Email Author NICK SCHOU

Awards

• 2011 - AAN AltWeekly Awards, published July 29, 2010

  "Don't Start a Riot"

• 2011 - AAN AltWeekly Awards, published May 20, 2010

  "Will This Pot Case Get Weeded Out?"

• 2011 - AAN AltWeekly Awards, published July 29, 2010

  "Crash First..."

• 2011 - AAN AltWeekly Awards, published August 19, 2010

  "Murder? Are You Crazy?"

• 2008 - Southern California Journalism Awards/LA Press Club, published November 21, 2007

  "Just a Random Female"

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2012 Stories by NICK SCHOU

• Long Beach Cannabis Collectives Plead For Public Support

  published Feb 10, 2012

  Next Tuesday, the Long Beach City Council is scheduled to vote on whether to ban medical marijuana, a move that is strongly supported by the city attorney's office and police department. Their argumen More >>

• [UPDATED: City Invited Feds to Raid Clubs Last October] Bizarre Costa Mesa Pot Shenanigans Behind Tonight's City Council Protest

  published Feb 08, 2012

  Update, Feb. 8 11:45 a.m: According to the Orange County Register, the city of Costa Mesa invited the DEA to raid medical marijuana dispensaries operating in the city as early as last October. In a st More >>

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  COVER STORY

  Long Beach Offers Collective Punishment

  published February 2, 2012

  Except for the oversized green cross painted on the wall and the acrylic sign with the olive-colored marijuana seed inside the letter O, Avalon... More >>

• Jared Petrovich, Garrett Aguilar: Life In Prison for John Chamberlain Murder Trial Defendants

  published Jan 27, 2012

  Jared Petrovich and Garrett Aguilar, two of six former Theo Lacy Jail inmates charged in the Oct. 6, 2006 beating death of John Chamberlain, a Rancho Santa Margarita software engineer facing trial for More >>

• Garden Grove's Unit D Cannabis Collective Closes

  published Jan 26, 2012

  On Jan. 22, after nearly four years in operation, Garden Grove's Unit D collective finally shut its doors, less than a week after the city suspended its registration program for new marijuana collecti More >>

• Garden Grove Suspends Registration of Marijuana Dispensaries

  published Jan 20, 2012

  With the city of Anaheim reportedly cracking down on medical marijuana dispensaries, neighboring Garden Grove, which has a ban on pot clubs but last year allowed ones already operating as of June 30, More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  DEA Raids Several Costa Mesa Marijuana Dispensaries

  published Jan 18, 2012

  Early yesterday morning, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents conducted a sweep of Costa Mesa marijuana dispensaries, raiding several storefronts as well as homes of collective members. T More >>

• Long Beach City Council To Vote on Pot Ban Next Tuesday

  published Jan 18, 2012

  UPDATE, Jan. 18, 10:30 AM: The Long Beach City Council has yet again delayed its vote on whether to ban medical marijuana, this time because councilmember Suja Lowenthal was absent from the city counc More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Joe Byron and Joe Grumbine Trial: Judge Recuses Himself For Alleged Bias

  published Jan 11, 2012

  Looks likes sentencing will have to wait for Joe Byron and Joe Grumbine, who were convicted last month of marijuana sales in relation to a pair of marijuana dispensaries in Long Beach as well as Garde More >>

• [UPDATED W/SWIFT CAPTURE]: William Scott Woodin, Theo Lacy Jail Inmate, Escape Artist

  published Jan 06, 2012

  UPDATE, Jan. 6, 3:15 P.M.: Well, that didn't take long. According to a story on the KABC website, Orange County Sheriff's deputies captured William Scott Woodin at a park in Lake Forest yesterday. Th More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Regulate Marijuana Like Wine Initiative Gathers 20,000 Signatures

  published Jan 03, 2012

  The last few months of 2011 weren't exactly fun for advocates of medical marijuana in California. The federal government threatened to seize properties being used for illegally cultivating or dispensi More >>

• Rand Study On Medical Pot Among Year's Worst, Scientific American Says

  published Dec 29, 2011

  Remember that Rand Corporation study from earlier this year that claimed crime actually increased in L.A. neighborhoods where cops closed medical marijuana dispensariesr The one that forgot to include More >>

• Joe Byron And Joe Grumbine Legal Defense Fundraiser This Friday

  published Dec 27, 2011

  Joe Byron and Joe Grumbine, the former operators of a pair of Long Beach medical marijuana dispensaries, as well as Garden Grove's Unit D collective, were convicted on Dec. 21 of selling marijuana sal More >>

• Joe Byron and Joe Grumbine Guilty Of All Counts in Long Beach Pot Trial

  published Dec 21, 2011

  Joe Byron and Joe Grumbine, who operated a pair of Long Beach cannabis clubs as well as Garden Grove's Unit D collective until they were raided and arrested along with all of their employees two years More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Laguna Beach Patch Revisits Town's Acid-Laced Past

  published Dec 15, 2011

  On Dec. 6, my book Orange Sunshine: The Brotherhood of Eternal Love and Its Quest to Spread Peace, Love and Acid to the World, came out in paperback. To celebrate that event, my friend and former OC W More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Long Beach Pot Ban Narrowly Avoided, Vote Delayed to Jan. 10.

  published Dec 14, 2011

  At about 10:15 p.m. last night, after more than five hours of tedious proceedings, the Long Beach City Council deadlocked on a motion to ban medical marijuana collectives in the city, a measure strong More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Obama Administration Promises (Again) Not to Wage War on Medical Marijuana

  published Dec 09, 2011

  Ever since the federal government announced a major crackdown on medical marijuana cultivators and dispensaries in California, a lot of people have been wondering what the hell Barack Obama is thinkin More >>

• Does Long Beach Really Have to Ban Marijuana Dispensariesr

  published Dec 08, 2011

  Ever since a pair of Long Beach medical-marijuana smokers won a Sept. 24 ruling that threw the city's ordinance regulating cannabis clubs into doubt, rumors have abounded that Long Beach, whose 2010 o More >>

• [UPDATED W/JUDGE'S LATEST ANTICS] Joe Byron and Joe Grumbine Trial: It's a Kangaroo Courtroom

  published Dec 07, 2011

  UPDATED, DEC. 7, 3 P.M.: The good news, if you can call it that, is that Judge Charles Sheldon, the 80-something judge in the trial of Joe Byron and Joe Grubmine, the former operators of a pair of Lon More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Matthew Bransetter, Nolan Wickham, Get 3 Years Prison Time For Anti-Semitic Assault

  published Dec 06, 2011

  Two Rancho Santa Margarita men were sentenced to three years in state prison Dec. 2 for an assault earlier this year in a Coto de Caza park. On the evening of April 6, 2011, Matthew Gregory Bransetter More >>

• Miguel Guillen, Chamberlain Murder Trial Defendant, Sentenced to 20 Years to Life

  published Dec 05, 2011

  Miguel Guillen, the 48-year-old former Theo Lacy Jail inmate convicted in October of the 2006 murder of fellow prisoner John Chamberlain, a Rancho Santa Margarita software engineer suspected of being More >>

• General Cannabis Buys Marijuana.com

  published Dec 01, 2011

  Weedmaps Media, Inc. a subsidiary of General Cannabis, the Newport Beach-based outfit that owns the world-famous marijuana dispensary and delivery service locating website Weedmaps.com, has purch More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  No Felony Charges In 2009 Orange County Ponzi Scheme That Bilked $800 Million From Investors

  published Nov 30, 2011

  It's been more than two years since the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Medical Capital Holdings (MCH), the Tustin lender that was embroiled in a bizarre hospital-related Ponzi sche More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Lewis Gordon, OC Jail Inmate, Latest In-Custody Death

  published Nov 29, 2011

  The Orange County Sheriff's Department issued a press release yesterday announcing the death of Lewis Gordon, a 64-year-old Orange County Jail inmate. Lewis, who was arrested last May by police in San More >>

• [UPDATED With Cops Raid Cannabis Cup!:] OC's Legendary Brotherhood of Eternal Love To Be Celebrated at High Times Cannabis Cup in Amsterdam

  published Nov 23, 2011

  UPDATED POST, NOV. 23 12:05 P.M.: Update by Marisa GerberIn an unprecedented move, cops raided the Cannabis Cup today and made several arrests. About 150 uniformed police raided the High Times' c More >>