Hayward's Remaining Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Already Busier Because of Reduced Number in Oakland HAYWARD -- Patients and employees at a downtown medical marijuana dispensary were elated Tuesday after learning that the city is allowing the facility to operate for an additional two years. "We're very excited," said Jane Weirick, owner of Hayward Patients' Resource Center. "Now we can start thinking about programs we want to offer long-term." The news came on the heels of the city's revocation of an agreement with the landmark Hayward Hempery, which would have allowed its medical marijuana dispensary to operate through December 2006 under specific circumstances. [continues 740 words]
Ordinance Dooms Thriving Businesses In Oaksterdam Area Oaksterdam is on its deathbed. Oakland's once-bustling downtown enclave of medical marijuana clubs is about to disappear -- less than a year after it earned its nickname -- after city officials refused last week to issue permits to several popular establishments. "All that you see around us will be gone," Jeff Jones, executive director of Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative, said Monday. "They're shutting almost everyone down, and I don't think that's good for the patients. I'm glad the city is involved in regulation, but it's also driving away businesses that could be paying revenue" to the city. [continues 604 words]
Others Might Go Underground, As City's New Rule Gets Mixed Reaction From Consumers, Business Owners OAKLAND -- Medical marijuana patients who packed into the Dragonfly Holistic Solutions dispensary on Telegraph Avenue on Tuesday seemed unaware the business had been told by the city to shut down. They said they were seeking the most potent medicine in town -- a strain of marijuana called "Barney Purple" -- and didn't like hearing that new city rules will limit them to four city-sanctioned establishments. [continues 923 words]
Jim Decker took a job six years ago working loss prevention at area Krogers. Although it was not in the job description, Decker quickly learned that among his many responsibilities was fighting the war against methamphetamine. Among the hundreds of customers he sees each day, a few are looking to collect the ingredients for a different kind of recipe, one that requires hundreds of decongestant pills. "Most of the time it's a gray, dead look," Decker said. "Their eyes, their movement, their nervousness. You're not supposed to profile, but you can't help but notice." [continues 826 words]
For years, Daviess County Sheriff Keith Cain has repeatedly referred to the spread of methamphetamine as a community problem rather than simply a law enforcement problem. As a testament to his characterization, many people in the community have joined the battle against a tide of crime that has swept Daviess County since 1998, with the discovery of the county's first meth lab. From the time a person begins gathering ingredients to make the drug to the time they ingest the finished product, footsteps of crime and potential danger trail throughout groceries, convenience stores, retail outlets, farms, neighborhoods and private property. [continues 818 words]
From behind the tinted windows of an idling vehicle, three undercover city police officers waited patiently along an east Owensboro street, occasionally using binoculars to watch a home one block away. Upon first glance the home in the 1600 block of Hall Street appeared to be a popular gathering spot. It was almost sunset on a Friday, and several men and women lounged in the small yard or swung their legs over the edge of a porch. A young boy wearing one sandal screeched with joy while playing with two stray dogs. [continues 938 words]
On a recent Tuesday night in Daviess County, six armed men wearing camouflage and carrying binoculars and night vision goggles lay waiting in the fields and tree lines surrounding one of the front lines in the methamphetamine battle. The men, all deputies and investigators with the Daviess County Sheriff's Department, were conducting what has become an occasional overnight assignment: stakeouts of anhydrous ammonia tanks. Deputies were looking for individuals or teams of people who approach the 1,000-gallon "nurse" tanks of anhydrous and bleed the highly pressurized substance into propane tanks. The farm fertilizer is a necessary ingredient among the most common meth-making recipe in western Kentucky. [continues 979 words]
Medical Marijuana Users Protest City's Proposed Limits OAKLAND -- Medical marijuana advocates dipped into burlap sacks filled with cannabis seeds and planted a pot crop on the City Hall lawn Sunday to protest a proposal to tighten restrictions on "Oaksterdam" dispensaries. Two dozen self-described medical marijuana patients dressed in wide-brimmed hats, bib overalls and other gardening garb hefted hoes and shovels as they prepared for an unauthorized planting in Frank Ogawa Plaza. An estimated 1 million marijuana seeds weighing a total of 25 pounds were in two sacks on the ground. [continues 502 words]
RON BROWNLOW of Roseville didn't make any secret of his medical marijuana use when he flew from Sacramento to San Diego this month, but his candor at the airports proved costly. He got busted. Brownlow's legal predicament highlights the confusion -- make that the mess -- that remains in California about medical marijuana and how much legitimacy its patients really have. This was supposed to be clarified this year, with the signing of a new law by outgoing Gov. Gray Davis. The measure followed Proposition 215, the groundbreaking initiative passed by voters in 1996 that allowed medical use of marijuana. But upholding the law proved tricky as jurisdictions enacted their own guidelines, and it ran afoul of federal authorities. [continues 579 words]
Oakland will issue business licenses to four nonprofit medical marijuana vendors and force eight others to close or face possible prosecution. The new limits adopted by the Oakland City Council will break up the cluster of downtown marijuana clubs -- collectively known as "Oaksterdam" - -- by forcing them to operate at least 1,000 feet apart. During a six-hour meeting Tuesday night, the council voted to adopt new regulations on marijuana clubs, which have recently sprouted on the northern edge of downtown Oakland. [continues 414 words]
Director of gay teen center threatens to bring in the feds and the media if local pot clubs don't give him what he wants. Poor Roosevelt Mosby is just a big lovable queen who wants to do right by the 1,300 queer youth who come to his downtown Oakland community center. But the recent explosion of medical cannabis clubs nearby is creating an unsafe environment for his kids, a neighborhood where people on the street offer drugs to his teens, and one club was the scene of a recent armed robbery. [continues 1236 words]
In the past two years, a sort of renaissance has been taking place in a section of downtown Oakland near the 19th Street BART station. A string of shops offering medical marijuana to card-holding patients has emerged along Telegraph Ave. and Broadway. On one sunny Sunday a few months ago, the dispensaries, with names like the Bulldog Cafe and the 420 Cafe, drew crowds of people into an otherwise deserted downtown Oakland. With jazz bands playing and street vendors offering various alimentary delicacies, the area took on more of the aspect of a low-key street party than a depressed urban district. Or more like Amsterdam, land of the cannabis cafe, than other mid-sized American cities, thus the "Oaksterdam" moniker. [continues 1180 words]
Ron Brownlow of Roseville didn't make any secret of his medical marijuana use when he flew from Sacramento to San Diego this month, but his candor at the airports proved costly. He got busted. Brownlow's legal predicament highlights the confusion -- make that the mess - -- that remains in California over medical marijuana, and how much legitimacy its patients really have. This was supposed to be clarified this year, with the signing of a new law by outgoing Gov. Gray Davis. The measure followed Proposition 215, the groundbreaking initiative passed by voters in 1996 that allowed medical use of marijuana. But upholding the law proved tricky as jurisdictions enacted their own guidelines, and it ran afoul of federal authorities. [continues 587 words]
Disputed Plan Would Allow Maximum Of Four Dispensaries In Oakland OAKLAND -- The City Council will consider a plan next month to prune back the flourishing medical cannabis trade to a maximum of four local clubs. The dozen or so pot clubs already operating in Oakland would have to apply for city permits to remain open, and those that don't make the city's cut would be shut down as of June 1. The wide-ranging regulations put together by Council President Ignacio De La Fuente (San Antonio-Fruitvale) and Councilmember Jean Quan (Montclair-Laurel) would prohibit smoking at the clubs and require dispensaries to operate on a not-for-profit basis. [continues 748 words]
The City Council Ponders Clamping Down On Medical Marijuana Dispensaries In Downtown Area OAKLAND -- When Stacie Traylor opened a medical marijuana dispensary in a vacant art-deco floral store four years ago, it stood among only a few. Now the gritty downtown quarter is a major hub, with as many as a dozen pot clubs surrounding Telegraph Avenue, and Traylor is upset at the notoriety that has come to the city's cannabis corner. Some shops allow marijuana smoke to waft onto sidewalks, a violation of at least the city's smoke-free public building ordinance. They post men conspicuously outside the front door, including one coffeehouse worker soliciting passersby with palm cards, prompting neighborhood complaints that the guards act like street-corner hustlers. A youth center for gays, lesbians and bisexuals said it was forced to close in November because of the nearby pot clubs. [continues 873 words]
A Hayward medical marijuana dispensary owner plans to defend herself against felony drug possession charges in a case that could be one of the first tests of a related new state law. Cheryl Adams, who owns the Hayward Hempery and its Hayward Patient Group, was arrested at 12:20 a.m. Dec. 12 in front of the TownPlace Suites hotel at 39802 Cedar Blvd. in Newark, where she had been living. She allegedly was driving with 5.32 pounds of marijuana in 29 small plastic bags, said Newark police Sgt. Fred Zachau. [continues 662 words]
Hempery Proprieter Booked For Possession, Transport, Intent To Sell A Hayward medical marijuana dispensary owner plans to defend herself against felony drug possession charges in a case that could be one of the first tests of a related new state law. Cheryl Adams, who owns the Hayward Hempery and its Hayward Patient Group, was arrested at 12:20 a.m. on Dec. 12 in front of the TownPlace Suites hotel at 39802 Cedar Blvd., Newark, where she had been living. She allegedly was driving with 5.32 pounds of marijuana in 29 separate small plastic bags, said Newark police Sgt. Fred Zachau. [continues 650 words]
A program to issue medical ID cards and clarify parts of Prop. 215 lacks startup funds. Next Thursday was supposed to be a big day for medical marijuana users. That's the day Californians with AIDS, glaucoma, cancer, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, chronic pain and other ailments could begin getting state-issued identification cards -- thus freeing them from jail time as they debate their medical need with cops. That won't happen. State officials charged with running the program say they don't have enough money to get it going. [continues 721 words]
Marijuana: Buying and Selling Issue Is Still Pending Appeals Court. SAN FRANCISCO -- A decision by a federal appeals court here approving the use and cultivation of medical marijuana did not address the broader question of whether medical marijuana can be bought and sold. That issue is still pending before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. A three-judge panel of the same court ruled Tuesday that a federal statute outlawing marijuana cannot apply in states with laws permitting sick people to use marijuana with a doctor's recommendation. [continues 372 words]
SAN FRANCISCO -- A decision by a federal appeals court here approving the use and cultivation of medical marijuana did not address the broader question of whether medical marijuana can be bought and sold. That issue, the next legal battle in the medical marijuana movement, is still pending before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. A three-judge panel of the same court ruled Tuesday that a congressional act outlawing marijuana can not apply in states with laws permitting sick people to use marijuana with a doctor's recommendation. [continues 475 words]
Cafes: Cannabis for medicinal use is dispensed like lattes in the area dubbed 'Oaksterdam.' Oakland, Calif. - Like customers faced with a choice of French roast or Sumatra, venti or grande, those at the 420 Cafe have multiple options: Pure Skunk or Red Dragon, at $16 a gram or $350 an ounce. Only in "Oaksterdam." Here, cafes sell marijuana for medicinal use with the studied casualness of a Starbucks offering double-shot, soy milk, no-foam lattes. The model, as the nickname indicates, is free-wheeling Amsterdam, where cafe patrons openly enjoy joints with their espressos or beers. [continues 1360 words]
Pot Clubs Push Facility Out Of 'Oaksterdam' As city officials move to regulate the burgeoning "Oaksterdam" district, a center for gay and lesbian youth surrounded by medicinal pot clubs is looking to get away from the smoke and safety risks, the group's leaders said Monday. The decision by the Sexual Minority Alliance of Alameda County to move out of the Uptown neighborhood between City Hall and the 19th Street BART station marks the latest twist in the struggle to define Oaksterdam. [continues 505 words]
Ken Estes, owner of 420 Cafe, a medical marijuana dispensary in Oakland, says his co-op has "brought in 20,000 people into this neighborhood that might have not visited downtown Oakland because of its stigmatization of being a dangerous place." Neighbors Leery Of Shops Meant To Assist The Ailing OAKLAND -- If you didn't know what they really were, you might figure the two cafes a short walk from City Hall here were just that -- small, unassuming, eclectically decorated shops offering cups of java, muffins, juices and fruit. [continues 1162 words]
City Undecided On Limits, Regulations For Booming Dispensaries OAKLAND -- The city is grappling with the sticky issue of how to regulate medical marijuana outlets, and a three-hour committee hearing Tuesday did little to resolve key questions such as whether the number should be limited or whether special permits should be required. Cannabis clubs, attracted by the city's supportive view toward medical marijuana as well as cheap rents and comraderie, have been proliferating downtown, especially in the triangle between Telegraph Avenue, Broadway and 17th and 19th streets. [continues 654 words]
City Officials Hope To Control 'Oaksterdam' Neighborhood OAKLAND -- The city is grappling with the sticky issue of how to regulate medical marijuana outlets, and a three-hour committee hearing Tuesday did little to resolve key questions such as whether the number should be limited or whether special permits should be required. Cannabis clubs, attracted by the city's supportive view toward medical marijuana as well as cheap rents and camaraderie, have been proliferating downtown, especially in the triangle between Telegraph Avenue, Broadway and 17th and 19th streets. [continues 654 words]
Medical activists say new legislation annuls freedom given in Prop. 215 in 1996 The same new state law that tries to distinguish legal, medical marijuana use from illegal, recreational use also spotlights rifts in California's marijuana community. S.B. 420, signed into law by Gov. Gray Davis last Sunday, creates a voluntary statewide registry for medical marijuana patients and caregivers, who can get photo ID cards to protect themselves from It also sets the first statewide medical marijuana possession standards -- eight ounces dried, six mature plants and 12 immature plants -- although cities and counties still can set their own, higher limits. [continues 1036 words]
Some hail ID system, explicit possession standards, but others consider them a drag The same new state law that tries to distinguish legal, medical marijuana use from illegal, recreational use also spotlights rifts in California's marijuana community. SB 420, signed into law by Gov. Gray Davis last Sunday, creates a voluntary statewide registry for medical marijuana patients and caregivers, who can obtain photograph identification cards to protect themselves from arrest by state and local police. It also sets the first statewide medical marijuana possession standards -- 8 ounces dried, six mature plants and 12 immature plants - -- although cities and counties can set their own, higher limits. Some see it as long-overdue protection for patients and caregivers. [continues 1002 words]
But He Refuses To Legalize The Sale Of Syringes Without A Prescription. Delivering mixed news, outgoing Gov. Gray Davis signed a bill fleshing out the state's medical marijuana law but vetoed a measure that would have let pharmacists sell syringes without prescriptions. Both bills were carried by Sen. John Vasconcellos, D-Santa Clara, and were long sought after by some public health advocates. "He defies analysis by me," Vasconcellos said about Davis, who acted on the legislation Sunday. The state senator said he was "livid" that Davis did not sign the syringe bill but pleased that the governor "finally saw the light" and signed a bill facilitating the legal use of marijuana for chronic medical ailments. [continues 589 words]
Fremont, Newark men face possible charges after police raids despite permits to grow A grower's permit allows the owner to cultivate and use marijuana for medical purposes. But how much marijuana is too much marijuana? Is it 21 plants? Is it 79? And if the permit owner isn't using all of what he or she has been cultivating, what is being done with the rest? Those questions are at the heart of two cases involving Fremont area men, including one who was arrested on suspicion of possession with intent to sell. [continues 583 words]
Within a few blocks of Broadway and 18th Street in Oakland, at least six cannabis clubs are thriving -plus a plant store that sells supplies for growers. The anchor tenant in the 'hood now known as Oaksterdam is Jeff Jones's original Oakland Cannabis Buyers Co-op, transformed by federal injunction into a hemp store and registration service that issues cards to doctor-approved patients on behalf of the city. Two doors down is the Bulldog, a sidewalk cafe named and modeled after a famous club in Amsterdam. Around the corner on Telegraph is the high-volume Third Floor, and the Lemon Drop, which carries a fine line of pastries and serves the best coffee, and the newly opened 420 Cafe, which has a brick wall worthy of the Village Gate. [continues 1723 words]
Fremont, Newark Men Face Possible Charges After Police Raids Despite Permits To Grow A grower's permit allows the owner to cultivate and use marijuana for medical purposes. But how much marijuana is too much marijuana? Is it 21 plants? Is it 79? And if the permit owner isn't using all of what he or she has been cultivating, what is being done with the rest? Those questions are at the heart of two cases involving Fremont area men, including one who was arrested on suspicion of possession with intent to sell. [continues 583 words]
A grower's permit allows the owner to cultivate and use marijuana for medical purposes. But how much marijuana is too much marijuana? Is it 21 plants? Is it 79? And if the permit owner isn't using all of what he or she has been cultivating, what is being done with the rest? Those questions are at the heart of two cases involving Tri-City men, including one who was arrested on suspicion of possession with intent to sell. The Alameda County District Attorney's Office is considering filing charges against Robert Filgo, 41, of Fremont, after police seized about 79 marijuana plants in a raid last month at his Niles home. [continues 554 words]
The San Joaquin County District Attorney's Office has filed charges against a Stockton-area quadriplegic who says he grows and uses marijuana for medicinal purposes. Nearly a month after sheriff's deputies seized 52 marijuana plants from 25-year-old Aaron Paradiso's rural home, Deputy District Attorney Phil Urie last week filed charges of marijuana cultivation and possession of marijuana for sale against Paradiso, his mother, Debra Paradiso, and his friend and sometime caregiver, Robert Turano. The trio are scheduled to appear Oct. 15 in the San Joaquin County Courthouse. [continues 947 words]
City Council Rejects Proposal to Stamp Out Oakland Area Dotted With Medical Marijuana Clubs OAKLAND -- Faced with a room packed with worried medical marijuana advocates and some angry representatives of a youth center, a City Council committee Tuesday rejected a proposal that would have snuffed out the budding "Oaksterdam" district. Instead, the council will meet in closed session with its lawyers next week to discuss the legal ramifications of regulating pot clubs, reconvene a working group of city staff and medical cannabis advocates, and bring back a plan to the Public Safety Committee Oct. 28. [continues 676 words]
OAKLAND -- If City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente has his way, Oaksterdam -- downtown Oakland's web of eight or so medicinal cannabis clubs - -- will be a hazy memory. "We want to be true to the policy of the city," De La Fuente said, referring to a city ordinance allowing the operation of only one medicinal cannabis club. He wants the city to enforce that law, which the City Council Public Safety Committee will review Tuesday. "There should not be more than one (club) to sell and we shouldn't be an open door to people who want to sell medical marijuana for recreational purposes, which is what they are doing," he added. [continues 734 words]
Police Fatally Shoot Dog While Executing Search Warrant. Fremont -- A 41-year-old Fremont man whose dog was shot by police officers when they forcibly entered his house looking for marijuana plants has a prescription from his doctor to use pot and a certificate from the Oakland Cannabis Cooperative allowing him to grow and possess it, according to documents obtained by ANG Newspapers. Robert Filgo and his wife, Yvette Filgo, 38, were arrested Tuesday night after seven police officers served a search warrant at their Niles home and found 79 plants in the back yard and garage. [continues 574 words]
FREMONT -- A 41-year-old Fremont man whose dog was shot by police officers when they forcibly entered his house looking for marijuana plants has a prescription from his doctor to use pot and a certificate from the Oakland Cannabis Cooperative allowing him to grow and possess the herb, according to documents obtained by The Argus. Robert Filgo and his 38-year-old wife, Yvette Filgo, were arrested Tuesday night after seven police officers served a search warrant at their Niles home and found 79 plants in the back yard and garage. [continues 713 words]
SANTA CRUZ - Medical-pot advocates say Thursday's U.S. District Court ruling against a local marijuana co-op leaves ailing members vulnerable to more federal raids and prosecution. But lawyers representing the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana say they will appeal the decision. On Thursday, the district court rebuffed the collective's attempt to bar federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents from carrying on more raids like the one last September when 160 plants in WAMM's Davenport pot garden were uprooted and its founders arrested at gunpoint. Charges were never filed against Valerie and Michael Corral. [continues 662 words]
OAKLAND -- IN THE HEART of Uptown, the battered northern edge of downtown that City Hall has long sought to revitalize, a new commercial district has sprouted: Oaksterdam. Nurtured by the city's benign neglect, half a dozen cannabis dispensaries and related suppliers have set up shop in a green triangle bounded by 17th and 19th streets and Telegraph Avenue and Broadway. Several operate cafes in the front and direct medical marijuana patients to back rooms or basements to get their supplies. Others look more like nightclubs with guards posted outside to check identification. [continues 1246 words]
Marijuana Operations Located in Back Rooms of Businesses Thursday, August 07, 2003 - OAKLAND -- In the heart of Uptown, the battered northern edge of downtown that City Hall has long sought to revitalize, a new commercial district has sprouted: Oaksterdam. Nurtured by the city's benign neglect, half a dozen cannabis dispensaries and related suppliers have set up shop in a green triangle bounded by 17th and 19th streets and Telegraph Avenue and Broadway. Several operate cafes in the front and direct medical marijuana patients to back rooms or basements to get their supplies. Others look more like nightclubs with guards posted outside to check identification. [continues 1244 words]
C-Notes The light sentence meted out by U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer June 4 - -time served, one day-represents a personal victory for Ed Rosenthal and his family and friends. There was a legal victory, too: publicity around the case has notified prospective jurors in California that they are ideally suited to monkey-wrench the drug-war machine. Rosenthal's attorney Dennis Riordan has already notified the 9th U.S. District Court of Appeals that he will challenge the conviction. Riordan's specialty is reviewing trial records for reversible errors. (It was Riordan who got Marjorie Knoller's sentence reduced from murder to manslaughter in San Francisco's infamous "dog-mauling" case.) He thinks he found some significant errors in Judge Breyer's handling of the Rosenthal case. [continues 1914 words]
Issuance Of Authorization Cards Greater Than Any Other North Coast Registry UKIAH -- Mendocino County Sheriff Tony Craver has issued 1,340 cards allowing medical use of marijuana, a per-capita rate more than five times greater than other North Coast marijuana registries. Nearly half are patients of a single pediatrician, who has received Craver's approval on more than 600 applications without authorization of the county Public Health Department and contrary to the sheriff's own guidelines. Mendocino County has granted cards to about 1.5 percent of its population of 88,000, a rate greater than other counties with similar programs, including Marin, Humboldt and Del Norte, and greater than San Francisco which grants cards to users outside the county. [continues 1280 words]
"Time served - one day!" An illicit cheer echoed down the 19th-floor corridor of the San Francisco federal building as the overflow crowd got word that U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer had gone easy on Ed Rosenthal. Federal prosecutors had asked for a six-and-a-half-year prison term. The light sentence meted out by Breyer on Wednesday, June 4, represents a personal victory for the well-known Oakland cannabis cultivator and his family and friends. A political victory could follow if Rosenthal's felony conviction as a marijuana cultivator and conspirator gets overturned. [continues 818 words]
'We're not against helping patients, we just don't want it downtown' HAYWARD -- Community leaders this week convened a budding debate about the extent to which medical marijuana dispensaries should be allowed downtown. The meeting was the first of an ad-hoc committee set up by Mayor Roberta Cooper to look into the political and practical ramifications of sanctioning the three existing dispensaries, now operating against Hayward's zoning law. The dispensaries also may be in violation of criminal law, depending upon whom you ask. Proposition 215 legalized marijuana for medicinal uses in California, although it is still considered illegal under federal law. [continues 598 words]
Re "A judge reverses himself," editorial, March 15: Again, The Bee had a golden opportunity to bring some vital information to readers and failed. While we can agree with Judge Peter Nowinski on the harshness of his initial 90 days locked up for Jeff Jones resulting from handing out educational fliers at the courthouse, most jurors do not know their absolute right to vote their conscience, not withstanding the facts presented in coming to a just verdict, sometimes in opposition to what the judge decides in his mind is correct. [continues 61 words]
Group's Mission Is HAYWARD -- The City Council has created an ad hoc committee on medicinal marijuana dispensaries that could put Hayward's slogan to the test. "Hayward calls itself 'The Heart of the Bay' mostly because of its geography," said Councilman Kevin Dowling. "But it also means that we are a compassionate place. We don't want to ask people who are sick to go out and buy marijuana on the street." After hours of testimony from 24 medical marijuana proponents, the council 'voted a week' ago after 5 to 2 in favor of establishing the committee, with councilmen Joe Hilson and Matt Jimenez in dissent. [continues 701 words]
Group's Mission Is To Gather Data, Come Up With Ways To Sanction 3 Existing Sites. The City Council on Tuesday night created an ad hoc committee on medicinal marijuana dispensaries that could put Hayward's slogan to the test. "Hayward calls itself 'The Heart of the Bay' mostly because of its geography," said Councilman Kevin Dowling. "But it also means that we are a compassionate place. We don't want to ask people who are sick to go out and buy marijuana on the street." [continues 761 words]
Courtroom Confessional It's a rare thing when powerful people admit mistakes, rarer still when they do it in open court from the bench. That's what U.S. Magistrate Judge Peter Nowinski did recently. The press of more urgent matters prevented us from commenting on this in a more timely fashion, so a bit of background is in order. In late February, a visibly angry Nowinski sentenced medical marijuana activist Jeff Jones to three months in prison for handing out flyers to potential jurors in support of a man charged with growing pot for medicinal purposes. The presiding judge in that case, U.S. District Judge Frank C. Damrell, disqualified all 42 potential jurors in the initial jury pool because he said they had had been contaminated. Although several protesters had handed out pamphlets, only Jones, a nationally renowned advocate for medical marijuana, was charged, prosecuted and convicted of attempting to influence a trial. [continues 156 words]
Re "Pot activist's prison term is thrown out," March 4: Judge Peter Nowinski showed remarkable conviction and common sense in throwing out the prison sentence he had previously imposed on medical marijuana activist Jeff Jones. Jones is not a dangerous criminal and does not belong in prison. Nowinski recognized this fact when he told the courtroom that he had seen a large number of defendants over the past month and that Jones did not belong in a jail cell with any of them. [continues 74 words]
In A Stunning Reversal, A U.S. Magistrate Opts For Probation Instead. In a remarkable reversal Monday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Peter A. Nowinski threw out the three-month prison term he imposed last week on medical marijuana activist Jeff Jones and placed him on probation for three years. The participants in the proceedings, as well as about 20 others seated in the courtroom, sat stunned as Nowinski announced his change of mind. In a scene as dramatic as any in the history of Sacramento's federal court, the judge took the bench and said, "I've given the matter a great deal of thought over the weekend. [continues 811 words]
