Health

Voters in San Bernardino will get a final say on Election Day whether they want to allow medical marijuana dispensaries in their struggling city. The City Council voted in early July to add a proposal to the November citywide ballot that would legalize a small number of dispensaries subject to certain regulations. Most council members were careful to stress that ...

Prop. 64. That is now the official name and number of a ballot initiative to legalize marijuana in the November election. California elections officials announced in June that backers of the Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA) had gathered enough signatures to put legalization before voters Nov. 8. If Prop. 64 passes, it would make it legal for adults over ...

Voters in Sacramento rejected a plan to tax marijuana cultivation, even though the proposal won a majority at the ballot box. Voters in the city strongly backed the initiative to tax retail cannabis cultivation and use the revenue to pay for youth programs. The plan won 65.2 percent of the vote, but the initiative needed more than 66 percent to ...

Local officials in the San Joaquin Valley are cracking down on medical marijuana, but a pair of local cannabis “nuns” say they won’t cave to the pressure. Actually, they’re not nuns, at least not in the religious sense. They have no affiliation with the Vatican or any other church. Their purpose is growing pot, not spreading the Gospel. But they’re ...

Medical marijuana patients in California may soon find themselves paying more for the healthcare they need. The state Senate voted in June to approve a new sales tax on legal medicinal cannabis. At 15 percent, the tax is projected to generate roughly $250 million per year, money that would go toward public park projects, drug treatment programs, and general state ...

Legal marijuana offers big possibilities to many people in California, from pot farmers and dispensary owners to lawyers and accountants. But the modern-day green rush is proving especially helpful to one struggling community in the desert. The Inland Empire city of Desert Hot Springs voted in 2014 to legalize medical marijuana farms, making it the first local government in the ...

Medical cannabis could soon reach a corner of California where many would consider it out of place among the tourists, seaside cottages, and salt breezes: Santa Catalina Island. The resort island, three square miles and just 3,800 residents, is one of the Channel Islands located off Los Angeles. Just an hour from the mainland, it’s a favorite Southern California vacation ...

When you think of marijuana, “athletic” probably isn’t the first word that comes to mind. The drug is far better known for its tendency to induce sloth and depress motivation than it is for its ability to spark drive and fuel determination. But that perception is wrong much of the time. Many pro athletes smoke up, some during the season. ...

The world’s “Biggest Pot Shop,” a Bay Area cultural and political staple, has escaped the claws of the federal government yet again. Federal officials agreed in May to give up their four-year attempt to shutter Harborside Health Center of Oakland, a shop with more than 100,000 patients. Local leaders announced the decision early in the month. The news was music ...

It has been a long time since Ricardo Montes and Luke Scarmazzo opened their medical marijuana dispensary in Modesto. But they are still paying the price. Montes and Scarmazzo are serving mandatory 20-year prison sentences for doing something that is now widely accepted: selling medicinal pot out of a retail store. Times have changed around them, but their circumstances have ...