The owners of a rental home in Vallejo were stunned when they discovered the residents had abandoned a large indoor marijuana grow operation and fled. “We’ve been violated,” said owner Leonardo Bordador. “This is the first time we’ve experienced this kind of thing. We can’t believe this could happen here.” Bordador said he and his wife leased the house to ...

Pro-pot activists in San Jose have succeeded in triggering a public referendum on a restrictive new law passed by the city earlier this year. Voters will decide in two years whether they want to repeal the new regulations, which many expect will end medical marijuana in San Jose. The law requires that all pot shops locate within less than 1 ...

Border patrol officers discovered more than 3,000 pounds of marijuana hidden inside a shipment of Christmas package bows, officials said. On the afternoon of Aug. 28, a 28-year-old Mexican national tried to drive a 1998 Kenworth tractor across the border at Tijuana, officials said. The tractor pulled a trailer full of boxes masked as holiday bows. The tractor and trailer ...

A onetime marijuana entrepreneur, among the flashiest in California, pleaded guilty to cannabis-related charges in federal court July 1. Yan Ebyam, 37, who was once a major player in MMJ, pleaded guilty to two felony counts of conspiracy to manufacture marijuana. He now faces between six and eight years in prison if the judge accepts his plea deal with prosecutors. ...

The High Times Cannabis Cup event blew into the Bay Area in late June, attracting thousands of eager tokers and industry players. The Cannabis Cup was held June 28 and 29 at the Sonoma County Fairground in Santa Rosa. As many as 10,000 people showed up to sample a wide array of weed and bask in the glow of changing ...

At least she didn’t try to bring it in her carry-on. Security officials at Oakland International Airport discovered 81 pounds of packaged marijuana inside three suitcases checked for a flight to Mississippi May 2, they said. The woman who checked the luggage, 26-year-old Anastasia Murdock, was arrested and booked into the Santa Rita Jail on charges of possessing marijuana for ...

A California lawmaker is pushing new rules on medical marijuana that could make life much easier for the industry and keep the feds out of everyone’s hair. After trying and failing more than once before, state Assemblyman Tom Ammiano of San Francisco has introduced a bill he hopes will provide the regulation MMJ badly needs in California. “I’m cautiously optimistic,” ...

With legalization efforts on hold, Californians will have to wait until 2016 to decide whether they want to regulate marijuana and make it available to all adults over 21. That leaves many in the cannabis community wondering what happens in the meantime. California’s medical marijuana system is in near-chaos, under siege by local governments and federal law enforcement, and the ...

When the Obama administration promised last year that it wouldn’t interfere with states that legalize weed or the businesses that provide it, the IRS apparently never got the memo. In that announcement, issued in August, the Justice Department said states could legalize, whether for medical or recreational purposes, and businesses could cultivate and sell the drug under state law, as ...

Californians are increasingly ready to legalize weed, yet observers say it’s looking increasingly unlikely that will happen this year. Four petitions are in the works to put legalization on the ballot in the 2014 elections. But the door may be closing on all four of them – and on legalization – for this election cycle. Why? There are a couple ...