Medical Cannabis Employees Opt For Representation As State's Legalization Vote Nears Almost 100 workers in Oakland's medical marijuana industry have voted to be represented by organized labor, a first-of-its-kind event for an industry trying to build public support. Marijuana advocates joined leaders of the United Food and Commercial Workers union in making the announcement Friday. Californians are split over a November ballot measure that would legalize use of marijuana by adults 21 and older, but proponents of the initiative hoped labor can now give them a boost. [continues 533 words]
Medical Cannabis Employees Opt for Representation As State's Legalization Vote Nears Almost 100 workers in Oakland's medical marijuana industry have voted to be represented by organized labor, a first-of-its-kind event for an industry trying to build public support. Marijuana advocates joined leaders of the United Food and Commercial Workers union in making the announcement Friday. Californians are split over a November ballot measure that would legalize use of marijuana by adults 21 and older, but proponents of the initiative hoped labor can now give them a boost. [continues 542 words]
OAKLAND -- City Attorney John Russo last week endorsed the state's ballot initiative to legalize marijuana, and the City Council seems poised to do the same soon. Californians this November will vote on a measure that would legalize adult use and personal cultivation of marijuana. Russo called it an overdue change in the state's policy on marijuana. "What we've been trying to do is fight a raging fire with a watering can," Russo said. "The better way is to cut off the oxygen." [continues 436 words]
Measure F carries with it perhaps the smallest financial benefit to the city, though its backers like something else about the proposal: the potential to further legitimize medical pot. Measure F would create a new business tax rate for Oakland's four legally operating medical marijuana clubs, hitting them with a levy of $18 for every $1,000 in gross sales. That compares to $1.20 for every $1,000 in gross sales the clubs now pay under the standard retail business tax. [continues 246 words]
OAKLAND -- A proposal to increase the business tax on Oakland's four medical marijuana dispensaries won the support of a four-member City Council committee Tuesday, and it could be headed for the ballot July 21. The tax increase is billed as one way to generate a small amount of additional revenue from medical marijuana dispensaries, which require more oversight than typical businesses, for a city facing a deficit that could reach $65 million in the 2009-10 fiscal year. What remains in dispute is what the new tax rate should be. The council's finance committee Tuesday sent the proposal on to the full council, which could set the proposed tax rate at anywhere from $12 to $24 for every $1,000 in gross receipts. [continues 349 words]
DEA Warnings Counter City's Compassionate Care Tradition, Mayor Asserts OAKLAND -- Mayor Ron Dellums has asked a long-time former colleague, U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., to investigate the federal Drug Enforcement Administration's use of "threatening letters" to target medical cannabis dispensaries throughout California, including at least one in Oakland. The DEA has sent hundreds of letters to people who own property on which cannabis dispensaries are operating. A DEA official called the notices a "courtesy" even though they threaten landlords with imprisonment and property forfeiture. [continues 598 words]
30 Arrested in Raids Throughout Region OAKLAND -- Oakland police and federal authorities announced Wednesday they had dismantled a major drug ring that they said brought heroin from Mexico into California's Central Valley and ultimately Oakland and other Bay Area locations. The announcement came after law enforcement personnel conducted dozens of raids beginning at 6 a.m. Wednesday in Oakland and throughout the region. Police Chief Wayne Tucker said he believed the streets of Oakland will be safer after the bust, because of the violence often associated with drug dealing. [continues 469 words]
