Soquel artist puts his brand on medical cannabis sodas

 Business, Medical marijuana
Jan 242011
 
Soquel artist puts his brand on medical cannabis sodas

SOQUEL — How strange is the emerging world of medical-marijuana entrepreneurship? Consider Clay Butler, who may soon be marketing a food product that he’s never tasted, and that he would never buy. The product is called Canna Cola, and it’s a soft drink that contains THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, aimed at medical marijuana dispensaries. “I don’t do drugs,” said the Soquel-based commercial artist. “Never have. I never drank, never smoked. I’m a clean-living guy. I’ve had two beers in my whole life, and I remember them both too. No marijuana, I’ve never smoked [...]

Collective’s joint effort fills food bank in Soquel

 Dispensaries, Marijuana News
Dec 292010
 

SOQUEL — Nancy Black, called Granny Purps just like the marijuana dispensary she owns on 41st Avenue, is known for her palate-pleasing recipes for brownies, cookies and other treats containing medicinal marijuana. This holiday season, however, Black and co-owner Phil Hicks demonstrated that their recipe book also includes the secret ingredient to bringing in outsize donations for the Second Harvest Food Bank holiday food drive: a complimentary joint. For every four cans of food patients donated to Second Harvest, they received one free prerolled marijuana joint, with a maximum of three per day, Tovin Lapan [...]

Parents weigh in on draft Santa Cruz Co. dispensary rules

 Dispensaries, Marijuana News, Ordinances
Nov 102010
 

SOQUEL — Cathy LaTorre, who runs a preschool just off Paul Sweet Road, was shocked this summer when she discovered that the business opening next door to her was a medical marijuana dispensary. “I saw it in the newspaper, and then a parent came in and said, What are you going to do about this?’ ” said LaTorre, whose school and toddler care program serves 128 families, some of whom are concerned their kid might be exposed to the drug. “Parents want to go to work knowing their child is in a safe place. They [...]

Santa Cruz County drafts medical marijuana rules

 Dispensaries, Marijuana News, Ordinances
Nov 062010
 

SANTA CRUZ — In response to the uptick in medical marijuana dispensaries, county leaders have drafted a long promised ordinance that will require shops that sell the drug to get permits and follow strict rules to ensure safe and equitable distribution. The proposed regulation, which will be considered by the county Board of Supervisors next week, even includes a goodwill clause that requires dispensaries to provide marijuana to the sick even if they don’t have the money to pay for it. “I don’t think that’s ever been done, and I think it’s brilliant,” said Santa [...]

Sentinel: Santa Cruz growers wary of Prop. 19

 Cultivation, Legalization, Marijuana News
Nov 012010
 

It’s no surprise that Santa Cruz County is home to a multimillion-dollar marijuana trade. From pot farms high in the Santa Cruz Mountains to dispensaries in many towns, the flourishing but subtle marijuana economy is the livelihood of hundreds, if not thousands, making it at least as viable as the region’s pre-eminent strawberry business. Tuesday, California voters will decide whether to legalize marijuana, not just for the sick but for recreational users, ushering in a whole new audience for the long-established industry. In spite of the anticipated spike in demand, however, the prospect of legalization [...]

Santa Cruz Sentinel: Proposition 19 is a ‘pipe dream’

 Legalization, Media, Opinion
Oct 152010
 

A strong argument can be made that marijuana use should be legal. After all, penalties have been drastically softened in recent years. Equally compelling is the argument that prohibiting marijuana creates disrespect for the law, since so many people openly flout the ban. Prohibition didn’t work with alcohol, legalization supporters say, and it hasn’t worked with marijuana. Keeping it illegal just deprives local communities of tax revenue from sales and puts money in the pockets of gangsters and cartels. Proposition 19 supposedly would end all that, the Santa Cruz Sentinel writes in this No-on-19 editorial. [...]

Santa Cruz County to craft rules for cannabis dispensaries

 Dispensaries, Marijuana News, Ordinances
Sep 292010
 

SANTA CRUZ — The sale of medical marijuana is technically illegal in Santa Cruz County’s unincorporated communities. The drug is banned by federal law, and county building codes don’t permit dispensaries. But since passage of the voter-approved California Compassionate Use Act and more recently the Obama administration’s decision not to crack down on medicinal pot use, marijuana ventures have increasingly emerged across Santa Cruz County. Nearly a half dozen dispensaries, from Soquel to Boulder Creek, sell to the public and many other businesses operate discreetly in homes and garages. On Tuesday, the county Board of [...]

Santa Cruz County plans moratorium on new dispensaries

 Dispensaries, Marijuana News, Ordinances
Sep 242010
 

SANTA CRUZ — Santa Cruz County supervisors plan to enact a moratorium on the opening of new medical marijuana dispensaries until rules for the currently unregulated industry are in place. “We don’t need to have any more until we’re clear about how they should exist,” said county Supervisor Neal Coonerty. Coonerty and fellow Supervisor John Leopold, who are proposing a temporary ban on new dispensaries in unincorporated areas while rules are drafted, say they’re supportive of sick people getting the marijuana they need, as permitted under voter-approved Proposition 215. But they also want to make [...]

Soquel dispensary adds ice cream to edibles menu

 Dispensaries, Marijuana News
Sep 132010
 
Soquel dispensary adds ice cream to edibles menu

SOQUEL — Smoke a bowl or eat a bowl of ice cream? That’s the question at the county’s newest medical marijuana dispensary, where half pints of Banannabis Foster, Straw-Mari Cheesecake and TRIPle Chocolate Brownie marijuana-infused ice creams sell alongside more run-of-the-mill bags of pot. There’s no consumption on-site, of course, but card-carrying marijuana patients have the choice at the new Creme De Canna of buying and taking their medication home to puff on or enjoy with dessert. Proprietor Jonathan Kolodinski says it’s three flavors of ice cream now, Kurtis Alexander writes in the Santa Cruz [...]

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 [...]

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