CITY HALL -- If City Council's recent debate over a state medical marijuana bill is any indication of the dispensary discourse to come, expect references to the Venice boardwalk and '60s cop shows. Council declined a request from Santa Monica Police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks to back a bill that would impose greater regulations on medicinal marijuana in the state. City officials and Seabrooks recommended council throw its weight behind Senate Bill 1262, which would, among other things, reinforce local control of medical marijuana and impose tighter regulations on doctors who recommend its usage. [continues 511 words]
Several Latin American leaders have proposed legalizing aspects of the drug trade in recent months, clearly acknowledging that the current strategy in the war on drugs is not working. They are correct in highlighting the flaws in the traditional approach to battling illicit narcotics, but do we really need to wave the white flag? Or do alternative approaches still exist to curtail the illicit drug trade? The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in Vienna estimates that globally more than 40 percent of cocaine is seized somewhere between production and consumption. It also estimates, however, that less than one half of one percent of laundered criminal money is interdicted worldwide. For too long, the focus of the Drug Enforcement Administration and other law enforcement bodies has been on drug busts, while remarkably little has been done to curtail the money financing these illicit operations. We've been battling the symptoms without truly addressing the underlying cause. [continues 737 words]
If you support keeping marijuana illegal you are supporting terrorism. In 1919, the United States Constitution was amended to outlaw alcohol. The unintended consequence was the rise to power of organized crime. Today we face the same threat from Mexican narco-terrorists that control the trafficking of marijuana in the United States. According to a 2008 Justice Department threat assessment, "Mexican drug trafficking organizations represent the greatest organized crime threat to the United States." But a solution is at hand. The Tax Cannabis 2010 organization has put an initiative on the ballot for this November that will legalize, tax, and regulate marijuana in California. [continues 808 words]
From week to week, there are five basic topics that a columnist covers. In ascending order of importance they are sports, pop culture and the arts, local politics, national politics, and predictions. Depending on the reader, there is some debate about whether local or national politics is number two, but there is no question that the most important skill any good columnist possesses is the ability to accurately forecast the future. Naturally, my 14-months-before-anyone-else 2007 Official Groundbreaking Prediction that Barack Obama would be elected the 44th president of the United States followed by my alone-among-my-peers 2008 Official Groundbreaking Prediction that the Obama inauguration would be the "cultural, social, and political event of a generation; like Woodstock meets the March on Washington" cemented my status as America's smartest columnist. [continues 740 words]
No Citations Issued Since Measure Y Downgraded Pot Enforcement CITYWIDE -- Since Measure Y took effect in July, 2007, the Santa Monica Police Department has not issued any citations for offenses involving the adult, personal use of marijuana inside private residences. Supporters of the "lowest law enforcement priority" measure said that means it's served its purpose. Bill Zimmerman, president of Santa Monica-based political consulting firm Zimmerman and Markman and campaign manager for Proposition 215 - -- which legalized medical marijuana use in California in 1996 -- called the lack of citations a "very positive outcome." [continues 1113 words]
VENICE -- The Venice Neighborhood Council recently opened deliberations to form a policy recommendation concerning medical marijuana dispensaries for Los Angeles City Councilmember Bill Rosendahl. VNC member Challis Macpherson made the motion to open the debate, having received complaints from Venice residents, whom she would not identify, about the number of dispensaries that have taken root in Venice in recent years, despite the moratorium by the City of Los Angeles banning new facilities after November 2007. Three people associated with The Farmacy, a natural remedies pharmacy that supplies many products including medical marijuana, spoke before the council, urging them not to demonize legitimate medical marijuana dispensaries. [continues 736 words]
City Hall Accused Of Dragging Feet On Medicinal Marijuana CITYWIDE Word spread quickly about the Herb King on Main Street and the owner's recent decision to dispense medical marijuana. So quickly, in fact, that the midnight tokers barely had enough time to exhale before City Hall put a chokehold on the herbalist, effectively chasing it out of town. While medical marijuana dispensaries are allowed under state law and have sprouted up all over Southern California, city officials have not allowed them to set up shop in Santa Monica. [continues 1445 words]
DOWNTOWN With so-called 'headshops' selling water pipes and bongs, a frequent waft of marijuana in the Santa Ana winds and the city's liberal legacy, visitors to Santa Monica could hardly be blamed for thinking marijuana is legal within the city's borders. "What's legal and what's not?" asked Marsha Tyson, owner of The Spot, a store selling water/tobacco pipes on Broadway. In November, 67 percent of voters passed Proposition Y, automatically implementing an ordinance that made certain crimes involving adults over the age of 21 who illegally use marijuana the lowest priority of the Santa Monica Police Department. Similar initiatives passed in Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara in November. [continues 456 words]
Santa Monica voters will likely be asked to weigh in on the issue of adult marijuana use this November. On Wednesday, members of a movement called Santa Monicans for Sensible Marijuana Policy (SMSMP) turned in more than 8,000 gathered signatures -- only 5,580 were required -- in efforts to put a proposal on the ballot that would make the enforcement of marijuana use in the home the police department's lowest priority. While voters might be tempted by the wording of the measure "to stick it to the man" in a sense, they might just be cutting off their noses to spite their faces. [continues 640 words]
A group of Santa Monicans wants to make it easier for adults to smoke marijuana in their own homes without fear of being arrested. Santa Monicans for Sensible Marijuana Policy is gathering signatures from registered voters to place a measure on the November ballot that would require the Santa Monica Police Department to make investigations, citations, arrests, property seizures and prosecutions for private, adult marijuana use the lowest law enforcement priority. The proposed measure would prohibit police from working with federal officials investigating adult marijuana use, and the SMPD would be required to file a report with the City Council within seven days of an arrest, citation or seizure for any adult marijuana offense. Those who feel officers violated the lowest priority measure would be able to file a grievance with City Hall. [continues 707 words]
Artists spread the word about drug prevention at Victor Valley High School VICTORVILLE -- Many High Desert teens spent Saturday afternoon getting their groove on while learning the importance of living drug-free during the Red Ribbon Week celebration at Victor Valley High School. "We came to show our support for the cause but stayed because the music is so hot," Kylie Monroe said. Monroe, 18, a student at Victor Valley Community College, brought her 13-year-old sister and several of their friends to the event. [continues 407 words]
Controversy over students' rights vs. safety draws different opinions among parents and researchers Stella Luther, a random selection expert for Mobile Occupational Services, demonstrates a breath alcohol test at the facility in Hesperia. As the state Legislature ponders banning schools from randomly testing students for drugs, local parents are divided on the issue. The controversy over students' rights vs. safety and drug-free kids divides not only parents, but researchers. Two studies released in 2003 produced opposite results. A study of two Oregon high schools, one that randomly tested its athletes and another that did not test athletes, found that the school with the testing reported one-fourth the drug use than the school that did not have random drug testing, according to the Oregon Health and Science University. [continues 869 words]
It's hard to know which part of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision to celebrate most: the part that grants medical marijuana users new protections from federal prosecution, or the part that uses constitutional states' rights arguments to do so. In a 2-1 decision, the court ruled that patients who use marijuana for medical purposes are free to do so, as long as the marijuana was grown themselves or was given to them by growers. In that way, the federal government would have no pretext to arrest them, given that the feds had used the Interstate Commerce Clause to justify their efforts to prosecute individuals under federal drug laws. [continues 445 words]
VICTORVILLE --Despite a recent appellate court decision making marijuana smoking paraphernalia legal to possess, representatives of San Bernardino County Sheriff Gary Penrod said narcotics arrests will proceed as usual, including confiscation of the equipment. "State law is very confusing when dealing with marijuana from our perspective," said San Bernardino County Sheriff's Detective Robbie Ciolli of the Sheriff's Marijuana Eradication Team. If a pipe, bong or smoking device is confiscated in an arrest and discovered to have resin or marijuana in it, someone can be arrested, Ciolli said. [continues 466 words]
Lawmakers Considering Making Possession Of More Than 8 Ounces Of Crystal Iodine A Felony VICTORVILLE -- The seedy characters trying to buy large amounts of crystal iodine from Harry Ryun's horse supply store always went home empty-handed. That's because Ryun knew exactly what they wanted it for -- cooking methamphetamine. "I just wouldn't let them have it if they wanted more than what was in that little vile," said Ryun, who owns Covered Wagon Pet and Equestrian Supply in Victorville. [continues 433 words]
SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal judge hearing the trial of a self-styled marijuana guru accused of illegally cultivating pot declined Jan. 23 to block the defendant from speaking to the media. Federal prosecutors had sought the gag order for Ed Rosenthal and his attorneys, saying they fear overheated publicity could taint the jury. In rejecting the request, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer said he had repeatedly instructed the jury to refrain from reading, listening to or watching accounts of the trial. "I'm not about to shackle people's First Amendment rights," Breyer said. Rosenthal, 58, an author of how-to books and columns on growing marijuana, says he was growing pot to help the sick, which is legal under California law. But marijuana is still illegal under federal law. [end]
Judge Allows Attorney To Serve Sheriff's Department With Orders To Not Destroy Seized Marijuana Plants VICTORVILLE -- A judge ordered Friday that the Sheriff's Department not destroy marijuana that was seized during a raid on the home of two medical marijuana users. Gary Barrettcq, 34, and Anna Barrett,cq 31, had their garden of 47cq large plants and dozens of smaller plants seized during an October raid. Superior Court Judge Stephen Ashworthcq quickly agreed to order the Sheriff's Department to not destroy the seized marijuana plants. [continues 272 words]
San Bernardino County Sheriff Gary Penrod doesn't hesitate to express his opinion about medical marijuana. "I think it's just a step to legalize drugs," the county's top cop said. "I'm opposed to it." But six years after California voters approved Proposition 215, the statewide initiative that legalized the use of marijuana for medical purposes, both proponents of the law and narcotics officers continue to disagree over how the law should be implemented. "It's forcing district attorneys, police and law enforcement agencies to make up their own rules," said Detective Robbie Ciolli, a member of the Sheriff's Marijuana Eradication Team.The problem, both sides agree, is that the law only requires a person to secure a doctor's recommendation (prescription) to use marijuana for almost any ailment and doesn't set how much patients can grow. [continues 1267 words]
VICTORVILLE - A jury should determine whether the county and a sheriff's detective must reimburse a pair of medical marijuana advocates whose plants and growing equipment were destroyed after a raid on their home, a court commissioner ruled this week. Gary Barrett, 34, and Anna Barrett, 31, filed their lawsuit against San Bernardino County and Detective Mike Wirz on Oct. 10, 2001, about two years after they were arrested for cultivation of marijuana in Victorville. Superior Court Judge Stephen Ashworth ordered the Sheriff's Department to return the couple's growing equipment and other seized property except the marijuana in April 2001, but by then, most of the items had been destroyed in accordance with another judge's order, according to the lawsuit. [continues 633 words]
Treatment : New law puts drug offenders into rehabilitation centers instead of jail cells. Zero hour is here and local agencies are bracing for a state law that sends nonviolent drug offenders to treatment instead of jail. Prop. 36 takes effect today and courts are set to start funneling drug offenders into treatment Monday, the first business day under the new law. Under the proposition, an estimated 36,000 Californians a year will qualify for a treatment program instead of jail or prison time with a first or second arrest for being under the influence of illegal drugs or possessing them. [continues 808 words]
