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Seven people were injured in an explosion in Fresno while trying to make hash oil, a casualty of what authorities say is a growing problem now that marijuana is easier to get and information about it is easier to find. The explosion occurred at the Casa Blanca Apartments in central Fresno Jan. 17. Six men and a woman suffered burns. ...

A plea by a Marina medical marijuana provider to drop the criminal charges against him were brushed aside by a judge in Monterey County in January. Kevin Saunders, a well-known advocate for medical marijuana on the Monterey Peninsula, was arraigned in Superior Court Jan. 17 before Judge Robert Burlison on three felony counts of selling weed from a dispensary in Marina. ...

HempCon, a major event for medical marijuana users, kicked off a tour of the Southwest in San Jose this month. The festival, which ran from Jan. 17-19 at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center, will reappear in the same place April 19-20 after touring three other cities. HempCon is geared toward those in the MMJ community, but it celebrates all ...

Officials have forced a medical marijuana delivery service out of its San Rafael office space. Police raided the Caregiver Compassion Group, a nonprofit collective that closed Jan. 6. The service had been operating quietly on Woodland Avenue since 2011, when it lost its lease in Sausalito. The service was ordered closed under a 1997 ordinance, one of the oldest in ...

Fresno County is shutting the door on the last option for residents who want to grow pot under California’s medical marijuana law. The county’s planning commission voted 5-1 Jan. 9 to ban cannabis cultivation in the last place it was still allowed, manufacturing sites. None of these locations had ever been zoned for marijuana use, but the possibility remained even ...

The City of San Jose may be cracking down on medical marijuana dispensaries, but don’t expect weed advocates to go down without a fight. MMJ activists filed a petition Jan. 13 to ask voters whether they want to keep dispensaries in business throughout town. The move is intended to cut off city leaders before they can even enact their planned ...

Fresno County leaders went all in on a controversial assault on medical marijuana patients and caregivers in January. County supervisors voted 5-0 Jan. 7 to ban all marijuana cultivation in unincorporated parts of the county, indoors and out. The ordinance, possibly the tightest in the state, will take effect in February. Residents who violate the new ban will face a ...

An erstwhile drug warrior and staunch opponent of legal weed in California is running for a state Assembly seat that represents part of San Bernardino County. Paul Chabot, who served as an adviser to the drug czars of the Clinton and Bush administrations, once compared marijuana to child pornography. Come November, he could be fighting for one of the most ...

Los Angeles is bringing a new tool to the streets in its fight against stoned driving. According to ABC News, the LA city attorney’s office is used a so-called marijuana breathalyzer to test motorists for the presence of cannabis metabolites in their systems. The results could be used to convict drivers on DUI charges. The term “Breathalyzer” isn’t quite accurate, ...

Authorities in California are investigating the Christmas death of a U.S. citizen who collapsed in the custody of Border Patrol agents after he was detained for allegedly carrying three pounds of weed. Steven Keith, 58, collapsed Christmas Eve while in a holding cell at the U.S. Border Patrol station in Campo, outside San Diego, according to agency spokesman Gerardo Gutierrez. ...