Alameda County

Police in California made two sizeable pot busts in late May, seizing more than 1,000 marijuana plants and more than 40 pounds of harvested weed. In Southern California, police seized 432 plants and 10 pounds of cannabis after stopping a car May 23. A police K9 handler from Placentia pulled over a vehicle early in the morning on State Route ...

At least she didn’t try to bring it in her carry-on. Security officials at Oakland International Airport discovered 81 pounds of packaged marijuana inside three suitcases checked for a flight to Mississippi May 2, they said. The woman who checked the luggage, 26-year-old Anastasia Murdock, was arrested and booked into the Santa Rita Jail on charges of possessing marijuana for ...

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 ...

The Fremont City Council has banned all outdoor cultivation of medical marijuana in response to neighborhood complaints. The council voted unanimously Feb. 18 to prohibit all outdoor growing, as well as cultivation inside residences if the plants can be seen from public places. The new policy was enacted after several residents complained their neighbors were growing large amounts of weed ...

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 ...

The Obama administration has promised not to interfere with state and local regulation of legal marijuana. Now officials in the Bay Area are asking the president to make good on his word. In early November the Alameda County supervisors adopted a resolution that asks federal law enforcement to stop harassing lawful dispensaries in the county. The resolution recognizes the benefits ...

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, ...

The City of San Leandro is moving closer to allowing medical marijuana dispensaries in town. On Sept. 16, the City Council voted 5-2 to move forward with a draft ordinance and changes to the zoning code that would allow two dispensaries in San Leandro. Now the zoning amendments will go before the Board of Zoning Adjustments and the Planning Commission ...

Oakland’s medical marijuana industry has expanded. With one new dispensary opening its doors, the city now has six in operation. Magnolia Wellness, a retail pot shop in the Acorn Industrial neighborhood, opened to the public Aug. 1. It joins five other dispensaries in the city: Harborside Health Center in East Oakland, Purple Heart Patient Center in the Jack London Square ...