Weed will now be free in Berkeley. For some people, anyway. The Berkeley City Council voted unanimously in early September to require that the city’s medical marijuana dispensaries set aside 2 percent of their product for people who can’t afford it. The council cast an initial vote on the cannabis plan in July. It’s a novel idea: Make sure everyone ...

While the rest of California continues to adopt tight restrictions or bans on medical marijuana, the City of Berkeley is headed in the opposite direction. The Berkeley City Council voted July 1 to require that medical weed dispensaries provide free pot to low-income patients. Under the new policy, dispensaries will be required to dedicate at least 2 percent of their ...

While many other California cities limit or outlaw medical marijuana dispensaries, Berkeley is allowing an expansion. The city will license a new dispensary by 2015, bringing the total number of legitimate pot shops in Berkeley to four. The city council voted to allow the new shop at a meeting June 17. That vote was preliminary, and the council will vote ...

The City of Berkeley took a pass Sept. 17 on a vote to increase the number of medical marijuana dispensaries in the city. Instead, members of the City Council asked the Berkeley Medical Cannabis Commission and the city manager’s office to draft changes to regulations that govern collectives. That could include rules regarding the size of collectives, their operating hours, ...

And you thought the Sausage of the Month Club was a good deal. A California medical marijuana dispensary has one-upped the usual monthly gift program by offering door-to-door delivery of its selections for Weed of the Month. Marvina, a medical marijuana dispensary based in San Francisco, will not only provide pot but will make regular deliveries. That kind of service ...

California is the nation’s pot basket: More weed is grown here than in any other state – a lot more. About half the nation’s supply of marijuana originates in California. Cannabis is also quasi-legal in the Golden State, which has a medical marijuana system with few regulations. It’s easy to get a doctor’s recommendation, and it’s even easier to find ...

San Jose’s unregulated medical marijuana dispensaries are rallying together to fight new rules that could make it next to impossible to sell marijuana in the city. Dozens of shop owners joined together to protest the new regulations, adopted by the San Jose City Council last month. The owners were joined by employees and supporters at a rally in front of ...

A group hoping to establish a nationwide certification for medical marijuana dispensaries gave its first-ever stamp of approval to two California pot shops Feb. 20. Americans for Safe Access, a pro-marijuana group, certified two dispensaries in the Bay Area: the Berkeley Patients Group and the San Francisco Patient and Resource Center. The group uses a certification process known as Patient ...

Oakland, long a battleground in California’s war over pot, may soon get a new medical marijuana dispensary. City officials recently gave the go-ahead to a dispensary that would be run by the Tidewater Patients Group, an organization tied to a former aide to an Oakland City Council member. The shop would be located at 3007 Telegraph Ave., in the Pill ...

The announcement was clear, and it brought joy to the hearts of medical marijuana supporters and tokers everywhere: The federal government would no longer interfere with states that legalize marijuana and would no longer go after cannabis businesses that follow state law. Yet some high-ranking government officials responsible for enforcing this new policy don’t seem willing to acknowledge it. Case ...