Appeals court nixes Long Beach dispensary permits

 Courts
Oct 062011
 

Federal law prohibits California cities from issuing permits to collectives authorizing them to supply marijuana to medical patients, a state appeals court has ruled, raising questions about the scope of local regulation of pot dispensaries. In overturning a Long Beach ordinance, the court said the city went a step beyond California’s action in 1996, when state voters eliminated criminal penalties for patients who used marijuana with a doctor’s approval. Deciding not to prosecute someone for drug use doesn’t conflict with the federal ban on marijuana possession and distribution, the court said. It also said a [...]

Woman to stand trial for slaying of Chico medipot courier

 Courts
Sep 262011
 

A Long Beach judge ruled Monday there was sufficient evidence to try a 32-year-old woman as an accessory in the slaying of a medical marijuana distributor. Rosemary Sayegh (pronounced Sage) is charged with her husband, Marcel Mackabee, in the killing of Philip Victor Williamson, a 29-year-old Los Angeles man who regularly delivered marijuana grown in the Chico area to clinics and collectives in the Los Angeles region. Police said robbery was the motive for the slaying of Williamson, whom they say may have had $500,000 cash and seven pounds of marijuana at the time of [...]

Judge: Long Beach dispensary criminal cases can proceed

 Courts
Jul 212011
 

A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge ruled Wednesday that Long Beach has the authority to criminally enforce its medical marijuana ordinance. Superior Court Judge Laura Laesecke’s decision was in response to a June claim from 14 defendants representing five medical marijuana collectives who wanted their criminal cases dismissed. They claimed that Long Beach’s ordinance was invalid and was pre-empted by California law, so it couldn’t be criminally enforced, Phillip Zonkel reports in the Long Beach Press-Telegram. Long Beach was prosecuting the collectives because they were considered illegal, not complying with Long Beach’s medical marijuana [...]

Long Beach police seek clues to slaying in Chico

 Crime
Jun 282011
 
Long Beach police seek clues to slaying in Chico

Long Beach detectives investigating the death of a 29-year-old Los Angeles man gunned down in an alley in the downtown area last March are taking their search for the killer to the Northern California town of Chico. That is because the victim, Philip Victor Williamson, was a distributor of marijuana grown in the Chico area and shipped to various medical marijuana collectives throughout Los Angeles County, and that may have played a part in the killer’s motive, said Nancy Pratt, a Long Beach Police Department spokeswoman. LBPD began its investigation into the slaying of Williamson [...]

Split Long Beach council OKs amended dispensary rules

 Dispensaries, Ordinances
Jan 192011
 

LONG BEACH — Medical marijuana advocates came close to getting some leeway Tuesday in the city’s marijuana regulations, but fell one vote short of a more lenient version of the law. The council voted 5-4 to finalize an amended ordinance that prohibits medical marijuana collectives from being within 1,000 feet of parks, among other requirements. The council had already approved a law in March that outlawed collectives near schools, in residential areas or near one another, but decided to make it more restrictive. The change is expected to force 11 collectives or cultivation sites to [...]

Long Beach council trims dispensaries near parks

 Dispensaries, Ordinances
Dec 162010
 

The Long Beach City Council voted Tuesday night to snuff out medical marijuana collectives that are too close to parks. As many as 12 current or potential marijuana sites that had already advanced in Long Beach’s permitting process will be eliminated because of the new rule prohibiting them within 1,000 feet of parks, according to a map provided by the city to the Press-Telegram. The number would have been 13, but a change by the council to no longer consider beaches as parks under the ordinance appeared likely to put one collective back in the [...]

Long Beach council to vote on new dispensary rules

 Dispensaries, Ordinances
Dec 132010
 

The Long Beach City Council will consider tightening its grip on medical marijuana collectives and loosening its grip on bicycles at Tuesday’s meeting. After deciding last month to rework Long Beach’s new medical marijuana regulations, the City Council on Tuesday will vote on the rewritten ordinance, Paul Eakins reports in the Long Beach Press-Telegram. The updated law would prohibit collectives from operating within 1,000 feet of parks — in addition to already being prohibited in residential areas, near schools, or within 1,000 feet of other collectives. Also, the public would have a 45-day period in [...]

Long Beach tweaks its medical cannabis ordinance

 Dispensaries, Marijuana News, Ordinances
Nov 172010
 

LONG BEACH — Nine more Long Beach medical marijuana sites will shut down under proposed amendments supported Tuesday by the City Council, leaving 27 total locations for dispensing or growing the drug. The council reached a late-night compromise, voting not to fully support changes to the city’s medical marijuana law that had been pushed by three council members, but still adding some new restrictions for marijuana collectives. Most notably, Paul Eakins reports in the Long Beach Press-Telegram, the council didn’t restrict marijuana cultivation to industrial areas nor limit the number of collectives allowed throughout the [...]

Two-day medical cannabis expo set in Long Beach

 Advocates, Dispensaries, Legalization, Marijuana News, Ordinances
Oct 152010
 

LONG BEACH — Local medical marijuana advocates hope to clear the air about the drug with a two-day event this weekend. The Long Beach, Los Angeles and Orange County Medical Marijuana Exposition and Patients Film Festival will take place Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. each day at the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Greater Long Beach, 2017 E. 4th St. One of the organizers, well-known medical marijuana advocate Richard Eastman, said that the expo is “an educational event” that is being held because of Long Beach being the center of [...]

Pricey cannabis taxes set for Long Beach ballot

 Government, Marijuana Law, Marijuana News, Medical marijuana
Oct 132010
 

LONG BEACH — If California voters approve Proposition 19 on Nov. 2 to legalize recreational marijuana, Long Beach officials want to be ready to capitalize on it. Long Beach’s Measure B would create a new category of “marijuana business” and would tax the drug. The measure would impose a tax of $150 per $1,000 of gross receipts for marijuana sales, and a tax of $25 per square foot on all improvements to a site used by a marijuana business to cultivate or grow marijuana. Marijuana businesses that qualify as nonprofits under state law would pay [...]

 Older Entries  Newer Entries