Marijuana legalization arrives Monday in California with lots of hoopla, but only a handful of cities will initially have retail outlets ready to sell recreational pot. By Thursday afternoon, California had issued only 42 retail licenses. Another 150 applications were pending and regulators planned to work a second straight weekend to review them. Los Angeles and San Francisco were late to approve local regulations, meaning no recreational pot shops there will open their doors Monday. The lucky few outlets with licenses -- mainly in San Diego, the San Francisco Bay Area, Palm Springs area and Santa Cruz -- think they have an edge being first out of the gate. [continues 702 words]
SAN DIEGO (AP) - Authorities seized 12 tons of marijuana and arrested 22 people after discovering one of the longest cross-border tunnels between the U.S. and Mexico, officials said Thursday. The passage connecting warehouses in San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico, was about 2,400 feet long and 30 feet deep. It was lit, ventilated and equipped with a rail system hallmarks of the most sophisticated tunnels found along the border. Near-simultaneous police stings on Wednesday resulted in six arrests in San Diego and 16 in Mexico. Authorities recovered 2 tons of marijuana in the U.S. and 10 tons in Mexico. [continues 240 words]
SAN DIEGO (AP) - The US Drug Enforcement Administration issued reprimands and suspensions of up to seven days to agents involved in detaining a college student who was handcuffed and forgotten in a cell for five days, punishments that drew criticism from the Justice Department and others for being too light. The Justice Department, which oversees the DEA, said it was concerned the penalties might be inadequate and underscored the need for a broad review of the DEA's disciplinary practices. A Justice Department inspector general report last year found that several DEA employees saw or heard Daniel Chong in his cell at the agency's San Diego office in April 2012 but did nothing because they assumed someone else was responsible. [continues 149 words]
Calexico, Imperial County -- On a sleepy boulevard of motels and fast-food joints near the Mexican border, police stopped a car with a broken tail light. In the trunk, an officer found a trash bag containing 48 pounds of narcotics, and in the driver's pocket, scraps of paper scrawled with phone numbers. Almost four years later, a grave Eric Holder called his first news conference as attorney general and announced where those phone numbers had led - to a sweeping investigation called Operation Xcellerator, which produced the largest-ever federal crackdown on Mexico's Sinaloa drug cartel, with 761 people arrested and 23 tons of narcotics seized. [continues 472 words]
TIJUANA, Mexico -- Drug dealer Hector Rodriguez Estrada had a feeling he was next. His boss was beaten to death and dumped in an empty lot, his teeth and fingers missing. Then one of Rodriguez's underlings turned up in a soccer field, his head next to his body. Rodriguez, 30, knew his enemies could only get him if he was asleep or high. But the thought made the longtime addict, who sold methamphetamine in his eastern Tijuana neighborhood, more jittery than usual. [continues 1570 words]
TIJUANA, Mexico -- Drug dealer Hector Rodriguez Estrada had a feeling he was next. His boss was beaten to death and dumped in an empty lot, his teeth and fingers missing. Then one of Rodriguez's underlings turned up in a soccer field, his head next to his body. Rodriguez, 30, knew his enemies could only get him if he was asleep or high. But the thought made the longtime addict, who sold methamphetamine in his eastern Tijuana neighborhood, more jittery than usual. [continues 1572 words]
SAN DIEGO - More than 2 tons of marijuana were found inside one of the longest and most sophisticated cross-border tunnels ever discovered, officials said Thursday. The size and scale of the tunnel - the 21st discovered in more than four years - stunned authorities, who said that the passageway revealed the lengths smugglers will go to evade detection. The tunnel began near the airport in Tijuana, Mexico, and ended 2,400 feet away in a San Diego warehouse, said Michael Unzueta, special agent in charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in San Diego. It was unclear how long the tunnel had been in operation, Unzueta said. [continues 362 words]
San Diego Says Federal Laws Trump State SAN DIEGO - Medicinal marijuana advocates Tuesday challenged a San Diego County lawsuit that seeks to overturn a state law permitting the use of pot for medical purposes. The county sued the state of California and its director of health services Friday in federal court, saying federal law that prohibits marijuana use trumps state law that allows it. California approved the use of marijuana for medical purposes with the passage of Proposition 215, which won 55 percent votes cast in 1996. [continues 357 words]
