State News

California marijuana proponents who want to legalize it have a powerful new supporter, one who could help them win in 2016. Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat and former San Francisco mayor, announced Oct. 17 that he would lead a blue-ribbon panel to research legalization and produce a ballot proposal for the 2016 election. The panel will include experts from ...

California has cleared the way for pot proponents to gather signatures so they can put legalization on the ballot in 2014. Secretary of State Debra Bowen has authorized the backers of a legalization petition to begin collecting the 504,760 signatures they will need to certify the legalization question for next year’s election. They have until Feb. 24, 2014 to do ...

Whether it happens next year or in 2016, the numbers are pretty clear: California will eventually legalize weed. That much can be read into a new poll by the Public Policy Institute of California. In a trend that mirrors national public opinion, more than half of all voters in the Golden State now want to make marijuana legal. Legalization Is ...

It’s the oldest trick in the book. When you’re in a political fight and you seem to be losing momentum, you turn ad-hominem and launch personal attacks on the other side, accusing them of being irrational, of endangering children (the old favorite), of pedophilia, of plain old evil. Whether it be a politician attacking an opponent or the NRA trying ...

Speculation by a California fire chief that a massive wildfire around Yosemite National Park was set by someone growing illegal pot turned out to be false. The Real Cause of The Rim Fire The fire, as it happens, was caused by a hunter who set an illegal fire, the U.S. Forest Service said on Sept. 5. Officials have not released ...

Recreational Users vs. Medical Users It was never a match made in heaven. On the one hand, California pot advocates eager to legalize and prove to the world that marijuana is a safe recreational drug. On the other, wary medical marijuana supporters worried their recreational cousins could get rowdy and cost everyone good grace with the public. They didn’t fit ...

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 ...

A last-ditch effort to impose order on the chaotic California marijuana dispensary scene was killed, again, by the very people clamoring for it most loudly. A bill before the General Assembly would have established a new state department to register commercial growers and sellers. It would have tightened restrictions on doctors’ recommendations and given municipalities the power to ban dispensaries. And ...

California voters rejected legal pot at the polls in 2010, but there’s a group of advocates hopeful they can reverse that trend in time for next year. Marijuana Legalization on The Ballot In early August, the California Cannabis, Hemp and Health Initiative filed the California Hemp Act 2014 with the state attorney general’s office. This voter initiative would go on ...

A recent order sent out by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency could put many California dispensary operators and employees in danger. The DEA issued an order to all security and armored car companies to stop servicing marijuana dispensaries. The order applies everywhere, regardless of the legality of medical or recreational pot, but it has special importance in California. The risks ...