Counties

A San Francisco group that sought to change marijuana’s designation as a dangerous drug lost its case before the U.S. Supreme Court Oct. 7. Currently pot is listed as a schedule 1 narcotic under federal law, along with heroin, LSD and magic mushrooms. These drugs are considered the most dangerous, the least medically beneficial and the most addictive. Even cocaine, ...

The government may be closed for the time being, but the federal crackdown on medical weed won’t miss a beat. That’s because the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the Obama administration’s front line in the war on sane drug policy, has furloughed very few of its workers. Under the contingency plan carried out by the Justice Department, 87 percent of the ...

The family of a mentally disabled California boy who was tricked into buying pot for an overzealous narc, then arrested and kicked out of school by iron-fisted officials, have sued the school district even as it continues to try to expel him despite a court order. Last year, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department launched an ill-conceived crackdown on drug dealing ...

The crackdown has begun again in San Diego. Now that former Mayor Bob Filner, a staunch supporter of medical cannabis, has left office in disgrace, the city has reversed course and started suing marijuana dispensaries to shut them down. In late September, City Attorney Jan Goldsmith filed a civil complaint seeking to close the Central Wellness Collective. The move reflects ...

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 ...

Two years ago, when voters in Palm Springs decided whether they wanted a sales tax increase, the city poured money and resources into a campaign to sell the proposal. That push succeeded. But now that voters face a new proposal, one that would raise revenue from sales at medical marijuana dispensaries, and the city is staying mum. Taxing Marijuana Sales ...

Residents of one California city may be seeing the glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. Years after banning medical marijuana dispensaries everywhere in town, the Long Beach City Council took the first step in September toward bringing them back. It would make the city a rarity outside Los Angeles, where dispensaries are still allowed under tight new ...

A brief period of respite for medical marijuana dispensaries in San Diego has come to an end. For nine months, while Bob Filner was mayor, he refused to enforce the zoning restrictions that keep medical pot shops out of the city. Now that he has resigned in disgrace, officials have announced that they plan to crack down on the dispensaries ...

In another case of official abuse sparked by marijuana use, a California man is suing local officials who took his children for a year solely because he uses legal medical pot. Michael Lewis and his wife, Lauren Taylor, are suing San Diego County, the City of Coronado, and nine cops for seizing his two children, then ages two and four, ...