In a unanimous decision the California Supreme Court ruled on May 6, that city and county governments have the legal authority to ban cannabis care centers. The CSC ruled that local governments even retain the right to use zoning laws and other bureaucratic tactics to wipe care centers out of existence within their respected jurisdictions. [...]
Last night I testified against a proposed ordinance to ban all outdoor cultivation of medical marijuana within the city limits of Concord, California. I was not the only one. Although we diverged somewhat in our concerns, all 13 speakers before the council spoke vociferously against the ordinance as written. The five council members respectfully listened [...]
What a whirlwind weekend! The California NORML Conference commemorating 100 years of cannabis prohibition in California brought together cannabis activists from across the spectrum at San Francisco’s Fort Mason Center, almost directly under the span of the breathtaking Golden Gate Bridge. Experts in policy, law, taxation, entrepreneurship, and public opinion convened over three days to [...]
California court holds that Prop. 215 patients aren’t “drug abusers” The California Court of Appeals has delivered a major win for medical marijuana patients and concerned parents in the Golden State. As Toke of the Town reports, the ruling this month from Division Three of the Second Appellate District has set a precedent which allows parents [...]
Long-time Democrat Adopting Conservative Language; Cannabis Politics Make for Strange Bedfellows When a prominent Democratic politician with decades of liberal policy experience calls on Washington, D.C. to respect states’ rights, there’s got to be something strange going on. This Sunday Governor Jerry Brown of California made Cannabis Now proud by speaking out against federal interference [...]
Arcata, CA’s Measure I aims “to drive the large-scale growing operations out of town” With all the news about cannabis reform initiatives in Washington, Colorado, Oregon, Arkansas, Montana, and Massachusetts, a ballot measure put to a town of 17,000 may seem of little import. Yet Measure I in Arcata, California may signal a shift in [...]
We recently had the pleasure of interviewing Steve DeAngelo the director of Harborside Health Center in Oakland, Ca. Look for this insightful view into America’s largest dispensary in our next issue of Cannabis Now Magazine. One of the things we discussed? Their upcoming profile in the Discovery Channel’s Weed Wars, airing next month. Stayed tuned [...]
New laws up for vote this November would increase the number of grow facilities as well as profits for the city. Six large-scale medical marijuana growing facilities sanctioned by the city of Berkeley, California and new taxes on the industry are set for a vote of the people this coming November. The City Council also [...]
