Medical Marijuana

OC & Riverside Democrats Struggle to Reverse California's Potpocalypse

When it comes to mainstream American politics, usually it's the Libertarian Party that one would associate with a pro-marijuana (medical or otherwise) agenda, but now you can add the Democratic Party to that very brief list. To wit: in Riverside, the very town whose fight over a local ban on marij ... More >>

Garden Grove Medical Marijuana Dispensary Now Offers Pot Tamales!

I thankfully do not have some horrible disease that necessitates me having to use medicinal marijuana, but I have a pal who does. A cancer survivor, a devoted Catholic, and a man who has had to weather horrific pain in the past couple of years, the cabrón has a medicinal marijuana card that allows ... More >>

Blowing Smoke: OC Weekly's Top Ten Marijuana Stories of 2012

2012 was a busy year for marijuana. It began with what looked like the beginning of the end of the medical marijuana industry in California and ended with the legalization of recreational weed in both Colorado and Washington State. Looking back through the posts in Navel Gazing's Cannabis Chron ... More >>

Four Pot Legalization Proposals That Won't Help Orange County

Unlike Colorado and Washington State, where voters have a chance this November to legalize the recreational use of marijuana for consenting adults, California has no such proposal on the statewide election ballot this year. We had our chance two years ago with Proposition 19, but the folks backing i ... More >>

Disabled Patients Sue Anaheim For Closing Dispensaries

A group of medical marijuana patients has filed a lawsuit against the city of Anaheim alleging that the city's cooperation with the federal government's crackdown on dispensaries violates state law. According to the lawsuit, the law in question, the California Disabled Person's Act, (CDPA), "prohibi ... More >>

OC Pot Dealer Cheers Fed Crackdown on Medical Marijuana

The wire service United Press International has a funny story that went up this weekend: pot dealers are really happy that the Obama administration has been cracking down on the medical marijuana industry. The Sept. 8 story's funny in part because of it's headline: "California's Medical Pot Trade Th ... More >>

California Supreme Court Drops Review of Long Beach Pot Ordinance

The city of Long Beach's bizarre and ill-fated foray into the medical marijuana business has now gone full circle. Yesterday, the California Supreme Court announced it was not going to review the city's appeal of an appellate court ruling that struck down the city's 2010 medical marijuana ordinance. ... More >>

Pro-pot Peeps Seek More Marijuana Collectives in Santa Ana

We know some of you "legalize-it" people have a bad reputation for being lazeabouts, so we're giving you plenty of notice about an upcoming pro-pot meeting. The Medical Marijuana Town Hall Meeting takes place Friday from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the Senior Citizens Center Southwest, located at ... More >>

Ron Paul Ends Campaign: Who Wins The Pot Vote?

It's being widely reported today--including right here on Navel Gazing, like one minute ago--that Ron Paul is bowing out of the 2012 presidential race, or more accurately, ceasing any campaigning in states that have yet to hold their Republican Party primary elections.This is not good news for peopl ... More >>

Better Call Glew: Am I Allowed to Smoke Weed In An Alley?

​I have a medical marijuana recommendation, and since my apartment is non-smoking I have to smoke outside, which as I understood from my doctor and collective is legal anywhere tobacco is legal. I try my hardest to be discreet by puffing on small side-streets, but the other night, a bit after midn ... More >>

California Cities Cannot Ban Marijuana Dispensaries, Appeals Court Rules

​In a somewhat strange and unexpected ruling issued yesterday, the California Court of Appeals ruled that California cities cannot ban medical marijuana dispensaries so long as they cultivate cannabis at the same location. The 48-page ruling came in the case of the City of Lake Forest vs. Evergree ... More >>

Letters From OC Weekly Readers

Long Beach Bans "Rogue" Marijuana Dispensaries

Curt Merlo​The Long Beach City Council voted last night to ban medical marijuana dispensaries from operating in the city, but allowed clubs that won the city's controversial marijuana lottery to remain open for four months. The clubs that were exempted from the ban belong to the Long Beach Collect ... More >>

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

​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 story published yesterday and updated this morning, the Register says it has obtained an Oct. 26 le ... More >>

Cypress Hill Smokeout Festival 2012 Announces Final Lineup

​New things are happening at Cypress Hill's Smokeout Fest this year: One, Cypress Hill and Rusko are performing together. Two, there's going to be a Low End Theory stage--yes, LA's most famous experimental hip-hop and electronic music night that Thom Yorke frequents when he's in town. Three, Wol ... More >>

Long Beach City Council To Vote on Pot Ban Next Tuesday

​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 council chambers. Ironically, the council had been expected to vote on such a ban last month, but Lowe ... More >>

Judge Charles D. Sheldon Is Captain Kangaroo

Inside the biased, anti-medicinal marijuana courtroom of the Long Beach jurist

Hwa Sung Sim and James Yi Get Prison Time for Botched Medical Marijuana Robbery That Left Partner Dead

​Final sentences have been handed down in June's botched medical marijuana robbery in Brea that originally had three would-be bandits arrested for murder because the fourth was shot dead by a security guard protecting the weed. Hwa Sung Sim, 20, and James Yi, 18, of Irvine, switched their earlier ... More >>

[UPDATED With Official Explanation] Rancho Santa Margarita Extends Ban On Marijuana Dispensaries

​UPDATED, Nov. 10, 1:30 P.M.: There's an interesting story on the Rancho Santa Patch website about the city's recent moratorium. In it, city attorney Greg Simonian, who came up with the idea along with city manager Steve Hayman, basically tells reporter Martin Henderson that the city is just using ... More >>

WeedMaps, California's Biggest Marijuana Website, Is "Winning" Y'all!

​Way to go, WeedMaps! Just a day before President Barack Obama pretty much officially declares war on medical marijuana in California, the state's premiere pot-related website has to brag to the world about how profitable it is.That's right--profitable--the last word that's supposed to come to min ... More >>

Obama Administration Says No Guns For Potheads

​If you're a medical marijuana smoker who happens to be in the market for a firearm, you might want to keep your state-issued cannabis card in your wallet once you reach the cash register. According to an Associated Press report, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms (ATF) has just is ... More >>

[UPDATED: Gov. Brown Vetoes Bill] Lou Correa Pushing New Marijuana Buffer Zone Law in Sacramento

​UPDATED, SEPT. 21, 2011, 2:31 pm: Gov. Jerry Brown has vetoed SB847, according to this article in the 420Times. Needless to say, celebratory emails are bouncing all over the medical marijuana activist community, especially among members of Americans for Safe Access, which waged a massive call-in ... More >>

Garden Grove To Marijuana Clubs: You're Welcome Here

​Bucking the trend of Orange County cities who are doing everything they can to shut down medical marijuana clubs within their borders, Garden Grove is taking the opposite tack. Instead of suing the clubs out of existence, city officials are planning to ask them to register like any other business ... More >>

420 Times Expands Circulation to Orange County

​Starting with this month's issue, which hit the streets on July 15, The 420 Times, Southern California's premiere glossy magazine dedicated to "alternative healing," will finally be available in Orange County. According to a press release just issued by the company, anyone eager to get the latest ... More >>

Chris Norby Gaining Prominence in Marijuana Decriminalization Debate

​Chris Norby, the Republican state assembly member from Fullerton, is giving James P. Gray, the former Orange County Superior Court Judge, a run for his money when it comes to providing the conservative voice of marijuana reform. As an LA Times story points out today, there's a wave of legislation ... More >>

Montel Williams Opening Sacramento Marijuana Club

​The longtime host of the Montel Williams Show is opening a medical marijuana dispensary in Sacramento, according to various news outlets including Village Voice Media's very own Toke of the Town blog. Williams, who suffers from multiple scleroris, has been an outspoken advocate of medical cannabi ... More >>

High Times Miss 2011 Hails From Newport Beach

​Yesterday, on April 20, stoners across America were toking up at exactly 4:20 pm--4/20 and 420 is stoner code for smoking out, in case you didn't already know what your kids are talking, or texting about, as the case may be, with their friends. In honor of this important occasion, High Times maga ... More >>

Pot Smuggling Boat Washes Up on Dana Point Beach

​A boat containing 740 pounds of marijuana was discovered on Monday, at approximately 6 a.m., but so far nobody has come to claim the haul, leaving experts guessing that it was most likely a Mexican cartel smuggling operation gone awry.The first clue: The boat was heading north whenever its occupa ... More >>

Pot, Guns and Cash Seized After Raids of Dispensaries and Homes

Weed, guns and money were seized last week after law enforcement served search warrants at storefront medical marijuana dispensaries in Lake Forest and Long Beach and the homes of people associated with the shops.According to a notice from the Orange County Sheriff's Department, members of South ... More >>

Coastal Commisssion Votes in Favor of Medical Pot Clubs

​Not sure how we missed this, but kudos to The Orange County Register for reporting that the California Coastal Commission voted--against the recommendation of its own staff--to deny Laguna Beach's effort to seek its approval for a ban on marijuana dispensaries. The Jan. 19 story by Claudia Koerne ... More >>

Sunset Beach Must Ban Marijuana Dispensaries, County Says

​On Jan. 1, 2011, Sunset Beach will officially merge with Huntington Beach. Amazingly, for Sunset Beach residents, that's not the bad news. The bad news is that they won't be able to medicate themselves through this unfortunate merger with marijuana. Although Surf City doesn't allow medical mariju ... More >>

Will Anaheim Voters Put Their 'Trust in Dustin?'

​With less than two weeks away until election time, more than a dozen candidates are vying for two open seats on the Anaheim City Council. Dustin Apodaca, frontman of Dusty Rhodes and the River Band, is the only one listed as "musician" under official ballot designations. The charismatic ... More >>

Dustin Apodaca, Indie Band Frontman, Seeks to Strike a Chord With Anaheim Council Voters

​The upcoming Anaheim City Council race, which has already seen the entry of a write-in candidate who impersonates Mickey Mouse, has on the official ballot an office-seeker who lists his occupation as "musician."He's Dustin Apodaca, frontman of the soon-to-be defunct, indie-folk-rock Dusty Rhodes ... More >>

Much-Awaited Appellate Decision on Medical Marijuana Dispensary Bans is a Non-Decision

​Orange County cities and medical-marijuana dispensaries had been eagerly awaiting a decision from the California 4th District Court of Appeal on the constitutionality of municipal bans on cannabis clinics.That decision is now in . . . . . . and it's pretty much a non-decision.

Emboldened by Appeals Court, 2 Lake Forest Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Reopen

​Despite the city's enforcement and court moves against Lake Forest Wellness Center, the medical marijuana dispensary has kept it doors open through the ongoing appeals process--and was able to celebrate at least a partial victory as the last of 21 clinics in town still in operation.Now, the dispe ... More >>

Medical Marijuana Advocate Chadd McKeen Seeks to Shake Up Costa Mesa City Council

Photo by Keith MayChadd McKeen, the man with the plan.​Chadd McKeen, the Weekly's current cover boy ("Growing Pains at Otherside Farms"), is not only working to change people's perception of medical marijuana providers through his Costa Mesa business that helps patients grow their own. He's also w ... More >>

Feds Join OC Officials' Cuckoo Cannabis Campaign of Lameness

Flickr user Marxchivist"Marihuana, 1936"​What is it lately with all the bad news coming out of Lake Forest and Costa Mesa when it comes to medical marijuana? Both cities have been the location of several recent, high-profile raids targeting pot dispensaries. In Lake Forest, two clubs were busted, ... More >>

The Medical Marijuana Telethon

Found Theatre

As Lake Forest Marijuana Dispensary Owner Gets Prison Time, Federal Suit is Filed to Guarantee Patient Access

​As a Lake Forest medical marijuana dispensary owner and manager were being convicted today of selling and possessing cannabis, a Mission Viejo law firm was announcing a federal lawsuit aimed at barring authorities from denying patients access to Costa Mesa and Lake Forest dispensaries.

What Do Pot Dispensaries, Cannabis Cowboys and "Glee" Have in Common?

​Fox's high school musical-twisted comedy Glee and segments on KCET/Channel 28's SoCal Connected on medical marijuana dispensaries and pot farm-busting law enforcement officers known as "cannabis cowboys" are among the latest winners of prestigious Peabody Awards honoring the best in electronic ... More >>

OC's Cannabis Planet Inspired by Weed-friendly OC Weekly

In case you didn't already notice, yesterday, December 10, was a big day for the OC Weekly and weed. First of all there was our feature story, "Distant Karma" about Brotherhood of Eternal Love fugitive Brenice Lee Smith, the cover artwork of which prominently included the familiar green leaf. Then t ... More >>

Court Slams LAPD For Illegally Seizing Medical Marijuana Profits

​In a remarkable opinion issued today with potential Orange County implications, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit blasted the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) for committing "highly objectionable," "tainted," "reckless," "misleading" and "illegal" conduct in a 2005 atte ... More >>

Crime Time: Boozy Mom, Asshole Cop, Thieving Aliens, Fast-Acting Pharmacist and Lotsa Stabbers

It's the Weekly's weekly round-up of local police calls--now with more boozy moms, asshole cops, fast-acting pharmacists, apartments full of thieving aliens and loads of stabbings!Courtesy of Costa Mesa Police DepartmentCraig Anthony McVay, 48, of Garden Grove, was in the midst of three years probat ... More >>

Letters From OC Weekly Readers

A Medical-Pot Activist Spends a Night in Jail for Talking Back to Deputies at the OC Fair

After This, Tomatoes

In a better world, Dr. Philip A. Denney wouldnt have to dedicate his practice to pot

Diary of a Mad County

Anthrax Schmanthrax

Letters