VIDEO: Marla James' Public Comment on Marijuana Raids in Long Beach (Council Meeting 4-17-12)

Marla James, at the Long Beach City Council Meeting on April 17, 2012, comments on illegal medical marijuana dispensary raids in Long Beach.

NEWS: California legislative panel passes bill to create oversight for marijuana businesses

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - A California Assembly committee Tuesday passed a bill to create state oversight for pot businesses, as its chairman implored the Legislature to act to stave off federal raids on medical marijuana providers.

"The worst public policy choice for California is to sit idly by, doing nothing, and let this failed war on medical cannabis continue unchecked," said Democrat Tom Ammiano as his Public Safety Committee voted 4-2 along party lines to create a state bureau to police the California medical cannabis industry.

Despite clearing his committee, Ammiano's Assembly Bill 2312 faces long odds of reaching the desk of Gov. Jerry Brown because of strong opposition from police.

John Lovell, a lobbyist for California narcotics officers and police chiefs, blasted the bill as failing to come close to stricter rules passed in Colorado. "This is not regulation," Lovell said. "This is open-ended permissiveness."

AB 2312 would charge fees to dispensaries and other medical cannabis businesses to create a policing agency - the Bureau of Medical Marijuana Enforcement - in the state Department of Consumer Affairs. The board would approve licenses for businesses selling, growing or transporting marijuana for use by people with physicians' recommendations.

The Ammiano bill doesn't include many of the rules in place in Colorado, such as requiring every pot industry worker to be state licensed, mandating video surveillance of marijuana stores and requiring state pre-approval of transportation of medical cannabis.

While some Colorado dispensaries have been targeted for operating near schools, that state hasn't been hit with a broad federal crackdown against cannabis outlets that's unfolding in California.

The Ammiano bill would require cities and counties to allow at least one marijuana dispensary for every 50,000 residents unless local voters approve a ban or tighter restrictions. It would leave it up to a nine-member state board to set rules for the industry.

Don Duncan, California director for Americans for Safe Access, said the bill is a key step for allowing people permitted to use medical marijuana under California's 1996 Compassionate Use Act to obtain it at regulated dispensaries in their communities.

"There is strong support by voters in the state of California to finish this compassionate endeavor," Duncan said. "Confusion has led to bans and moratoriums against dispensaries, and that's bad for patients."

But Cory Salzillo, director of legislation for the California District Attorneys Association, said the bill would require local governments to "comply with activity that is still illegal under federal law."

Source: Bellingham Herald

NEWS: Greenhouse Cannabis sues Murrieta for $3 million

Greenhouse Cannabis Club Director Eric McNeil filed a $3 million civil lawsuit against Murrieta on Tuesday, alleging the city and its Police Department are violating medical privacy laws and are threatening patients with violence, arrest and detention.

The lawsuit, filed by McNeil's attorney Richard Ackerman in Riverside Superior Court, alleges the city is discriminating against a group of people based on "perceived characteristics about their health or medical condition."

The suit calls into question Murrieta Police Department practices of targeting patients as they left the Jefferson Avenue medical marijuana collective. Those practices were detailed in a federal search warrant served on the club in mid-March.

According to the lawsuit, officers found reasons to pull over patients who left the collective and then questioned their possession of prescribed marijuana. In at least one instance, according to the suit, a police officer followed a patient from the collective into a grocery store and "grilled" her about her medical condition.

"There is no probable cause for invading the sacrosanct privacy rights of the dozens of members of the (collective) who have been pulled over and forced to disclose private medical information for fear of arrest or other mistreatment at the hands of the sworn law enforcement officers of the city," the suit states. "Each and every collective member ... has a right to be free of harassment and unreasonable violations of medical privacy."

Greenhouse Cannabis Club opened in early January and the city quickly asked a judge to order the collective to close. The judge, however, said the city could not deny medical marijuana patients the right to gather. A short time later, the judge approved a city-written injunction that states the collective can serve "no more than two" people. Since that time, the club has remained open and continued to serve patients, just no more than two at a time, McNeil said.

In June, McNeil is scheduled to stand trial on a charge of contempt of court for allegedly violating the order that he not dispense marijuana to more than two people. McNeil's attorney has interpreted that order to mean that no more than two people can be served at a time.

The Drug Enforcement Administration raided the club in mid-March, and earlier this month a judge evicted the club from its premises.

With the lawsuit, McNeil is seeking an injunction against the city and Police Department that would prohibit them from targeting patients. The lawsuit also requests an order striking down the city's existing moratorium on dispensaries and punitive damages in the amount of $3 million.

"The city is trying to prove a point ---- it's become a personal issue for them," McNeil said in a recent interview. "It's personal for me now, too, because every time I'm in here (at the club), patients are so thankful that we're doing what we're doing. The (residents) don't deserve this."

By 5 p.m. Tuesday, the city had not received a copy of the suit, said Deputy City Attorney Bob Mahlowitz.

"It hasn't been served on the city yet," he said. "We haven't seen it, so obviously I can't comment on it."

Source: North County Times

Encino Dispensaries, Collectives and Cooperatives

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We encourage you to call the collectives prior to making the trip, in case the hours have changed or the facility has been closed.

Ventura OG Corner
17550 Ventura Blvd. [map]
Encino, CA 91316
Hours: Mon-Sun 10am to 12am
Phone: 818-292-7296
Email: VOGCCaregivers@yahoo.com


Covers the following zip codes in Encino, California: 91316, 91335, 91416, 91426, 91436

NEWS: In Long Beach City, Frustration Leads to Desperation in Solving Medical Marijuana Issue

LONG BEACH, Calif. - On March 21 at 4:41pm, plain clothes officers not providing identification of the Long Beach Police Department, along with Long Beach Department of Finance workers, initiated an illegal raid against NatureCann Non-Profit Patient Group. Acting without a warrant or court order, the officer incursion involved forcefully breaking into the patient collective where three (3) patient volunteers were assisting fellow patients. An observer recording the event outside of the collective was knocked down by an officer who told him the police "can do whatever they want." Scores of businesses along the Atlantic Avenue Corridor were disrupted by the police presence and activity.

Although no warrant was obtained by the department, and no resistance was offered by NatureCann, specialized assault equipment and armed tactics were utilized to force entry into the property. In an attempt to avoid being filmed and prior to making entry, an electronic video surveillance system designed to assist law enforcement was instead destroyed and disabled by the officers. Three (3) volunteers were abducted by the officers on-site while other officers arrested the collective's security guard at a nearby restaurant where he was on break.

When asked about the reason for the incursion and arrest, one of the female NatureCann patient volunteers who declined to be named for fear of reprisal said, "I was in fear for my life, looking at the end of a loaded firearm pointed at my head, by an unidentified intruder twice my size. They broke in and started attacking us. We follow all State laws and provide for seriously ill patients." It was later determined that the volunteers had been arrested under a city ordinance recently rendered invalid by a higher court.

In February, 2012, the Long Beach City Council enacted a ban of all medical cannabis patient dispensaries after its permitting ordinance requiring "substantial" and non-refundable fees was deemed unconstitutional by a California appellate court. Although the ban states it applies to all medical marijuana dispensaries in the city, dispensaries that had paid the substantial fee are not being targeted by authorities. The city announced it would enforce the ban only against patient groups that had not paid the fees. Days after Long Beach passed its ordinance banning all collectives, another California appellate court deemed similar bans illegal.

In June, 2011, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge found that an earlier warrantless raid by Long Beach police officers and officials was improper. Patients involved in that case have filed a suit against the city seeking damages. In addition to being arrested, the volunteer said the police had taken all of the patient group's medication as well as electronic equipment without inventorying or reporting the seizures.

For more information contact Sergio Sandoval,Director of Public Relations, Pappas Law Group,Phone #949-382-1485Email – sergio.sandoval@pappaslawgroup.com

Source: NatureCann

NEWS: Medical marijuana delivery man reports he was robbed by ninjas in West Covina

WEST COVINA - Police are looking into a bizarre report of a medical marijuana robbery involving two attackers dressed as ninjas, officials said.

Police received the strange report shortly before 10 p.m. Friday from a medical marijuana delivery man who said he had been robbed in the 800 block of South Sunset Avenue, near Cameron Avenue, after making a delivery to a patient West Covina police Lt. Alan Henley said.

The delivery man, who was in his 40s, told police that, "As he was going back to his vehicle, he was approached by two subjects in ninja costumes who chased him with batons," the lieutenant said.

"The victim said he was scared and he dropped a bag with some marijuana and money. The suspects took it," Henley added.

It was not clear how much cash or pot was taken, police added.

The incident remained under investigation. Police were not aware of any other recent crimes involving suspects dressed as ninjas.

Source: San Gabriel Valley Tribune

NEWS: LA marijuana dispensary workers join labor union

LA marijuana dispensary workers join labor union

LOS ANGELES -- Marijuana dispensary workers in Los Angeles have joined a labor union to fight for their jobs in an industry that the federal government considers illegal.

Workers at 14 pot shops have formed the "medical cannabis and hemp division" of the United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 770. The 35,000-member union also represents grocery clerks, pharmacists and health care workers.
"This is the next step in professionalizing and stabilizing this new sector of the health care industry," Local 770 President Rick Icaza said at a news conference Thursday. "This is a positive step towards successfully integrating compassionate care into our system of health care."

Los Angeles currently caps the number of medical marijuana dispensaries, but the City Council is considering a full ban in light of a court decision that limits its ability to regulate them.

Icaza said the union would use its considerable political weight to pressure officials to find an alternative to a total ban.

That help will be welcome, said Yamileth Bolanos, president of the Greater Los Angeles Collectives Alliance, which represents dispensaries.

"It's time to bring in some big guns," she told the Los Angeles Times ( http://lat.ms/GQqPfS). "Not only are they threatening access for patients, they're also trying to take jobs away from our employees."

Pot clinics flourished in California after voters in 1996 voted to permit people to cultivate and possess marijuana for what became nearly any medical reason. As hundreds of dispensaries opened, cities and counties struggled to interpret the state law, which was light on specifics.

Some communities sought to outlaw the pot clinics under existing zoning and other ordinances, while others tried to regulate them.

Court rulings have further muddied the waters. Last month, a state appellate court ruled that cities cannot use nuisance ordinances to ban medical marijuana dispensaries.

A Los Angeles-based appellate court last year struck down Long Beach's attempt to license marijuana stores, ruling the local ordinance conflicted with federal law. And another appellate court upheld Riverside's right to close and prohibit dispensaries despite the state's medical marijuana law.

Early on in the Obama administration, the U.S. Justice Department said prosecutors wouldn't focus on pot dispensaries that were following state medical marijuana laws even though the entire industry was considered illegal under federal statutes.

But that attitude has changed, with federal prosecutors arguing that many ostensibly nonprofit clinics are raking in money by supplying marijuana to people without a medical need.

Since last year, federal prosecutors have warned California clinics that they are illegal, filed criminal and civil charges against some owners, and threatened to seize properties that are leased to pot growers. About 140 dispensaries in more than 20 Southern California cities have been told to shut down since October when federal authorities began their statewide effort.

The crackdown hasn't dissuaded some communities from welcoming pot shops. Earlier this month, Oakland officials granted approval for four new medical marijuana dispensaries in the city, bringing the total to eight. Officials said the four dispensaries would generate $1.7 million in annual tax revenue for the city.

Source: The Sacramento Bee

VIDEO: Willie Nelson Endorses Oregon Cannabis Tax Act 2012