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Council sends pot shop regulations back to committee

Jan 5

Posted by admin in San Diego Dispensaries, San Diego Lawmakers | No Comments

The City Council declined Tuesday to endorse proposed regulations that would govern medical marijuana dispensaries in San Diego, opting instead to forward the package to a committee for more vetting.  The recommendations were made by the 11-member Medical Marijuana Task Force, which was established by the City Council last September amid concern over the proliferation of unlicensed dispensaries in the city.

…Councilman Carl DeMaio, who didn’t support the formation of the task force, cast the lone dissenting vote, arguing the regulations “open the door” to more medical marijuana dispensaries in the city.

He said he sympathizes with the sick who use medical marijuana, but said there are abuses.

“What I don’t believe we should make available are corner shops where marijuana is sold as a commodity under the guise of a patient-caregiver relationship,” DeMaio said.

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Source: San Diego News 6

Proponents Say They Have Signatures to Put Pot Legalization to a Vote in California

Dec 14

Posted by admin in California Election | No Comments

SAN FRANCISCO — Proponents of a ballot measure that would legalize marijuana in California said they have collected enough signatures to qualify the initiative for the state’s November 2010 ballot.

The measure’s supporters said they have collected 650,000 signatures, exceeding the 433,971 required for the ballot.

“Today we’re declaring an overwhelming victory in this important first stage of taxing and regulating cannabis,” said proponent Richard Lee in prepared remarks. He runs an Oakland, Calif., school that teaches people to be pot entrepreneurs.

Law-enforcement groups will oppose the measure, said John Lovell, a lobbyist for California police associations. Mr. Lovell said he expected the initiative to make the ballot, but he said it would be easily defeated. “At the end of the day, I think voters’ good sense will prevail.”

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Source: Wall Street Journal (link)

Owner of Two San Diego Marijuana Pleads Guilty in Federal Court

Dec 10

Posted by admin in Federal Enforcement, San Diego Dispensaries, San Diego Enforcement | 1 Comment

December 10, 2009

United States Attorney Karen P. Hewitt announced that Joseph Nunes pled guilty today before Magistrate Judge William McCurine, Jr., to three felony counts of a superseding information: Count One ­manufacturing marijuana plants, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Section 841(a)(1); Count Two ­renting, using and maintaining two drug-related premises, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Section 856(a)(1); and Count Three – money laundering, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1956(a)(1)(A)(I). The plea is subject to final acceptance by United States District Court Judge Larry A. Burns at the time of sentencing.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Sherri Walker Hobson, who is prosecuting the case, Joseph Nunes was arrested following a federal search warrant executed at 3415 Mission Boulevard, San Diego, California, known as “Green Kross Collective,” where agents found marijuana plants, marijuana contained in bags and jars, cookies and brownies containing marijuana, sodas containing marijuana, lollipops containing marijuana, and other edible marijuana items. Agents also found $38,915 in cash at that location. Agents further discovered “sales receipts” books revealing that during a two-day period, Green Kross Collective sold approximately $16,000 of marijuana and marijuana products.

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San Diego DA Wants Rewrite Of Medical Marijuana Laws

Dec 3

Posted by admin in In The News, San Diego Dispensaries | No Comments

SAN DIEGO — The San Diego District Attorney says California needs to revisit the statues that govern medical marijuana. She gave her comments following the acquittal of a marijuana dispensary manager.

Jovan Jackson was charged with illegal sales of marijuana. He fought the charges, saying he was distributing the drug for medical use, and a jury this week found him not guilty. Following the trial, jurors say they found the law so confusing they couldn’t find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis says the law needs to be rewritten.

“I think what this case shows us is the legislature needs to act to clarify certain parts of the law,” she says.

Jurors said they weren’t sure what the law meant by a “medical marijuana cooperative.” State law says the cooperatives are allowed to cultivate marijuana and give it to its members. Dumanis says she’ll review the Jackson case as she considers charges against other marijuana dispensary managers.

Tom Fudge
KPBS San Diego

Source and audio

Medical Marijuana: No Longer Just for Adults

Nov 21

Posted by admin in California Dispensaries, In The News, Youth Access to Drugs | No Comments

Monica Almeida/The New York Times
November 21, 2009

At the Peace in Medicine Healing Center in Sebastopol, the wares on display include dried marijuana — featuring brands like Kryptonite, Voodoo Daddy and Train Wreck — and medicinal cookies arrayed below a sign saying, “Keep Out of Reach of Your Mother.”

The warning tells a story of its own: some of the center’s clients are too young to buy themselves a beer.

Several Bay Area doctors who recommend medical marijuana for their patients said in recent interviews that their client base had expanded to include teenagers with psychiatric conditions including attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

…“How many ways can one say ‘one of the worst ideas of all time?’ ” asked Stephen Hinshaw, the chairman of the psychology department at the University of California, Berkeley. He cited studies showing that tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the active ingredient in cannabis, disrupts attention, memory and concentration — functions already compromised in people with the attention-deficit disorder…

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L.A. Medical-Pot Shops Peddle to LAUSD Pupils

Nov 5

Posted by admin in California Dispensaries | No Comments

As kids flood weed outlets, Ramon Cortines admits there’s no plan

By Paul Teetor
LAWeekly.com
November 05, 2009

Los Angeles City Hall is thrashing around as the City Council and mayor belatedly try to control a pot-shop explosion they ignited, which has spawned dozens of freewheeling weed emporiums near public schools. The Los Angeles school board’s response? Nada.

That’s what the Los Angeles Unified School District has done to stop kids from trekking a short distance from Fairfax, Hollywood and other high schools and middle schools to score buds at unregulated neighborhood pot shops that have opened, often in the same block as schools or very nearby.

The LAUSD school board and Superintendent Ramon Cortines have held no meetings about the impact on kids, have no idea how many children are turning to the flood of easy weed, have not tried to assess the money the dispensaries are making off healthy kids, and have not trained faculty and administrators in how to deal with ever-younger stoned students.

Now, following routine questions from L.A. Weekly, some school board members are pledging to deal with it.

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California Looks to Put Reins on Medical Marijuana Sales

Oct 7

Posted by admin in California Dispensaries, Commentary, Cooperatives?, In The News, Other State's Dispensaries | No Comments

October 7, 2009

California officials are seeking greater control over medical-marijuana sales, as pot dispensaries have proliferated in cities like Los Angeles and concerns are rising about drug dealers posing as medical-marijuana providers.

USA Today reported Sept. 30 that the law on medical-marijuana sales remains vague 13 years after its passage. San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis said that all of the dispensaries her office has investigated have been operating illegally, and some “appear to be run by drug dealers who see an opening in the market and a way to make a fast buck.”

State Attorney General Jerry Brown has issued guidelines stating that nonprofit cooperatives and collectives can legally sell marijuana to patients. But some programs are pulling in hundreds of thousands of dollars in monthly profits. Meanwhile, some cities have had hundreds of storefront marijuana shops open since the law went into effect — 400 registered programs in Los Angeles alone, for example, with many more unregulated shops also in operation.

“The practical reality has proven to be these facilities have by and large opened without any kind of registration, application, nothing,” Jane Usher, special assistant city attorney in Los Angeles.

Source: JoinTogether.org – Article

14 pot dispensaries in county shuttered Dozens arrested in probe of suspected illegal storefronts

Sep 11

Posted by admin in Federal Enforcement, San Diego Dispensaries | No Comments

Follow-up news reports about the September 10, 2009 raid on 14 San Diego illegal marijuana distribution shops can be found here:

September 11, 2009: San Diego Union Tribune

San Diego County and Feds Raid Illegal Marijuana Dispensaries

Sep 10

Posted by admin in Federal Enforcement, San Diego Dispensaries | No Comments

Press Release
September 10, 2009

After raiding 14 illegal marijuana dispensaries with the DEA, US Attorney, IRS and County Sheriff our County District Attorney, Bonnie Dumanis said:

“Like most San Diegans, I support the use of legitimate and legal medical marijuana use. However, it appears these so-called “marijuana dispensaries” are nothing more than for-profit storefront drug dealing operations run by drug dealers hiding behind the state‟s medical marijuana law”.

Read the full press release here.

More photos from the raids below.

The Debate on California’s Pot Shops

Dec 30

Posted by admin in California Dispensaries, Commentary, Federal Enforcement, In The News, Marketing Illegal Drugs, Other State's Dispensaries | No Comments

Morley Shafer reports on Proposition 215

60 Minutes

December 30, 2007

(CBS) Hindsight. One more image in the hall of mirrors that medical marijuana in California has become. The Supreme Court has upheld the DEA’s right to go after dispensaries, no matter what state law might say. And even one of the key proponents of medical marijuana says things have gotten out of hand.

“It’s just ridiculous the amount of money that’s going through these cannabis clubs. It’s absolutely ridiculous,” says Scott Imler, a minister in the United Methodist Church who has long been active in promoting medical marijuana.

Eleven years ago, he was working to pass proposition 215, the ballot measure that legalized it. Today, Imler has second thoughts.

“The purpose of proposition 215 was not to create a new industry. It was to protect legitimate patients from criminal prosecution,” Imler says.

The aim back then, reflected in television spots, was for a highly regulated system in which licensed pharmacies would dispense medical marijuana to the seriously ill. Proposition 215’s backers had people with AIDS, cancer, and glaucoma in mind.

“What happened when we were writing it was, as you can imagine, every patient group in the state and they all have their lobbies. You know, the kidney patients and the heart patient. Every patient group wanted to be included in the list,” Imler recalls. “And so we didn’t wanna get in the position of deciding what it could be used for and what it couldn’t be used for. We weren’t doctors. We weren’t scientists. We weren’t researchers. We were just patients with a problem.”

Imler says they were forced to make the proposition vague.

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