Three months after recreational marijuana went on sale in California, San Diego retailers say business has been brisk and the customer base diverse, including older people who use a private shuttle bus to reach one dispensary. "There's been a change in the culture," said Will Senn, who operates two Urbn Leaf marijuana stores in San Diego and is about to open a third. "Cannabis is becoming more accepted. Now that adult-use marijuana is legal, people are giving it a try. The average age of our customers has gone from about 40 to about 50." [continues 687 words]
A San Diego County resident is among 40 people nationwide to become infected with salmonella bacteria linked to kratom, the controversial tropical herb that many have begun using to treat opioid addiction despite an import ban from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. According to the county Health and Human Services Agency, a 44-year-old, whose gender and city of residence were not released, became ill in January. Testing performed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that symptoms were caused by the same subspecies of the salmonella bacteria that has now produced cases in 27 states. [continues 695 words]
SAN DIEGO - Four medical marijuana collectives that applied for permits from San Diego County will be allowed to proceed with their plans for facilities despite a moratorium on new places to grow or distribute the controversial substance. The collectives in North and East County were far enough along in the permit process when the ban was put in place in March, and the county determined that they have the right to continue with their plans for three new dispensaries and one indoor cultivation center. The county also determined that another facility that wasn't as far into the approval process may not proceed. [continues 588 words]
WASHINGTON - Delivering a major blow to backers of pot legalization, the Obama administration said Thursday that it would keep marijuana classified as one of the nation's most dangerous drugs, similar to heroin and LSD. The long-awaited decision by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration keeps intact a 1970 law that lists marijuana as Schedule 1 drug, one defined as having no medical value. That runs counter to decisions made by California and 25 other states that have already approved use of the drug as medicine. [continues 963 words]
One conventionally wise thing to say about Proposition 64, the statewide initiative legalizing adult use of recreational marijuana, is that millennials could very well provide the margin for victory. Millennials, the generation born after 1982 and before 1998, tend to be politically independent and socially libertarian. They're also numerous, making up more than a quarter of registered voters. But even more populous, comprising nearly a third of the voting pool, are boomers, the graying generation that grew up with revolution, and marijuana smoke, in the air. [continues 745 words]
San Diego would join several other large California cities that impose local taxes on marijuana businesses if voters approve a proposed November ballot measure that Councilman Mark Kersey will unveil on Monday. Kersey said the tax, which would start at 8 percent of gross receipts and could rise to 15 percent at council discretion, would help cover costs for code enforcement officers, police and other city workers who monitor and regulate marijuana businesses. Marijuana advocates and local proprietors didn't immediately reject the idea, but warned that excessive taxation of legal marijuana would inflate prices and could help foster a more robust black market for the drug. [continues 676 words]
The signatures are still being tallied and verified, but an initiative aimed at legalizing recreational use of cannabis in California is on track to easily qualify for the ballot this November. Early secretary of state reports show the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, which is backed by Silicon Valley billionaire Sean Parker, submitted more than the needed 365,880 signatures just in Southern California. And more than three-quarters of the signatures sampled from counties that have completed the verification process - 15 out of 58 - have been deemed valid. In all, some 600,000 petition signatures were submitted earlier this month. [continues 951 words]
Watchdog San Diego County's top three law enforcement agencies issued statements Thursday saying none of the abuses cited in an American Civil Liberties Union analysis of the federal asset forfeiture program occurred locally. The agencies, the San Diego police and sheriff's departments and the District Attorney's Office, participated in more seized-asset cases over the past 14 years than any other law enforcement organization in California, the ACLU report said. "None of the alleged cases of abuse in the ACLU report involve a law enforcement agency from San Diego County," the District Attorney's Office statement said. "The U.S. Department of Justice has determined that the San Diego County DA's Office complies with the national code of professional conduct for asset forfeiture, which states the Constitution and federal statutes prohibit the improper use of personal characteristics such as race, color, national origin, gender or religion to target individuals for law enforcement action." [continues 187 words]
Days Officials Would Have to Notify Property Owners of Seizure A bipartisan group of federal lawmakers introduced a bill Thursday that would rewrite the rules on civil asset forfeiture, the federal program that allows police officers and sheriff's deputies to seize cash and property from people who have not been arrested or convicted. Thirteen members of Congress joined to sponsor the legislation, which they called the Due Process Act of 2016. "Civil forfeiture remains one of the greatest assaults to property rights and due process in America today," said Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, one of the representatives to co-introduce the bill. "What was once intended to ensure drug dealers couldn't keep the fruits of their illegal activities has now become grossly misused." [continues 518 words]
A new report from American Civil Liberties Union says the federal government's civil asset-forfeiture program disproportionately affects minorities and poor people. The program allows law enforcement agencies to seize cash and property from suspects without an arrest or conviction. The advocacy group found that almost half of the seizures by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in California involve people with Latino surnames, calling it an "ongoing attack" on people of color. Federal drug officials said they had not been given a chance to review the group's analysis, but that the pattern seems to simply reflect their fight against Latin American drug cartels. [continues 948 words]
U.S. customs officers at the Otay Mesa border crossing found the tablets hidden in the man's underwear. There were more than 1,000 pills labeled as oxycodone, but a Drug Enforcement Administration lab later discovered that the tablets contained a far stronger opiate - fentanyl. The Feb. 10 confiscation is believed to be the first time federal officials along the California-Mexico border intercepted fentanyl tablets disguised as oxycodone, raising concerns among authorities that such cover-ups could lead to fatal consequences. [continues 503 words]
San Diego County supervisors enacted a 45-day ban on new medical marijuana facilities on Wednesday, disrupting plans for eight dispensaries and cultivation sites that had recently applied for permits to open in unincorporated parts of the county. During the temporary moratorium, supervisors and county staff will consider new regulations or a ban on the facilities. The hiatus leaves San Diego city as the only jurisdiction within the county that allows medical marijuana collectives to apply for the various approvals needed to operate a legal dispensary or cultivation site. [continues 449 words]
Regarding "Marijuana bans spread in wake of new regulations" (Feb. 28): In our society, which tolerates the legal sale of alcohol, tobacco and pharmaceuticals, I find it ironic that medicinal marijuana is still demonized to the extent that it is. Goods and services that operate under the scope of the state law should be accessible for those who seek them. Those cities within San Diego County implementing bans on medical marijuana dispensaries are doing a disservice to those who use marijuana medicinally. [continues 65 words]
About 72 million gallons of water were used to irrigate San Diego County's thirsty and illegal marijuana operations, enough to serve 440 families for a year, and that's only for the ones that were found. Law enforcement officials made that statement Thursday at a news conference at the Drug Enforcement Administration's San Diego office as they announced the number of illegal pot plants seized countywide so far this year. DEA Assistant Special Agent in Charge Gary Hill said it takes about 900 gallons of water to grow an outdoor marijuana plant to harvest, and about half that for an indoor plant. [continues 389 words]
We all remember the days when El Cajon was dubiously labeled the world's crystal meth capital for its many clandestine labs. These small-scale operations in motor homes, trailers and apartments cooked up a product that was about 50 percent pure, sometimes even less. And it was expensive. Those days are all but forgotten now, dwarfed by a new phenomenon. Today's meth is manufactured in huge quantities in giant warehouses in Mexico known as "Super Labs," which are supplied by Asian chemical distributors and staffed by university-educated chemists and engineers. [continues 719 words]
Federal Agents Say Proper Record-Keeping Helpful in Fight On July 13, 2012, a pharmacy technician ordered 1,000 hydrocodone pills through the San Diego pharmacy he worked for. But it was not a sanctioned order. The highly addictive drugs were either meant for his own consumption, or to restock the pharmacy's supply of pills he had already stolen, concluded the state Board of Pharmacy, which ultimately revoked his license after he was convicted of prescription forgery and burglary. [continues 754 words]
San Diego County has far outpaced the rest of the state in the number of requests for relief under Proposition 47, according to data released last week. The law reduced simple drug possession and some other low-level property felonies to misdemeanors, and allows old and recent convictions to be reclassified. In the first eight months since the law was passed by voters last November, one-quarter of the state's Proposition 47 petitions for resentencings and reclassifications of old convictions came from within the county - nearly 41,400. Los Angeles County - a region with three times as many people - pales in comparison, with about 25,100 petitions filed to state courts during the same time frame. Orange County filed slightly fewer, about 22,500. [continues 455 words]
New Group of Prominent Law Enforcement Leaders Say Too Many Nonviolent Offenders Are in Prison Bipartisan Bill on Sentencing Reform Passes Senate Committee President Obama is on a tour to promote reform and should bring it to California President Barack Obama listens during a community discussion Wednesday in Charleston, W.Va., on the prescription drug and heroin abuse epidemics. Steve Helber The Associated Press By the Editorial Board A critical mass appears to be forming to limit America's prison population growth. [continues 317 words]
Cross-Border Operation Nets 12 Tons of Marijuana, 22 Suspects The latest drug tunnel discovered between Tijuana and San Diego featured ventilation, lighting and a rail system capable of moving loads of wrapped marijuana across the border. Within hours of launching operations on Wednesday, the passageway was shut down, 22 suspects were under arrest and 12 tons of marijuana had been seized by U.S. and Mexican authorities. "We believe with a pretty good degree of certainty that the marijuana loads that began moving yesterday morning were the first drugs that moved through this tunnel," U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy said Thursday. [continues 808 words]
Leaders Aim to Cut Incarceration Rates About 100 law enforcement leaders including District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis gathered in the nation's capital Wednesday to announce a joint effort to reduce the number of people being put behind bars. The newly formed Law Enforcement Leaders to Reduce Crime and Incarceration issued a report Wednesday outlining its vision and recommendations, from providing more diversion programs for mental illness and substance abuse to reducing some low-level, nonviolent crimes to misdemeanors. "Unnecessary incarceration exacerbates racial disparities, economic inequality, and hinders economic opportunity in the communities that need it most," the group said in explaining its mission statement. "Today, one in three black men will end up incarcerated. And 60 percent of prisoners reentering society face long-term unemployment." [continues 844 words]
