Kharla Vezzetti UPDATE: July 19, 2010 Oakland City Council Weighs Industrial Grows, Big Tax Hike for MMJ Oakland’s contentious cultivation ordinance to license four industrial-size grows will be up for a vote before the full City Council this Tuesday, July 20th. Opponents will be arguing for modifications to permit smaller-scale grows along the line proposed in Berkeley, …
COVELO, Cal, Jul 7th 2010: The DEA flouted Mendocino County’s newly enacted medical marijuana cultivation ordinance by raiding the first collective that had applied to the sheriff’s cultivation permit program. A multi-agency federal task force descended on the property of Joy Greenfield, 68, the first Mendo patient to pay the $1050 application fee under the …
SACRAMENTO, Jun 22 – The California Assembly Public Safety Committee approved Sen. Mark Leno’s bill SB 1449 to downgrade petty marijuana possession from a misdemeanor to an infraction. The bill passed with no discussion by a vote of 4-1, with Ammiano (D-SF), Beall (D-SJ), Hill (D-SanMateo) and Yamada (D-Davis) voting aye, and Portantino (D-Pasadena) nay. …
UPDATE June 22 – Sen. Calderon has withdrawn his Marijuana Tax Bill SBX6 – 16 from consideration by the Senate Revenue & Taxation committee, where it had been scheduled for hearings tomorrow (Wed Jun 23rd). The bill was aimed at levying a 41% tax on all medical marijuana sales and had attracted strong opposition from …
California NORML Press Release CONTACTS: Dale Gieringer (415) 563-5858; Edie Lerman (707) 937-1711 RED BLUFF, Jun 4th. In a lawsuit supported by California NORML, Tehama County patients filed suit today against a county ordinance that limits their right to grow marijuana at home. The lawsuit, by the law firm of Edie Lerman and J David …
June 4 – The California Assembly has passed a bill, AB 2650, that bans dispensaries within 600 feet of schools. Thanks to lobbying by MMJ advocates, the bill was greatly watered down from an earlier version which would have banned them within 1,000 feet of schools, parks, libraries, religious institutions, child care or youth centers, …
May 28th, 2010 – In a lawsuit sponsored by California NORML, Tehama County patients are challenging a local ordinance that would drastically limit their right to grow medical marijuana. Tehama’s is the most restrictive of a rapidly growing number of anti-cultivation measures that have recently been proposed by local officials hostile to medical marijuana. The …
Cal NORML Release – May 5, 2010 The California Board of Equalization reports that the state is collecting $50 – $100 million in sales taxes from medical marijuana, confirming the estimate previously published in an economic analysis by California NORML (also independently affirmed by Americans for Safe Access). California NORML currently estimates the state’s retail …
May 4, Ridgecrest, CA: A medical marijuana raid by the Naval Criminal Intelligence Service has led to the arrest of five defendants on federal charges. The defendants were charged for distributing marijuana for the R&C Collective next to the China Lake Naval Base. Read more. Unlike the DEA, NCIS does not operate under the Justice …
SACRAMENTO – Legislative committees considered a pair of marijuana bills last week, approving Mark Leno’s bill SB 1449 to make petty pot offenses an infraction, and narrowly passing a much watered-down version of Assemblywoman Buchanan’s bill AB 2650 to limit dispensary siting. On April 20th (fittingly enough) the Senate Public Safety Commitee voted 5-2 to …