Counties

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 ...

The Tehama County Board of Supervisors has tightened regulations on home marijuana grows after getting an earful from angry residents who want to stamp out pot gardens in their neighborhoods. Tehama County’s cultivation ordinance previously restricted the number of plants that could be grown based on the size of a plot of land. It also applied location restrictions, setback rules, ...

A college student whose bloody, urine-drinking ordeal at the hands of the Drug Enforcement Agency became a national scandal has scored a multimillion dollar settlement from the federal government without even filing a lawsuit. Daniel Chong, a student at UC San Diego, was detained by agents from the DEA following a party in April 2012 at which he admitted to ...

Solano County will be reconsidering medical marijuana again next week. Residents will get a chance to be heard at a public hearing July 30 before the , which is considering an ordinance that would ban in unincorporated areas of the county. The county already prohibits dispensaries, but the ordinance that allows county supervisors to do it expires soon, and some ...

An Orange County man who pleaded guilty to running illegal dispensaries in Southern California was sentenced to nearly 22 years in federal prison on July 21, plus more than $4 million in fines and restitution. San Clemente resident John Melvin “Pops” Walker, 56, ran at least nine dispensaries in Long Beach and Orange County. He was indicted last fall by ...

A unique group of bedfellows stood up for the future of California marijuana at a pot confab in July. Even as the federal government continues to fight weed operations that are legal at the state level, including many in SoCal, the gathered dignitaries pushed for legalization and an end to the failed war on drugs. The featured guest was former ...

Around the country, medical marijuana is booming and retail dispensaries are opening in increasing numbers. Medical pot shops are now allowed in Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico and 10 other states. The growing number of dispensaries across the United States offers badly needed access to patients. Many of them aren’t able to grow their own marijuana, as they were required to ...

The situation for California’s medical marijuana dispensaries and their patients continues to darken. Federal authorities and local officials are putting the squeeze on pot shops across the state, shutting them down by the hundreds and forcing thousands of patients to look elsewhere for their medicine. One alternative is booming in the vacuum left by these shuttered dispensaries. Small delivery providers ...

The City of Los Angeles released a list late last month of the 134 medical marijuana dispensaries that will be allowed to operate in the city. Each of these clinics registered with City Hall before a moratorium on new pot shops was imposed in 2007. L.A. tried to follow other California counties and ban dispensaries last year, but repealed that ...

A proposal to allow medical marijuana dispensaries in large areas of San Diego was sent back to the drawing board, but opponents are still planning to fight efforts to open the door to pot clinics in the city. Mayor Bob Filner proposed a medical pot ordinance this spring that would have permitted dispensaries in several zones around the city. This ...