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Long Beach residents will soon be asked to tax medical marijuana dispensaries, even as city officials continue to draft regulations for the pot shops. City council members voted at their Dec. 17 meeting to direct the city attorney to prepare documents to put a tax proposal on the ballot in April. The initiative would impose a city tax on medical ...

More communities in California are turning to cultivation bans as a way to put the squeeze on marijuana providers and users, including the perfectly legal kind. An ordinance headed for a vote before the West Sacramento City Council would make it illegal to grow weed indoors without a city-issued permit. It’s an extension of an existing ban on outdoor grows ...

San Diegans could shop at legal medical marijuana dispensaries again soon, if the city council passes an ordinance designed to regulate the stores. The ordinance, drafted by city staff at the request of the council, has been presented to community groups and will go before council members in February, said Interim Mayor Todd Gloria. “Essentially, what I think it is ...

Two men were sentenced Dec. 21 for their ties to several medical marijuana dispensaries in Sacramento and Stockton. Lynn Farrell Smith, 63, of Stockton was sentenced to 42 months in prison for cannabis cultivation and sale. His co-defendant, Robert Duncan, 30, of Oakland was sentenced to 24 months in prison for similar crimes. Both men were sentenced in federal court ...

There’s a new move afoot to bring medical marijuana dispensaries back to Imperial Beach. If it succeeds, it might help end an MMJ drought in the San Diego area that has persisted since the city’s last mayor left office. Marijuana activist Marcus Boyd, who was behind a failed attempt to regulate pot shops in 2012, has said he may push ...

Medical marijuana dispensaries that do business in Long Beach could find themselves paying a new local tax. Long Beach voters may be asked to decide next year whether they want to impose a 6 percent tax rate on medical pot shops, plus a minimum $1,000 business license tax. City Council Member Suja Lowenthal asked in December that City Attorney Charles ...

Sonoma County hosted one of the country’s biggest MMJ competitions this month, and the winners are in. The Emerald Cup, in its 10th year, drew hundreds of people to the Sonoma County Fairgrounds in Santa Rosa to try, test and judge the best organically grown weed in the world. In a sign of how much times have changed, the event, ...

A Navy veteran was sentenced in December to four months in jail for running a medical marijuana dispensary in San Diego. Jovan Jackson was sentenced Dec. 13 to 180 days in county jail, minus 48 days served, along with three years probation. He will begin serving his sentence Jan. 3. Jackson is one of a long list of dispensary owners ...

A prominent MMJ businessman who ran several dispensaries in Central California was sentenced to five years in prison this month, according to the Associated Press. Matthew Davies, 35, reached a plea deal with prosecutors that spared him a possible 15 year sentence. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to manufacture and distribute marijuana, manufacturing marijuana, and distributing marijuana through his businesses ...

The City of Palm Springs has set a tax rate for its medical marijuana dispensaries that could bring in nearly half a million dollars a year, according to city officials. The city council voted Dec. 18 to levy a 10 percent tax on Palm Spring’s three legal dispensaries and a 15 percent tax on any illegal pot shops. The city ...