The state Department of Health has proposed amending its regulations to allow hospitals to develop procedures under which patients could take medical marijuana and other medications brought from home. While not specifically outlawed now by department regulations, the amendment would give explicit permission for hospitals to formulate their own rules about patient use of medical marijuana, Jill Montag, a Health Department spokeswoman, said in an email. Hospitals that want to permit self-administration of medical marijuana or other medications "must develop and follow policies and procedures to ensure the safe self-administration and security of the medication," according to the Health Department's proposed amendment to the state's Medical Marijuana Program. [continues 501 words]
Toxic Poisons, Waste Foul Public Lands Come September, marijuana growers who have labored for five months in some of California's most remote country will abandon their secret gardens, taking their multimillion-dollar crops. What will they leave behind? Irrigation tubes that snake for a mile or more over forested ridges. Pesticides that have drained into creeks and entered the food chain, sickening wildlife. Piles of trash and human waste in the most rugged and bucolic drainages. The environmental consequences of marijuana gardens - or plantations, as they're more aptly called - are increasingly apparent as law enforcement continues its statewide crackdown on the illicit operations. [continues 439 words]
As drug-related arrests continue to drop in Shasta County, officials are launching an aggressive campaign to educate more people about methamphetamine and its effects. A revamped Web site, two billboards, posters and public service announcements highlight the fresh approach, Shasta County District Attorney McGregor Scott said Tuesday. "We want people to know the realities of the drug," said Scott, who spearheaded the Shasta County Methamphetamine Task Force. And the new message is clear through striking, sometimes disturbing displays. "That smell next door can kill you ... This is meth," reads a model for one of the billboards. [continues 199 words]
Expert Says It's Vital To Stop The Use Of Designer Drugs At All-Night Parties By the end of Tuesday's conference on raves and club drugs, the crowd had one more question: Is it happening here? There was no clear answer. No arrests have been made in connection with designer drugs since the all-night raves began surfacing in the north state in the past year or two, authorities said. But that's no reason to get complacent, they were quick to add. [continues 593 words]
Somewhere in the hills of western Tehama County, marijuana growers are rushing to harvest the last of their crops, drying them in the sun and packaging the green bud for transportation to cities across the country. Soon they'll leave the makeshift camps they've called home since the gardens were planted in the spring. And they may consider themselves lucky for avoiding the long arm of the law during a record-breaking marijuana eradication season that only now is waning. [continues 788 words]
HAPPY VALLEY - Drugs. Trash. Stray dogs. These problems aren't new to this rural town west of Redding. Nor are they unique to Happy Valley. But sensing an upswing in citizen complaints in the past year, law enforcement and county officials will meet with residents Thursday night to discuss what Shasta County Supervisor Irwin Fust called "mounting" concerns. "People are calling me and saying, 'We've got to get rid of this,' " Fust said Tuesday. "This" can mean several things in Happy Valley, a country town dotted sporadically with small farms, houses and mobile homes. Trash sometimes accumulates on roadsides, and abandoned cars and building code violations are also a concern, Fust said. Each week, sheriff's logs report phone calls from residents irate over wandering livestock and stray dogs. [continues 445 words]
Federal Agents Take Plants Before The Scheduled Release For the second time in two weeks, medicinal marijuana user Richard Levin entered the Shasta County Sheriff's Department evidence lockup Friday expecting to get his marijuana back. And for the second time, the Redding man walked away without his pot. Two federal agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration confiscated 13 bags of processed marijuana and pot plants about 3:30 p.m. 96 a half-hour before their scheduled release to Levin. The seizure followed the signing of a U.S. attorney's office warrant in Sacramento on Friday morning. [continues 555 words]
Judge Clarifies Previous Order Medical marijuana user Richard Levin will get his pot back after all. Shasta County Superior Court Judge Bradley Boeckman said Friday that sheriff's officials must return the marijuana, according to sheriff's Capt. Ron Richardson. The judge last week ordered the ``release'' of Levin's 41 plants -- now long dead -- and 1 pounds of marijuana. That order didn't specify whether the plants would have to be returned to Levin. Sheriff's Department officials had said Thursday they wanted to know whether they could destroy the pot. But Boeckman decided it must be returned, Richardson said. [continues 273 words]
DA Doesn't Plan To Change Policy Acquitted medical marijuana patient Richard Levin won't get his confiscated pot plants returned until the Shasta County Sheriff's Department is sure it's legal to do so, officials said Tuesday. A court order last week mandated the return of Levin's 41 plants, 1 pounds of marijuana and several firearms seized in a 1998 raid of his Redding home. Levin, 49, of Redding was acquitted in December by a Shasta County jury on charges of possessing marijuana for sale. [continues 421 words]
Says Return Marks Win For Medicinal Users It's been 20 months since authorities confiscated 41 seedling marijuana plants from the back yard of Richard Levin's house in Redding. Today, Levin will get his plants back, along with 1 pounds of packaged marijuana, several scales and three guns also taken from his home on May 6, 1998. The plants are long dead, but the 49-year-old Levin - acquitted Dec. 15 on charges of possessing marijuana for sale - said Monday that their return marks a symbolic victory for anyone using pot for medicinal purposes under California's Proposition 215. [continues 301 words]
Shasta County law enforcement officials said Thursday that they won't change their stance on marijuana use. At least, not until prosecutors know why a jury this week acquitted a Redding man charged with growing marijuana for sale, pot that he claims to have used for medicinal purposes. And while reactions to Wednesday's acquittal varied, one question was shared by all. How much pot is enough pot for medical use? "I hope it (the verdict) is a sign that the county will finally get the message that we need their support and we need guidelines which will help patients follow the law," said Guy Mount, 61, of Cottonwood, a medical marijuana user who lobbied for Proposition 215, a 1996 initiative that legalized marijuana use if supported by a doctor. [continues 481 words]
Man accuses police of ignoring state's medicinal marijuana law In what could be a landmark medical marijuana case, a jury on Wednesday acquitted a 49-year-old Redding man charged with growing pot for sale. The verdict is the first of its kind in Shasta County - and possibly California - since Proposition 215 passed in 1996, allowing the possession, use and cultivation of marijuana for medicinal purposes with a doctor's approval. And while defendant Richard Levin was all smiles after the verdict, he said he's angry the case went this far. [continues 586 words]
In what could be a landmark medical marijuana case, a jury on Wednesday acquitted a 49-year-old Redding man charged with growing pot for sale. The verdict is the first of its kind in Shasta County -- and possibly California -- since Proposition 215 passed in 1996, allowing the possession, use and cultivation of marijuana for medicinal purposes with a doctor's approval. And while defendant Richard Levin was all smiles after the verdict, he said he's angry the case went this far. [continues 585 words]
