SAN FRANCISCO - Steven Wynn Kubby, the medical marijuana advocate who on Monday night was released from Placer County jail, thanked this city's Board of Supervisors for supporting him and afterward gushed about how he and Placer County Sheriff Ed Bonner bonded. "I'm glad to be alive," Kubby told reporters after appearing before the supervisors Tuesday. Bonner "told me that law enforcement has to change because society is changing," Kubby added. "Then he told me they were going to release me but first he was going to go to the Placer County district attorney and ask him to quote, unquote, bury the hatchet." [continues 540 words]
City Bucks Federal, Municipal Crackdowns SAN FRANCISCO - In the past few months, this city enacted an ordinance regulating medical marijuana shops, federal authorities raided one of the dispensaries, and advocates protested the crackdown by openly giving free pot to ill patients in a city plaza. While the federal government continues going after medical cannabis shops across the state, and many communities still resist giving business licenses to the operations, support for the dispensaries in San Francisco remains strong - even among law enforcement officials. [continues 993 words]
Marijuana Advocate Tossed By Canada Is Arrested In S.F. SAN FRANCISCO - Having exhausted all appeals to remain in Canada, medical marijuana activist Steven Wynn Kubby returned to the United States on Thursday evening, only to be whisked away by police before a crowd of more than two dozen supporters could greet him. Kubby, 58, was removed from the Alaska Airlines jet by San Francisco police officers at the request of sheriff's officials in Placer County, where he faces a 120-day jail sentence for a drug conviction in 2000. He was then taken through secure areas of the airport to a squad car, and transported to the Redwood City jail. [continues 546 words]
Ken Estes, owner of 420 Cafe, a medical marijuana dispensary in Oakland, says his co-op has "brought in 20,000 people into this neighborhood that might have not visited downtown Oakland because of its stigmatization of being a dangerous place." Neighbors Leery Of Shops Meant To Assist The Ailing OAKLAND -- If you didn't know what they really were, you might figure the two cafes a short walk from City Hall here were just that -- small, unassuming, eclectically decorated shops offering cups of java, muffins, juices and fruit. [continues 1162 words]
The Former Oakland Officer Denies Knowing Where Confiscated Pot Ended Up. OAKLAND -- A former Oakland cop facing charges of kidnapping, assault and writing false reports on Thursday denied knowing the fate of a small bag of marijuana that he and his partner had confiscated from a suspected drug dealer. Jude Siapno, one of three ex-officers dubbed the "Riders" on trial in Alameda Superior Court, also testified under cross-examination that he released a West Oakland man suspected of being a lookout for drug dealers even though officers had been instructed to brook no tolerance for even the most minor offenses. [continues 578 words]
ACLU Hails Accord Over The Stopping Of A Latino Driver In A Drug Search. SAN FRANCISCO -- The California Highway Patrol announced a series of measures Thursday aimed at ending the use of racial profiling by its officers, part of a settlement hailed as a major agreement by the American Civil Liberties Union. The CHP agreement settles a 1999 federal class-action lawsuit stemming from a CHP drug interdiction operation near San Jose that stopped a car driven by a lawyer of Latino descent. [continues 782 words]
The Pact Will Pay $7 Million To Victims Of Abusive Cops And Set Up Major Department Reforms. OAKLAND -- In what legal observers said was an extraordinary pact, this city and 119 alleged victims of abusive behavior by Oakland police officers settled a civil-rights lawsuit Wednesday that institutes a lengthy list of systemic reforms in how officers are supervised and disciplined. The victims, mostly African American males, will share about $7 million in monetary damages stemming from the actions of four now-fired Oakland officers who were dubbed the "Riders." Three of those former officers are in the midst of a criminal trial, on which the lawsuit settlement will have no direct impact; the fourth has apparently fled the country. [continues 640 words]
Top Oakland Officials Urged Tough Policing, The Defense Contends. OAKLAND -- Three former Oakland police officers, on trial for allegedly fabricating reports, making false arrests and, in the case of one of them, assault and kidnapping, were actually doing the aggressive policing that top city officials wanted, their lawyers contended Tuesday. Each of the defendants' attorneys asserted during their opening statements that their clients did nothing unlawful two years ago during a handful of incidents in West Oakland, a section of the city they portrayed as then-rampant with drug-selling hot spots. [continues 546 words]
OAKLAND -- Just weeks before three Oakland police officers are to stand trial on charges ranging from writing false police reports to assault, a decorated narcotics detective reportedly is on the verge of being fired for lying on his reports. News of the apparently imminent termination of Detective John Gutierrez, who was named Oakland officer of the year in 2001, has sent defense lawyers combing through their files in search of cases that involved Gutierrez. Already, an undisclosed number of cases involving Gutierrez have been dropped by the Alameda County district attorney, including one against an Antioch couple that Gutierrez recently arrested with two children and allegedly 19 kilos of cocaine in their car. [continues 1119 words]
The Supreme Court Will Review A Law That Aims To Keep Drugs Out Of Projects. OAKLAND -- Herman Walker is a thin, frail man, a former warehouseman who has lived here nearly all of his 79 years. Sitting beneath the photos of his children and late wife that paper his living room wall, Walker seems an unlikely candidate for a dispute over illegal drugs and public housing. But 4 1/2 years ago, Walker was served an eviction notice after police determined that guests of his had used cocaine in and near his Oakland Housing Authority apartment. [continues 901 words]
San Mateo County Says The Project Is A Preliminary Step Toward Large-scale Research Into The Subject. SAN MATEO -- Phillip Alden has smoked marijuana -- legally, as far as California law is concerned -- for four years. An AIDS sufferer, Alden knows the drug reduces pain in his feet and hands, improves his appetite and controls nausea. But the 37-year-old unemployed writer has not used marijuana for three weeks and will avoid the substance for three more weeks -- even as those symptoms creep back into his daily regime -- in the hope that his sacrifice eventually will lead the federal government to approve marijuana as a prescription medicine. [continues 990 words]
A Cannabis Club Is Pushing For Recall Tuesday Because Seized Weed Is Not Returned. SAN RAFAEL -- At first glance, Paula Kamena would seem to be a friend of medical marijuana supporters. As the district attorney of pot-friendly Marin County, she established guidelines that shy away from prosecutions of people who grow or possess sizeable amounts of the illegal drug for use as a treatment for illnesses such as cancer or AIDS. But, with medical marijuana advocates leading the charge, Kamena faces a serious effort to oust her from office in a recall election Tuesday. Her detractors say she essentially is undermining California's medical marijuana law, Proposition 215, by condoning the arrests of cannabis patients who ultimately are not prosecuted but whose pot is confiscated nevertheless. [continues 838 words]
