Legalization's Secret Weopon

I realized two years ago that not a single national cannabis legalization organization was reaching out to educate the voting public. A few do valuable lobbying, others provide news and information to those folks who are already supporters, and when invited, organizations like NORML (the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) present our case in public debate.

iPhone and Sony Hacker Arrested For Weed

Apple, a company with more cash on hand than the U.S. Treasury, couldn’t stop him from jail breaking the iPhone’s iOS software. He cracked Sony’s PlayStation 3 software, at the time thought to be the most secure video game platform available. But George Hotz seems to have met his match in Texas.

Berkeley Patients Collective Newest MMJ Crackdown Target

One of California’s biggest medical marijuana establishments – embraced by local officials as a model business that donates to the poor and pays millions in taxes – has become the latest target in a statewide crackdown by federal prosecutors.

Lake Forest asks Supreme Court to review pot ruling

LAKE FOREST – City officials on Tuesday announced that they will seek the California Supreme Court's review on a ruling by the Fourth District Court of Appeal that last week said cities cannot shut down a medical marijuana dispensary that cultivates its own marijuana. "It's a decision that impacts every city," said Jeff Dunn, an attorney representing Lake Forest in its efforts to clear nearly 40 medical marijuana dispensaries from the city over the last two years. "It's the only decision that says a city cannot ban a dispensary for being a dispensary. It's the only court case that has gone in this direction."

Gov. Martinez OKs Bill Creating MMJ Fund

Neither Ripley nor countless New Mexico residents would believe it, but Republican Gov. Susana Martinez signed a marijuana bill on Monday. Martinez, who was a prosecutor for 25 years, spent half her lifetime fighting the war on drugs.

 
She took office as governor after the state already had a law permitting marijuana to be used for select medicinal purposes. Now Martinez has signed Senate Bill 240, creating a medical cannabis fund to cover the program’s costs.

Deadline nears for Fresno pot shops to shut down

 Fresno Dispensaries Must Shut Doors

By Kurtis Alexander - The Fresno Bee

 

Jordan Vas bought a marijuana plant last month for his home in Parlier. He admits he doesn't have a green thumb, but tending his own crop is his strategy for getting marijuana in the wake of the Fresno County ban on dispensaries.
"I've never grown anything in my life," said Vas, who has long bought pot at a dispensary for back pain. "But now there's no other way."
This week marks the end of the grace period for 15 or so medical marijuana dispensaries that were given six months to shut down after Fresno County's prohibition took effect.
With most shops pledging to close, if they haven't already, thousands of users have begun looking for other ways to get the drug.
Many were in lines that formed outside the remaining dispensaries the past two weeks, stocking up while they could. Some were drawn to closeout promotions, such as markdowns on Mr. Nice and Blue Dream marijuana strains or raffles that promised free medicine.

Napa Medical Pot Decision Pushed to Oct. 2012

The city of Napa will have until at least October 2012 to figure out what to do with its now suspended medical marijuana ordinance, one that will likely never see the light of day as it’s currently written.
During a special meeting Wednesday evening, the council unanimously voted to extend the 45-day emergency moratorium it enacted in October after a state appellate court overturned a medical marijuana ordinance in Long Beach that was similar to Napa’s law. Over the next 10 months, staff will look for a way the city can rework its ordinance to allow medical marijuana dispensaries to operate within city limits while still complying with state and federal laws.