RED BLUFF -- The Red Bluff City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to adopt standards on how much medicinal marijuana a patient can legally possess. The standards, which are tougher than county regulations, came as a disappointment to some users. "It's disappointing that the police opted to have different guidelines than the county," said medicinal marijuana activist Jason Browne. "They had the opportunity to have higher use thresholds and chose not to." The Tehama County Sheriff's Department allows 11/2 pounds of dried marijuana and either 18 immature or six flowering plants, Browne said. [continues 291 words]
The growing season for a popular, but illegal, north state plant has come to an end, and sheriff's departments are tallying up their claims on the harvest. Dozens of marijuana eradication raids between June and October netted thousands of plants in Shasta, Tehama, Trinity and Siskiyou counties. The state's Campaign Against Marijuana Planting (CAMP) program is reporting a record season statewide with a total of 621,315 plants seized -- a more than 33 percent increase from the 466,054 plants taken in 2003. [continues 349 words]
The Redding Convention Center roared with the sounds of nearly 1,000 enthusiastic fifth-graders Tuesday during the annual D.A.R.E. awards rally. Students from 14 schools celebrated graduating from the 17-week Drug Abuse Resistance Education program with stomping, cheering and boisterous applause. Redding police Chief Leonard Moty congratulated the rowdy bunch and encouraged them to resist peer pressure. He asked the crowd what they will say when older kids offer them drugs or alcohol in the coming years. The raucous answer: "No." [continues 324 words]
Popularity of meth, pot may be fueling increase in burglary RED BLUFF -- Major crime in Tehama County climbed during 2003 with assault, theft and burglary jumping to the highest levels in five years, according to the Sheriff Department's annual report. Sheriff Clay Parker said the crime rate could reflect a number of other problems such as fewer officers on the street because of budget cuts, hard economic times and drug use. "Drugs are probably the number one problem (because) other crimes stem from that," Parker said. In Tehama County, methamphetamine and marijuana are the most commonly used drugs. [continues 305 words]
