Would our state be better off if more Californians were stoned? We don’t think so, writes the editorial board of the Palm Springs Desert Sun. (See Bud’s quickie rebuttal below.) Legalizing marijuana would lead to more people driving under the influence. Lanny Swerdlow argues on this page that it would free up police from pursuing drug abusers and generate $1.4 billion in new state tax revenue. Police officials tell us the impact would be minimal. Swerdlow cites the state Board of Equalization on the tax projections, but we’re not convinced. Marijuana is cheap and easy [...]
Aug 302010
Aug 302010
Bud’s note: Jennifer Squires of the Santa Cruz Sentinel files a “Spice” story that’s more measured and better sourced than similar stories on the subject. It bears mention that “Spice” derives its value from cannabis prohibition laws. ====== SANTA CRUZ — A new synthetic marijuana and the resurgence in popularity of a hallucinogenic drug have police and community leaders worried because both substances are legal and for sale in the Santa Cruz area. “I don’t know enough about this stuff,” Watsonville Police Chief Manny Solano said. “That’s what concerns me.” “Spice” is a relatively new [...]
A drug task force in Mariposa and Merced counties found its biggest marijuana growing operation so far this year on Saturday near Atwater. The High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area task force found 47,800 marijuana plants on the 8000 block of Atwater Jordan Road, southwest of Atwater. Merced Sun-Star coverage The plants were hidden in an 8-acre corn field so as not to be seen from the air, the Fresno Bee reports. If allowed to grow to maturity, the plants would have had a street value of $478 million, authorities said. Officers from several agencies arrested two [...]
Montebello state Senator Ron Calderon is proposing a comprehensive “Cannabis Licensing Act” to regulate and tax multiple sectors of the medical marijuana industry, including pot stores, “growers, wholesalers, retailers, and transporters of cannabis.” California medical marijuana dispensaries currently produce up to $1.3 billion in transactions and up to $105 million in state sales taxes, according to estimates earlier this year by the state Board of Equalization. Calderon’s chief of staff, Rocky Rushing, said the senator introduced Senate Bill 1131 because he believes there are insufficient structures in place to ensure California collects taxes due on [...]
CHICO — In this economy, it may be good news to some that an enterprising venture is interested in one of Chico’s largest vacant buildings. But others are concerned over the proposal for 1100 Marauder St. — a 600,000-square-foot indoor hydroponic medical marijuana grow that would be the largest in the nation. The building at the Chico Municipal Airport Industrial Park, once occupied by clothing distributor Koret, is being eyed by Plant Properties Management, LLC. The Los Angeles-based company has hopes of creating a business model in Chico unparalleled in the medical marijuana industry, Toni [...]
Aug 292010
When the Los Angeles City Council adopted its medical marijuana ordinance, it aimed to rout unscrupulous dispensary operators whose unruly customers irritated residents and operators who opened up willy-nilly across the city, ignoring a ban on new stores. But the ordinance has snared operators who appear to have tried hard to adhere to state law and the city’s rules, John Hoeffel reports in the Los Angeles Times. Among them are some of the most politically active operators whose dispensaries are considered model operations. Last week, the city sued these dispensaries and dozens of others and [...]
All the running and weight-training honed Martin Gilbert’s wiry 120-pound, 5-foot-9 frame into peak condition. He fully expected to be in Army boot camp by September. He wanted to be ready, Larry Parsons reports in the Monterey County Herald. Joining the Army, Gilbert says is something he counted on since he was 8 years old and first got an eyeful of military equipment in a Texas surplus store. His desire comes from a mix of “love of country,” a deep respect for the military and hearing his politically conservative father express regrets, over the years, [...]
Aug 292010
One of the men suspected in an armed home-invasion robbery near downtown Santa Cruz on Friday was arrested in Milpitas, police said. The 17-year-old Milpitas resident was arrested at his Curtner Drive home around 8:30 p.m. Friday, according to Santa Cruz Police Capt. Steve Clark. The teen — who is not being named because of his age — was identified as the owner of the black Ford Mustang with red racing stripes that was described as the robbers’ getaway car. Police reported three men stole $4,000 cash and a container with several ounces of marijuana [...]
After a Rancho Cordova woman complained last year about the skunky smell of pot being grown by a medical marijuana-using neighbor, one City Council member suggested a ban on residential pot cultivation. That proposal went nowhere, Peter Hecht reports for the Sacramento Bee. But now Rancho Cordova is asking voters to make the city the first in California to approve a tax on home-grown pot for personal use. Advocates for medical marijuana and a state initiative to legalize pot for recreational use say the proposed tax is so prohibitive that virtually no one could afford [...]
Aug 282010
Quirky social-news site Reddit always seemed an unusual acquisition for Manhattan media giant Conde Nast, and it’s never been more evident: Asked by Conde Nast overlords to stop running advertisements on behalf of advocates of California’s Proposition 19, which supports the legalization of marijuana, Reddit decided they’d do it anyway. Because Conde Nast said its main concern was obtaining revenue from those controversial advocacy groups, Reddit’s solution was that they would simply run the ads for free, Caroline McCarthy reports on CNET.com “This was a decision made at the highest levels of Conde Nast,” an [...]
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