Temecula co-op set to open despite city ban

 Collectives, Dispensaries, Marijuana News, Ordinances
Nov 142010
 

Despite warnings from the city, a medical marijuana activist said a co-op created to help patients get their medicine will open its doors in Temecula on Monday. Douglas Lanphere said Cooperative Patients’ Services will provide a secure venue for legitimate medical marijuana patients to exchange the drug with each other. The establishment, in a leased storefront on the southern end of Old Town Front Street past First Street, will allow members to bring marijuana in for processing, he said. California voters legalized marijuana use for medicinal purposes in 1996. While several Temecula businesses offer medical [...]

Riverside County voters reject Prop. 19

 Legalization, Marijuana News
Nov 032010
 

Proposition 19 failed to ignite in California, as the state’s voters failed to become the first in the nation to legalize recreational marijuana use and sales. Inland Southern California voters didn’t stray from that trend. The ballot initiative also known as the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act, secured 44 percent of the vote with 24 percent of precincts reporting, six points shy of the majority it needed to pass. It was leading in just seven of the state’s 58 counties, all of them in Northern California. Inland Southern California voters fell in line with [...]

Calimesa City Council set to extend dispensary moratorium

 Dispensaries, Marijuana News, Ordinances
Oct 172010
 

CALIMESA — The City Council is set to make a final vote Monday on a moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries. The council twice delayed a vote on the temporary ban, which is set to expire Tuesday. “The vote has been delayed for administrative reasons, but I think the council is prepared to vote,” said Mayor Jim Hyatt. The council can amend the city’s zoning code to classify marijuana dispensaries as a retail use and allow them in some commercial zones, the Redlands Daily Facts reports. Council members could decide to regulate dispensary operations. Councilman Ray [...]

Got Prop. 19 questions? Press-Enterprise has answers

 Legalization, Marijuana News, Media
Oct 172010
 

For most California ballot measures over the years, the debate has been about whether the initiative is good or bad for the state. But what if supporters and opponents don’t agree about what the initiative says? That’s the case with Prop. 19, Jim Miller reports in the Riverside Press-Enterprise. The measure, on next month’s ballot, would make California the first state in the country to legalize marijuana. The measure would let people possess and cultivate pot for personal use. It also would allow, but not require, local and state governments to regulate and tax the [...]

Pot theft leads to lawsuit against Riverside Co. landlord

 Courts, Marijuana News
Sep 292010
 

A Murrieta man who says $35,000 worth of marijuana plants were stolen during a break-in at his indoor pot farm earlier this year has sued his landlord for negligence and breach of contract, court records show. Gary J. Hite had been renting the 1,892-square-foot rental unit in a nondescript business park since February and growing the plants for medicinal purposes, the court complaint says. The suit alleges that the burglary was facilitated by the landlord’s failure to secure the neighboring unit after an earlier break-in at the Elm Street property, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reports. Court [...]

Press-Enterprise editorial: Prop. 19 a ‘bad bargain’

 Legalization, Media, Opinion
Sep 122010
 

Bud’s note: The Riverside Press-Enterprise urges a “no” vote on Proposition 19, with an editorial that accuses the ballot measure of vagueness. In doing so, the P-E editorial board offers little more than blind allegiance to federal drug policy and vague questions of their own about Prop. 19′s impacts. “Unnecessary turmoil” is a term that’s more accurately applied to cannabis prohibition and its deadly effects. ============ Prop. 19 on the November ballot clouds complex policy issues in a smoky haze of uncertainty. The measure’s vague language would result in endless litigation, and put state and [...]

Cologne tips off Border Patrol to 185 pounds of pot

 Law Enforcement, Marijuana News
Sep 022010
 

Border Patrol agents seized more than 185 pounds of marijuana Monday from a vehicle stopped at the Interstate 15 checkpoint south of Temecula, authorities said. Agents stopped a northbound GMC Yukon about 9 a.m. at the checkpoint and noticed a strong smell of cologne coming from the SUV, a Border Patrol news release said. The cologne raised agents’ suspicions because drug smugglers sometimes use cologne to mask the scent of illegal drugs, Sarah Burge of the Riverside Press-Enterprise reports. A Border Patrol sniffer dog “alerted” to drugs in the vehicle and agents discovered 59 packages [...]

Desert Sun editorial: Legal marijuana is a dopey idea

 Legalization, Media, Opinion
Aug 302010
 

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 [...]

Lake Elsinore medipot ballot drive falls short

 Government, Initiatives, Marijuana News
Jul 212010
 

Lake Elsinore voters won’t decide whether they want medical marijuana dispensaries in the city because backers of the proposal didn’t gather enough valid signatures to put the measure on the ballot, election officials said Tuesday. The group We the People gathered 870 valid signatures of registered voters, about half the 1,623 needed to qualify the measure for the Nov. 2 general election, according to the Riverside County registrar of voters. The group gathered a total of 2,678 signatures, which were sent to the registrar’s office on June 17 for verification. The Lake Elsinore city clerk’s [...]

Riverside County deputies seize 68,000 marijuana plants

 Marijuana News
Jul 152010
 

Riverside County sheriff’s deputies uprooted about 68,000 marijuana plants Wednesday in a field southwest of Murrieta, about a mile north of the San Diego County line. No arrests were made, said Deputy Melissa Nieburger, a spokeswoman for the Sheriff’s Department. The operation began just after 5 a.m. and continued for hours near Corona Cala Camino and Avocado Mesa Road, Nieburger said. The field was about a quarter-mile from the nearest homes, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reports. The plants were carted off and will be destroyed, Nieburger said. She had no estimate of the plants’ value.

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