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 [...]
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, [...]
The fight over Long Beach’s new medical marijuana law is still smoldering. A judge ruled Friday against a Long Beach medical marijuana collective that had sought to continue operating despite being denied a permit, according to Long Beach Deputy City Attorney Cristyl Meyers. Also Friday, members of another collective that must close as well protested in front of City Hall, Paul Eakins reports in the Long Beach Press-Telegram. “This was not at all unexpected,” Meyers said of the legal challenge and other speed bumps that the city has encountered as it implements the complex and [...]
Aug 262010
This commentary was written by Gil Kerlikowske, John Walters, Barry McCaffrey, Lee Brown, Bob Martinez and William Bennett, directors of the Office of National Drug Control Policy in the administrations of Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush. It appears here in the Los Angeles Times. Californians will face an important decision in November when they vote on whether to legalize marijuana. Proponents of Proposition 19, the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010, rely on two main arguments: that legalizing and taxing marijuana would generate much-needed revenue, and [...]
As many as three medical marijuana dispensaries will be allowed in Stockton under regulations approved Tuesday by the City Council. City leaders for months have reviewed and revised proposed rules for pot shops, Daniel Thigpen reports in the Stockton Record. On Tuesday, attorneys and other medical marijuana advocates mostly spoke favorably of Stockton’s proposed rules before the council took action. Councilman Elbert Holman Jr. cast the lone dissenting vote after expressing concerns about possible increases in marijuana-related crime and violence. Though much language was revised in recent weeks at the request of dispensary supporters, the [...]
A proposal for a medical marijuana clinic in Nipomo fell short Tuesday afternoon after a parade of local residents hammered it relentlessly, linking those who patronize or hang around such dispensaries to everything from murder to burglaries and saying they pose a threat to children. Applicant Robert Brody of Los Angeles found no support from anyone in the community or on the Board of Supervisors as he sought to open his clinic in an industrial park at 425-B N. Frontage Road. Supervisors voted 5-0 against the clinic, the San Luis Obispo Tribune reports, leaving the [...]
For decades, drug agents and illicit marijuana growers have engaged in a delicate game of cat and mouse in the rugged, remote forests of the North Coast. Authorities would swoop in to destroy a crop, only to find that the growers had faded into the wilderness. But that predictable pattern has been shattered this summer in violent confrontations that have left five suspected marijuana growers dead in four Northern California counties in the past seven weeks. It is an unparalleled level of violence in the 20-year history of coordinated marijuana eradication efforts, Glenda Anderson writes [...]
Aug 192010
Kern County supervisors will consider Tuesday freezing the number of new medical marijuana cooperatives in Kern County for at least 45 days while they consider whether to regulate the 22 that have exploded onto the scene in the past year. In March 2009, supervisors repealed an ordinance that had limited the number of medical marijuana dispensaries allowed in Kern County to six. None of them liked the decision, James Burger reports in the Bakersfield Californian. All worried it would bring more medical marijuana businesses, organized as collectives, to Kern County. But a new U.S. president, [...]
A state appeals court Wednesday declined to decide whether California’s medical marijuana laws prevent cities and counties from outlawing dispensaries, sending the closely watched dispute over Anaheim’s 3-year-old ban back to the lower court for more hearings. Cities and dispensaries had been anxiously anticipating a major decision, the Los Angeles Times’ John Hoeffel reports, because the 4th District Court of Appeal in Santa Ana had asked for additional information and took an unusually long time to reach a ruling: a year rather than the usual three months. “We thought this case would cause things to [...]
A vocal standing-room-only crowd at Marysville City Hall gave the public comment microphone a rare workout Tuesday night, as one by one, area residents supported a medical marijuana dispensary that has been operating in the city since late 2009. The comments varied from polite pleas that the city drop its lawsuit against Norcal Health and Wellness Collective and allow the facility to continue operating, to passionate accusations of corruption among law enforcement and the Marysville City Council. “Please allow Norcal to remain open,” said one. “And as an afterthought, could somebody please drain Ellis Lake?” [...]
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