Latest News on Medical Marijuana
Here are some of the latets news you can find on Medical Marijuana
Impact of federal threats felt by marijuana patients
With Humboldt County extending their dispensary moratorium for a year and Mendocino County ending its zip tie medical marijuana program, medical marijuana patients have lost their access to safe, legal medicine and attempts to implement Prop 215, which was approved by the voters 15 years ago, have come to an impasse.
The announcement by U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag that her office intended to go after dispensary owners and county officials effectively ended the efforts of local jurisdictions, working with groups such as the Humboldt Growers Association and Mendo Grown, to build a framework for medical marijuana.
Live Oak among trailblazers amid medical pot rules
Live Oak trail-blazed through thickets of medical marijuana law last month where few, if any, cities have journeyed.
The city of 8,600 residents became one of, if not the first city in California to ban growing medical marijuana Read More
Pot-based mouth spray medicine looks for U.S. approval
A quarter-century after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first prescription drugs based on the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, additional medicines derived from or inspired by the cannabis plant itself could soon be making their way to pharmacy shelves, according to drug companies, small biotech firms and university scientists.
Will the California Supreme Court save medical marijuana?
Last October, the city of Sacramento temporarily suspended its medical-cannabis-dispensary permitting process. The reason: An unexpected court ruling from down south that put the legality of all California pot ordinances into question.
Even San Francisco, a hotbed of marijuana-law reform, froze its medical-cannabis-dispensary permitting this winter, just as dozens of others cities across the state, and now everyone nervously awaits a decision by the California Supreme Court on the very legality of such permits.
A couple dozen local groups that are seeking permits for Sacramento dispensaries Read More
Limits on medical pot cause concern in D.C.
The District Read More
Healdsburg pot theft victim to seek payment for stolen drug
In what may be the first case of its kind in state history, a Healdsburg man whose marijuana was stolen in a home-invasion robbery will be allowed to seek restitution from the defendants.
Garden Grove halts pot dispensary registration
Saying they are not a "marijuana-friendly city," the City Council voted this week to suspend the registration of medical marijuana dispensaries.
The decision Tuesday night was prompted by two recent legal developments relating to the sale of medical marijuana, including a federal crackdown on California's pot clinics.
"Moving forward would be like stepping into a mine field, and we just won't take that risk," Councilman Bruce Broadwater said in a news release. "And just to set the record straight: We are not, nor have we ever been, a marijuana-friendly city."
The city has had a ban on the dispensaries since 2008. But by last fall, officials estimated about 30 had opened shop in the city despite the ban. Last August, the Garden Grove council voted to approve a registration process for dispensaries to better monitor them. The existing dispensaries had until Sept. 23 to register. The city received 60 applications, city officials said.
With Tuesday's council vote to halt the process, what happens next is unclear.
"We didn't feel comfortable moving forward with the program we have. We didn't want to be in defiance of court cases and federal action," Susan Emery, the city's community development director, said Thursday. "We're waiting to see how those play out."
Emery was referring to two legal developments that prompted the council's action.
An appellate court last October voided a Long Beach marijuana dispensary law, saying it violated federal law that bans the possession and sale of marijuana. That city's ordinance issued permits based on a lottery system, which the judges said in essence authorized distribution of the drug.
Meanwhile, the federal government also announced a crackdown last October on the sale of medical marijuana. On Wednesday, federal authorities raided two medical marijuana dispensaries in Costa Mesa.
"I think it's a sign of fate how these recent developments are now two new tools we have to help ban rather than permit medical marijuana dispensaries," Garden Grove Mayor Bill Dalton said in a news release.
City officials are "interested in partnering with the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney General's office to reach a lawful and fair solution to medical marijuana dispensaries operating in the city," according to a news release.
Garden Grove is not alone in reviewing the recent legal development, and some communities are using the Long Beach case and the federal crackdown as an excuse to prevent dispensaries in their communities, said Marcus Boyd, of the San Diego chapter of the medical marijuana advocacy group, Americans for Safe Access.
California high court to consider pot dispensaries
The state's high court will attempt to clarify marijuana's hazy legal status in California.
The California Supreme Court on Wednesday voted unanimously to review how cities and counties regulate marijuana dispensaries.
The court will address whether local governments can bar the pot shops despite voter passage of Proposition 215, which legalized marijuana use with a doctor's recommendation. The court also will consider the continued conflict between state and federal authorities, who don't recognize Proposition 215. Under federal law, marijuana is illegal in all forms.
A Los Angeles-based appellate court last year struck down Long Beach's attempt to license pot stores, ruling the local ordinance conflicted with federal law.
Another appellate court upheld Riverside's right to close and prohibit dispensaries despite Proposition 215.
Since then, several cities including Long Beach have shuttered clubs or banned them from their boundaries like Riverside. Other cities such as San Francisco suspended issuing new permits because of the rulings.
Now that the Supreme Court has agreed to review the case, those appellate ruling are no longer valid.
The Supreme Court has not yet scheduled oral arguments for the cases, and lawyers involved in the cases predicted it could take more than a year for the court to rule.
The court's decision to weigh in on marijuana comes at a time when the U.S. Department of Justice and other federal officials have launched a crackdown on the proliferation of dispensaries in the state. The Justice Department cited the Long Beach case as another reason why it believes medical marijuana in California is illegal.
Pro-marijuana forces said the court's action Wednesday was a good omen for supporters.
"These cases were very problematic for patients and their ability to safely and legally access a medication that works for them," said Joe Elford, chief counsel of Americans for Safe Access, a medical marijuana advocacy group. "We're very pleased that local governments will now be without the means to deny access to medical marijuana for patients in their communities, at least until or unless the Supreme Court has ruled otherwise."
Elford's group along with the American Civil Liberties Union and Santa Cruz County urged the court last month to review the Long Beach case.
The last time the state Supreme Court took up a medical marijuana case was in 2008 when it ruled that companies can fire employees found to have used marijuana even if they have a doctor's recommendation.
Read MoreA ban on medical marijuana dispensaries? Supreme Court to rule
The California Supreme Court has decided to review whether cities and counties may ban medical marijuana stores.
Meeting in closed session, the court Wednesday agreed to assess rulings by lower courts on how much oversight local governments may exert on medical marijuana operations. A ruling is probably a year or two away at least.
The court Read More
Feds Crack Down on Pot Shops in Orange County
Hoping to hit illicit marijuana sellers in the pocketbook, federal prosecutors this week filed four asset forfeiture lawsuits against the owners of marijuana stores in Orange County.
The complaints filed Wednesday allege that the owner of a building in Costa Mesa knowingly ran marijuana stores and had been cited numerous times, said Thom Mrozek of the U.S. Attorney's Office.
In addition to the asset forfeiture actions, federal authorities issued warning letters this week to the operators of nearly three dozen businesses in Costa Mesa and a now-shuttered shop in Newport Beach, Mrozek said.
The letters warned operators that the stores were in violation of federal law and they have 15 days to shut down or face up to $1,000 fines a day until they do.
