California voters approved Proposition 215 in 1996, giving “seriously ill Californians … the right to obtain and use marijuana for medical purposes” as recommended by a physician. The practical implementation of Prop. 215 has been messy, contradictory and confusing, and it conflicts with federal law. Subsequent state regulations on the issue have tempered one problem while creating others. And local governments [...]
It’s been 16 years since California voters decided to decriminalize medical marijuana, but the legal smoke surrounding the movement isn’t clearing anytime soon. The tangential issues the legalization has created are myriad, and new ones pop up overnight, this Santa Cruz Sentinel editorial observes. The latest? A rise in outdoor marijuana plantations in the county — some farmed by those who [...]
In the design of America’s founders, the states are supposed to be centers of democratic experiment They’re not supposed to be uniform, the Orange County Register observes in this editorial. For example, even though alcohol Prohibition ended in 1933, local laws restricting sales exist in 33 states. In Arkansas, more than half of 75 counties prohibit alcohol sales. This design is [...]
Marijuana cultivation is out of control in Fresno County. When men in gun turrets protect plots, medical marijuana plants are diverted to street sales and residents complain that dispensaries foul their neighborhoods, the county has a problem. Criminals and a poorly written medical marijuana law passed by California voters bear the blame, writes Fresno Bee columnist Bill McEwen. So, too, does [...]
What is it that makes marijuana more frightening to the federal government than cocaine or morphine? The Drug Enforcement Administration has steadfastly, over decades, listed marijuana as a Schedule I drug, meaning that it has no medical value and that the potential for abuse is high. Cocaine and morphine, far more dangerous and habit-forming, are listed as Schedule II because they [...]
Bud’s note: John Bogert (not Bogart, you stoners) is a Los Angeles Daily News columnist who recently joined the ranks of Prop. 215 patients. He’s more whimsical than cynical and delivers a light-hearted Sunday read. Enjoy. ============== In an earlier age it might have been mildly interesting to sit among reprobates in a medical marijuana dispensary filling out forms and fielding [...]
The use and cultivation of medical marijuana, which was authorized by Prop. 215, are challenges to both the city and county of Fresno. It is the same challenge faced by cities and counties statewide, and their efforts to regulate medical cannabis have had mixed results. Just as they have in Fresno. The city first acted to ban dispensaries in 2004, then [...]
