One day before Nevada City considers a moratorium on medicinal marijuana establishments within its borders, Nevada County supervisors will consider on Tuesday an ordinance prohibiting medical marijuana dispensaries in unincorporated areas of the county. If approved, according to a staff report, the urgency ordinance would take effect immediately and be valid for 45 days. At least four of the five supervisors would need to vote for the urgency ordinance for it to pass. The staff report indicates that "there is a current and immediate threat to the health, safety and welfare of the citizens of Nevada County" without an urgency ordinance. [continues 496 words]
Nevada City leaders face a critical deadline in the process to regulate proposed medical marijuana dispensaries. Wednesday marks the end of a 90-day moratorium on marijuana shops in Nevada City, so council members meeting that night must either vote to extend the moratorium once again, or allow it to expire. If they let the moratorium lapse, they must approve an ordinance regulating dispensaries, opening the door for applicants. Three people have expressed interest. Meanwhile, Nevada City resident Susan Reynolds has been collecting signatures from business owners and residents opposing a dispensary. [continues 595 words]
Proposed Nevada City ordinance regulating medical marijuana dispensaries If Nevada City plans to adopt an ordinance for medical marijuana dispensaries, they will do it at the last minute — and might not have unanimous support for such a plan when they do vote next month. Meanwhile, Oakland residents overwhelmingly voted this week to approve a first-of-its kind tax on medical marijuana sold at the city's four cannabis dispensaries, the Associated Press reported. Questions were raised Wednesday as to whether the medical marijuana dispensary even belongs in Nevada City, and how it would succeed as a nonprofit entity. [continues 467 words]
Seven Hills and the Gold Flat industrial area are the two neighborhoods being considered to become the possible homes for a medical marijuana dispensary in Nevada City. After months of debate, City Council members will consider an ordinance Wednesday night to allow the dispensaries, but some people expressed doubt such operations would benefit their businesses nearby. When contacted Monday, several people who work in both the Seven Hills Business District and the Gold Flat industrial park said they had no idea city officials were considering their areas for a dispensary. [continues 398 words]
COLFAX -- If Nevada City leaders choose to allow medical marijuana dispensaries in their town, they may look 15 miles southeast to a well-established facility as a template for the future. In front of a small, one-story house near Interstate 80, a large, gray-bearded man guards the entrance. You won't get past him and into the Golden State Patient Care Collective without a recommendation from a physician. Once inside the building, a receptionist checks the validity of the doctor who signed your recommendation. [continues 801 words]
Medical Marijuana Advocate Shares His Vision for Shop Don't use the term "pot" in front of Harry Bennett. At least not as it relates to the medical marijuana dispensary he'd like to open in Nevada City. Bennett is still in the embryonic planning stages for his planned Organic Compassion medical marijuana dispensary. What he envisions is a tightly regulated medical facility where those who have legal prescriptions under California's Proposition 215 can come and relieve their pain, under the full letter of the law. [continues 1132 words]
Barely two weeks after the city of Grass Valley passed a 45-day moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries in the city, Nevada City Council members followed suit, albeit with a few caveats. The council voted unanimously Wednesday to approve a temporary moratorium on the establishment of such shops to give the council time to draw up regulations, should any such place come to Nevada City. In voting for the moratorium, the council said they weren't opposed to such shops, only that they needed more time to study the issue, since no zoning laws exist to accommodate them. [continues 413 words]
Nevada County Assistant District Attorney Anna Ferguson cast a wary eye Thursday at anyone looking to open a medical marijuana dispensary, one day after the City Council set a 45-day moratorium on the opening of such shops in Nevada City. The move comes less than a month after the Grass Valley City Council passed a similar measure. Nevada City leaders unanimously passed an emergency measure barring dispensaries within the city until they could craft a regulating ordinance. Nevada City resident Harry Bennett approached the City Council earlier this week about opening a store to sell medical marijuana to patients with a prescription, under California's Proposition 215 passed 13 years ago. [continues 421 words]
Area Merchants Say Products Are Popular, Healthy Rejecting one front of the government's drug war, a federal appeals court ruled Friday the United States cannot ban the sale of food made with natural hemp that contains only trace amounts of the psychoactive chemical in marijuana. The decision overturns the Drug Enforcement Administration's ban on the domestic sale of hemp food products. In Nevada County, where edible or drinkable items made with hemp can be found at numerous natural food stores, the reaction to the decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was met with both indifference and commendation. [continues 357 words]
