Hempfest Sacramento to set up in south Sutter

 Events
Aug 012011
 

A marina in south Sutter County known for hosting zydeco music and pirate festivals will be opening its doors for something else next month: A three-day event dedicated to education, promotion and a bit of celebration of marijuana. Billed as the first annual Hempfest Sacramento — even though it’s neither in the city nor county of that name — the event will have both speakers and performers and should draw 10,000 to 15,000 people, according to organizers. “Every day is going to be a knowledge day,” said events coordinator Kristina Wheeler, who lives in Sacramento. [...]

Isleton rebuts Sac County grand jury accusations

 Government
Jul 282011
 

Isleton’s plans for a massive medical marijuana farm have been scuttled by threats from prosecutors, but officials from the small Delta city insist they acted properly when they approved the project last year. In a 52-page response to a Sacramento County grand jury investigation, Isleton officials say the panel’s report on the project was filled with errors, ignored important facts and cost the cash-strapped town $100,000 to defend itself. “Despite hearing testimony from twenty witnesses, the grand jury’s eleven page report contains more than fifteen material errors of fact,” the report from Isleton City Attorney [...]

Kern County eyes ban on collectives, marijuana gardens

 Dispensaries
Jul 262011
 

Kern County supervisors, in the face of clarified laws, will consider in a week banning “store-front” medical marijuana collectives, outdoor cultivation of marijuana and sale of edible versions of the product. Sheriff Donny Youngblood supports the ordinance and is looking forward to the prospect of enforcement. Medical marijuana cooperative operators are less enthusiastic, James Burger reports in the Bakersfield Californian. “I believe this is probably the worst thing they can do,” said Jarrod Jarvis of the Kern County Medicinal Collective. “You’re going to force tens of thousands of patients in Kern County back out on [...]

Appeal editorial: DEA should stop lying about cannabis

 Media
Jul 232011
 

Once again, government servants have told Americans that marijuana ranks right up there with heroin. The Drug Enforcement Administration ruled on July 8 that marijuana has “no accepted medical use” and will continue as a Schedule 1 drug — the most forbidden category. The DEA is a law enforcement bureaucracy, the Appeal-Democrat of Marysville observes in this refreshingly blunt editorial. The medical opinions of law enforcement bureaucrats should be of little interest. We do not ask cops to make laws; we pay cops to enforce the laws established by constitutions or enacted by the people [...]

Berkeley medical cannabis panel set to meet Thursday

 Dispensaries
Jul 202011
 

After months of delay, Berkeley’s new Medical Cannabis Commission will meet for the first time on Thursday, ushering in, city officials hope, a new era of oversight and accountability. For the past 15 years the medical marijuana business has operated in a gray zone, legal in the city and the state but at risk from crackdowns by the federal government, which does not recognize cannabis as medicine. Despite this uncertainty, the medical cannabis industry has flourished in Berkeley, spawning three dispensaries, numerous collectives and cultivators, and thousands of patients coming from around the Bay Area. [...]

Federal memo stirs concern among cannabis growers

 Marijuana News
Jul 192011
 

In October 2009, medical marijuana advocates celebrated a U.S. Department of Justice memo declaring that federal authorities wouldn’t target the legal use of medicinal pot in states where it is permitted. The memo from Deputy U.S. Attorney General David Ogden was credited with accelerating a California medical marijuana boom, including a proliferation of dispensaries that now handle more than $1 billion in pot transactions. But last month brought a new memo from another deputy attorney general, James Cole. And this time, it is stirring industry fears of federal raids on pot dispensaries and sweeping crackdowns [...]

Pot gardens blamed for Tulare County town’s water woes

 Cultivation
Jul 192011
 

Seville’s 400 residents have lived years with tainted drinking water from their only well, but they say there is a new problem in town — water-hogging marijuana gardens. The outdoor gardens planted in the last year are taking so much of the town’s water that it sometimes takes 45 minutes to fill the kitchen sink for dish washing, they say. But it appears little can be done to fix the problem in this Tulare County community north of Visalia, Mark Grossi reports in the Fresno Bee. Law enforcement authorities say the gardens are legal because [...]

L.A. Times editorial: Research cannabis, don’t fear it

 Opinion, Pot-pourri
Jul 132011
 

What is it that makes marijuana more frightening to the federal government than cocaine or morphine? The Drug Enforcement Administration has steadfastly, over decades, listed marijuana as a Schedule I drug, meaning that it has no medical value and that the potential for abuse is high. Cocaine and morphine, far more dangerous and habit-forming, are listed as Schedule II because they have some medical value. Last week the DEA ruled once again, a decade after it made the same decision, that marijuana is a potentially dangerous drug without known medical benefits. During the intervening 10 [...]

Judge awaits facts in Tehama County cannabis case

 Courts
Jul 132011
 

RED BLUFF — A judge Tuesday deferred a ruling on special jury instructions until the upcoming marijuana trial of Red Bluff businessman Joe Froome and his son-in-law, Daniel Ludwig. Judge S. William Abel, retired from Colusa County Superior Court, told attorneys he was reluctant before hearing the evidence to grant the defense motion asking to instruct jurors on medical cannabis law. “I just think I’m kind of in a Never-Neverland before I hear the facts,” he said. Both Froome, 48, and Ludwig, 27, are charged with cultivation of marijuana and possession of marijuana for sale. [...]

Nevada County supervisors OK dispensary ban

 Dispensaries
Jul 122011
 

Medical marijuana dispensaries are banned from operating in Nevada County. County Supervisors voted 4-1 Tuesday to ban dispensaries from opening up in the unincorporated county, following the lead of Grass Valley and Nevada City, which have banned dispensaries, and the Town of Truckee, which doesn’t allow for dispensaries in its zoning. District 3 Supervisor Terry Lamphier opposed the ban, Kyle Magin reports in The Union. “”We cannot make decisions based upon the welfare of a small number of people,” said District 1 Supervisor Nate Beason, in reference to advocates for medical marijuana who were present [...]

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