Voters 'Didn't Understand Issues' Of Marijuana Proposition, S.J. Justice Says STOCKTON -- A San Joaquin Superior Court judge Friday criticized voters for legalizing medical marijuana and then ordered a Stockton quadriplegic to again stand trial for cultivating and intending to sell pot. "The voters unfortunately didn't understand the issues at all," said Judge Terrence Van Oss, while questioning a doctor who had permitted Aaron Paradiso to buy marijuana from a Bay Area dispensary. Van Oss later declined to elaborate on his statement. But it reinforced medical-marijuana pro-ponents' concerns that Proposition 215 -- a law approved by voters eight years ago -- is not seen by San Joaquin County law enforcers as legitimate. [continues 663 words]
STOCKTON - Medical-marijuana advocates on Tuesday lobbied City Council members for cannabis dispensaries before the council voted to put a moratorium on permits for medical-marijuana businesses while the council studies the issue. * Aaron Paradiso, 26, addressed council from his wheelchair. The young Stockton man told members he's had his marijuana seized by sheriff's deputies, and that it's unsafe to buy the pain-relieving drug on the street. * The Council will revisit the issue during a public hearing within 45 days. The moratorium and hearing are intended to allow city officials to further evaluate what effect the dispensaries would have. [continues 165 words]
White House At Odds With Bill In State Legislature State lawmakers are at odds with the White House over the effectiveness and appropriateness of random drug testing in public schools. State Sen. John Vasconcellos, D-San Jose, and Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg, D-Los Angeles, are championing a bill that would ban random drug testing of students unless school officials have reasonable suspicion a student is using drugs. But President Bush has asked Congress to set aside $23 million dollars for school districts willing to test their students for illegal drugs, in addition to the $500 million in drug-education money that can be used by districts to develop drug testing programs. [continues 236 words]
Stockton - Aaron Paradiso just wants his medical marijuana back and a cannabis store opened in Stockton to end his Bay Area commute for the drug that manages his pain and eases his muscle spasms. Bill Pearce, a spokesman for the Valley Patient Alliance, wanted information on the legality of medical marijuana as well as how to create a marijuana cooperative, similar to a food cooperative, to work and share the product. And three San Joaquin County deputy district attorneys were present to learn more about it. [continues 360 words]
Plymouth -- This tiny Amador County city has become the first in the central Mother Lode to adopt rules regulating how medical cannabis dispensaries operate. The City Council on Thursday adopted the ordinance on an urgency basis after area resident Mike Koll applied for a business license to open such a dispensary in this city of about 1,000 people. "There was a regulatory vacuum," Michael Dean, Plymouth city attorney explained. "We needed to plug that vacuum." Koll could not be reached for comment Friday. [continues 473 words]
But Recreational Use Still Not Favored, Poll Finds SACRAMENTO -- Californians overwhelmingly favor the medical use of marijuana, and they're increasingly apt to view pot in the same category as alcohol, but despite a softening of views over the past two decades, a majority still opposes legalizing the drug for recreational use, according to a statewide opinion poll released today. Three out of four voters (74 percent) support implementation of Proposition 215, the 1996 ballot initiative that legalized marijuana use for those suffering from a range of medical conditions, the Field Poll reported. That's significantly greater support than the 56 percent of voters who passed the measure. [continues 413 words]
The San Joaquin County District Attorney's Office has filed charges against a Stockton-area quadriplegic who says he grows and uses marijuana for medicinal purposes. Nearly a month after sheriff's deputies seized 52 marijuana plants from 25-year-old Aaron Paradiso's rural home, Deputy District Attorney Phil Urie last week filed charges of marijuana cultivation and possession of marijuana for sale against Paradiso, his mother, Debra Paradiso, and his friend and sometime caregiver, Robert Turano. The trio are scheduled to appear Oct. 15 in the San Joaquin County Courthouse. [continues 947 words]
Trustees Leave Proposal Untouched After Hearing From Parents, Coaches ANGELS CAMP -- A drug-testing program for Bret Harte High School student athletes could be in place in time for the start of the school year next month. The proposed policy passed an initial round of scrutiny by district trustees this week and will return for a second reading Aug. 4. If trustees approve the policy then, it would take effect in August. Superintendent Joseph Wilimek said parents and coaches expressed support for the policy at Monday night's meeting, and trustees did not ask to make any changes. [continues 247 words]
In California, Prop. 215 was passed in 1996, making it legal for people suffering from AIDS, cancer and other serious diseases to use marijuana if they have a doctor's prescription. But since 9/11, the war on drugs has been subsumed by the war on terrorism. In the last year, with the rationale that the drug trade may fund terrorism, the federal Drug Enforcement Agency has taken action against more than 35 medicinal marijuana patients, cooperatives and providers in California. The most recent incident in September pitted Santa Cruz pot growers Michael and Valerie Corral, who run the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana, against federal agents with assault rifles and ended up with City Council members handing out joints on the steps of City Hall in defiance. [continues 558 words]
SONORA - A Tuolumne County medical-marijuana user whose cultivation and possession convictions were overturned earlier this year by the California Supreme Court will not face a new trial. Deputy District Attorney John Hansen said Thursday that his office has decided not to seek a new trial for Myron "Carl" Mower, who has a doctor's recommendation to use marijuana to help him cope with diabetes and related ailments. Hansen said it would not be cost-effective for the county to retry the 40-year-old Mower, because even if he were convicted, he could be sentenced only to serve the rest of his original probation period, which expires in March. [continues 483 words]
Pot is easier to buy than alcohol and cigarettes. Pot is illegal. Alcohol and cigarettes are legal but regulated. Illegal drugs create a black market, fill the streets with gangs, theft and murder. Our prisons are full of drug offenders. Let's clean up our streets, get drugs away from our children and end gang profitability, by legalizing and regulating drugs. By John Wise Stockton [end]
Jim Fabeck called the district attorney's office looking for answers. Instead, he says, he hung up feeling like a criminal. Fabeck, 57, said he actually has called the San Joaquin County District Attorney's Office three times to find out more about the county's take on Proposition 215, which allows California residents with certain conditions, such as cancer, AIDS and chronic pain, to use marijuana for medical purposes. He called once last year and twice this year. Each time, he said, he hung up frustrated. [continues 892 words]
Stocktonian Troubled During Fact-Finding Trip While the world is focused on events halfway around the world in Afghanistan, a brutal war is raging a scant two hours by plane from Miami in the mountains and jungles of Colombia. Unfortunately, the war is not going to take a vacation during the Afghan conflict. Instead, the war in Colombia continues to grow and intensify, oblivious to events elsewhere. It is spilling over Colombia's borders and threatening to envelop the entire northern Andean region of South America. And Ecuador is becoming more and more enmeshed in the conflict. [continues 1080 words]
Northern Lights Alleges Civil Rights Violations ANGELS CAMP -- The founder and head of a controversial Calaveras County church claims the county violated his and his church's civil rights by requiring him to obtain a business license laden with conditions -- including one that forbade him to hold services and another that precluded him from erecting a cross. The Rev. David A. Jack, founder and head of Northern Lights Church, filed a lawsuit last week in U.S. District Court in Fresno. The lawsuit names the county, members of the Board of Supervisors and a county planner as defendants. [continues 508 words]
The high esteem in which former Rep. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas is held by his colleagues was demonstrated by the 98-1 Senate vote confirming him last month as the new director of the Drug Enforcement Administration. Even more telling was the fact that Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, the senior Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee and an ardent opponent of the impeachment of President Clinton, appeared at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to praise Hutchinson, who had been one of the Republican House managers presenting the case against Clinton. [continues 491 words]
Manteca police gave David Willson's pot plants back Thursday, about 18 months after officers raided his home, seizing marijuana and other property. Law enforcement officials in the south San Joaquin County city expressed disappointment and vowed to continue to bust residents possessing drugs deemed illegal. Police officials released growing equipment and several guns Aug. 3, after San Joaquin County Superior Court Judge K. Peter Saiers ordered the return of all the property taken from Willson's rural Manteca home. But officials held onto the marijuana while considering an appeal. [continues 247 words]
Manteca police gave David Willson's pot plants back Thursday, about 18 months after officers raided his home, seizing marijuana and other property. Law enforcement officials in the south San Joaquin County city expressed disappointment and vowed to continue to bust residents possessing drugs deemed illegal. Police officials released growing equipment and several guns Aug. 3, after San Joaquin County Superior Court Judge K. Peter Saiers ordered the return of all the property taken from Willson's rural Manteca home. But officials held onto the marijuana while considering an appeal. [continues 228 words]
Wallace Ministers Take Plea Bargain SAN ANDREAS -- Two Wallace ministers charged with cultivating marijuana have been placed on probation as part of a plea-bargain -- the same deal that a Calaveras County Superior Court judge accepted and later rejected because he said it was illegal. The Rev. Ricky Dewayne Garner, 43, and the Rev. Sue Melinda Garner, 40, ministers with Northern Lights Church, agreed to the plea-bargain the district attorney's office offered during a court hearing Tuesday. The Garners had accepted the same offer in May -- pleading guilty to misdemeanor marijuana possession in exchange for dropping a felony cultivation charge and obeying all laws. The probation terms stated that the Garners must abide by Proposition 215, which legalized the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes, and the county's own medical-marijuana guidelines. [continues 337 words]
BOSTON -- And now from our northern neighbors, the allegedly staid Canadians, a new antidote to our reefer madness. The Canadian government has just increased the number of its people who can use marijuana as medicine. As of this month, the terminally ill and those with chronic diseases from cancer to AIDS to MS can turn their back yards into their medicine cabinets. With the approval of a doctor, they can either grow it or get it free from the government, which is paying a company to nurture the plants in an abandoned copper mine in Flin Flon, Manitoba. [continues 577 words]
SAN ANDREAS -- A Calaveras County Superior Court judge who accepted and then rejected a plea-bargain agreement for two Wallace ministers accused of cultivating marijuana is off the case. The district attorney's office filed a motion to disqualify Judge Douglas Mewhinney from the case involving Ricky Dewayne Garner, 43, and Sue Melinda Garner, 40, both ministers of the Northern Lights Church. The prosecution and defense can file such motions to disqualify one judge each, and both county judges -- Mewhinney and John Martin -- have been disqualified from the Garner case. [continues 250 words]
