Despite indoor marijuana-growing operations having been the source of numerous local fires in recent years, city efforts to create an ordinance regulating these gardens have died due to the ongoing conflict between state and federal law. While the state of California allows the use of medicinal marijuana and the cultivation of the plant, the federal government still classifies marijuana as an illegal drug. Because of this, public safety officials have realized that regulating marijuana cultivation is not currently possible. Petaluma firefighters responded Saturday to a fire at an eastside home that officials say stemmed from faulty electrical wiring to an indoor pot garden. To prevent such fires, which have become more prevalent in recent years, the police and fire departments last year began jointly developing a safety ordinance aimed at regulating indoor medical marijuana growing operations, but ran into conflicts with federal law that prohibits growing marijuana at all. [continues 565 words]
EDITOR: I'm sure the community means well (DARE program returns after hiatus, Feb. 21, 2012) but nearly every study, including government studies, shows DARE is a failure and may be causing more drug use than no program at all. One reason DARE fails is because it teaches lies, half truths and discredited reefer madness propaganda concerning cannabis (marijuana). Example: when youth find out the relatively safe, God-given plant (see first page of the Bible) cannabis is less harmful and addictive than taught, they think hard drugs are also not so bad, causing grave results. Cannabis prohibition is good for DARE, police and their unions, but it's devastating for youth and the rest of the country. Colo. [end]
After a three-year hiatus, a noted anti-drug and anti-violence program taught by local police officers returns to Petaluma elementary schools with strong community support. The Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program fell victim to budget constraints resulting in staff decreases at the Petaluma Police Department a few years ago, according to Police Chief Dan Fish. The program returns to nine Petaluma elementary schools this year thanks to donations from the Petaluma Chapter of the North Bay Association of Realtors and the McDowell Drug Task Force. [continues 564 words]
The proliferation of indoor marijuana-growing operations in Petaluma and elsewhere in Sonoma County is posing a serious fire hazard to public safety workers and residents alike. The problem is that indoor pot growing requires a huge amount of electricity, and since this type of agricultural operation is inherently illegal, the wiring needed for the lights is usually not installed by licensed professionals. Rather, it is usually jerry-rigged by growers whose primary interest is in making tax-free money, and who are often not as concerned with adhering to proper electrical safety standards. As a result, fire department officials are seeing more fires caused by faulty wiring installed to grow pot. [continues 701 words]
Medical Dispensaries, Legalization For Recreational Use Are Hot Topics As many communities discuss whether to allow medical marijuana dispensaries, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has called for a debate on legalizing recreational marijuana and a Petaluma-based group is urging the inclusion of marijuana programs at Sonoma State University. The accelerating trend has pushed marijuana into local headlines, sometimes even supplanting stories about the economic crisis, and has stirred up plenty of controversy. Proponents of legalizing recreational marijuana state that this could help to address state budget problems. Betty Yee, chair of the State Board of Equalization, estimates that a regulated marijuana industry could bring in $1.3 billion per year in tax revenue. [continues 1048 words]
Editor: On behalf of the McDowell Drug Task Force and the Camarena family, I would like to pay a special tribute to the wonderful students and staff at the 17 elementary schools who went the extra mile in decorating their schools for Red Ribbon Week. In the 21 years that I have been going to the schools with this program, there had never been such an outpouring of energy and working together as there was this year. The number of telephone calls about the quality of the decorations was beyond belief. [continues 213 words]
Ex-Petaluman Says He's An Attractive Target To Feds A former Petaluma resident who was arrested in Canada two weeks ago on federal marijuana charges said the government is targeting him because he has proven with a previous acquittal that it is possible to grow medical marijuana in spite of federal laws. Hayes was arrested in Vancouver Feb. 12 based on a complaint filed in federal district court in Oakland by Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent Jon Pickette. The complaint charges Hayes and Richard Watts of San Francisco with growing marijuana for sale at the 6th Street Harm Reduction Center, a medical marijuana buyers club in San Francisco. [continues 351 words]
Ken Hayes Staying In Canada After Marijuana Bust. A former Petaluma resident who was arrested in Canada two weeks ago on federal marijuana charges said the government is targeting him because he has proven with a previous acquittal that it is possible to grow medical marijuana in spite of federal laws. Hayes was arrested in Vancouver Feb. 12 based on a complaint filed in federal district court in Oakland by Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent Jon Pickette. The complaint charges Hayes and Richard Watts of San Francisco with growing marijuana for sale at the 6th Street Harm Reduction Center, a medical marijuana buyers club in San Francisco. [continues 353 words]
For the second time this year, a Sonoma County jury has done what the state Legislature has failed to do for the last three years: interpreted the California Medical Marijuana law. A jury last week found Ken Hayes and Michael Foley not guilty on several counts connected to the cultivation of 899 marijuana plants for distribution through a medical marijuana club in San Francisco. Hayes and Foley were arrested at their home on King Road in Petaluma in May of 1999. Police seized 899 plants, 15 pounds of dried marijuana, a pound of hashish, scales, receipts and a shotgun. At the time, Hayes was executive director of Cannabis Helping Alleviate Medical Problems, a San Francisco medical marijuana dispensary which had been honored by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. [continues 790 words]
The Sonoma County Alliance for Medical Marijuana asked the County Board of Supervisors to call for a grand jury investigation of county law enforcement's handling of medical marijuana cases. The group charges sheriff's agents and police departments throughout the county uphold neither the letter nor the spirit of the Compassionate Use Act, the law created by the passage of Proposition 215 in 1996. SAMM claims that Sonoma County law enforcement is arresting sick people and confiscating medical marijuana crops without regard to the law or Sonoma County protocol. [continues 72 words]
