“It is unconscionable that the state would try to balance its budget by approving the use of mind-altering substances,” Manheimer said.

State tax collectors have estimated the bill could bring in nearly $1.4 billion in revenue.

But not San Francisco -- we're the city that knows how to use the June election. While it's neither binding nor does it actually, uh, DO anything, city voters could have the opportunity to say yea or nay this summer on a policy statement that would make it official city policy "to license, regulate and tax the cultivation and sale of cannabis" and to make adult-use OK for adult smokers 21 and over, whether or not they have an ailment for which marijuana can be recommended.

The strongest support came from Democrats with 67% in favor and from residents of the Northeast portion of PA who supported the issue at the level of 72%.

''It would advise the Board of Supervisors and make recommendations,'' said Campos, who plans to introduce legislation Tuesday to create the 13-member panel that would include people who run the pot clubs, people who use them and representatives from the city at large.

A workshop will be Dec. 9 at the Senior Activity Center, 1500 Jefferson St., from 6 to 9 p.m.

But Johnson had a judging first at an American Medical Marijuana Association anniversary party held in Sausalito on Oct. 23. Johnson and her husband, Tom Fay, were two of the more than 100 medical-marijuana patients who helped select a “people’s choice” from five local medical cannabis strains.

On Oct. 5, a permit to open a medical marijuana collective at 175 Utah Ave. was approved by a split Planning Commission vote, with Wallace Moore, Pradeep Gupta and John Prouty dissenting. Last week, neighbors of the proposed business appealed the approval. The appeal on its own does not postpone the opening, however in conjunction with a moratorium it would. If approved, the moratorium would bar the council from hearing the appeal, thus delaying any opening. Collective officials are hopeful providing additional information will prohibit the need for a moratorium.

The two industries are moving in opposite directions. We all know what's happening to newspaper ad sales: The Audit Bureau of Circulations released precipitous circulation figures on Monday, with a shocking average decline of close to 11 percent over the past six months for daily papers. Weed's having better luck. The Justice Department announced last week that it will no longer prosecute medical marijuana users, and instead leave enforcement up to individual states (only 13 of which permit marijuana as legal pain relief).

State lawmakers are holding a hearing on Wednesday on the effects of a bill that would legalize, tax and regulate the drug — in what would be the first such law in the United States. Tax officials estimate the legislation could bring the struggling state about $1.4 billion a year, and though the bill’s fate in the Legislature is uncertain, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, has indicated he would be open to a “robust debate” on the issue.

A staff report recommends that the City Council on Wednesday approve an ordinance for a 45-day moratorium on issuing permits to dispensaries pending the adoption of a comprehensive zoning update.

The report points to a recent appellate court case that upheld a moratorium on such dispensaries by the Southern California city of Claremont that was based on "a potential conflict between state and federal law" and a lack of local medical marijuana regulation in that community. Claremont's ban also resulted from concerns over "a correlation between medical marijuana dispensaries and an increase in crime," the report said.

The city is asking the court to order Kimberly Ann Pelham to close “Going Green” at 735 Eighth Street. Pelham applied for a business license in May, asking for permission to operate a “retail sales — herbal supplements and organic products” store at 611 Soscol Street.

San Francisco police, who patrol San Francisco International Airport, say they allow card-holding medical marijuana patients to carry up to 8 ounces of dried cannabis when traveling. The SFO policy follows the guidelines police use within the city of San Francisco, said Sgt. Wilfred Williams.

Then-San Francisco police Chief Heather Fong enacted the policy in November 2008 through a three-page bulletin to officers. It instructs officers to leave medical marijuana patients and their drugs alone if they are using the marijuana for medical purposes and not for criminal activity.

The Obama Administration will release new guidelines Monday involving medical marijuana that discourage police and federal agents from arresting patients and suppliers as long as they're following state laws.

The new guidelines are in line with a campaign promise Obama made during his presidential campaign.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/gettowork/detail?&entry_id=49773#ixzz0trv9h7iP

“The patients are still in danger. There have been excesses by law enforcement all over the State, plus problems with unregulated medical marijuana outlets."

Interestingly, the first question from a reporter was about whether legalizing marijuana could prevent the devastating house fires that sometimes result from illegal grow operations.

People are no longer outraged by the idea of legalization, and truth be told, there is just too much money to be made both by the people who grow marijuana and the cities and counties that would be able to tax it.

Richard Lee, executive director of the medical marijuana dispensary known as Oaksterdam, and Jeff Jones, former director of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative, are the sponsors of a measure that would allow anyone over 21 to possess or grow marijuana for personal use. It would allow each local government to decide whether to tax and regulate marijuana sales.

Read more at the San Francisco Examiner: http://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/under-the-dome/Former-supervisor-to-head-committee-debating-marijuana-law--53191587.html#ixzz0r2MqoHiM

But the judge certainly tipped his hand.

And the cards don’t look so good for the defendant.

Foster’s attorney requested that argument on the matter be delayed for two weeks because the defense received the prosecution’s opposition papers late. “Unless the Court is inclined to grant our petition…” the public defender said hopefully.

“That’s not where I’m headed,” Judge Antolini admitted.

Weedmaps is a founder of The Dispensary Defense Group, headed by Richard Cowan, former Director of The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).

The foggy, family-friendly Sunset is a haven for pot farming. It turns out that the Sunset has it all: ocean breezes to blow away the aroma of ripe buds, lots of rental homes that can be gutted and converted to indoor farms, and hardworking residents who come home and mind their own business.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/22/BAEH18TD2V.DTL#ixzz0MDcNZGSp

It has been widely circulated that during his term, Andrew Mellon, Secretary of the Treasury (1921-1932) wanted to help the Hearsts and Duponts keep the oil flowing.

And by the time all the smoke clears, the state may be in the marijuana-growing and -selling business, with official tax assessments on every stem and brownie sold in these parts. Yet, one of the main reasons the marijuana express is chugging from city halls to the statehouse is because it seems like an easy solution to grab money from the green stuff, and right now the state is woefully short on easy solutions.

This Bay Area mom, who wants to remain anonymous, said she explained to her own children that marijuana is "mom's medicine."

With a stigma still swirling around marijuana users, she said she's not quite ready to come completely out of the shadows. Still, she wants people to know medical marijuana smoking has gone mainstream.

A conservatively dressed courier drives a company-leased Smart Car to an apartment on a weekday afternoon. Erick Alvaro hands over a white paper bag to his 58-year-old customer, who inspects the bag to ensure that everything he ordered over the phone is there.

Taxing marijuana - grown in abundance in the Golden State, where about 500 tons are used each year - would generate some $1.4 billion in taxes, according to a study by the state Board of Equalization.

A conservatively dressed courier drives a company-leased Smart Car to an apartment on a weekday afternoon. Erick Alvaro hands over a white paper bag to his 58-year-old customer, who inspects the bag to ensure that everything he ordered over the phone is there.

An eighth of an ounce of organic marijuana buds to treat his seasonal allergies? Check. An eighth of a different pot strain for insomnia? Check. THC-infused lozenges and tea bags? Check and check, with a free herb-laced cookie thrown in as a thank you gift.

However, the most compelling economic argument against the taxation of marijuana is the skyrocketing societal cost.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/18/EDLM18Q6IB.DTL#ixzz0LwaVuKWM

A conservatively dressed courier drives a company-leased Smart Car to an apartment on a weekday afternoon. Erick Alvaro hands over a white paper bag to his 58-year-old customer, who inspects the bag to ensure that everything he ordered over the phone is there.

Ijeoma Ogbuagu, 21, of San Francisco, is charged with both murder and robbery for the Sept. 14 killing of 23-year-old Royshawn Holden outside the Mr. Nice Guy marijuana dispensary in the city's Mission District.

The State Board of Equalization report estimates marijuana retail sales would bring $990 million from a $50-per-ounce fee and $392 million in sales taxes.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/gurley/detail?entry_id=41667#ixzz0MVv61kRA

The San Francisco Cannabis Buyers Club was in downtown San Francisco near Van Ness at 1444 Market, about the most central intersection in town. It opened at that location in 1995. When it re-opened after the raid in 1996 it became The San Francisco Cannabis Cultivators Club.

Marin Holistic Solutions, a medical-marijuana collective that opened at 200 Tamal Plaza on June 1, is owned and operated by patients who volunteer time or donate money to support the group and its out-of-county growers, said Scot Candell, a Larkspur resident and patient with rheumatoid arthritis who volunteers his time as the collective's attorney.

The 2-1 decision by the Third District Court of Appeal in Sacramento was the first in the state to allow a patient or grower to sue claiming that their rights to cultivate and use medical marijuana have been violated. Those rights are protected by state law but banned by federal law.

The men, including one who appeared to be armed with an assault-style rifle, were caught on surveillance video carrying black trash bags as they entered, police said.

They were inside for only about 90 seconds before leaving in a burgundy-colored compact car, possibly a Toyota, police Sgt. Ken Troutfetter said.

California has a $15 billion deficit, yet that government refuses to raise overall taxes to maintain a deficit-free economy.

Hidden among the rising slopes are groves of cannabis plants, a pillar of the local economy in this area known as the Emerald Triangle.

Marijuana has become an accepted part of the culture in the rural, sparsely populated region that spans the three counties of Mendocino, Humboldt and Trinity.

Patel called the sentence "excessive," but said she had no choice under federal law. In addition, she sentenced Lepp to five years of supervised release with drug testing. She invited Lepp to file for a rehearing in case the law should change.

While legalization advocates say they've never seen such widespread public support for reforming marijuana laws, they still don't expect drug policy to change overnight. But, they say, the country appears to be at tipping point in how it views recreational use of marijuana, which is now legal in 13 states for medically-approved use.

Earlier this year, Assemblymember Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) introduced legislation that would tax and regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. The Marijuana Control, Regulation, and Education act (AB 390) would create a regulatory structure similar to that used for beer, wine and liquor, permitting taxed sales to adults while barring sales to or possession by those under 21.

Supervisors Ross Mirkarimi proposed legislation on Tuesday that would create a pilot program for the city to get into the medical marijuana business, according to a report in the San Francisco Chronicle.

The council will vote on the first reading of an ordinance at its Monday meeting. If approved, the council will have a second reading with a vote next month and the law would go into effect 30 days later, sometime in May, said City Attorney Shawn Mason.

That was the word Tuesday from the Department of Motor Vehicles, which sent a revised training manual to its employees last month explaining how to treat drivers who have a doctor's approval to use pot.

Holder was pretty clear: "This is now American policy."

Today came word that newly installed U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder would stop the practice established by the Bush administration of raiding legally licensed medical marijuana dispensaries.

The governor’s lawyers have given up continual appeals of state court decisions about lethal injection rules, and instead have agreed to submit revised rules in the hopes of appeasing frustrated victims’ rights groups.

While other businesses in the cradle of hippie culture are folding, head shops dealing in roach clips, rolling papers and hand-blown glass water pipes have proliferated on Haight Street - so much so that a San Francisco politician has proposed a law to prevent any more from opening in the neighborhood.

The Board of Supervisors approved legislation requiring medical cannabis clubs to get city permits in late 2005. But initiating the law has been a complicated and controversial process.

Attorney Michael Clough told a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that Rosenthal, now 64, was denied the ability to present witnesses who would corroborate his claim that he honestly, reasonably believed he'd been deputized by the city of Oakland to grow marijuana for area medical marijuana cooperatives, and so was protected from federal prosecution.

California law and Oakland ordinances allow for medical marijuana use, possession and cultivation, but federal law — which bans all marijuana use, possession and cultivation — trumps them.

Circuit Judge Richard Paez noted that U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, who presided over Rosenthal's trials, had offered to let Rosenthal testify to this belief. But Clough said letting him do so without allowing any corroborating witnesses to testify essentially amounted to compelling Rosenthal to testify in order to mount his defense — and the Fifth Amendment forbids compelling defendants to testify.

Last week, the Board of Supervisors and the Health and Social Services Department were sued because Solano continues to disregard a state law that requires counties to issue identification cards to patients whose physicians legitimately prescribe marijuana for a serious medical condition.

The Legislature in 2003 passed the law requiring counties to issue the cards to clarify issues raised after voters approved Proposition 215, the Compassionate Use Act of 1996. Some 55 percent of Solano County voters joined the majority of Californians in approving that initiative.

And yet Solano County has steadfastly refused to follow state law on the matter.

The last time supervisors voted on the issue, in 2006, the sentiment was that the board should wait until a San Diego County lawsuit concerning the legality of the state law was settled.

As it turns out, San Diego, which also does not wish to issue the cards, lost its case. The Superior Court upheld the validity of state-issued medical marijuana cards and the state Court of Appeal and Supreme Courts declined to hear any challenge of the ruling. The final rejection came in October.

In August and again in October, the plaintiffs in the newest lawsuit, Americans for Safe Access, formally asked Solano County to establish a medical
Advertisement
Quantcast
marijuana ID program. The plea fell on deaf ears, so the organization turned to the courts.

Inside the collective's steel-caged door sits Darryl Compton, a burly 22-year-old Marin City resident and collective member. Compton watches a large-screen TV monitor that connects to a closed-circuit camera trained on the alley.

Seem a little far-fetched? Yep, that's because it is.

The council is scheduled to study the idea and a draft ordinance at its Monday meeting, but it will make no formal decision. The ordinance would require medical marijuana dispensaries to register through the Police Department and meet certain security and business regulations. The council directed city staff to pursue such an ordinance after the Police Department and federal agents shut down three medical marijuana dispensaries approximately one year ago.

The state Supreme Court declined without comment to hear two cities' and a county's challenge to California's medical marijuana law and the issuance of state identification cards.

San Diego and San Bernardino county officials had sued to overturn Proposition 215, the 1996 initiative that legalized medical marijuana, and a more recent law that required them to issue identification cards to users who had a doctor's recommendation.

Medical marijuana advocates are alarmed over the proposed requirement and are working to squash the provision quietly introduced by Mayor Gavin Newsom. They fear it jeopardizes the confidentiality of patients and puts them at risk for legal persecution.

Attorney General Brown has introduced an eleven-page directive aimed at clearing up some issues between state and federal governments. He believes his new guidelines will minimize legal worries and ease patient worries.

About a dozen members of the group "Axis of Love" voiced support for the new rules California Attorney General Jerry Brown announced last week.

Please bear with me on this I wrote it in a bit of a hurry and my spell check wasn't working.

Hello, my name is Nathan (N8 to my friends) I live on a Cal 25, for the past year or so
I was anchored in Richardsons Bay off Sausalito, Cal. But I have had to move on to "greener pastures".
I like to go for a sail or relocate where I anchor my boat almost everyday. I like that ability to change my
perspective when I choose to. Life is so beautiful no matter how you look at it, so I figure why
look only from one perspective and at the same time I can share my perspective on life.

The proposal, unveiled at a Washington, D.C., news conference, would eliminate federal criminal penalties for adults who possess up to 100 grams of marijuana - about 3.5 ounces - or give an ounce of pot to someone else without charge.

The resolution, SJR 20, was approved 24 to 15 and was authored by outgoing state Sen. Carole Migden (D-San Francisco.)

His store, Sanctuary, at 600 O’Farrell St., is across the street from an electronics repair shop and near a Subaru auto shop and a hair salon.

Commander Mark Wyss of the San Mateo County Narcotics Task Force confirmed that his agency assisted in the 6 a.m. raid at Holistic Solutions at 216 Second St.

A DEA spokesperson could not comment on details of the warrant served at 3333 Telegraph, near 35th Street, where a sign out front reads "Digitized Medical Records," except to say it was part of an ongoing narcotics investigation.

They come from all over Oakland. They are of all ages and backgrounds. And, according to a recent opinion from City Attorney John Russo's office, they can only be appointed by one person: Mayor Ron Dellums.

This would be the second deadline extension for the dispensaries, which were originally to have completed the process by January 2007. There are 29 dispensaries still working to receive permits and one club has received final approval, according to the city's planning department.

City legislators adopted rules governing the marijuana dispensaries in November 2005 in response to resident complaints that there were too many pot sellers, and that the businesses were often clustered together in neighborhoods, in some cases near schools, attracting drug dealing and crime.

Under current law, dispensaries that opened before April 2005 and submitted permit applications by July 1, 2007 would have to close if they had not received permits by March 1 of this year.

Medical marijuana is an issue that has sparked debate since Proposition 215 was passed.

However, marijuana continues to be grown behind closed doors in neighborhoods across northern California.

After meeting seemingly endless requirements and spending more than $100,000 in building upgrades, they are still waiting for that approval.

Federal and state law conflict on the issue. Federal law prohibits possession of marijuana. However, California leaves the rules regulating medical marijuana dispensaries to local jurisdictions.

The fire was first reported around 6:30 p.m. at 833 and 835 Balboa St. and was upgraded to a second alarm around 6:45 p.m., fire Lt. Ken Smith said. The fire spread to 825 and 827 Balboa St., he added.

Although federal rules state that using marijuana is a crime, medical marijuana can be legally sold in California under a state law approved by voters in 1996. It wasn’t until 2005, however, that the California Board of Equalization ruled that medical marijuana dispensaries must pay sales tax.

Last night, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed two key resolutions.

The first re-establishes the city's sanctuary status and calls on the Mayor to take action. This passed by a 7-2 vote with Supervisors Sean Eslbernd and Carmen Chu. This legislation was introduced by Chris Daly, drafted by attorney Pat Goggin, and worked on by activists from Harvey Milk Club and Axis of Love.

The resolution was approved this afternoon by a 7 to 2 vote.

Lynnette Shaw, director of the Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana, has obtained a temporary restraining order against Jeffrey Rifkind, the spokesman for We Deliver, a new medical marijuana delivery service that began operating in Marin earlier this month.

Because this is the final day, final hours we invite everyone to attend. Patients, please bring your I.D or verifiable recommendation. Special cake for patients and regular cake for everyone else will be served following 4:20.

Mark Leno co-authored the bill introduced earlier this week.

It would keep existing provisions barring the use of marijuana at work and would protect employers from liability by making an exception for safety sensitive jobs.

On Sunday, February 10th, we graduated 20 patient-students from Medical Cannabis University, who received diplomas and graduation caps for their hard work and effort. Thanks again to professors Joe Elford, Rigel Christian and Kevin Patchett.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration issued the letters in December to about 50 landlords in Northern California, including San Francisco. The resolution calls the letters "misguided and sensationally threatening harassment."

Supervisor Sean Elsbernd, who represents neighborhoods in southwest San Francisco, said he wanted the opportunity to go on record against the resolution and asked that a vote on it be deferred. The resolution was part of a group of resolutions that would have passed or failed as a group by unanimous vote and without specific mention.

The resolution calls the letters -- issued in December by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency to about 50 Northern California landlords, some in San Francisco -- "misguided and sensationally threatening harassment."

Medical marijuana activists say at least seven of the city's 28 dispensaries have closed are on the verge of closing. And they're worried more will soon shut their doors.

The closures come after the DEA started sending letters in late December telling landlords they could lose their property or face prison time if they allow pot dispensaries to stay open.

At a news conference on the steps of City Hall Monday, February 4 a group of 30 medical marijuana patients, their supporters, and local politicians urged the mayor to speak out publicly against the Drug Enforcement Administration's decision to target landlords who rent to cannabis dispensaries.

In late December, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration sent letters to landlords of buildings that housed medical cannabis dispensaries in the city, telling them they face the loss of their property and possibly prison if the businesses stay open.

James Carberry, who managed a medical marijuana store known as the "Yellow House" in a bungalow on North La Brea Avenue, and James Lawrence Ealy pleaded guilty Monday afternoon in a hearing before U.S. District Judge Manuel Real.

Both men were scheduled to begin trial on Tuesday, Feb. 5, but instead negotiated plea agreements with federal prosecutors.

Larry Roger Kristich pleaded guilty Thursday and he will be sentenced April 21. Besides the prison sentence, he's facing up to $95 million in fines.

The 64-year-old businessman owned the Oakland-based Compassionate Caregivers marijuana dispensaries in San Francisco, San Diego, Ukiah, Oakland, San Leandro, Bakersfield and West Hollywood.

Larry Roger Kristich, 65, who returned from Costa Rica last summer after being indicted, pleaded guilty Thursday afternoon to one count of maintaining drug-involved premises and one count of promotional money laundering. Each count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison. Kristich also agreed to forfeit more than $1.2 million cash generated by sales at his stores.

Russoniello has made his position clear on the issue of medical marijuana. He is against the use of the drug for medicinal purposes, questions whether it can provide any benefit to a sick or dying patient, and was opposed to California's Proposition 215, the Medical Marijuana Initiative.

The medical marijuana vending machines will be located in pharmacies, truck stops and the State legislature lobby in Sacramento. However, an incident involving the death of a tourist from Copenhagen, put plans on hold, and even threatens to cancel them entirely.

In a 5-2 decision, the court said the 1996 initiative, Proposition 215, exempted medical marijuana patients and their caregivers from state prosecution, but didn't limit an employer's authority to fire workers for violating federal drug laws.

Those were just some of the goals stated by candidates at the Green Party presidential debate Sunday in San Francisco.

About 800 people of varying ages, economic backgrounds and political parties attended the "Presidential Debate that Matters" at the Herbst Theatre, where the five Green presidential hopefuls spent more time agreeing with one another than actually debating.

In overturning a Pacifica man's conviction, the state Court of Appeal in San Francisco said officers may enter someone's home to preserve evidence of a crime - but only if the crime is punishable by jail or prison.

In an effort to overcome the obstacles raised in the raid tactics the DEA employed in earlier attempts to circumvent a compassionate community of medical cannabis connoisseurs, the feds have resorted to sending letters to landlords who rent commercial space to medical cannabis providers, first in Southern California back in July and more recently here in the Bay area. Landlords who own space occupied by medical cannabis dispensaries in Marin, San Francisco, and Alameda counties received letters the second week in December.

In overturning an Orange County man's conviction for possessing marijuana for sale, the Fourth District Court of Appeal in Santa Ana said the prosecutor needed more evidence of sales than the opinion of a sheriff's deputy who specialized in investigating narcotics dealers.

In the past, the DEA relied on raids to shut down medical marijuana clubs. Now it's a letter writing campaign. First it was in Southern California including Los Angeles and San Diego. Now dispensaries in Northern California have been targeted.

In recent weeks, DEA agents have sent letters to their landlords warning them of jail time, stiff fines and even forfeiture of their property if landlords allow tenants to peddle pot.

The letters have "definitely caused a panic," said Nathan Sands, a spokesman for the Compassionate Coalition, a medical marijuana education group.

Sacramento-based agents of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration have sent nearly a dozen letters out in the last month to dispensaries' landlords in the latest effort against medical marijuana.

However, medical marijuana advocates - who saw about 200 DEA letters roll out near Los Angeles this summer - say federal officials are being too heavy-handed against something California voters approved a decade ago.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld a permanent injunction issued by a federal trial judge in 2002 against the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative, Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana and Ukiah Cannabis Buyer's Club.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld a permanent injunction issued by a federal trial judge in 2002 against the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative, Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana and Ukiah Cannabis Buyer's Club.

Police Sgt. Lisa Banayat said the armed robbery happened at 11:47 p.m. Sunday. Matthew Doering and the teen were arrested in a vehicle at King Street and College Avenue at 12:37 a.m. today. Banayat said the residents of the home said the robbers took three pounds of medicinal marijuana.

The agency intends to send letters by week's end to 80 owners of buildings housing medical marijuana clubs, similar to notices it fired off recently to landlords in Los Angeles and Sacramento, according law enforcement sources.

Statewide police and prosecutors' organizations and 16 city governments from around California joined officials of the Orange County community of Garden Grove in arguing that the court-ordered return of a patient's pot supply would condone drug use, interfere with federal enforcement and even expose police to possible federal prosecution for distributing marijuana or aiding in its use.

The 3-0 vote with two board members absent came after a three-hour hearing. Most of those who spoke during the public portion of the hearing favored the proposal by Dona Frank who operates the Organic Cannabis Foundation of Northern California dispensary on Santa Rosa Avenue in Santa Rosa.

But Sonoma area neighbors said they are concerned about traffic, crime and reduced property values they believed the dispensary would cause.

The SVCAC is an advisory body and will send its nonbinding recommendations to the Board of Supervisors. The facility is proposed for 19445 Riverside Drive. The vote was 6-1 with Clarence Jenkins opposing it.