Synthetic marijuana, salvia join Santa Cruz drug scene

 Business, Health and science, Marijuana News
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 [...]

Marina man discovers Army won’t tolerate pot busts

 Government, Marijuana News
Aug 292010
 
Marina man discovers Army won't tolerate pot busts

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, [...]

CAMP, sheriff uproot 60K pot plants in Humboldt

 Law Enforcement, Marijuana News
Aug 142010
 

In the first four days of last week, the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office seized more than 60,000 marijuana plants with the help of other agencies. Assisted by the Campaign Against Marijuana Planting, the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management personnel, the Sheriff’s Office conducted marijuana eradication activities in Humboldt County. The primary focus, according to a press release, was to target illegal, outdoor “open-field” grows on public lands or on timber company property, the Eureka Times-Standard reports. Following is a brief rundown of eradication efforts last week: * Monday — Officers eradicated 20,124 [...]

Lake County pot garden found near site of fatal shooting

 Law Enforcement, Marijuana News
Aug 112010
 

Law enforcement officials in Lake County on Tuesday discovered a 10,000 plant marijuana garden less than a mile from the garden in which an armed suspect was shot and killed by a Lake County deputy last week, according to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office. The dead man was identified Tuesday as Juan Sanchez Corona, 51, of Michoacan, Mexico, Lake County officials told the Santa Rosa Press Democrat. Lake County Sheriff’s deputies, along with state Campaign Against Marijuana Planting officers, also found and confiscated several loaded firearms and ammunition in the garden uncovered Tuesday on private [...]

Big-bucks donors sitting out Prop. 19 campaign so far

 Legalization, Marijuana News
Aug 092010
 

Two years ago, when Californians were voting on an initiative that would have trimmed prison time for nonviolent drug offenders, Bob Wilson, a wealthy New York City investor, spent $2.8 million on the ultimately unsuccessful campaign to get it passed. Wilson would seem a likely sugar daddy for Proposition 19, the marijuana legalization initiative on the November ballot. He has been giving away much of his fortune, more than $500 million so far, and he believes that pot, which he tried but didn’t much like, ought to be legal. “There’s no intellectual argument whatever for [...]

Latest Tuolumne County sweep yields 121K pot plants

 Marijuana News
Aug 062010
 

Narcotics investigators wrapped up a three-day operation Thursday in Tuolumne County, seizing more than 121,000 marijuana plants in 18 outdoor growing operations, the Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Department reported. The Tuolumne Narcotics Team used aircraft to spot the marijuana gardens in rural areas of Groveland, Tuolumne and Beardsley, the Modesto Bee reports. No suspects were arrested during this latest operation. Marijuana eradication efforts usually continue into late October and early November. This year the narcotics team, with help from state and federal officials, has seized more than 365,000 marijuana plants in Tuolumne County with an estimated [...]

Record-Searchlight editorial: Prop. 19 won’t hurt employers

 Legalization, Media, Opinion
Aug 042010
 

Bud’s note: I’m late posting this fine editorial by the Record-Searchlight in Redding, which ran Sunday. It failed to stop the Redding City Council from passing an anti-legalization resolution Tuesday, but the paper helped to frame the debate. ============= There are good arguments against Proposition 19, the initiative on the November ballot that would legalize marijuana in California. The arguments presented to the Redding City Council for a proposed resolution opposing the measure, primarily related to how they would affect the city as an employer, are not among them. In a report to the council, [...]

Deputies raid Merced County marijuana garden

 Law Enforcement, Marijuana Law, Marijuana News
Aug 022010
 
Deputies raid Merced County marijuana garden

A 30-year-old man was taken into custody Saturday after deputies discovered five marijuana gardens near Snelling, north of Merced in the Sierra foothills Pablo Santa Cruz was arrested after he was seen running away from the scene, near Cox Ferry and Robinson roads. Sheriff’s spokesman Deputy Tom MacKenzie said Santa Cruz was staying at a makeshift camp, tending to a garden. A total of 8,034 marijuana plants were destroyed as a result of the bust, with a street value of $8 million, the Merced Sun-Star reports. It took 11 deputies eight hours to eradicate all [...]

Fatal shooting reported at Mendocino pot grow

 Law Enforcement, Marijuana Law, Marijuana News
Jul 282010
 

A Mendocino County sheriff’s officer shot and killed a man who leveled a rifle at him in a large, remote marijuana garden early Tuesday morning, law officials said. The shooting occurred at about 6:45 a.m. on U.S. Forest Service land in northeastern Mendocino County, roughly four miles west of the Tehama County line, said Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman. The name of the veteran officer who fired is not being released at this time, and the suspect’s identity is unknown, he said. Three Mendocino County officers, five Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management officers [...]

Warehouse alarm sets off two-county marijuana sweep

 Law Enforcement, Marijuana Law, Marijuana News
Jul 222010
 

LIVE OAK — Sheriff’s deputies seized 25 pounds of processed marijuana, hundreds of pot plants, five guns and nearly $2,000 cash when they raided five locations in Santa Cruz and Santa Clara counties Wednesday, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office reported. Two men were arrested and a third is wanted in connection with the large-scale commercial marijuana growing and selling operation, according to Sgt. Mark Yanez, the Santa Cruz Sentinel reports. The probe began when a deputy on a routine alarm call at a Live Oak warehouse smelled marijuana and reported the odor to the [...]

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