Oh lord, stuck in Lodi with medipot moratorium again
Folks hoping to open medical marijuana dispensaries in Lodi are going to have to wait at least another year.
The City Council voted Wednesday to extend Lodi’s existing moratorium on medical pot shops to April 13, 2011, Stockton Record reporter Daniel Thigpen writes here.
Before drafting a set of rules, City Attorney Steve Schwabauer said he wants more time to watch pending court cases elsewhere in California that might affect the ability of cities to regulate the dispensaries.
City Councilman Larry Hansen said he wondered whether a statewide petition to legalize recreational marijuana, proposed for the November ballot, could additionally alter the issue. [...]
Walnut Creek construction firm eager to build canna-business
Medical marijuana superstore? Check. Pot legalization ballot? Check. Custom-made grow room? Check.
At least since January. That is when the owners of Good Green Builders became what may be the first construction company in California, and the nation, aimed at the medical cannabis industry. (Angela Woodall’s article in the Oakland Tribune appears here sans hyperlink to the story’s subject.)
Good Green Builders will make hydroponic grow rooms for the cultivation of nonsmokeable crops, from orchids to tomatoes. But William McKenzie, Brian Mitchell and Brett McCormick decided the time was right to piggyback on the profit potential of medical marijuana.
The potential is great, [...]
Media reports help clear smoke on Cannapalooza cancellation
An organizer for a marijuana-related convention in Las Vegas said he was “ambushed” when he called for a Jan. 27 meeting with law enforcement officers and Mandalay Bay officials to discuss security concerns for his March event, according to this detailed article in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. (The Associated Press offers this reworked article here; nothing is posted in the Las Vegas Sun.)
He walked into a room of more than 100 Metropolitan Police Department officers, county sheriffs, undercover vice cops, surveillance and security staff from Mandalay Bay, gaming control and alcohol bureau officers.
“I felt ambushed, like Gen. Custer surrounded by [...]
Mendocino County medipot lawsuit hearing postponed
A lawsuit calling for Mendocino County to stop enforcing its medical marijuana regulations was continued for the second time Friday, and more delays may be in the offing, according to filing attorney J. David Nick.
The suit, filed in September, calls for the court to bar the county from enforcing its marijuana cultivation code on the basis that the regulations are pre-empted by state law, the Ukiah Daily Journal’s Tiffany Revelle reports here.
A hearing to decide whether a preliminary injunction would be granted was scheduled first for Oct. 9, then for Friday. The new date – for now – is May [...]
Man arrested on plane blames medipot OD for odd behavior
A San Francisco man claims he was high on a double dose of medical marijuana cookies when he screamed, dropped his pants and attacked crew members on a cross-country flight, forcing its diversion to Pittsburgh, the FBI said Wednesday in this AP story picked up by the Washington Post.
Kinman Chan, 30, was charged in a criminal complaint with interfering with the duties of a flight attendant on allegations that he fought with crew members of US Airways Flight 1447 from Philadelphia to Los Angeles on Sunday. His federal public defender, Jay Finkelstein, declined to comment.
Crew members said Chan made odd [...]
Monterey County grow house bust yields 300 plants
Monterey County sheriff’s deputies today reported seizing more than 300 marijuana plants from an indoor growing operation at a house in Prunedale.
The discovery was made Tuesday after deputies said they learned about the operation at a Chester Drive home and a search warrant was issued.
It is the third indoor marijuana operation discovered in Prunedale in the past month, the Monterey County Herald reports here.
The 303 marijuana plants seized Tuesday were growing in various stages in what deputies described as a sophisticated hydroponic system. The electricity meter to the home was bypassed, deputies said.
Jesse John Crow, 33, was being sought in [...]
With Fresno in the lead, Valley towns rush to close dispensaries
Fresno isn’t the only central San Joaquin Valley community working to weed out medical-marijuana dispensaries. In recent months, counties and smaller cities across the Valley have been scrambling to pass laws banning the businesses, The Fresno Bee reports here.
At least six cities and two counties in the region have approved temporary or permanent bans on dispensaries — apparently in response to a new Obama administration policy that has prompted several such clubs to open up in the Valley.
Fresno’s effort to shutter dispensaries may have led many of them to look for more receptive communities, but with little luck. Shortly after [...]
Monterey latest to enact moratorium on dispensaries
Monterey’s moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries received final approval by a 4-1 vote Tuesday, according to the Monterey County Herald.
The emergency ordinance set a 45-day moratorium and could be extended, Herald reporter Kevin Rowe writes.
The law needed a supermajority of four councilmembers to be enacted as an emergency measure. It received initial approval Jan. 19.
The issue arose with the opening of the medical marijuana dispensary MyCaregiver Inc. on Lighthouse Avenue in November.
City Attorney Deborah Mall and Assistant City Manager Fred Cohn, who served MyCaregiver with a cease-and-desist order, said the nature of the business was not fully disclosed when its [...]
Opinion: Supreme Court ruling gives counties flexibility on pot rules
Cannabis author Chris Conrad wrote this guest column in the Crescent City Daily Triplicate in conjunction with Redwood Coast Collective. I haven’t read a more concise summary of the recent Kelly ruling by the state Supreme Court, and Conrad’s calls to action in Del Norte County would be well-heeded elsewhere.
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A new California Supreme Court ruling brings needed clarity to state cannabis laws and vindicates the former Del Norte County medical marijuana guidelines.
Like the state guidelines, a county ordinance can now provide patients with a legal safe harbor of qualified immunity from arrest and prosecution, but it cannot be used in [...]
S.F. man acquitted of marijuana robbery, murder
A 25-year-old San Francisco man was acquitted of murder and attempted murder charges today in connection with a marijuana robbery that ended in the victim’s slaying.
Max Reyes, a laborer with no criminal record, broke down in tears after the verdict was read in San Francisco Superior Court and thanked jurors repeatedly, writes Jaxon Van Derbeken of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Reyes had been accused of first-degree murder for allegedly participating in the Nov. 3, 2008, robbery that led to the slaying of 36-year-old John Rogers, Chronicle reporter Van Derbeken reports.
Prosecutors said Reyes was not the gunman who shot Rogers in his [...]
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