California may be going to pot -- literally. Marijuana would be grown and sold openly to adults 21 and older under legislation introduced Monday morning by a San Francisco lawmaker. Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, said the cash-starved state could generate more than a billion dollars by taxing pot growers and sellers. Ammiano predicted that the public would support loosening marijuana laws that require substantial public funds to enforce. "I think there's a mentality throughout the state and the country that this isn't the highest priority," he said. "And that maybe we should start to reassess." [continues 347 words]
City Commission to Examine Residents' Needs Dressed in a suit and tie, Pleasanton resident Kirk Warren is the last person one would point to as a medical marijuana user. Warren, an executive for a Fortune 500 company, recently went public when he attended a Pleasanton City Council meeting to put a face to the medical marijuana issue. "I felt a responsibility in my own local community, to at least be there and listen," Warren said recently during an interview from his Pleasanton backyard. "It's been brewing, and it was about time for me to come out of the closet." [continues 583 words]
WASHINGTON News that Al Gore's 24-year-old son, Al Gore III, was busted for pot and assorted prescription pills has unleashed a torrent of mirth in certain quarters. Gore-phobes on the Internet apparently view the sons arrest and incarceration as comeuppance for the fathers shortcomings. Especially rich was the fact that young Al was driving a Toyota Prius when he was pulled over for going 100 mph -- just as Papa Gore was set to preside over concerts during a 24-hour, seven-continent Live Earth celebration to raise awareness about global warming. [continues 599 words]
Verdict May Redefine Legal Standing of Drug SAN FRANCISCO -- The fate of Oakland "Guru of Ganja" Ed Rosenthal once again rests in a federal jury's hands -- in a manner of speaking. A federal prosecutor and Rosenthal's lawyers rested their cases and made closing arguments Tuesday on whether Rosenthal should be convicted of five marijuana-growing felonies. Then jurors began deliberating. But even if convicted, Rosenthal, 62, faces no more than the one day behind bars -- time he already served -- to which he was sentenced after his first trial and conviction in 2003, later overturned by a federal appeals court. Whether with a clean slate or as a convict, Rosenthal will walk free no matter what this jury decides. [continues 721 words]
Although Closed, Valley Wellness Center In Tracy May Continue Legal Fight TRACY -- The tale of the second medical marijuana dispensary to open in Tracy -- and San Joaquin County for that matter -- came to a quiet close over the weekend, with the same amount of fanfare as when it opened. Even though the store no longer will be there, the legal battle over the Valley Wellness Center may continue after an order to close was upheld by an arbiter two weeks ago. [continues 516 words]
Area Has Many Who Rely on Drug Five years ago, Michelle London would burn marijuana into a butter and spread it on toast for her mother, dying of lung cancer. "She couldn't smoke it anymore," she recalled. "We put it on wheat toast. It worked. It was really a shock. It prolonged my mom's life." Today, London, 34, of Livermore, deals with diabetes, which has extended into gastroparesis, or nerve damage in her stomach. "My food stays in there for days and it ferments," she said. "I vomit a lot and get sick. ... People think I'm healthy or they think I'm a drug addict or a prankster or something." [continues 1129 words]
Hearing on Thursday to Consider Legality of the Valley Wellness Center TRACY -- While the national debate over the use of medical marijuana has yet to be settled, city officials hope to resolve the confusion over whether or not cannabis clubs that distribute the drug to patients are allowed under the city code. The situation has come to a head after Tracys own cannabis club, The Valley Wellness Center at 130 W. 11th St., continued to operate after the city owners ordered to close it. [continues 173 words]
HAYWARD -- A week after federal agents put a quick end to one downtown Hayward medical marijuana clinic, the Hayward City Council will decide today what to do about the only other pot club in town. The council is scheduled to vote on whether to extend its three-year operating agreement with the Hayward Patients Resource Center. The agreement with the Foothill Boulevard dispensary expires Dec. 31, and the club would be forced to close if the council does not extend the agreement. [continues 317 words]
Cannabis Dispensary Accuses City of Infringing on Constitutional Rights TRACY -- The medical marijuana dispensary, which was ordered to close by the city of Tracy, has filed a request for an administrative hearing and vowed to continue operating. Oakland attorney James Anthony said the Valley Wellness Center is a legal medical cannabis collective and would remain open under the threat of fines and citations. "It causes no harm, and it provides a beneficial community service on a nonprofit basis," Anthony wrote in an e-mail. "The city's legal position -- that anything not explicitly permitted is therefore prohibited -- is dubious and infringes on constitutionally protected property rights." [continues 197 words]
A Lafayette man pleaded guilty Tuesday to making marijuana products that looked like popular candy and soda brands, accepting almost six years behind bars. Kenneth Affolter, 39, admitted he controlled and managed several marijuana-growing sites in Emeryville and Oakland where plants were grown and turned into edible products such as "Munchy Way" candy bars, designed to look like Mars Inc.'s Milky Way bars; "Pot Tarts," designed to look like Kellogg's Pop Tarts; and "Trippy" peanut butter, designed to look like Unilever's Skippy product. [continues 277 words]
Pleasanton Moratorium Due To Expire Aug. 5 PLEASANTON -- With a temporary moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries close to expiring, the City Council will revisit the issue tonight. The moratorium took effect in August 2005 and was extended the following month for a year, largely because the council felt it did not have enough information about crime associated with dispensaries and the implications of federal law prohibiting marijuana. When it came before the council a year ago, they felt there wasnt enough information, so they put a moratorium in place for one year, said Pamela Ott, the citys economic development manager. [continues 198 words]
EIGHT years ago, Lathrop Police Services with the support and funding from City Council, implemented the D.A.R.E. program. D.A.R.E. goes beyond traditional drug abuse and violence prevention programs. It gives kids the skills needed to recognize problems, identify and respond with safe and wise choices, then evaluate their response, to resist the subtle and overt pressures that cause them to experiment with drugs or become involved in violent activities. D.A.R.E. America estimates this year 36 million school children around the world --26 million in the United States --will benefit from Drug Abuse Resistance Education, The program was founded in 1983 in Los Angeles and has proven so successful it is now being implemented in 75 percent of our nation's school districts and in more than 43 countries around the world. [continues 344 words]
Amendment to Stop Federal Raids in States With Medical Pot Laws Is Nixed Drug-reform advocates took a one-two punch as state lawmakers changed the treatment-not-jail sentencing law for drug users and the House nixed an amendment to halt federal pot raids in states with medical marijuana laws. State lawmakers late Tuesday night approved changes to the drug-treatment law -- passed as Proposition 36 by 61 percent of voters in November 2000 -- so judges now will be able to impose two to five days of jail time to punish drug-use relapses during treatment. Opponents say this "flash incarceration" doesn't make treatment more effective and dilutes the law's original intent. [continues 711 words]
Building Manager Asked Dispensary to Move Out; No Legal Trouble Involved TRACY - The first cannibus buyers club in San Joaquin County was snuffed out before it ever got rolling. And it's not because federal, local or state agents shut down the odorous operation on the third floor of the Opera House building in downtown Tracy. Last Thursday - three days after it opened for business - building manager Jim Ward said he asked the owners of the West Valley Resource Co-Op to move out, and they were gone the next day. He said they didn't have a problem with it. [continues 397 words]
OAKLAND -- For nearly two years, Alameda County supervisors have debated, questioned, praised, criticized and agonized over medical marijuana clinics. Not on Tuesday. Instead, they took only five minutes to redraw the map identifying where three dispensaries can operate in unincorporated areas. No muss, no fuss, no public testimony, no supervisors' comments, and just a brief staff report. Then, Nate Miley, one of two supervisors whose districts include cannabis clubs, made the motion to stretch the east Ashland-Castro Valley area slightly south into Cherryland. [continues 306 words]
Oakland group will ask high court to protect medical marijuana users An Oakland-based advocacy group is taking the medical marijuana battle deep into the workplace Tuesday by asking the state's highest court to protect patients not only from prosecution but also from firing. Americans for Safe Access will file a California Supreme Court brief Tuesday on behalf of Gary Ross of Sacramento, who was canned in September 2001 after just a few days on the job at RagingWire Telecommunications. [continues 618 words]
Club Owners Complain, but Have No Dispensary Permit to Sell Pot DUBLIN -- A post-Christmas raid on a medical marijuana collective in Dublin prompted the owners of the club to complain about police action to the Dublin City Council. Dublin and Livermore police and Alameda County Sheriff's Department executed search warrants on CT Creation, a business at 6711-B Sierra Court, and a private residence on Dec. 26, 2005, said Dublin Police Lt. Glenn Moon. Moon said the police seized about five pounds of marijuana, various hash products and "marijuana edibles" and $11,000 in cash from the properties. Dublin does not permit medical marijuana dispensaries. [continues 571 words]
Alameda County Judge Known For Helping Addicts HAYWARD -- Alameda County Superior Court Judge Peggy Fulton Hora presided over her final trial Friday, then hung up her black robe for good and walked away from the Hayward Hall of Justice, leaving behind a judicial legacy of compassion as a founder of the nations first drug court. Hora, whose retirement becomes official Feb. 28, said she figured theres no better time than now to move on so she can shift her focus to teaching, traveling, writing and her seven grandchildren. [continues 663 words]
After years of sneers that selling medical marijuana is a back-alley operation, Adele Morgan felt vindicated Thursday. The owner of We Are Hemp on Lewelling Boulevard in Cherryland got an early Christmas present: an Alameda County Sheriff's Department letter stating her business has tentative approval for a permit to sell medical marijuana in unincorporated areas. "I am glad, and I do feel vindicated in a sense," said Morgan, who opened her storefront business five years ago, after 29 years as a nurse and seven years with the county probation department. [continues 226 words]
SAN FRANCISCO - About 50 medical marijuana activists rallied under Wednesday's leaden skies near the United Nations Plaza farmers market, wielding a bullhorn and picket signs to demand that federal officials act on a formal request to loosen the drug's ban. This weekend, Guru of Ganja Ed Rosenthal of Oakland hosted a Wonders of Cannabis festival in Golden Gate Park featuring joint-rolling contests and an appearance by comedian and noted stoner Tommy Chong. Mixed messages, some drug policy experts say sadly. [continues 921 words]
