Commercialized medical pot is a go in Salinas, but businesses are a ways from hanging a shingle. Since it started accepting applications for commercialized medical marijuana on June 6, the city has not received any applicants. The deadline for applications is Wednesday, July 6. But City Attorney Chris Callihan said he isn't worried. "The interest has been high. There are a lot of phone calls inquiring about the process," Callihan said. In late January, city council approved an ordinance that allows for the sales and cultivation of medical marijuana, and at its May 17 meeting city council passed business guidelines for the industry. The city's ordinance permits a total of 12 permits, three permits each for dispensaries, growing operations, distribution/delivery systems and pot product manufacturing. [continues 437 words]
DENVER (AP) - Microscopic bugs and mildew can destroy a marijuana operation faster than any police raid. And because the crop has been illegal for so long, neither growers nor scientists have any reliable research to help fight the infestations. As legal marijuana moves from basements and backwoods to warehouses and commercial fields, the mold and spider mites that once ruined only a few plants at a time can now quickly create a multimillion-dollar crisis for growers. Some are turning to industrial-strength chemicals, raising concerns about safety. [continues 612 words]
You mean to tell me that a notorious Mexican drug lord who was arrested in February of last year, and whose net worth has been estimated by Forbes to be about $1 billion, managed to escape from the Altiplano maximum-security prison west of Mexico City in a poor country where many people earn as little as $6 per day? How did that happen? Take a guess. Money opens doors. But more importantly, in Mexico, it also builds tunnels. As a Mexican-American who views my grandfather's homeland with a mix of angst and amusement, and who recognizes that a corrupt and divided Mexico is often its own worst enemy, I can't say I'm surprised. [continues 640 words]
On Saturday I wrote a news article on the status of Monterey County's only medical marijuana dispensary opening next month in Del Rey Oaks. In my reporting, I got to know DRO Mayor Jerry Edelen a bit better and was impressed with the thought process he described as he went from no to yes on the issue of medical marijuana. In Edelen you have a dyed-in-the-wool political conservative who listened carefully to friends and colleagues, then changed his mind and wasn't afraid to admit it. Pretty darned refreshing, I'd say. [continues 585 words]
Conveniently the FBI's 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment (Monterey County Sees Gang Threat Growing in Different Ways, Dec. 9, 2011), reported how drugs are related to crime rather than the war on drugs. Homicide rates decreased for 10 years after ending the original prohibition with alcohol and there's reason to believe ending the sequel will have the same results. The U.S. desperately needs credible drug law reform and at the very minimum that means RE-legalizing and regulating the extremely popular, relatively safe, God-given plant (see the very 1st page of the Bible) cannabis (marijuana). Ending cannabis prohibition, persecution, discrimination and extermination would also lower hard drug addiction rates and help reduce gang and cartel activity, but the FBI, DEA, CIA, ATF and FDA etc. doesn't report that. Stan White Dillon, Colo. [end]
Six years after the FBI published its first National Gang Threat Assessment, the intimidating influence of gang members continues to grow in communities across the country -- Monterey County included. After a two-year hiatus, the National Gang Intelligence Center, through the FBI, released its 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment, analyzing trends and the pressure created by gangs in urban, suburban and rural communities nationwide. This is the third such report, with predecessors in 2005 and 2009. "Gangs continue to expand, evolve and become more violent," said Kevin Perkins, assistant director of the FBI Criminal Investigative Division, upon the report's release in October. [continues 1253 words]
Regarding your Oct. 22 editorial on Prop 19: The drug war is largely a war on marijuana smokers. In 2009, there were 858,405 marijuana arrests in the U.S., almost 90 percent for simple possession. At a time when state and local governments are laying off police, firefighters and teachers, this country continues to spend enormous public resources criminalizing Americans who prefer marijuana to martinis. The end result of this ongoing culture war is not necessarily lower rates of use. [continues 83 words]
In a way, Proposition 19 on the Nov. 2 ballot can do for marijuana what Arizona's SB 1070 did for illegal immigration -- bring it to the top of the national agenda. Just as critical as it is to move toward immigration reform, a national debate and action on the legalization of marijuana is overdue. Prop. 19 on the state ballot could thrust the issue to the top of the agenda. However, that's about the only value Prop. 19 serves because, as state law, it fails on several counts. [continues 484 words]
The blatant discrimination and ignorance of cannabis (marijuana) prohibition has continued for too long (Sept. 21 article in The Californian, "Law officers divided on fight over legal marijuana"). A sane argument to perpetuate cannabis prohibition doesn't exist. Presently employed police agencies and their unions and the California beer industry are acting on greed, for they stand to lose job security and profits. To believe otherwise defies intelligence. Examine any other group which publicly opposes Proposition 19 and it will lead to an agenda which is clear for the world to see. Cannabis prohibition has damaged America extensively; it is vulgar and fueled by greed and must be treated like a vampire. Stan White Dillon, Colo. [end]
Retired Officer Makes Rounds in Promoting Proposition19 Howard "Cowboy" Wooldridge, 59, circled his horse, Misty, around the intersection of North Main Street and Harden Parkway in Salinas, bearing a sign and T-shirt that earned him hundreds of honks and waves Monday morning. "Ask me why cops say legalize pot," the T-shirt read. "Control & Tax Cannabis, Yes On 19" read the sign. Wooldridge and Misty came to California from their home in Fort Worth, Texas to support Proposition 19 on California's November ballot. If passed, Prop. 19 would allow people over age 21 to legally possess up to one ounce of marijuana for personal use. Individuals could grow marijuana gardens of up to 25 square feet on private property; cities and counties would decide whether to allow sales and taxation of the drug within their boundaries. [continues 411 words]
Howard "Cowboy" Wooldridge, 59, is riding his horse Misty throughout California in support of ending prohibition of marijuana. Woodridge spent Monday morning near Northridge Mall in Salinas, circling the intersection of North Main Street and Harden Road, waving to passing cars. He and Misty traveled to California from their home in Fort Worth, Texas. Though Wooldridge is the spokesperson, Misty is the "star." People are drawn to the horse and she opens the door for discussion, he said. If passed in November, Prop 19 would allow adults over the age of 21 to possess up to an ounce of marijuana for personal use. Individuals could grow marijuana gardens of up to 25 square feet on private property; cities and counties would decide whether to allow sales and taxation of marijuana within their boundaries. [continues 188 words]
In response to Thomas Elias' April 26 column, "Legalizing Marijuana is no panacea:" I agree with him on some points such as the optimistic projection of revenue from taxation of marijuana. Marijuana is so easy to grow that the only significant revenue would be from medical marijuana, which is regulated. It would not be practical for the drug cartels to fight legal marijuana dispensaries because of the ease of growing it. The pharmaceutical industry would not be happy with a legalized natural drug that cannot be patented and would compete with their multi-side effect patented drugs, so expect the industry to pump millions of dollars to fight the passage of this law. [continues 89 words]
Regarding Norm Morris' July 3 column, if health outcomes determined drug laws instead of cultural norms, marijuana would be legal. Unlike alcohol, marijuana has never been shown to cause an overdose death, nor does it share the addictive properties of tobacco. Marijuana can be harmful if abused, but jail cells are inappropriate as health interventions and ineffective as deterrents. Advertisement The first marijuana laws were enacted in response to Mexican immigration during the early 1900s, despite opposition from the American Medical Association. Dire warnings that marijuana inspires homicidal rages have been counterproductive at best. White Americans did not even begin to smoke pot until a soon-to-be entrenched federal bureaucracy began funding "reefer madness" propaganda. [continues 75 words]
A recent article in this space was titled "The price of legalizing pot is too high." Ignoring our past national experience with alcohol prohibition, the author opined as to how an "open market" causes greater harm. We obviously need our government (not the one we formed in Sacramento as an independent California Republic) to mandate what's good for us. Another article offered the oft-heard sophism that pot along with alcohol is one of the "gateway" drugs to meth and heroin. Actually, not to make light of such an obviously unanalyzed observation, but the real gateway substance to harder drugs is breast milk, or formula, if you prefer. Virtually'100 percent of all drug users were bottle-or breast-fed, so I think we need a new agency to oversee the intravenous feeding of all newborns until they can feed themselves! One non sequitur is just as logical as the other. [continues 619 words]
Regarding Jyl Lutes' Nov. 26 letter to the editor: If health outcomes determined drug laws instead of cultural norms, marijuana would be legal. Unlike alcohol, marijuana has never been shown to cause an overdose death, nor does it share the addictive properties of tobacco. Marijuana can be harmful if abused, but jail cells are inappropriate as health interventions and ineffective as deterrents. The first marijuana laws were enacted in response to Mexican immigration during the early 1900s, despite opposition from the American Medical Association. Dire warnings that marijuana inspires homicidal rages have been counterproductive at best. White Americans did not even begin to smoke pot until a soon-to-be entrenched government bureaucracy began funding reefer-madness propaganda. [continues 62 words]
This Tuesday, the Salinas City Council will consider adopting an ordinance which will expressly prohibit the operation of medical marijuana dispensaries within the city. While this proposed ordinance does not prohibit qualified patients from possessing or using medical marijuana as prescribed by a physician, it will prohibit legal patients from getting their prescriptions filled at regulated dispensaries within city limits. The number of patients in California who rely on medical marijuana for treatment continues to increase as physicians have expanded the use of marijuana to treat symptoms of diseases such as headaches, spinal injuries, cancers, heart disease, arthritis, anorexia and depression. [continues 150 words]
After months of discussion, the Salinas City Council has banned medical marijuana dispensaries within city limits. A 4-3 vote Tuesday decided in favor of an ordinance that will keep them out of Salinas. "I'm sorry for the people who have cancer, who'll die because they don't have this to make it better," Councilman Sergio Sanchez said. "We talk about being a city of peace ... if we don't respect their rights, we'll be hypocritical." As in August's tied decision, Sanchez and council members Jyl Lutes and Gloria De La Rosa voted to reject the ban, while council members Janet Barnes and Tony Barrera and Mayor Dennis Donohue voted in its favor. [continues 247 words]
Greenfield Board Wants to Take Closer Look at Plan GREENFIELD - The Greenfield Police Department is offering to bring drug-sniffing dogs to the city's schools, Superintendent Elida Garza said. Garza discussed the possibility of bringing dogs to Greenfield Union School District's schools, which offer grades kindergarten through 8, at the Oct. 2 school board meeting. At the suggestion of board President Bob White, a decision on the matter was indefinitely postponed while the district confers with its attorney about any legal pitfalls. [continues 374 words]
Another state budget writing season is over, and another deficit budget adopted, with lip service to fixing the so-called "structural deficit." Meanwhile, from deep in the Emerald Triangle of Northern California, reputed as the national capital of marijuana growing, comes a simple idea that could solve the budget deficit and end the greatest American hypocrisy since Prohibition. Too bad it has no chance of passage in this decade or the next one, either. You remember Prohibition. The era when hard liquor was banned by federal Constitutional amendment but remained available to anyone who wanted it. The era when rum-runners got rich and moonshine whiskey distilled in secret became a cottage industry. [continues 419 words]
An ordinance that would have permanently prohibited medical marijuana dispensaries in the city failed to pass at Tuesday's City Council meeting. A vote that would have rejected the ban failed on a 3-3 tie vote. Councilman Steve Villegas was absent. Councilmembers Jyl Lutes, Gloria De La Rosa and Sergio Sanchez favored rejecting the ban, saying sick people with a doctor's recommendation should be able to get their medicine here. Those who favored the ban cited the city's image and a police department recommendation for the ban as reasons to prohibit the dispensaries. Councilmembers Janet Barnes and Tony Barrera favored the ban, as did Mayor Dennis Donohue. [continues 73 words]
