For Jack in the Box Inc., the warm smell of marijuana is rising in the air. As California prepares for legal recreational pot on Jan. 1, the fast-food chain is partnering with a digital media company backed by rapper Snoop Dogg on a new "munchie" meal aimed at cannabis enthusiasts. While marijuana's connection to fast food is well-established, Jack in the Box will become the first national chain to explicitly embrace the drug. The "Merry Munchie Meal," which will be available at three California locations for a week in January for $4.20, features two tacos, french fries, onion rings, five mini churros, three chicken strips and a small drink. The price isn't random: The number 420 is used as a code by potheads. [continues 283 words]
Californians first threatened to legalize recreational marijuana by ballot initiative in 1972. It failed 66% to 33%. We tried again in 2010. It was voted down 53% to 46%. Now we're back at it. This time, though Proposition 64 looks like a sure thing. Polls show support for legalization in general at 55%, and 60% among likely voters. What's so different this time around? Yes, demographics and attitudes have shifted here, like everywhere. But you also have to understand what went wrong back in 2010. At the time, California - the state that pioneered pot for the people - seemed poised to become the first state to legalize recreational marijuana, but the cause was unexpectedly hurt by the state's convoluted history with medical marijuana. [continues 724 words]
California government is finally on board with the state's enormous cannabis industry. Last week, Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law the Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act (MMRSA), a package of laws that - at long last - attempt to get a handle on how the state's biggest cash crop is grown, processed, and sold. Every step of the supply chain will, by 2018, be overseen by a new Sacramento office called the Bureau of Medical Marijuana Regulation. Run by a "weed czar" appointed by the governor, the BMMR will issue state licenses to commercial cannabis businesses, which will also need to be licensed and approved by local authorities at the city or county level. [continues 851 words]
I am starting a petition/initiative/referendum to stop the persecution of patients over Measure A. This local law has taken a dark turn for patients and the result includes no "safe access" in Butte County. I am in no hurry, because this will not do anything for this year's grow. Measure A takes away cooperatives; that is the only way we can afford to grow. Now thousands of patients will pay full price or not get their medicine. I will take my time and try to cover all of the unjust sides to this ordinance that makes Butte County one of the most intrusive and noncomplying to Proposition 215 or SB 420 in California's 58 counties. Watch for the petition and wish us luck. Joel Castle Chico [end]
Editor's note: This is the first in a six-part series of articles covering the establishment of one of the first tribal cannabis farming projects in the United States. The Pinoleville Pomo Nation is providing Ukiah Daily Journal readers with a first-hand, exclusive look at the people, the processes and the philosophical underpinnings of this groundbreaking project. "I admit that I'd drank the Kool-Aid like everyone else. We used to call cannabis locoweed. Once we understood this was the farthest thing from the truth, the tribe began moving forward. I was one of those detractors, until I saw and understood the entire cannabis story," says Mike Canales, president of the Business Board of the Pinoleville Pomo Nation. [continues 1035 words]
Hey, I hear Fresno is going to repeal their growing ban. What have you heard? - -Ray Zin Hey yourself. The Fresno County Board of supervisors had a meeting last week to discuss changing their ridiculous and overbearing ban on outdoor cultivation. The way the law stands now, no one can grow any cannabis at all and those that do are subject to a fine of $1,000 per plant, plus interest. If growers would like to appeal the fines, they have to appear in front of the Board of Supervisors. As it turns out, dang near everyone would like to appeal their fines, especially landlords from out of town, seeing as there is no grace period allowed for removing plants, and the BoS is having a hard time keeping up. So they had a meeting, and surprise surprise, nothing changed. It is still illegal to grow medical cannabis, indoors or outdoors, in Fresno County. This sort of zero-tolerance policy toward medical marijuana seems to be contagious. Some supervisors in El Dorado County are looking to repeal their current growing ordinance and replace it with a total ban on cannabis growing. Last week, they decided to form a committee to look into the best way to change the law. [continues 287 words]
California medical cannabis patients are increasingly being forced to hide behind closed doors as bans on dispensaries and home cultivation sweep through the East Bay. The pain started for Randy Barrett when he was thirteen years old. He was whipping a three-wheeled motorcycle around the hills of Martinez. Back then, riding ATVs was "just part of life," he said. "This was the Seventies and Eighties. We had dirt bikes; we had three-wheelers - - the ones with a big old front rubber tire. I was driving around in the dirt and hit a patch of concrete in the road that caught the front tire and shot me forward." [continues 4451 words]
If there is a stereotype of someone advocating marijuana legalization, it's not Lanny Swerdlow. The Whitewater resident, who has been an activist for 15 years in both Riverside and Palm Springs talks fast, quotes numbers and studies about cannabis, writes for several publications, and shows absolutely no signs of being laid-back during an interview in his Hemp and Cannabis Foundation office in Riverside. Opened in 2008, it was set up to help provide medical marijuana physician recommendations. When in comes to the green, there is no grey for Swerdlow, 68 . Obtuse, he is not. Police, he said, "are afraid medical marijuana's gonna lead to marijuana legalization - which it will. Colorado and Washington are perfect examples." [continues 1095 words]
The painfully slow evolution of California medical marijuana law. Last week, the California Democratic Party took the historic step of endorsing statewide regulations for medical cannabis. Such regulations, however, are not going to happen this year, experts say. But this summer, a separate bill, SB 439, could represent yet another baby step toward regulation, thereby exemplifying the Golden State's painful, decades-long evolution of medical cannabis law. Authored by State Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, SB 439 builds on past law and court rulings by explicitly legalizing cash sales of medical cannabis at dispensaries. The bill also would clear up a persistent legal gray area that allows police in places like Los Angeles and San Diego to imprison citizens for the same activities - dispensary sales - that are fully permitted in Oakland, Berkeley, Richmond, and other cities that regulate dispensaries. [continues 751 words]
Court Overrules People It's a sad day for people like me when the state's highest court overrules the will of the people to obtain lawful medical marijuana ("Local governments can ban dispensaries, court rules," May 6). I have a terminal case of liposarcoma. Thank God, I can still go to the drugstore and get my morphine and Xanax. I can't get medical marijuana to help ease my pain and suffering, but I can get hard narcotics. How wrong is that? The court's ruling is an insult to Prop. 215 and SB 420, which made legal having access to medical marijuana in adequate quantities. [continues 65 words]
Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Closed; Patients Left with Few Options At this point, it is hard to imagine, but just a handful of years ago, Santa Barbara had more medical marijuana storefronts than it did Starbucks coffeehouses. Now, after a perfect storm of local government regulation and high-profile arrests - coupled with multiple rounds of federal raids on South Coast dispensaries and threats of property seizures - this county has gone the way of so many others in California: It is now a cannabis club free zone. Whether you love them, hate them, or simply need one for help with a serious medical condition, the fact remains that there are no longer any legal dispensaries operating in Santa Barbara. [continues 2040 words]
SAN FRANCISCO California's highest court Tuesday took on the issue of whether cities and counties can ban medical marijuana dispensaries, and the pointed legal arguments that ensued seemed to put the state's nebulous marijuana laws on trial. In a case with huge implications for California's billion-dollar medical marijuana industry, the state Supreme Court heard a challenge by a dispensary operator seeking to overturn a city of Riverside ban on medical marijuana stores. State appellate courts have issued conflicting rulings on whether the 200 California cities and counties that prohibit medical marijuana outlets can legally ban the dispensaries or be forced to accept them under the state's medical marijuana laws. [continues 543 words]
California cities have tried regulating medical marijuana. Some have attempted to profit from it. And many, faced with a proliferation of storefront collectives they cannot control, have turned to banning it entirely. On Tuesday, members of California's highest court expressed skepticism over claims that the state's medical marijuana laws prohibit local governments from banning storefront pot shops. During oral arguments in a challenge to the city of Riverside's ban on medical marijuana dispensaries, several justices of the California Supreme Court said they were bothered by the fact that neither a 1996 voter-approved initiative that legalized marijuana use for health purposes nor companion laws the Legislature adopted in 2003 expressly state that cities and counties must accommodate retail marijuana stores. [continues 1996 words]
District Attorney Finally Files Charges in 2010 Medical-Marijuana Raid Nearly two and one-half years ago, Rick and Donna Tognoli were proud owners of the medical-marijuana dispensary Scripts Only Service (SOS), growing and dispensing cannabis to hundreds of members with doctors' recommendations. That all came to a crashing halt in June 2010 when SOS was raided, along with seven other Butte County dispensaries. Though SOS was shut down due to the seizure of its property and money, no charges were filed until this September, which has the Tognolis crying foul and suggesting collusion within the county government between a county supervisor and the district attorney. [continues 750 words]
When Proposition 215, known as the Compassionate Use Act, was passed by California voters in 1996 by almost 57 percent of the electorate, only two coastal counties voted against the marijuana-based initiative: Del Norte County in the far northwest of the state, and San Luis Obispo County. In retrospect, this county's political position on a state law that allows a patient with a doctor's recommendation to legally use pot for medical reasons may have been a harbinger for the Dec. 27, 2010, bust of 12 people who were later dubbed the "Doobie Dozen." [continues 1002 words]
Florence Siegel knows how to relax. A glass of wine, classical music - - preferably Bach - and a toke off her pipe. At 88 years old, Siegel suffers from arthritis in her back and legs and is one of many seniors who have turned to marijuana for pain relief. As a bonus, Siegel says, the pot has helped her sleep better than the pills her doctor had previously prescribed. Since 1996, 16 states and Washington, D.C., have legalized medical marijuana. Senate Bill 420, the Compassionate Use Act of 1996, "prohibits any physician from being punished, or denied any right or privilege, for having recommended marijuana to a patient for medical purposes." [continues 423 words]
It appears the Shasta County supervisors were out of touch with the people on commercial development. What other issues is the board out of touch with? The Board of Supervisors and city councils of Redding and Anderson are out of touch with medicinal cannabis. Instead of researching the issue and creating laws the people can live with, these three entities have systematically dis-implemented Proposition 215 and subverted SB 420. Why? Because of federal dollars coming into Shasta County for illegal marijuana cultivation. [continues 251 words]
Amid Conflicting Court Decisions, Lawmakers Should Quickly Clarify California's Laws on Medical Pot. Richard Lee has been one of the state's most visible activists for liberalized marijuana laws, having spent $1.5 million of his own money supporting an ill-fated ballot initiative in 2010 to decriminalize recreational use. But Lee is also an entrepreneur in the legally cloudy arena of medical marijuana, and on Monday the Internal Revenue Service and the Drug Enforcement Administration raided his home and his hemp-related ventures, including Oaksterdam University, a trade school focused on the marijuana industry. [continues 365 words]
Decision Likely to Be Appealed Shasta County Superior Court Judge Stephen Baker said Monday he'll issue a ruling within two weeks on Redding's request for a court order to shut down some 10 medical marijuana dispensaries that haven't complied with the city's recent ban on the businesses. In the meantime, at least seven dispensaries will remain open and the case is likely to be appealed by either side, an attorney for the dispensaries said. Baker heard arguments Monday on Redding's request for a preliminary injunction - a court order for the dispensaries to comply with the ban. [continues 548 words]
County Repeals Dispensary Ban; Activists Turn Attention to Statewide Legalization Effort Local medical-marijuana activists declared victory Tuesday (Dec. 10) when the Butte County Board of Supervisors decided to scrap an ordinance banning dispensaries. The ordinance, passed in October, was blocked by a petition circulated by the Citizens for Safe Access group that called for either repeal or a public vote. "There's been some confusion over the necessity to outlaw dispensaries," County Counsel Bruce Alpert told the board by way of introduction. "It was not necessary to have that ordinance on the books because our zoning code does not provide for dispensaries. It's easier to repeal at this point." [continues 658 words]
