A rigid attempt to regulate medical marijuana in California cleared an important Senate panel in April. The bill, backed by law enforcement groups and opposed by the state’s largest medical group, would license dispensaries and impose tight new restrictions on doctors who recommend cannabis to patients. It would also make it easier for local governments to ban pot shops. The ...

California is struggling through its worst drought in memory, and observers say marijuana growers aren’t helping the problem. The Golden State produces most of America’s weed, including the state’s own massive medical marijuana supply. Even with Colorado and Washington turning to local growers for their legal pot, California will remain a major exporter of cannabis. Most of that marijuana is ...

A ruling by the California Supreme Court in March could undermine medical marijuana in vast swaths of the state, even as voters prepare to legalize weed in just a few years. The court declined to hear a petition from MMJ advocates fighting a total ban on cultivation in the City of Live Oak. The ban applies to all grows, indoors ...

An attempt by police groups to regulate medical marijuana in California is drawing the opposition of some cannabis advocates, though it may also be bringing the two sides closer together. Among other provisions, a clause in Senate Bill 1262 would ban marijuana concentrates such as hash oil and wax. It would also require that medical pot recommendations come only from ...

Officials in Los Angeles have closed more than 100 medical marijuana dispensaries in the months since the city started regulating the shops, City Attorney Mike Feuer said March 10. Even so, the city may not be keeping pace with new shops opening every day. Feuer joined Police Chief Charlie Beck at a news conference, where they said the city has ...

Medical pot shops have already been snuffed out like candles across California, making it harder – sometimes impossible – for thousands to get the medicine they need. Now local officials in towns and counties throughout the state are looking to attack medical marijuana from a different angle, and if they have their way, they could cut off all access to ...

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 ...

There’s a new group for parents, but this one is also all about weed. Parents4Pot, a San Francisco-based movement formed by weed activist Mickey Martin (of Tainted, Inc. fame), is trying to prove not just that parents who smoke pot are okay, but that they’re better than most. “‘Dad ate all the potato chips again’ is always better than ‘dad ...

Our friends at NORML are doing a special event tomorrow, Saturday, November 16th. Well, more specifically the NORML Women’s Alliance is running things. They’re throwing the 1st California Women’s Cannabis Conference, an all day event in Wilton, CA. Currently the NORML Women’s website lists a tentative speaker list as: Keynote: DeeDee Kirkwood – Creator of “Toke” the play and movie ...

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 ...