OROVILLE — Backing the idea that an earlier proposed court order had been a joke, a judge Wednesday formally denied a defense motion seeking the return of large amounts of seized medical marijuana plants to a Concow collective. Assigned Judge William Lamb pointed out no members of the purported collective had petitioned the court for the pot’s return, and that in any event, he felt the amount confiscated by sheriff’s officers exceeded what was medically necessary by the group. A jury earlier this year had acquitted Michael Kelly and his father, Sean Kelly, of identical [...]
Update: Police have arrested a Fresno resident who officers said shot and severely wounded a man who had stolen from the resident’s large marijuana garden across the street from Roeding Park. Phayvahn Dydouangphan, 47, was arrested Wednesday on a charge of assault with a firearm, the Fresno Bee reports. Police said he lives at the West Belmont Avenue home where thieves stole the marijuana early that morning and were driving away in a pickup truck when Dydouangphan opened fire. Dydouangphan was one of four residents at the home who had documentation that allows them to [...]
Sep 082010
A cop pulls over a motorist who’s driving like he’s drunk, but the officer suspects the driver may be high on marijuana. Unlike with alcohol, there’s no objective way for police to detect whether somebody is impaired while driving under the influence of marijuana. There’s no breath test for THC, pot’s active ingredient, and no 0.08 limit to drive like California law sets for alcohol in the blood. Now, as Californians consider making the state the first in the country to legalize the recreational use of marijuana, police officials are concerned that Proposition 19 could [...]
Sep 082010
Incensed by the city’s determination that just a quarter of the registered Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensaries are qualified to remain open, about 80 operators and advocates held a subdued rally Tuesday and then trooped into City Hall to demand that the council intervene. The protest’s only speaker was Don Duncan, a Los Angeles resident who is the state director for Americans for Safe Access, John Hoeffel reports in the Los Angeles Times. Standing on a planter next to placards that went unused and donuts that went uneaten, he exhorted those in the small assembly [...]
Sep 082010
Prompted by roughly 35 medical marijuana advocates — including one who used the public comment period to play a Native American tune on a flute made of bone — the Marysville City Council voted 3-1 Tuesday night to change future meetings so public comment will be near the end, rather than at the beginning. Tuesday’s public comment was allowed at the beginning and the end of the meeting as a one-time measure to accommodate the agenda and the crowd. Mayor Bill Harris voted against the proposed change, the Appeal-Democrat reports. Councilman Ben Wirtschafter was absent. [...]
Tehama County narcotic task force agents raided a medical marijuana dispensary operated by a Corning City Council candidate at 10 a.m. Tuesday. Search warrants were served at Tehama Herbal Collective, 1317 Solano St., and at Ken Prather’s home on the 700 block of Walnut Street, the Tehama Interagency Drug Enforcement task force reported. A third warrant was served at a house on the 17000 block of Elder Creek Circle, Julie R. Johnson reports in the Corning Observer, a property TIDE officials said was owned by Prather in Rancho Tehama. Chico Enterprise-Record coverage Department of Justice [...]
NEWARK — A man charged and later released in a shooting at a San Francisco medical marijuana dispensary two years ago was found dead near the site of a pool party in Newark where shots were fired, police said. The body of Julius Hughes, 26, of Brentwood was found in some bushes near Jarvis Avenue shortly after 7 a.m. Monday, authorities said. On Sunday night, there had been a pool party at the adjoining W Hotel at 8200 Gateway Blvd., the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The event was billed as the second annual Labor Day [...]
SANTA CRUZ — Jon Castaline, a middle-aged disabled handyman, was looking for a place to store his tools and his medicinal marijuana plants. The rental units Jill Escher oversees on Beach Hill were perfect. While the one-car garage below a motel-turned-apartment complex didn’t have electricity or water, Castaline was allowed to install one power outlet so he could put up a light and do his handyman work in the storage area. For $145 a month, it was hard to beat. But two weeks into the month-to-month rental agreement, Escher learned from other tenants that Castaline [...]
Sep 022010
Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca on Wednesday took aim at the medical marijuana industry, citing last week’s triple murder in West Hollywood as an example of how enterprising criminals have infiltrated some of the dispensaries. Baca said the dispensaries have strayed from their original mission — to aid the seriously ill — and are now the target of criminals who see an easy way to make money and get drugs, the Los Angeles Times reports. “The medicinal marijuana program that voters authorized years ago has been hijacked by underground drug-dealing criminals who are resorting [...]
Sep 022010
A ban on marijuana dispensaries in the city of Pacific Grove was adopted 5-2 Wednesday by the City Council, the Monterey County Herald reports. The ordinance, prepared at the council’s direction by City Attorney David Laredo, prohibits “growing, selling, distributing or operating marijuana dispensaries” medical or otherwise. There are exclusions, Laredo said, for health care, residential care or hospice facilities to provide marijuana to patients who hold doctors’ prescriptions for cannabis, and residents can grow plants “in strict compliance with the (state) compassionate use act.” State law allows those with a doctor’s “marijuana card” to [...]
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