Is it legal to sell pot on Craigslist?

Santa Rosa detectives were surfing Craigslist one day when they came across a “for sale” posting that caught their attention.

Someone was offering top-shelf marijuana — described as “crystal-laden” and “very distinctly scented” — for $2,700 a pound.

The post came under a banner citing Prop. 215, the voter-approved initiative allowing Californians with a doctor's recommendation to possess and use pot.

Redding Can't Ban Medical Marijuana Collectives Any Longer

Redding’s ban on medical marijuana dispensaries doesn’t have court backing after a Shasta County Superior Court judge Wednesday denied the city’s request for an order for the storefronts to close.

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.

CA County Taking Away Children Of Medical Cannabis Patients

NORML Women's Alliance of Butte County

​NORML Women's Alliance Calls For Grand Jury Investigation

Several legal, qualified medical marijuana patients recently have had their children taken away by the Butte County, California Children's Services Division. In response, the NORML Women's Alliance last Friday put forward a complaint to the Grand Jury of Butte County requesting an investigation into the County Children's Services Division for the agency's perceived and widespread misconduct.

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Two more operators of medical marijuana clinics in Vallejo enter not guilty pleas

FAIRFIELD -- Two more Vallejo medical marijuana dispensary operators appeared in court Tuesday as part of the city's and district attorney's ongoing crackdown on pot shops.
David Garcia-Flores, 24, of Fairfield, and Douglas Hernandez, 25, of Vallejo, both pleaded not guilty to numerous state drug charges. They entered their pleas separately in front of Solano County Supreme Court Commissioner William J. Pendergast.

Vallejo City Council Questions Motives of Police Raids on Medical Marijuana Collectives

The timing of a series of recent Vallejo police raids of medical marijuana dispensaries is being questioned by some Vallejo City Council members.

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.

Shambhala Healing Center Latest Victim of Federal Crackdown on Medical Marijuana

The federal crackdown on medical marijuana has reached into San Francisco. The city had escaped the Feds target up until March 1.
"Three days ago, we received the devastating news that U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag has threatened Shambhala Healing Center's landlord with property forfeiture, fines, and/or imprisonment if we do not close within 45 days. ... These threats are based on federal laws against cannabis and Shambhala's proximity to the Jose Coronado Playground at 21st & Folsom." Shambhala is asking patients to contact local officials.


A Shambhala cut of Blue Dream



Over at their website: "Shambhala waited 18 months [before] opening and is a legal permitted medical marijuana dispensary."
-"San Francisco’s planning commission sent surveyors to ask the community if they objected to Shambhala’s opening and it was not opposed."

-"The fastest route from Shambhala to the playground is approximately 1600 feet, since we are not yet able to walk through buildings or fly."

Speaking of flight, Shambhala had great ones. Magic Carpet, you will be missed.



- Posted using my jailbroken iPod

Vallejo Police Ignore State Law Close 2nd Dispensary

A second Vallejo pot club has been shut down in what police now say is an ongoing crackdown on the city's 20 or more storefront dispensaries.

Update on Greenwell Collective and Matt Shotwell

Just a quick review: On the morning of February 21, 2012 the Vallejo Police Department, in conjunction with the DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency), Solano County Narcotics division and the California State Board of Equalization arrested the owner of the Greenwell Medical Marijuana Dispensary on Marin St. in downtown Vallejo. Up until that point Matt Shotwell had seemingly played by the rules.

President Obama's War on Weed

USA -- Back when he was running for president in 2008, Barack Obama insisted that medical marijuana was an issue best left to state and local governments. "I'm not going to be using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws on this issue," he vowed, promising an end to the Bush administration's high-profile raids on providers of medical pot, which is legal in 16 states and the District of Columbia.

States Attorney Warns Farmers Not To Grow Weed

Sacramento, Calif. -- The top federal prosecutor in the Central Valley said Tuesday that he plans a tour this week to tell agricultural landowners they could lose their property or be prosecuted if they permit large marijuana plantations on their land.

Nevada's Distribution Law Declared Unconstitutional

Las Vegas -- In a decision destined for appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court, a state court judge has ruled the state's medical marijuana distribution law is unconstitutional.

Court Rules Cities Can't Ban Dispensaries and Must Grow Their Own

Los Angeles -- California cities may not ban medical marijuana dispensaries, but the operations may sell only weed that is grown on site, an appeals court ruled in an Orange County case.

U.S. States Attorney Says Dispensary Profits Pissed Him Off

The United States attorney for California's Eastern District, Benjamin Wagner, broke his silence regarding his office's near-five-month old crackdown on California dispensaries Friday, in an interview with the national editor of the Hearst Newspapers Washington Bureau.

California Court Decision Affirms Legality Of Storefront Dispensaries

The California Court of Appeal issued a landmark published decision last week affirming the legality of storefront dispensaries and rejecting the argument that every member of a collective or cooperative must participate in the cultivation. Didn’t hear about the ruling? Maybe because the decision came from the Second Appellate District in Los Angeles, the domain of District Attorney Steve Cooley and City Attorney Carmen Trutanich, famously intolerant to medical marijuana dispensaries. It would be an understatement to say that the ruling jabs a large thorn into both of their sides. You’ll certainly see no publicity from their corner.
The case People v. Colvin involves William Frank Colvin, the operator of Hollywood Holistic Inc., who was arrested while lawfully transporting a pound of medical marijuana from one collective he operates to another. Even while acknowledging that Colvin was operating a legitimate dispensary, the trial court denied him a defense on the grounds that transportation of medical marijuana was illegal under state law. After being denied a defense, Colvin was convicted.

Greenwell Cooperative raid raises questions about timing

By Tony Burchyns and Jessica A. York/Times-Herald staff writers

Posted:   02/23/2012 01:01:28 AM PST

Months before Vallejo voters overwhelmingly approved taxing pot dispensaries as a first step toward regulating them, the police department set a chain of events in motion that would lead to a raid Tuesday of one of the city's most prominent clubs.

Vallejo police Lt. Ken Weaver said Wednesday that Chief Robert Nichelini reached out to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration late last summer for help in going after a local dispensary. Nichelini had deferred all comment to Weaver, calling him the "point of contact" in the case.

Legalization Measure Short By 2,400 Signatures; Has 15 More Days

In a near-miss, the Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act has fallen 2,409 signatures short of winning approval for the ballot from the Colorado Secretary of State's Office. But the good news is, supporters still have 15 more days to reach the number of valid signatures needed.

RMLA submitted 163,632 signatures, reports Michael Roberts at Westword, almost twice as manyas the 86,105 required to make the ballot. But a shocking 79,936 of the signatures were deemed invalid by Secretary of State Scott Gessler's office, leaving only 83,696 that were considered acceptable.

"Today's news is unexpected, but it is really just a very small bump in the road on our journey to end the irrational policy of marijuana prohibition in the state," RMLA backer Mason Tvert told Westword. "Fortunately, we started this signature drive in 2011, so that we would have the opportunity to cure any shortfall in our count.

"We now have 15 days to collect approximately 3,000 valid signatures," Tvert said.

"Given that we were able to collect an average of 3,000 valid signatures per week during the first six months, we are confident we will complete this process successfully and quality the initiative for the ballot," Tvert said.

Tvert called the signature shortfall a "bump in the road."