After dragging ass for years, by way of the U.S. Supreme Court, secret stings and raids on medical marijuana dispensaries, San Diego has finally complied to California’s medical marijuana law and began issuing medical marijuana ID cards to the medical marijuana patients.

Jordan Jarvis, a medical marijuana patient and operator of Top Quality Collective, said:

This kind of medicine has given me the ability to get up and do things and be part of a society again. [...] We can now get ID cards that are and should be respected among law enforcement without harassment. [...] It’s groundbreaking.

San Diego breaking down and issuing medical marijuana ID cards is a big step in California’s medical marijuana movement, yet after so many attempts to circumvent prop 215, something tells me it’s not the end of their fight politically.

A case that has gone all the the way to the U.S. Supreme Court has been rejected today, striking another blow for state medical marijuana laws.

Three years ago, some lawyers for San Diego and San Bernardino counties in California tried to claim that the state violated federal drug law when they legalized medical marijuana. These counties refused to issue medical marijuana cards in accordance with the medical marijuana law and dared to take the case all the way to the top. In a serious negative track record, the counties lost in:

1. the initial state trial.
2. the appellate courts.
3. the state Supreme Court.
4. the U.S. Supreme Court.

They were even threatened with a lawsuit from San Diego NORML, back in 2005 for not complying to the state law when they held back from issuing medical marijuana cards. The Justices today, flat out denied a hearing to the counties.

So now, out of all other legal options, the counties have to finally abide by state law and issue medical marijuana cards to patients and stop arresting medical marijuana patients.

Thomas Bunton, a lawyer in the San Diego County counsel’s office said:

The cards are objectionable because the state law authorizes individuals to engage in conduct that the federal law prohibits. [...] We are disappointed that the court did not take the case to resolve what we believe was a conflict between federal and state law.

As far as this case went, it was the sole one that threatened the state medical marijuana law. Joe Elford, lawyer for Americans for Safe Access said:

No longer will local officials be able to hide behind federal law and resist upholding California’s medical marijuana law.

Elford said that this case will provide ammunition for other cases pending — where other counties are still holding out from issuing medical marijuana cards.

Either nobody wants to deal with the hot potato that marijuana becomes in the news or the Supreme Court doesn’t want to rock the boat, lest it too gets swallowed by the sea of green. At any rate, the fact that it is once again left up to state law is a good sign of things to come.

Although voters in California passed a medical marijuana law twelve years ago, not all cities allow medical marijuana dispensaries. In fact according to Americans for Safe Access, 30 cities across California have permitted them, while another 110 have banned them.

Oceanside is the latest city to tackle the issue with the city council trying to decide how to regulate the dispensaries. No dispensary has been applied for as of yet, but there have been inquiries. A vote on Wednesday will set a 45-day moratorium, giving them time to figure out which direction to go.

More than a week after a string of federal dispensary raids in Los Angeles and San Diego, the MMJ community is still concerned about Obama’s federal pledge to not interfere with state marijuana laws. More specifically, that he hasn’t exactly lived up to it so far.

The Americans for Safe Access recently held a meeting in San Diego where they addressed the crowd with some fairly promising news: In response to flooding the White House switchboard, a representative contacted the ASA, and publicly addressed the issue.

The raids were a part of “Operation: Endless Summer,” an aptly named effort to eradicate drug dealing near several different communities, which also seized six pounds of marijuana from legal dispensaries.

If I ever run out of weed, I might just want to hang out off the coast of San Diego because there seems to be weed all over the place.

In the latest installment of “Just How Much Weed Did Border Patrol Seize?” this time’s winning catch is 1,100 pounds. Agents arrested two men after finding the vessel in Mission Bay with marijuana located in a compartment underneath the boat’s floor.

This doesn’t appear to be an isolated incident, as the arrests are just the latest in the ongoing battle by border patrol agents to stop the flow of marijuana from Mexico to Southern California.

After getting a smackdown from the California Supreme Court, San Diegan legislators, led by Bill Horn (R-San Diego) from North County, are seeking to overturn state medical marijuana law by appealing to the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS).

County officials sued the state in 2006, and after they lost, an appellate court refused to hear the case. Most people would stop at that point, but San Diego is being stubborn as all hell.

Horn said plans are, “To take it as far as we can and get a definitive answer,” since the state’s highest court was apparently not clear enough with their definitive answer of ‘No’ to the county’s lawsuit.

Luckily for us, the Supreme Court doesn’t just take any case thrown its way. A lawyer representing San Diego said the court would probably decide by June whether it would hear the case. Let’s hope SCOTUS tells San Diego to quit the shenanigans.

Waiting to see the results of several lawsuits against local governments, namely the San Diego case, Ventura County, CA is now installing a medical marijuana program.

The biggest benefit of the program is that patients now have something from their local government to prove to law enforcement that they are enrolled in a medical marijuana program. Users who do not have programs authorized by their county must use whatever has been issued by their doctor, which doesn’t always fly with law enforcement officials.

Now in use at over 195 universities, Wesleyan recently added an online marijuana assessment to its health center’s online services.

The assessment takes into account usage, habits and lifestyle and compares them with national and global averages and creates a somewhat personalized program. Developed by San Diego State University, the program is aimed at giving information to students about their drug habits.

Most schools also have a similar test for alcohol, but it seems like a pretty ineffective way to council or answer real questions you might have about drug usage.

Found: Surfboard
Contents: 37 pounds of marijuana
Location: San Diego County

One totally rad surfer had a bogus wipe out on Imperial Beach that cost him/her at least $30,000 worth of weed. Border Patrol found the surfboard washed up near a border fence hollowed out with marijuana concealed inside. That really is innovation at its best.

If you are the owner, go ahead and contact the border patrol, they’d love to hear from you.

San Diego State just became home to one of the largest school-related drug busts in recent history. The final toll? Around 100 people were arrested, 75 of them students. The police confiscated 4 pounds of cocaine, 50 pounds of weed, 350 ecstasy pills, 4 guns and $60,000 in cash.

Considering this is front page news almost everywhere, this article going to be a simple news recap. Instead, we wanted to take a different angle, and talk to someone on the ground. It’s so easy to have an opinion made up by reading a single AP news article, but there are always other sides to a story.

Through a contact, we were able to interview an alumni from the most prominent fraternity involved in the drug sales – Theta Chi – and get a feel for what the local response is to this drug bust.

Let’s get on with it…

theFreshScent: This seems like an extremely serious issue and could possibly affect Theta Chi’s charter. Were these drug dealings completely common knowledge among house members, as the AP news article suggests?

Theta Chi Alumni: It would be safe to say that most brothers in a chapter know what the other brothers are up to, especially brothers who live at the fraternity house. If it is found to be true that drugs were sold on the premises, there is no doubt that their charter will be revoked. Theta Chi holds a strict no tolerance policy on drugs. Even alcohol is not allowed on chapter premises.

To see the rest of this interview, read on…

tFS: Did the people not involved in the drug operation ever speak up? Try to get things to stop?

TCA: My understanding is that the chapter was not involved in the dealing of drugs but merely a few careless members. The chapter was only 1 of the 9 places which Police searched with warrants. When an activity takes place in a fraternity house that is not liked by the other brothers, it is well known. Furthermore, legacies and older brothers have a much higher respect for the fraternity and normally put their foot down, especially if it jeopardizes the chapter or fraternity.

tFS: Do you know if any of the revenue from selling drugs went back into the fraternity or were just for personal gain?

TCA: No idea.

tFS: We all know people at SD State like to party, hell all of San Diego likes to party. Do you think this bust will really hold the market down for long?

TCA: Not at all, this appears to be a bust to address developing issues on the San Diego campus. The amount of arrests is simply astounding. The amount of cash and drugs ceased is nothing shocking if you take into account how many people and locations they had to raid to get it. It will probably send a scare through the buyer/dealer community, but unless they raid large distributers there will be no shortage of supply.

tFS: What’s the general campus reaction to this? I’m sure a lot of the students arrested were well know, is there any sort of community response happening right now?

TCA: I think it is too early to tell. I spoke with one of my friends which attends school there and his response was, “I don’t get the newspaper till Thursday…” so I think the news is still getting out.

tFS: Over 130 undercover buys, that means some serious evidence has been compiled against the sellers, any chance that some of them have been mistakenly linked (and arrested) to this operation?

TCA: It is unclear the involvement of the people arrested. I would not be surprised if some people were falsely arrested, or are being held liable for the actions of others.

tFS: Anything else you can share with me that I’m missing?

TCA: It is sad when things like this happen and the media jumps to throw in fraternity. Local news stations are known to send undercover girls with hidden cameras into fraternity parties to expose anything they can. The next thing you know a 20 year old drinking a beer is all they need to launch a story on a “underage drinking epidemic at frats”. This is greatly going to hurt the Greek system in San Diego. I am interested to see how many people were actually involved and what really happened where.

[Photo Denis Poroy/AP Photos]

Medical marijuana patients can rest easy knowing that San Diego’s challenge to the state Compassionate Use Act has failed.

The basis for the counties’ argument was that San Diego should not be responsible for upholding a state law that is counter to a federal law. Specifically, they didn’t want to give medical marijuana users identification cards, so they took the issue to court. Joining them in the battle was San Bernadino county and Merced county. Not cool guys.

I know there are a lot of state-level issues that require serious attention, but the resources a lawsuit like this wastes just isn’t worth the price. Unfortunately, San Diego saw otherwise.

Superior Court Judge William Nevit Jr. explained his ruling this way:

Requiring the counties to issue identification cards for the purpose of identifying those whom California chooses not to arrest and prosecute for certain activities involving marijuana use does not create a ‘positive conflict.

This was his 2nd ruling on the subject which has now backed up his original stance on the case. San Diego attorneys are still debating whether to appeal the decision, but they should just let this die.

States are allowed a certain amount of autonomy under the constitution and challenging that does nothing but cede more power to the federal government. Plus, 55% of California voters made the Compassionate Use Act a law, who is San Diego county to overturn the entire state’s opinion?

The ruling also lets the 10 other states with medical marijuana laws breathe easier. Hopefully, this will be the final nail in the coffin of San Diego’s attempt to repeal the act, and we can move forward on the path to legalization.

[via Mercury News]