America’s top law enforcement official promised the federal government will soon issue rules allowing marijuana businesses to work with banks and other financial institutions. The announcement could have important implications for medical pot in California. Attorney General Eric Holder said Jan. 23 that the regulations would deal with problems faced by providers now selling recreational weed in Colorado and medical ...

Officials have forced a medical marijuana delivery service out of its San Rafael office space. Police raided the Caregiver Compassion Group, a nonprofit collective that closed Jan. 6. The service had been operating quietly on Woodland Avenue since 2011, when it lost its lease in Sausalito. The service was ordered closed under a 1997 ordinance, one of the oldest in ...

An appellate court ruled California’s medical marijuana law doesn’t protect dispensaries from raids or prosecution by the federal government. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, located in San Francisco, ruled Jan. 15 that medical pot shops in the state are subject to criminal charges, raids and lawsuits by the government despite California’s MMJ law. The decision was no surprise. ...

Fresno County is shutting the door on the last option for residents who want to grow pot under California’s medical marijuana law. The county’s planning commission voted 5-1 Jan. 9 to ban cannabis cultivation in the last place it was still allowed, manufacturing sites. None of these locations had ever been zoned for marijuana use, but the possibility remained even ...

Leaders in San Jose are trying again to crack down on a still-thriving dispensary industry, though marijuana advocates have promised to put the issue before voters. The new regulations would make it much harder for patients in many parts of town to get their medical weed, advocates say, and could cause new problems for the neighborhoods where dispensaries would be ...

A Nebraska judge has ordered a convicted felon not to use medical marijuana when he returns to California, even though the man is a registered patient under that state’s laws. District Judge Jeffrey Funke of Sarpy County warned Joshua Nordstrum, 26, of California not to use medicinal cannabis. If he tokes, his probation could be revoked and he could go ...

Another light has gone out in Southern California. Whittier has now joined the long list of cities, towns and counties that have banned medical marijuana dispensaries. The situation was already bad, but in some place it continues to get worse. The Whittier City Council voted 4-1 at a special meeting Nov. 19 to ban all dispensaries in the city. They ...

Oakland, long a battleground in California’s war over pot, may soon get a new medical marijuana dispensary. City officials recently gave the go-ahead to a dispensary that would be run by the Tidewater Patients Group, an organization tied to a former aide to an Oakland City Council member. The shop would be located at 3007 Telegraph Ave., in the Pill ...

The crackdown has begun again in San Diego. Now that former Mayor Bob Filner, a staunch supporter of medical cannabis, has left office in disgrace, the city has reversed course and started suing marijuana dispensaries to shut them down. In late September, City Attorney Jan Goldsmith filed a civil complaint seeking to close the Central Wellness Collective. The move reflects ...

California residents got a mixed bag out of their Legislature this year when it comes to medical marijuana law, according to NORML, the pot-reform group. There were two major cannabis bills up for consideration in this year’s session, and both were scrapped before they reached the floors of the state House and Senate. One would have been harmful to many ...