A sense of certainty that recreational, random marijuana use will be legalized, regulated and taxed in California after next month's election lies behind the millions of dollars invested so far in Proposition 64, which would allow adults to grow, buy and possess pot. No more medical marijuana ruses. The sense of inevitability stems partly from the experiences of Colorado and Washington state, where cannabis can be had anytime in very many places and is regulated somewhat like cigarettes. In short, not much. Polls now show between 55 and 60 percent of likely voters favor complete legalization, and national polls indicate almost exactly half of all Americans also want that. Support for freedom to use the weed has never been higher. [continues 592 words]
A s some areas of the Golden State already seem to be embracing the marijuana industry, thankfully Tulare County continues to follow the law and awaits further legislation. On Tuesday, the county Board of Supervisors again passed an interim ordinance blocking the growing and dispensing of medical marijuana and basically thwarting any attempts for someone to set up a growing operation in the county in preparation should the state's voters pass a measure in November which will legalize cannabis. There is so much uncertainty and still so much illegal activity surrounding marijuana - medical or not - we support the moratorium on opening up new cooperatives or collectives to distribute medical marijuana because the regulations are still far too lax. [continues 239 words]
No One Speaks Against Extension Surprisingly, not one person spoke Tuesday for or against an ordinance which will extend the ban on new medical marijuana collectives or cooperatives in Tulare County. Following a detailed staff report into why the county wants to extend its interim ordinance prohibiting the establishment of new or expansion of existing medical marijuana entities in the county, supervisors passed the extension on a 5-0 vote after no one spoke during the public comment portion of the hearing. [continues 376 words]
County Looking at Continued Enforcement County supervisors are being asked on Tuesday to extend the county ordinance prohibiting medical marijuana collectives, cooperatives or businesses. Extending that ordinance, which was first passed in 2013 then extended in 2015, will be the subject of a public hearing at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday in the board chambers in Visalia. The recommendation before the supervisors is to once again extend the ban, a decision sure to come under fire from those medical marijuana proponents. [continues 307 words]
The Tulare County Sheriff's Department arrested a Los Angeles obstetrician-gynecologist on Tuesday for illegally issuing medical marijuana recommendations. Dr. Howard Ragland was taken into custody for two felony warrants which were issued after an investigation by the Sheriff's Tactical Enforcement Personnel team. According to a Sheriff's Department press release, it came to the attention of the Department that Ragland, who had an office in Visalia, was issuing medical marijuana recommendations "in an unscrupulous and illegal manner." The Sheriff's Department said it is the first prosecution of a doctor related to the issuance of recommends in Tulare County. [continues 83 words]
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Thousands sent up a cheer and a collective plume of marijuana smoke at the stroke of 4:20 p.m. Wednesday in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. They gathered at the park's "Hippie Hill" to toke up, eat and drink the afternoon away into the night. A plane dragging a banner encouraging attendees to "smoke weed" circled overhead, while unlicensed vendors set up tables and makeshift tents to sell all types and strains of bud, not to mention T-shirts, pipes and food. [continues 287 words]
Unofficial of course but widespread is the belief that marijuana is already California's largest cash crop. Many who believe that also predict that "we ain't seen nuthin' yet." They project the belief that pot will lead to another gold rush economically, probably with as much wildcatting, thievery, claim jumping and bedlam as the first. If that were not so, they say, tighr controls on the illegal weed would have been relaxed long ago. With approval of marijuana for recreational use on next November's ballot it is not hard to believe that smoking it in a legal context will skyrocket. If voters determine that it can be smoked legally can it be long before it will be grown and distributed legally? [continues 526 words]
Editor, It's been almost 20 years since California voters approved medical marijuana. State legislature efforts to restrict marijuana access only benefit Mexican drug cartels. It's time for California to move beyond medical marijuana and catch up with Colorado. If the goal of marijuana prohibition is to subsidize violent drug cartels, prohibition is a grand success. The drug war distorts supply and demand dynamics so that big money grows on little trees. If the goal is to deter use, marijuana prohibition is a catastrophic failure. The United States has almost double the lifetime rate of marijuana use as the Netherlands where marijuana has been legally available for decades. The federal war on marijuana consumers is a failed cultural inquisition, not an evidence-based public health campaign. In California and throughout the nation, it's time to stop the pointless arrests and instead tax legal marijuana. Robert Sharpe, MPA Policy Analyst Common Sense for Drug Policy [end]
With the state Legislature passing three bills dealing with the regulating of medical marijuana and voters likely facing a ballot measure next year to legalize marijuana, it would be best for the City of Porterville to place on the back burner any consideration of medical marijuana dispensaries in the city. It is not so much that we are for or against the dispensaries, but right now the entire issue of marijuana is in a state of flux and it would be unwise for the city to spend staff time, and probably an attorney's time, coming up with regulations that may be outdated or out of compliance by the time they are crafted. [continues 193 words]
It's been nearly a year since the marijuana ordinance went into effect for the city of Porterville and Tuesday the council members will review to see if the ordinance has been effective. Some of the topics to be reviewed and considered for possible change include drought concerns and the amount of water the plants use, patients with drug-related felonies, and the possibility of a dispensary. With drought a huge concern and the state mandated conservation program that requires cities to conserve at least 25 percent of water usage (Porterville's goal is 32 percent), city staff expressed concerns of the ability to maintain the required conservation amounts of water usage with plants that use a lot of water. According to a staff report, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife estimates a single marijuana plant uses six to eight gallons of water per plant, per day. These numbers may vary depending on the variety of the plant and how it is grown. [continues 247 words]
It's been eight months since the City of Porterville required residents to acquire a permit to grow marijuana for medical use, and for most of that time, only one permit had been issued. However, the permits are suddenly more popular, with 10 issued recently, according to city staff. The ordinance requiring permits was approved in October 2014 and went into effect Nov. 6. It allows medical marijuana patients to have up to 20 cannabis plants which can be located in a yard or accessory structure, or a combination of both. [continues 226 words]
SACRAMENTO (AP) - California took the first step Thursday to regulate its nearly 20-year-old medical marijuana industry, one that lawmakers said currently resembles something out of the "wild, wild West." Lawmakers in the Senate and Assembly passed separate bills attempting to set up state regulations that will pass muster with the federal Department of Justice. The bills were among dozens of pieces of legislation advancing through the Legislature Thursday as lawmakers faced a Friday deadline to move bills out of their house of origin. [continues 652 words]
Tulare County Supervisors Tuesday adopted what they termed "medical marijuana policy principles" in response to a slew of bills bouncing around Sacramento that could change the current laws governing the use and cultivation of marijuana in the state. Debbie Vaughn with the Chief Administrator's Office told the board a committee had recently surveyed all the bills being talked about in the state Legislature and noted, "the belief is there will be some ballot measures in the next election." The purpose was to keep the county up-to-date on what is being considered so it can react to any serious legislation. [continues 263 words]
Regarding your May 5 editorial, one day marijuana will be fully legal and there will be no environmentally destructive wilderness grows. Suburban basement grows with artificial lights and massive carbon footprints will be a thing of the past. These are vestiges of marijuana prohibition. When marijuana is fully legal, legitimate farmers will produce it by the ton under natural sunlight and ideal soil conditions at a fraction of the current cost. This is important. Financial incentives drive harmful cultivation practices. Marijuana prohibition distorts supply and demand dynamics so that big money grows on little trees. Mexican drug cartels do not sneak into national forests to grow cucumbers and tomatoes. They cannot compete with real farmers. For the sake of the environment, the sooner the marijuana plant is treated as a legal agricultural commodity, the better. California needs to catch up with Colorado. Robert Sharpe Policy Analyst Common Sense for Drug Policy [end]
When officers with the Tulare County Sheriff's Department and other law enforcement agencies raided a large, sophisticated marijuana-growing operation last month, they removed a significant threat to the safety of anyone who might have stumbled upon the illegal operation. On April 23, officers went to the location northwest of Delano where they found more than 12,000 marijuana plants in various stages of growth inside 49 separate green houses. Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux said it appeared the operation had been there a while. [continues 235 words]
We were please to see the board of supervisors stay the course when it comes to curtailing the growing of marijuana in Tulare County. The board recently agreed to keep the ordinance in place which greatly restricts the growing of marijuana. It does not completely ban marijuana growing, but narrows down where it can legally be grown. Marijuana growing both on private and public lands hit epidemic proportions three years ago. So blatant were the illegal growers, you could smell the illicit weed and often, it was very visible to neighbors or even passersby on roadways. [continues 214 words]
The marijuana ordinance requiring patients cultivating their own plants to have a city-issued permit goes into effect today. "[Patients] need to submit an application starting [today]," Interim Community Development Director Jenni Byers said. Porterville City Council approved the permit process a month ago, but so far no one has inquired about the application. "We have not actually received any requests for applications, or requests to even view the application," said Byers. The new ordinance allows qualifying patients to have up to 20 cannabis plants which can be located in a yard or inside an accessory structure, or a combination of both, as long as they have a permit. [continues 729 words]
Now that the city has basically given local medical marijuana users what they want, the pressure is on them to see to it that the city's new medical marijuana growing ordinance is followed and there are no problems with people illegally growing marijuana in their back yards. The council has agreed to not only allow those who have a "letter of recommend" from a doctor to use and grow their own marijuana, but to grow as many as 20 plants. The council set the fee to get a permit at the lowest recommended amount -- just $40 per user, which we feel it too low. [continues 203 words]
Editor, Do the foolish politicians in Tulare county not realize that cannabis will soon be re-legalized for all? All the problems you site are a direct result of prohibition and the black markets they create. These actions will only make it more profitable for people to grow and sell cannabis in the black market. You have to wonder if these same people are not being paid off to keep the price high. David Lane Santa Cruz [end]
Tulare County has joined several other counties in California that have had enough of illegal marijuana growing. Now, it will be completely illegal to grow anything but a few plants indoors, no matter if you have a letter from a doctor or not. The move was inevitable. The growing of marijuana in the second leading agricultural county in the world has gotten out of hand and it is unfortunate that those with a medical need for marijuana will now suffer the most. But, they cannot blame the leaders of the county. [continues 260 words]
