Alameda, CA Closes Door on Medical Marijuana
November 14th, 2008 by Perry
Alameda County, CA just became the most recent city to close the door on medical marijuana, passing a 45-day moratorium on the expansion or establishment of dispensaries. The move comes in response to the “Purple Elephant,” a dispensary which opened on Webster St., a busier part of town.
City officials claimed the owner “snuck through” the permitting process by only writing that he was seeking to open a “retail operation.” Although why not ask a question when you see the name Purple Elephant, if you’re so concerned?
Some 14 years later, a new generation of county supervisors is still sorting through its options. For example, in July, the board agreed to allow licensed dispensaries in unincorporated Alameda County to carry hashish, but would not allow these same dispensaries to carry food made with marijuana.
The move is no doubt intended to give local legislators time to find a legal way to remove the Purple Elephant and create a lasting ban. Again, the vague wording of Prop. 215 continues to cause confusion and harassment of legitimate business owners.
San Mateo to Draft Pot Laws
October 17th, 2008 by Perry
San Mateo city officials are pondering instituting a city code for marijuana growers, co-ops and patients, to address gaps left by the proposition that made medical marijuana legal in the California 12 years ago. The decision comes more than a year after three dispensaries were shut down in a raid involving local police officers and federal agents.
Following last years raids, law enforcement officials claimed the clubs were not acting as collectives. Owners and directors of the clubs argued they are collectives because members are pooling their money for marijuana, providing a safe place to buy it and access to resources about using it.
Whether or not San Mateo legislates the pot clubs, at least addressing the issue is a good first step.
Garden Grove Says No to MMJ, I Say Boo
September 24th, 2008 by Perry
In a giant step back for MMJ users in Orange County, the Garden Grove City Council voted to ban its only medical marijuana dispensary.
Their logic? Mayor Bill Dalton said he doesn’t support it because it is not ‘regulated right.’ He states:
I just don’t think this is the way marijuana should be dispensed.
What a horse’s ass.
Councilwoman Dina Nguyen said she sympathizes with patients who need marijuana to ease their pain, but believes the clinics would put more strain on the Police Department, which is short-staffed. Not to mention, the article states there were no incidents at the dispensary in the months prior to its shutdown.
Well, at least she’s sympathetic. Apparently chronic pain sufferers just aren’t pulling hard enough on the heart strings to not be put in jail. Luckily, sympathy is an alternate treatment to chemotherapy recovery, nausea, bone pain, etc… Thanks, Dina.
Looks like the business tax and other sales taxes will be going to the coffers of a different Orange County city. Too bad.
Patients Protest LA Dispensary Raids
January 29th, 2007 by Alex
With the LA dispensary raids still fresh in memory, I was able to locate a photoset of the protests that followed.
Medical marijuana patients brought signs and pill bottles to the downtown Federal Building on Monday, January 22nd. Even West Hollywood officials, where the majority of the raids took place, were disappointed that the DEA chose to execute search warrants instead of contact them directly.
More than 500 people demonstrated outside the federal building and later walked to the City Hall to thank the mayor for his support of patients rights so far. Let’s hope the protest has a lasting effect and will discourage the DEA from making a repeat visit anytime soon.
Two more pics after the jump.
Aftermath: Los Angeles DEA Dispensary Raids
January 22nd, 2007 by Alex
As many people in the Los Angeles are aware, the DEA raided 11 Los Angeles dispensaries on Wednesday, January 17th. Despite these co-operatives being legal in California under the Compassionate Use Act of 1996, they are not legal under federal law. This creates a see-saw of struggles between co-ops to stay open and the DEA to shut them down.
How exactly the DEA chooses it’s victims is still a mystery. Maybe they go after dispensaries with too large a client base, maybe they infiltrate all dispensaries and raid the ones they believe are breaking the law. We just don’t know. An anonymous patient who walked into a dispensary during the raids had this to say:
I went by H.I.P Sherman Oaks. They buzzed me in and I was greeted by a federal agent. He was in FULL GEAR, freaking mask and everything. He told me I could turn around and leave or come in and join them, what do think I did.This sucks…
After talking with one of the raided dispensaries, I learned that the DEA has Ok’d them to continue selling medical marijuana. The catch is that they can’t sell hash, pipes or pieces. Looks like the DEA believes just the plant is good enough and all the extras like edibles, hash and others aren’t part of the deal.
Dispensaries are now taking steps to increase their safety measures. In Van Nuys, one co-op has beefed up security with 2 full-time armed guards. Other effects of the raids are increased marijuana pricing across the board. Premium is now going for up to $85 an 1/8th while regs are hovering around the $60 - $65 mark. This is going to make it much harder for patients to afford their medicine.
Overall, these raids have delivered a serious blow to the Los Angeles medical marijuana community. I expect it will take at least a few months for everything to return to normal. In the meantime, let’s hope that attitudes and laws continue to progress so that this doesn’t happen again.
Read on to see more pictures from the DEA raids…
Another Dispensary Raided in Palm Springs
December 4th, 2006 by Alex
Looks like it’s tense times for dispensaries in the deep south of California. After San Diego’s challenge to the medical marijuana laws failed, plenty of attention is still being paid to co-ops of all shapes and sizes.
This week’s Dispensary Gets Busted article is courtesy of the Palm Desert police. On December 2nd, Narcotics Division agents served a warrant on CannaHelp, a local co-op. The reason? To discover if the dispensary is selling weed for profit.
It looks like police are using this as a loop-hole to break into any dispensaries in the area, as this was the major reasoning behind 2 other local raids. Yes, co-ops are around to help patients but it’s hard to imagine anyone starting one just for the good feeling of it all.
Running a co-op is a service, and providing that service should allow operators to earn a profit. Not just cost-of-living expenses for the owner and staff.
Good news is, no arrests have been made in connection with the warrants. Stacy Hochanadel, CannaHelp’s owner, was questioned by police but called the entire process ‘professional’. It’s a good sign that she is more than willing to work with police about her books and where the money CannaHelp generates ends up going.
Still, it’s a troubling trend that more and more police units are preemptively raiding dispensaries in order to find things wrong. I’m interested about the judge behind this all and under what basis all of these warrants were signed.
Luckily, CannaHelp is back open and deserving patients will be able to access their medicine.
[via The Desert Sun]
