Organizers of the Know Your Rights Expo expect up to 20,000 people from across Southern California to attend the conference – across the street from Disneyland Resort – at the city-owned Anaheim Convention Center.

The Alcohol and Other Drugs Advisory Board heard from speakers on all sides of the debate in recent meetings and voted Wednesday to oppose the measure. The committee, which is appointed by county supervisors, makes recommendations to the board.

The company, called "Herbal Essence", opened in July, and allegedly never claimed they'd be selling marijuana, according to the City of Concord.

2) Tiny Dutch border town of Maastricht is ready to tell drug tourists, "not in my backyard." The New York Times reports.

The co-ops appeared in court Friday to request a lifting of a preliminary injunction granted by a judge at the West Valley Superior Court in Rancho Cucamonga.

Herbal Essence, at 5065 Clayton Road in a commercial area near the Lucky supermarket, opened last month, according to online dispensary reviews. Its website says it is "a medical marijuana dispensary in Contra Costa County in full compliance with California's Prop. 215."

The long-awaited ruling by the 4th District Court of Appeal did little to clear the haze over the ongoing dispute regarding pot shops that have flourished across the state since a 1996 law was passed that allows marijuana use with a doctor's recommendation.

After a work accident in 1994, Bendula, of Tracy, Calif., is now one of about 400,000 Californians who have a medical marijuana card. Bendula smokes between 3 and 5 grams of pot a day to help alleviate his pain.

"We love what we do. And we are discreet," says the leaflet for the Walnut Creek firm founded by Brett McCormick, 25, and William McKenzie, 26, two agribusiness graduates from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

"I'm all about creating a cannabis distribution model that will be accepted in the heartland of America," DeAngelo said.

That's the latest issue facing proponents of Proposition 19, the ballot measure that would make marijuana legal for adults in California.

The county's office of corporation counsel was scheduled to make its 63-page research document available to local communities Thursday, said Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson.

Whether voters will be in the mood to pay more taxes, even for schools, roads and police officers, remains to be seen. But in general, voters prefer hyper-local taxes because they can see where the money goes.

After a work accident in 1994, Bendula, of Tracy, is now one of about 400,000 Californians who have medical marijuana cards. For Bendula, he smokes between 3 and 5 grams of pot a day to help alleviate his pain.

It doesn't, however, change the difficulty of finding a job where drug tests and screenings are required.

Except, there would be nothing illegal about it.

A lawyer for Americans for Safe Access said Thursday the group may launch litigation against the county to force it to issue the cards, which help those using the drug under a doctor's direction identify themselves to law enforcement as legal medical users. State law requires such programs in all counties, but the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday blocked the launch of its own program by a 3-2 vote.

Generally, it has not been considered tax-deductible due to its illegality under federal law, which guides the Internal Revenue Service's policies.

In a suit filed Wednesday in a federal court in Santa Ana, the Southern California developer contends the city violated the exclusive agreement it signed to negotiate a development deal with SunCal by blocking its efforts to meet the terms of the agreement.

Each of the city’s eight dispensaries have been faced with cease-and-desist orders from city prosecutors, who say that because Richmond doesn’t currently have rules on the books to govern or properly zone pot dispensaries, the shops are operating without permits, and therefore illegally.

If Proposition 19 is approved by voters in November, the state's largest cash crop - with an estimated annual value of $14 billion - would be sold and taxed like alcohol or cigarettes. According to the state Legislative Analyst's Office, Prop 19 could potentially yield hundreds of millions in tax and fee revenues as well as significant savings in corrections spending.

As one Obama administration official told the Los Angeles Times in March:

"If you are operating a medical marijuana clinic that is actually a front, we'll come after you. But if you are operating within the law, we are not going to prioritize our resources to go after them."

It appears the Council has changed course, as last week the proposal did not limit the number of dispensaries and allowed them to be in major or smaller commercial areas.

Pot clubs will be restricted to regional commercial districts, which are major shopping hubs such as Hilltop Mall. The police chief will review applications and grant the permits after holding public hearings.

“The reality is that the dispensaries are the tested market, the untested market is the cultivation permit, and there is a lot of risk there in terms of cultivating,” said Brooks. “Patients will still get their medicine and they will not go to neighboring cities. … we need to vote for 5 percent across the board.”

City Councilman Tom Butt, who last week voiced the strongest opposition to the city’s new plan to grant business licenses to medical pot dispensaries, is now proposing the city craft laws to allow, regulate and tax large-scale medical marijuana growers, similar to a controversial move that neighboring Oakland is also considering.

Last Tuesday's City Council meeting in Richmond was a marathon that covered some heavy duty topics, including putting a referendum on the Point Molate casino proposal on the November ballot and regulations on medical marijuana dispensaries.

Following a discussion earlier this year on what will happen to the marijuana industry if pot is legalized, members of the recently formed Humboldt Medical Marijuana Advisory Panel (HUMMAP) are continuing the conversation by organizing.

The long-struggling city, which has failed spectacularly to capitalize on the high-tech boom, could be the Silicon Valley of pot, Wilcox told the City Council this week before its historic vote to grant four permits for urban, industrial-size marijuana farms.

Instead, they opted for a tiered tax rate based on a last-minute proposal by at-large Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan. She announced the new plan Thursday during a special City Council meeting.

The new plan includes a 2.5 percent tax on medicinal marijuana dispensaries, putting Oakland's tax in line with Berkeley's.

Instead, they opted for a tiered tax rate based on a last-minute proposal by at-large Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan. She announced the new plan Thursday during a special City Council meeting.

Two San Jose men were arrested and a third is wanted in connection with the large-scale commercial growing and selling operation, according to Sgt. Mark Yanez, who headed the investigation.

After more than three hours of testimony and debate Tuesday night, a divided City Council passed its first law regulating pot clubs after an influx of these dispensaries caught them by surprise.

The law requires pot clubs be nonprofit collectives whose managers have passed criminal background checks. The clubs must be in commercial districts, at least 1,500 feet from high schools and 500 feet from other schools or day care centers.

Hundreds of small growers and collectives complained that the new ordinance could drive them out of business, despite having risked arrest to supply $28 million worth of medical marijuana sold at dispensaries last year.

The Oakland City Council Tuesday voted in favor of a controversial proposal to permit giant medical marijuana-growing factories, but new questions are emerging about how these entities will fit into the state’s medical marijuana laws.

The ordinance, which will get a second reading next week, would not be not be enforced until cultivation permits are issued in January, the papers says.

A city resolution declaring a "public health emergency" over access to medical marijuana is expected to pass at Tuesday's council meeting, but two other pot proposal will likely draw more debate at council meetings this week.

After three hours of debate, which included 125 speakers during the public comment session, the council voted 5 to 2 in favor of the plan, with North Oakland’s councilmember, Council President Jane Brunner, abstaining. Councilmembers Jean Quan and Nancy Nadel voted against the plan. If the ordinance passes next week, requests for proposals would be submitted to the city this fall, with marijuana production permits being issued next January.

The city will not enforce the new ordinance until the cultivation permits are issued in January. The ordinance will get a second reading on Tuesday.

If the plan is approved, the city would license four production plants that would grow, package and process cannabis for medical use in every form -- from the buds to the body lotions.

The proposal is a testament to just how fast the marijuana counterculture is transforming into a corporate culture. And it has ignited a contentious debate in Oakland that could spread as cities face pressure to regulate marijuana cultivation and find ways to tax it.

The Oakland City Council on Tuesday will look at licensing four production plants where pot would be grown, packaged and processed into items ranging from baked goods to body oil. Winning applicants would have to pay $211,000 in annual permit fees, carry $2 million worth of liability insurance and be prepared to devote up to 8 percent of gross sales to taxes

The Oakland City Council on Tuesday will look at licensing four production plants where pot would be grown, packaged and processed into items ranging from baked goods to body oil. Winning applicants would have to pay $211,000 in annual permit fees, carry $2 million worth of liability insurance and be prepared to devote up to 8 percent of gross sales to taxes.

Proposed modifications voters are being asked to weigh in on include:

* Allowing 10 non-dispensing cannabis locations to operate in the city's manufacturing zone
* Increasing the limit on the number of dispensaries from three to four
* Limiting cannabis cultivation by collectives to 200 square feet in residential areas only
* Reconstituting the Medical Marijuana Commission as a standard city commission rather than, as it is currently defined, an autonomous entity.

The Oakland City Council on Tuesday will look at licensing four production plants where pot would be grown, packaged and processed into items ranging from baked goods to body oil. Winning applicants would have to pay US$211,000 in annual permit fees, carry US$2 million worth of liability insurance and be prepared to devote up to 8 percent of gross sales to taxes.

Eureka is a coastal city where residents are close to redwood trees. San Ramon is an inland upper-middle class East Bay suburb that is home to an extensive business park.

But Eureka recently hammered out new general plan amendments and developed new medical marijuana policies — completing work on two issues that San Ramon is grappling with.

City attorneys are drafting an ordinance that would determine the number and locations of permitted pot clubs, among other provisions. It is scheduled to reach the City Council on Tuesday night.

That is earlier than planned. Officials initially wanted to hold off until after the November election to see if California voters will approve an initiative to legalize recreational marijuana use for people 21 and older. But the council has now decided not to wait, in part because Richmond is dealing with uses other than for recreation.

The city took large steps in the proposal toward regulating and taxing "cannabusiness," proposing a 2.5 percent business license tax on recognized collectives and dispensaries in the city.

The proposal crafted by City Councilmembers Larry Reid and Rebecca Kaplan would prompt the first major expansion six years after Oakland first authorized the distribution of medical marijuana in dispensaries.

East Bay Stand Down organizers putting final touches on this year's event

On four days in August a tent city will spring up at the Alameda County Fairgrounds. It will be a temporary home for homeless and needy veterans and a place for them to find a helping hand.

The East Bay Stand Down returns to the fairgrounds Aug. 5 to 8. The biennial event is one of several being held nationwide this year. It will provide dental, legal and medical care as well as a variety of other social and basic living services for homeless or needy veterans and their families.

The Royal Oak City Commission is to consider tonight whether to set a public hearing on the request by James Canner, listed on Web sites as executive vice president of a robotics firm, to convert a building for growing marijuana.

SF Weekly reported today that BPG had in fact invested “over $100,000″ in the Northeast Patients Group. According to Brad Senesac, director of communications for BPG, the relationship is purely an advisory one and no investment was made. Senesac said that Northeast Patients Group spent over $100,000 in setting up and submitting its applications in Maine, but BPG did not provide any funding.

"I don't want to give the impression that I'm promoting it, because I'm not," Santos said Friday. "The group is looking for a location to grow medical marijuana — no direct sales. They can only do it in certain locations, and they need a lot of (electricity) to do it."

The two ballot questions, if approved, will allow up to 11 large-scale growing facilities of various sizes, but none larger than 30,000 square feet in the city's manufacturing zone. And the measures will allow a fourth retail outlet in the city's commercial districts, among other provisions.

Currently, there are three large-scale dispensaries in the city that provide medical cannabis to thousands of patients. The dispensaries are not permitted to grow or produce their own product, but must get it from small collectives or businessmen that grow it.

Berkeley is considering raising taxes on medical marijuana 20-fold. The city wants to turn marijuana into a cash crop that generates more sales tax revenue. A pair of ordinances could go before Berkeley voters in November at the same time California votes on legalizing marijuana with Proposition 19.

Oakland's most prominent purveyor of medical cannabis has almost single-handedly financed the Tax Cannabis 2010 campaign — a once-unthinkable occurrence. Election experts say it's a sign that the pot industry has reached a rarefied political pinnacle: Pot can afford to buy its way into voter-approved legitimacy.

Earlier this month, the town sent cease-and-desist letters to Marin Holistic Solutions and Going Green warning the dispensaries to stop storing, selling and cultivating pot by June 25.

"When they first applied ( for a business license ) in the spring of 2009, they did not fully disclose the nature of the business," Town Attorney Jeffrey Walter said in a phone interview Wednesday.

Walter added that the dispensaries are in violation of town zoning and municipal codes.

In fact, it has proved medicinal benefits for those suffering from cancer and other illnesses. Even if you are not sick, a good toke never hurt anybody.

Licenses selling for "medicinal" purposes is practically pot legalization anyway, since pretty much anyone with a pulse can get a prescription.

Police are still searching for the man who shot Taylor, 23, and his suspected accomplice, a 27-year-old San Francisco man, along with a woman they believe was with him.

The city attorney's office on Friday handed the 24-hour notice to the Purple Elephant Cooperative because the city does not permit medical marijuana dispensaries.

The city attorney's office on Friday handed the 24-hour notice to the Purple Elephant Cooperative because the city does not permit medical marijuana dispensaries.

"They have to be shut down, rolled up, gone and out of business," City Attorney Michael Lawson said.

A director at the dispensary, Nathan Coleman, on Friday said he received the notice but was unaware that the business must close.

Her mother, Barbara Dane, is a singer, and her father, Byron Menendez, ran a nightclub in San Francisco's North Beach. Her paternal grandparents were from Spain, and as she grew older, her curiosity about Spanish culture also grew.

Their plan would work like this: Oakland would sanction a small number of commercial medical marijuana cultivators, regulate them carefully, collect taxes on the revenue and, Reid and Kaplan hope, help keep neighborhoods safer.

Their plan would work like this: Oakland would sanction a small number of commercial medical marijuana cultivators, regulate them carefully, collect taxes on the revenue and, Reid and Kaplan hope, help keep neighborhoods safer.

Marijuana advocates joined leaders of the United Food and Commercial Workers union in making the announcement Friday. Californians are split over a November ballot measure that would legalize use of marijuana by adults 21 and older, but proponents of the initiative hoped labor can now give them a boost.

For example, the California Police Chiefs Association, in their White Paper on Marijuana Dispensaries in April 2009, concluded after a multi-year study of dispensaries across California that: “Marijuana dispensaries are commonly large money-making enterprises that will sell marijuana to most anyone who produces a physician’s written recommendation for its medical use. These recommendations can be had by paying unscrupulous physicians a fee and claiming to have most any malady, even headaches.

If you can't beat 'em, tax 'em.

After becoming the first U.S. city to impose a special tax on medical marijuana dispensaries, Oakland soon could become the first to sanction and tax commercial pot growing operations. Selling and growing marijuana remain illegal under federal law.

Many Chinese families in the Sunset are disappointed about the plan to open a new medical marijuana dispensary in their neighborhood, which was approved by the San Francisco Planning Commission on May 21st. But they’re even more upset with the way their complaints were treated.

After becoming the first US city to impose a special tax on medical marijuana dispensaries, Oakland could soon become the first to sanction and tax commercial cannabis-growing operations.

If you can't beat 'em, tax 'em.

DURING THE INTERIM, SAID CITY MANAGER JANE BAIS DISESSA, A COMMITTEE COMPOSED OF HERSELF, THE CITY ATTORNEY AND CITY PLANNER WILL MEET TO COME UP WITH AN ORDINANCE. BUT THAT INTERIM PERIOD DREW THE CONCERN OF COUNCILWOMAN LISA PLATT AUENSEN, WHO WAS THE LONE VOTE AGAINST THE MORATORIUM.

DURING THE INTERIM, SAID CITY MANAGER JANE BAIS DISESSA, A COMMITTEE COMPOSED OF HERSELF, THE CITY ATTORNEY AND CITY PLANNER WILL MEET TO COME UP WITH AN ORDINANCE. BUT THAT INTERIM PERIOD DREW THE CONCERN OF COUNCILWOMAN LISA PLATT AUENSEN, WHO WAS THE LONE VOTE AGAINST THE MORATORIUM.

On Wednesday, two council members who have been discussing the issue since October rebuffed the mayor's attempt to push the process behind closed doors.

“Is this your first visit?” John, a burly twenty-something in shorts who checks ID at the front door, asks an African American woman in nursing scrubs. He’s wearing a baseball cap with the California bear and a pot leaf on it. The woman nods her head.

One of the grows apparently sparked a fire about 7 a.m. in the 3900 block of Angelo Avenue, two blocks from Allendale Elementary School. It took longer than usual to put out because firefighters were dealing with flare-ups of hot spots they think were caused by the power system used for the lights and other equipment. Eight car batteries were apparently being used.

As a staunch supporter of "No" on Measure B and against the SunCal initiative, I think it's now time to give you some new facts. In March, SunCal submitted a Modified Optional Entitlement Application to our city. It followed up with a SunCal Proforma and another letter, "Alameda Point CEQA Project Description," in April. Evidently this modified OEA was to replace the original submitted in January.

With the intent to evaluate proposals to tax medical marijuana and amend zoning regulations, the Medical Marijuana Subcommittee spent the first meeting clarifying legal statues and definitions.

In the meantime, city officials want to make sure that no marijuana facilities open their doors in Berkley.

would they deliver some beer too? me and my bitches dont wanna get outta the hot tub and actually drive to get my swerve on...

The nation's top law-enforcement official said he supported a variety of initiatives to combat gang-related violence, saying they were among "comprehensive, holistic solutions to the problems that affect our community."

The City Council's unanimous decision on Tuesday came as a moratorium on the opening of any new pot club was set to expire.

The city currently does not have any medical marijuana clubs, so the law will not affect any existing businesses.

The unanimous vote Tuesday comes nearly a year after the council moved to close the Purple Elephant, the former medical marijuana dispensary on Webster Street.

"The council is being responsive to the community's interest in the issue both pro and con," Mayor Carla Condon said. "We want to get all the information, we want to ensure that o

The unanimous vote Tuesday comes nearly a year after the council moved to close the Purple Elephant, the former medical marijuana dispensary on Webster Street.

"We don't believe that this type of business is correct for Park Street, Webster Street, or any other street in this town," said Rob Ratto of the Park Street Business Association.

The City Council's unanimous decision on Tuesday came as a moratorium on the opening of any new pot club was set to expire.

The unanimous vote Tuesday comes nearly a year after the council moved to close the Purple Elephant, the former medical marijuana dispensary on Webster Street.

The City Council will consider tonight putting a measure on the November ballot to increase the business license tax on its three marijuana dispensaries. They currently pay $1.20 per $1,000 of gross receipts, which nets Berkeley about $22,000 a year.

The Oakland medical pot entrepreneur, who spent $1.3 million to qualify this November's initiative to make recreational pot use legal in California, once lived for thundering his Harley-Davidson motorcycle down Texas highways.

Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2010/05/04/2724797/man-behind-california-pot-initiatives.html#ixzz0n4vIIFh5

The medical marijuana user who was turned in to police by her daughter last year uses medication and devices to help her in that quest.

Read more: http://www.fresnobee.com/2010/04/29/1914926_25-arrested-in-contra-costa-county.html#ixzz0njfFsxex

The West Contra Costa County Narcotics Task Force said the arrests began on Wednesday morning and ended around 10 p.m. Authorities searched 11 locations in San Pablo, Richmond and North Richmond and also seized 20 pounds of processed marijuana with a value of $90,000, two firearms and $65,000 in cash.

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch said the business could not prove it would suffer irreparable harm by having the city proceed with its decision to revoke the permit. Roesch said the only harm would be a loss of revenue and location, two damages that could be recovered later.

The ruling came four months after Arturo Sanchez, an assistant to the Oakland city administrator, revoked a permit issued to the center, saying its owners failed to comply with city laws regarding its operation.

Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/weed-wars/2010/04/advocate-lawyer-warns-that-capitalist-dispensaries-could-close.html#ixzz0lhCI3mwp

The ruling came four months after Arturo Sanchez, an assistant to the Oakland city administrator, revoked a permit issued to the center, saying its owners failed to comply with city laws regarding its operation.

DeAngelo is executive director of the Harborside Health Center, a 48,000-member patient collective he says serves more marijuana users than anywhere else. For sure, the Oakland dispensary – one of just four allowed in the city – is a titan in California's legal medicinal pot trade.

Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2010/04/14/2676819/bigger-is-better-for-pot-dispensaries.html#ixzz0llF6BSqf

Except, there would be nothing illegal about it.

Berkeley’s Medical Cannabis Commission is considering a proposition that would allow all three of the city’s medical marijuana dispensaries to expand beyond retail space to grow cannabis and bake marijuana-laced cookies and brownies in residential and commercial properties

How safe is the marijuana provided to hundreds of thousands of medical pot users in California?

From his coffee house selling medical marijuana, to his trade school for marijuana growers, Oaksterdam University, Lee employs 58 people and pays hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in taxes.

From his coffee house selling medical marijuana, to his trade school for marijuana growers, Oaksterdam University, Lee employs 58 people and pays hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in taxes.

If approved, it would decriminalize cultivation and possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use by those 21 and older, while barring its use in public and in the presence of minors.

The city says the "C3 Medical Cannabis Collective" is violating zoning laws, and it's been fining the club $500 a day since it opened last August.

The city has identified eight dispensaries operating within its limits, nearly all of which have opened in the past year.

One club operated here on and off for five years. But since last year, the number of dispensaries jumped to eight, and more are rumored to be on the way. The influx has caught locals by surprise, and spurred officials and residents to ask: How many is too many? Regulate or shut them down?

In the state of California, taxing pot has long been proposed by supporters of legalization as a means to help rectify our chronic budget crisis. Though Berkeley wouldn't be the first city to levy a tax on dispensaries, the proposal could allow the city to be a beneficial testing ground for this piece of much discussed public policy.

In the past few months, several groups seeking to open dispensaries have approached Martinez. In response to Police Chief Tom Simonetti's call for a ban on the facilities, the city's Public Safety Subcommittee has been considering changes to the existing ordinance.

The city manager's office has floated a plan to tax the city's three medical marijuana dispensaries $10 per square foot on space they occupy.

The tax would have to be put to a vote of Berkeley residents for approval, most likely on the November ballot.

Berkeley Patients Group, a nonprofit operating in the city for 10 years, wants to lease the 28,000-square-foot building at the corner of Heinz Avenue and Seventh Street next to the new Berkeley Bowl West supermarket.

Wareham Development recently sent the city a letter threatening to sue, and the City Council will take up the matter during a closed session Tuesday.

Andrew Neilly, a Wareham spokesman, said the company doesn't have a problem with medical marijuana but fears a dispensary in the neighborhood could drive away business.

Some are giving to charity, but you will not see any fanfare or buildings named in their honor. Medicinal marijuana remains a legal gray area, and nothing — even philanthropy — is simple when it comes to the proceeds. Oakland’s medical marijuana headquarters, Oaksterdam University, could not even sponsor a local food bank.

Last December, the city council adopted a moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries within the city limits. The vote was in response to an unexpected dispensary, known as the "Purple Elephant," opening its doors on Webster Street earlier in the year. The proprietors had managed to receive a business permit from the city by simply defining their business as "miscellaneous retail." Since the city council's moratorium is set to expire June 30, 2010, planning board members asked that Andrew Thomas, planning services manager, research and draft a new proposal to replace it.

"Like most other cities, we have dispensaries coming into Richmond," said Councilman Tom Butt, who introduced legislation for a 45-day moratorium. "Basically what we want to do is get control of the situation and figure out what we want to do about it."

Members of the C3 Collective, working from a storefront on Oakland Boulevard to provide medical marijuana to its members, asked Tuesday night that the city ease up on its efforts to close the dispensary, which opened last summer.

The nonprofit is hit with $500 in zoning violation fines every day it's open.

Medical pot dispensaries receive such regulations, but grow houses do not. For years the houses, which are traditionally wired unsafely, have been the bane of police and fire departments.

Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan has been talking with dispensary managers and city staff about guidelines she expects to officially propose in the coming months that she says would ensure the grow-houses are safe and not located in residential areas.

San Francisco police, who patrol San Francisco International Airport, say they allow card-holding medical marijuana patients to carry up to 8 ounces of dried cannabis when traveling. The SFO policy follows the guidelines police use within the city of San Francisco, said Sgt. Wilfred Williams.

Then-San Francisco police Chief Heather Fong enacted the policy in November 2008 through a three-page bulletin to officers. It instructs officers to leave medical marijuana patients and their drugs alone if they are using the marijuana for medical purposes and not for criminal activity.

California is one of 13 states that permit growing and using marijuana for medical purposes. It's been legal here since 1996. Hundreds of licensed clubs like this one in Oakland cultivate and sell packaged marijuana to smoke or to eat, including varieties called Purple Kush, Jack the Ripper, and White Widow.

It means campaigners pushing to have a state-wide vote on legalisation next year are on a collision course with the US government.

The city of Oakland, near San Francisco, this year became the first to collect tax on the sale of so-called 'medical marijuana'.

In this nine-block district of Oakland, California, called Oaksterdam, Lee is a celebrity.

Weedmaps is a founder of The Dispensary Defense Group, headed by Richard Cowan, former Director of The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).

The special tax was supported by the city's medical marijuana community, led by Oaksterdam University head and Coffeeshop Blue Sky owner Richard Lee. Lee and other supporters, including city council members, said the dispensaries wanted to do their part to help the city during economic hard times.

So county Supervisors Alice Lai-Bitker, Nate Miley and Gail Steele took what seemed to be a logical step: They appointed members of the community to draw up suggestions for changes.

No deadline was set for the group's work.

Preliminary election results showed the measure passing with 80 percent of the vote, according to the Alameda County Registrar of Voters.

Preliminary election results showed the measure passing with 80 percent of the vote, according to the Alameda County Registrar of Voters.

Voters also strongly supported an increase in the city's hotel tax; a decrease in the amount of money mandated for youth programs; and an amendment to the city's tax code to ensure transfers through corporate mergers and acquisitions are taxable. Together, the measures could generate about $7 million or $8 million a year for cash-strapped Oakland.

The measure will levy an $18 tax for every $1,000 in gross marijuana sales. Firms in the city now pay a $1.20 business tax on each $1,000 in sales. Other cities may soon follow suit. Voters approved the measure by a margin of 80%, according to preliminary results released by the Alameda County Registrar of Voters.

State and national advocates of the tax say the victory is a significant turning point in the history of cannabis use, paving the way for taxation in other communities and states and establishing more social acceptance of marijuana use.

But sure enough, supporters of medical marijuana were pleasantly pleased Wednesday after Oakland voters overwhelmingly approved a huge tax increase — 15 times the former rate — on sales at the city’s handful of permitted medical marijuana dispensaries.

Voting closed on Tuesday to pass Measure F, which will impose a special tax on sales of medical marijuana in local dispensaries.

Walk over to the Patient ID Center, and you can buy commercial machines that can trim the leaves off of cannabis quicker than you could do with scissors.

"Just imagine," said Richard Lee, nodding at the familiar scene, "if you had four liquor outlets in all of Oakland. It's ridiculous."

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/17/EDC118QU28.DTL#ixzz0Lw76aJT8

The California State Board of Equalization released a legislative analysis last week, estimating that the state would collect up to $1.38 billion in new revenue from taxing and regulating the sale of marijuana.

Richard Lee, the president of the 2-year-old Oaksterdam University, where 3,000 students have gone through courses on everything relating to marijuana from hydroponics to the law, supports Measure F, as does just about the entire Oakland establishment, including police and community groups. Lee knows that an industry that produces revenue for government tends to be looked upon more favorably in the halls of government. "We see this," he said, "as a step toward legitimizing the industry."

Measure F would create a new business tax rate for Oakland's four legally operating medical marijuana clubs, hitting them with a levy of $18 for every $1,000 in gross sales.

That compares to $1.20 for every $1,000 in gross sales the clubs now pay under the standard retail business tax.

In December a lab in the East Bay started testing samples of cannabis for pathogenic mold and the presence of three cannabinoids –THC, CBD and CBN (cannabinol). THC is the main psychoactive compound in the cannabis plant. CBD is a cannabinoid with intriguing medical potential that gets bred out of cannabis when the breeder's goal is high THC content (as it has been in California for generations). CBN is a breakdown product of THC, an indicator of time in storage.

"80 percent THC?" asks a potential customer. He's referring to delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol — the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana.

But Ken Estes, the operator of several Bay Area marijuana dispensaries, says he continues to be targeted by federal drug agents even though he says he's followed their instructions and California law.

A raid of a marijuana dispensary in South Lake Tahoe two days after Obama too office puts the spotlight on his policy.

Tuesday night, Oakley joined Pittsburg, Antioch and Brentwood in permanently prohibiting medical marijuana dispensaries after more than a year long moratorium on the businesses.

The city council voted unanimously without deliberation or opposition from the public.

"We're always concerned when a community sends a message that access to marijuana is easy," said Reese, chair of the Southeast Oakland Coalition, a drug prevention group serving Ferndale.

Carl M. Swanson heads a group called the National Organization for Positive Medicine, which has no discernable mailing address or phone number.

Berkeley voters have approved a number of tax measures over the years and the city has one of the highest property tax rates in the state, but in 2004 a majority of voters said enough is enough and defeated four tax measures.

During their Oct. 6 meeting, council members took action to prevent any such business from coming into the town.

The new guidelines “could be a healthy development, if they indicate the attorney general wants the state to take over enforcement efforts and keep the DEA out of it,” said Dale Gieringer, state coordinator for California NORML.

Michael Martin, 34, operated an Oakland-based business originally called Tainted Inc. and later known as Compassion Medicinal Edibles that produced candy, cookies, ice cream, brownies, energy drinks and other treats containing marijuana.

Two dispensaries operate in the unincorporated areas of Hayward near the Castro Valley border and in San Lorenzo. A third, the Compassionate Collective on Mission Blvd., was shut down last year by DEA agents for suspected money-laundering.

My brother has inflammatory arthritis; he's a patient too. My 63-year-old mother, with arthritis and IBS and bone spurs, is one too. We're used to being disparaged as "junkies" and "criminals" by our neighbors, and having to drive to Oakland just to get our medicine because Solano County refuses to acknowledge the will of the people and obey state law. We've adjusted to all that. We know a lot of people just don't understand because they've never been where we are. We've just been waiting for science to bear us out.

Police spokesman Roland Holmgren said the two suspects, a man and a woman, are also suspected of stealing electricity to power their grow lamps, the Oakland (Calif.) Tribune reported Wednesday.

The supervisors approved the first reading of the amendments to the ordinance by a 4-1 vote, with Supervisor Gail Steele opposed. Changes to an ordinance require a second reading — which should occur at the board's next scheduled meeting, July 22 — before it's officially passed, but that is usually considered a formality.

When police returned with a search warrant, they found 160 marijuana plants growing under automatic watering, lighting and ventilation systems in three of the house's six rooms, but no documents backing up Halsema's claim he was a medical marijuana patient.

In addition to the marijuana, police found phony police identification cards, guns and books on how to make bombs. The house, in the 4100 block of Harbor View Avenue, was searched for several hours Thursday.

At Oaksterdam University -- so called after the nickname locals have given to Oakland -- students learn how to grow, harvest and cook marijuana, as well as dispense it to others.

Arthur Palmer, 44, and Kenneth Goss, 41, both of Oakland, broke into 3333 Telegraph Ave. about 9:20 p.m. Wednesday, police said. Officers responding to a report of a burglary in progress caught them as they were going out the back door, police said.

The reason: While the cannabis retailers have generated big money in portions of state sales taxes that return to the county, many residents and public officials in the county remain uneasy about how the retailers operate.

The big question the employees had was what took the Drug Enforcement Agency so long to conduct the raid.

"Every day I go to lunch and I smell, like, skunk or something, but I knew what it was — because it smells like marijuana," said Patty Garcia, who works at Neldam's Danish Bakery, 3401 Telegraph Ave., across the street from the alleged pot farm.

A DEA spokesperson could not comment on details of the warrant served at 3333 Telegraph, near 35th Street, where a sign out front reads "Digitized Medical Records," except to say it was part of an ongoing narcotics investigation.

They come from all over Oakland. They are of all ages and backgrounds. And, according to a recent opinion from City Attorney John Russo's office, they can only be appointed by one person: Mayor Ron Dellums.

Bates wrote the letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers calling for congressional hearings about letters the agency sent in 2007 that threatened landlords renting to medical marijuana dispensaries.

In 2005, county supervisors, on a unanimous vote of 4-0 (Supervisor Keith Carson absent), approved an ordinance that set guidelines for permitting local medical marijuana dispensaries in Alameda County.

"You were frightened to walk down Mission Boulevard, with 30 to 40 18-year-olds waiting to get in," claimed Kathie Ready of San Lorenzo. "Now you don't see a huge group of gang members in front. Anything that allows that horrible place to open (again) is a crime against this community."

County-approved marijuana sales currently are based in Cherryland, in unincorporated Hayward.

Potential sales areas also include commercial areas of Ashland, Castro Valley, San Lorenzo and smaller unincorporated communities in the greater Hayward area.Here are some proposed changes that county supervisors could approve in June:

Richard Lee, owner of a coffee shop and marijuana dispensary in Oakland, says he's proud of the more than $200,000 a year he pays in sales tax. His store sells marijuana buds in one-eighth ounce bags.

Michael Martin, 33, of El Sobrante entered a guilty plea at a hearing Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Oakland. He is scheduled to be sentenced July 2 by Judge Claudia Wilken.

Too often dispensaries are a gateway for people with questionable medical ailments to obtain marijuana and then sell it on the streets, supervisors said.

"While I am empathetic to patients with serious and terminal illness, the marijuana dispensaries have attracted both criminal and nuisance problems to the communities where they operate," said Supervisor Mary Piepho of Discovery Bay.

Michael Martin, 33, of El Sobrante was charged Tuesday with conspiracy to manufacture and distribute marijuana, a felony. Martin is the owner of Tainted Inc., which started as a boutique business that made chocolate truffles and grew into a large marijuana-candy maker that bought chocolate by the ton, authorities said.

So far, 60 students have completed two-day weekend sessions in the art and science of the medicinal herb at Oaksterdam University in Oakland, Calif., the Associated Press reported.

New marijuana dispensaries have have not been allowed to open since the county approved a temporary moratorium in 2006.

But with that moratorium lapsing in April, supervisors are expected Tuesday to pass an ordinance that would ban medical marijuana dispensaries in unincorporated areas of the county.

Simply walking across a room or sitting for a half-hour caused him extreme pain until he discovered the remedy for his health problems -- medical marijuana.

The 38-year-old Oakley resident gets his marijuana from a dispensary and uses a vaporizer to breath in a mist of THC, the active chemical in the sap of a cannabis plant.

The plan by City Councilmen Darryl Moore and Kriss Worthington already has drawn fire from the Berkeley police, the city manager's office and the DEA.

The resolution before the City Council on Tuesday night declares Berkeley a sanctuary for medical marijuana users and distributors, and says "the city itself shall ensure a continuum of access to medical marijuana" if the DEA moves in.

James Carberry, who managed a medical marijuana store known as the "Yellow House" in a bungalow on North La Brea Avenue, and James Lawrence Ealy pleaded guilty Monday afternoon in a hearing before U.S. District Judge Manuel Real.

Both men were scheduled to begin trial on Tuesday, Feb. 5, but instead negotiated plea agreements with federal prosecutors.

Larry Roger Kristich pleaded guilty Thursday and he will be sentenced April 21. Besides the prison sentence, he's facing up to $95 million in fines.

The 64-year-old businessman owned the Oakland-based Compassionate Caregivers marijuana dispensaries in San Francisco, San Diego, Ukiah, Oakland, San Leandro, Bakersfield and West Hollywood.

Larry Roger Kristich, 65, who returned from Costa Rica last summer after being indicted, pleaded guilty Thursday afternoon to one count of maintaining drug-involved premises and one count of promotional money laundering. Each count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison. Kristich also agreed to forfeit more than $1.2 million cash generated by sales at his stores.

The resolution passed Tuesday night declares Berkeley a sanctuary for medical marijuana users and distributors and commits the city to "uphold patients' rights to safe access to medical marijuana" should the DEA move on one of two dispensaries in town.

In the past year, five medical marijuana dispensaries have been shut down in the Bay Area by the federal Drug Enforcement Agency. Fearing that Berkeley could be next, city councilman Chris Worthington is putting together a resolution that would make Berkeley a sanctuary for medical marijuana users.

In an effort to overcome the obstacles raised in the raid tactics the DEA employed in earlier attempts to circumvent a compassionate community of medical cannabis connoisseurs, the feds have resorted to sending letters to landlords who rent commercial space to medical cannabis providers, first in Southern California back in July and more recently here in the Bay area. Landlords who own space occupied by medical cannabis dispensaries in Marin, San Francisco, and Alameda counties received letters the second week in December.

At least once such operation in Oakland has been targeted.

Directed by Gregg Araki from a screenplay by Dylan Haggerty, the movie at first seems a psychedelic lark, in the spirit of “The Big Lebowski,” “Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle” and other works distinguished by picaresque narratives and cumulus clouds of marijuana smoke.

Saying that the letters undermine local authority, and state law, Mayor Ron Dellums is calling on his former colleague, Michigan representative John Conyers, to investigate the Drug Enforcement Administration letters. Dellums has the support of local cannabis activists.

The DEA has sent hundreds of letters to people who own property on which cannabis dispensaries are operating. A DEA official called the notices a "courtesy" even though they threaten landlords with imprisonment and property forfeiture.

Several clinics throughout the state are being evicted by property owners who have been told they could be brought up on federal drug charges and have their buildings seized for aiding in the distribution of an illegal drug.

Dellums, a former congressman, sent a letter yesterday to the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee asking for help getting the DEA to back off.

Several clinics throughout the state are being evicted by property owners who have been told they could be brought up on federal drug charges and have their buildings seized for aiding in the distribution of an illegal drug.

In recent weeks, DEA agents have sent letters to their landlords warning them of jail time, stiff fines and even forfeiture of their property if landlords allow tenants to peddle pot.

The letters have "definitely caused a panic," said Nathan Sands, a spokesman for the Compassionate Coalition, a medical marijuana education group.

“We did send out approximately 80 letters to property owners in 15 counties in Northern California where suspected marijuana distribution centers were operating,” said Casey McEnry with the DEA's San Francisco Office.

Sacramento-based agents of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration have sent nearly a dozen letters out in the last month to dispensaries' landlords in the latest effort against medical marijuana.

However, medical marijuana advocates - who saw about 200 DEA letters roll out near Los Angeles this summer - say federal officials are being too heavy-handed against something California voters approved a decade ago.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld a permanent injunction issued by a federal trial judge in 2002 against the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative, Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana and Ukiah Cannabis Buyer's Club.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld a permanent injunction issued by a federal trial judge in 2002 against the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative, Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana and Ukiah Cannabis Buyer's Club.

Police Sgt. Lisa Banayat said the armed robbery happened at 11:47 p.m. Sunday. Matthew Doering and the teen were arrested in a vehicle at King Street and College Avenue at 12:37 a.m. today. Banayat said the residents of the home said the robbers took three pounds of medicinal marijuana.

The ballots are mailed out with the regular newsletter and two people per household may vote. The 5,600 households in the association have two months to return their ballots.

On the ballot, voters will choose between an argument written by Village Homes Association president Wulf Bieschke against the way that medical marijuana dispensaries are run in the area, and Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley’s counter argument in favor of the existing system.

Since voters passed Proposition 215, state law permits people with prescriptions to obtain medical marijuana at licensed dispensaries.