I guess we shouldn’t be surprised. The past year has seen Obama’s Feds systematically destroy the medical marijuana industry in California, much to the shock of many of his supporters. He was supposed to be the “cool President”, right? Apparently not so much. In the end, a lot of law enforcement jobs depend upon the “War on Drugs”, and if weed is legal, can you imagine all those poor cops? Me neither, but hey.

This all comes on the heels of a pretty cool article in SFGate on California’s dead legalization efforts. Yep. It’s all gone south, friends. This pipe is cached, as they say.

Hilarious that the movement is actually asking for the support of millionaires and billionaires, though. These are folks that do sample the green weed from time to time, but are often afraid to make that public commitment to an issue where the status quo is simply the easiest thing to go with.

So this very counterculture movement needs help from the 1%-ers of this world? Yep, I don’t think you could make that up.

Naturally, there is a political part in this apparently, at least according to marijuana activist Lanny Swerdlow. He claims that, “In exchange for (police) support in the election, President Barack Obama has broken his promise to leave medical marijuana patients alone and states that allow medical marijuana.”

Is he’s right about this? I would probably say no. That all sounds a little bit too conspiracy theory for me. But, let’s not forget in this whole war on drugs that there is a huge vested interest for law enforcement. Let’s not forget that marijuana is a huge “cash crime” for them and that without it they would have to lay off a lot of people. They would also have to report to government with a lot less revenue generated. Needless to say, that is a lot of unhappy people with power.

It’s going to be a battle for marijuana activists for some time because of the fact that law enforcement is such a huge business in the state of California. Frankly, it’s a huge business in the United States. And when your competition has guns and badges, things can get pretty ugly.

The only living dfspensary in Fullerton. Possibly?

I’m pretty certain that these stories will continue for quite sometime. Municipalities apparently like the idea of ignoring State law, and there really isn’t any enforcement here. The Compassionate Use Act appears to be sandwiched between conservative city councils making up new municipal laws, and, of course, the Feds, who make far too much money in their “War on Drugs” to ever stop.

Well, at least we get these great photographs out of it!

No, the "G" doesn't stand for "Grass", or "Gram" for that matter.

I’ve said this before, but of course it always bears repeating: when you use the courts to fight a state law, the only people who win are attorneys. And that’s coming from an attorney! As the epic legal battles of Dana Point, Anaheim and Lake Forest continue to lumber on, pretty much everyone is losing – patients, city employees, politicians – while lawyers win. As these city councils are elected (often on business-minded platforms), I am consistently stunned that they make the absolute worst fiscal decisions when it comes to the issue of Medical Marijuana. Why wouldn’t you institute a “special local tax”? Or, as in the case of Garden Grove, “a registration fee”? You can’t stop progress here, so why not try to profit from it?

At any rate, kudos go to Garden Grove for at least showing some sense in this whole debate. Their lawyers aren’t going to like this, but their constituents surely will.

You looking at me?

The Story

The story, in brief, involves a San Marcos gentleman named Ron Chang, who also happens to be the former owner of a medical marijuana dispensary in San Marcos. Well, turns out Mr. Chang was driving down Pala Road when he was spotted by a Customs And Border Patrol officer in a marked car. Then, the story goes on…

“About 9:40 a.m. that day, a veteran Border Patrol agent in a marked car spotted a man in a red sweatshirt, with the hood pulled up, driving a rented box-truck with Indiana license plates. The agent saw the truck driver shift to look into his rear-view mirror at the marked Border Patrol car. That, according to court documents, prompted the agent to follow the truck as it headed north on Pala Road into Temecula.”

So apparently, the Federal Officer saw Mr. Chang look at him. Which, in a rented “box style truck” where a view of the driver would be impeded by “the box”, seems a little superhuman, if not impossible. This fact aside, court documents are saying that the agent “being looked at” was reason enough for the traffic stop. Hmm…

Maybe I’m a little rusty on my constitutional law, but I don’t know of any cases where “looking at someone” is probable cause.

The result of the story is that the man had 50% of the $30,000 the Feds seized from him returned. Er… and this is justice?

Next time you’re around police, then, try not to look at them. It could get you arrested!

Ok, how could we NOT use this photo of Laguna Woods' Lonnie Painter from the SF Chronicle?

It’s All About Framing

What’s funny about the story is that it frames the Laguna Woods Marijuana collective vs. the retirement community of the same name as kind of a microcosm of the current debate over medical marijuana. This issue is still a very divisive one, as everyone knows, and it’s interesting that this divisiveness has transferred into one of the more unusual groups to support the idea: Senior Citizens.

If there is a key point here, it’s that some people believe marijuana is a good thing. Obviously, 16 state governments also think this is the case. But the question to ask yourself if you don’t believe this opinion is: do you believe that these Seniors are criminals? Should they be locked up for smoking a plant?

You don’t have to like Medical Marijuana, but it is law. The ball is rolling here, and you can’t stop progress.

Nothing says "effective protest" better than a cute grandmother on a mission.

But you may want to check out this fascinating video from the AP about seniors and medical marijuana. Yes, that’s the Associated Press. Not a goofy pot-advocate rag. No lefty liberal web blog. Nope, that’s one of the largest and most respected wire services in the world.

The image problem of medical marijuana remains a huge one, but it is always important to remember that there are actual patients out there that are having their suffering relieved by medical cannabis. I’m talking about people in wheelchairs, people with cancer, and yes, sometimes Grandmothers, who often find that a little joint does a lot more for their well-being than a handful of prescription pills. These people are the reason why 16 states have declared compassionate use-type acts. This is why people are fighting hard to ensure that the Federal Government, which continues to ignore states in order to keep their DEA stormtroopers busy, evolves with the times.

This is an evolution, for sure. It’s good to see the mainstreaming of an idea that really should have been mainstream-ed quite some time ago.

People are getting democratic out there. It's nice to see.

In an update to San Diego City Council’s attempt to ban medical marijuana, an ordinance which passed easily in council in March, it appears that local advocates have made something happen. Yep, San Diego 6 news is reporting that a San Diego medical marijuana dispensary petition has successfully gathered more than 46,000 signatures AGAINST the ordinance, meaning City Council has no choice but to listen to its constituents. A successful veto petition requires 31,000 signatures, in case you didn’t know, so it’s pleasing to see that these guys went well above the call of duty here.

If there is one thing about the medical marijuana debate, it’s that it has strong forces on BOTH sides of it. On one side, you have a lot of motivated medical patients looking to unlock themselves from the economic racketeering of Big Pharma, and on the other side, well, not really sure about that side. The idea that legal medical marijuana is bad seems to feature pretty stale arguments, while the pro side (fights crime by destroying the black market, creates revenues and jobs within the community, is by nature far less damaging than tobacco or alcohol) continues to have the logic of the deal sewn up. Of course, when have American politics ever been logical.

Still, glad to see the people standing up and using the system to fight City Council, as opposed to the usual vice-versa. San Diego as a bastion of democratic action? Who would’ve thunk it?

Judge Jim Gray, Crusader

He’s quite an iconoclast, is Mr. Gray, from his anti-drug stance, to his war-protesting Navy years and his Republican party run for Congress. A very interesting profile of a guy who puts it all on the line for something he believes in. If only more people did!

Now if only the enemies of this, namely the Pharmaceutical companies and the entrenched law enforcement community, could see that the industry isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Perhaps they would see why their city zoning ordinance loophole targeting is all a bit pointless in the long run. This industry isn’t going anywhere, people. Except onwards and upwards.