Subject: Psychoactive Drugs

• Prince Valeant and Mary Jane

  Valeant Pharmaceuticals, based out of Costa Mesa, wants to give cancer patients the munchies. The FDA has just approved Valeant's Cesamet, already on sale in Canada as Nabilone, to moderate nausea and vomiting in those undergoing chemotherapy. A Belgian company has made a similar project, Marinol, for years and years, but considering the U.S. government's conflicting views on the values of medicinal marijuana (FDA versus National Institute of Health), it's significant that the FDA are acknowl

  May 17, 2006

• Bad Medicine

  Fullerton is certainly full of something these days. Last month the Fullerton Planning Commission approved a resolution to ban medical marijuana dispensaries in their city. In fact, all the resolution woul accomplish is a violation of California law; that and a major buzz-kill to Jay's Paradise, the dispensary whose business license application inspired the last-minute "urgency ordinance". In 1996 California passed Proposition 215, the Compassionate Use Act, which orders cities to set up a "plan

  September 12, 2006

• Fight the War Against the War on Drugs

  Protest the failing war on drugs at noon on Friday, Sept. 29, at the Federal Courthouse in Santa Ana. Yesterday in Modesto the DEA raided the California Healthcare Collective, a medicinal marijuana dispensary. From the Americans for Safe Access (ASA), a pro-medipot NPO: The Modesto medical cannabis dispensary California Healthcare Collective (CHC) was raided Wednesday by a task force made up of local and federal agents. Law enforcement conducting the raid included the Modesto Police Department

  September 28, 2006

• Recruiting Timothy Leary for the War on Terror

  Over at TPMmuckraker.com, Justin Rood is shouting "Hey Mabel!" Old-fashioned journalists have a term for bizarre, interesting and/or disturbing little articles -- "Hey Mabel" stories, they call them. And the New York Sun's Josh Gerstein had a doozy of a "Hey Mabel" in yesterday's paper. In a new court filing on behalf of alleged dirty bomber Jose Padilla, his lawyers allege that government interrogators forced him to take LSD, Gerstein reported. "Additionally, Padilla was given drugs against h

  October 12, 2006

• From the He's-Obviously- Not-a-Friend-of- Cheney File

  Courtesy of the state Dept. of Toxic Substances Control... Orange County Polluter Sentenced to 16 Months in State Prison Westminster - The California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) announced today that an Orange County Superior Court sentenced Steven Craig Booth, of Anaheim, to 16 months in state prison for criminal violations relating to his operation of a metalizing business in Stanton. Booth pled guilty to eight felony and six misdemeanor charges, including hazardous waste, d

  December 20, 2005

• Dude, Here's Your Pot!

  The all-Republican Orange County Supervisors voted 4-1 today in favor of allowing county residents who suffer from a variety of ailments to smoke and possess medical marijuana without being harassed by cops. And yes, OC cops do harass medical cannabis smokers, folks: You read it here first in "Dude, Where's My Pot?" Or was it here? Or here? Or here? Now, Orange County residents who have doctors' notes under Proposition 215, the 1996 state law legalizing pot smoking for medical reasons, can o

  July 17, 2007

• Wednesday's Headlines & Surprises: OCSD's Bubbling Cesspool

  L Word? The board of supervisors is exploring whether indicted Sheriff Michael S. Carona can legally name his temporary replacement while he takes the next two months off (with full pay!) to fight “baseless” charges by the FBI. Jo Ann Galisky, 47, played Al Haig yesterday. She told told reporters that she’s the boss now and (as part of the cesspool that Carona surrounded himself with at the Orange County Sheriff’s Department) she said she will continue to serve his “program” pleasur

  November 7, 2007

• OC NORML Cartoon of the Week

  Courtesy of the Orange County chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws:

  February 19, 2008

• NORML Weekly Cartoon 2.25

  Courtesy of the Orange County chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws:

  February 25, 2008

• Pot Comic Of The Week

  Courtesy of OC NORML:

  March 5, 2008

• Police Chief Operates Surf City's Only Medical Marijuana Dispensary

  Cops around here have developed a nasty habit: bogarting joints. That is, they illegally confiscate medical marijuana, get dragged into court for violating state law, lollygag in chambers for years, and have the local verdict kicked up to appellate court, where they ultimately lose and have to give the Devil's weed back, seeing as how state law protects legitimate medical marijuana patients like the ones cops around here keep busting. (Knit beanies off to Newport Beach artist michaelm for having

  September 17, 2008

• 29 Things Seniors Must Deal With If They Get Their Pot Dispensary

  Paloma Esquivel has a touching story in the LA Times about Laguna Woods seniors still awaiting their City Council-approved medicinal marijuana dispensary, which would be the only one in Orange County. Scratch that: the only legal one in Orange County.Perhaps the delay can be blamed on the time it is taking the LW brain trust to deal with the myriad unintended consequences introduction of a ripping pottery will bring to what used to be lovingly referred to as Seizure World. For instance, Laguna W

  February 16, 2009

• Taco Bell Crime of the Week!

  I thought people in Maryland gorged themselves on crab cakes? From the Old Line State: Two occupants of a vehicle parked at the Taco Bell in Solomons on Feb. 12 at 8 p.m. were found to be in possession of suspected marijuana.  DFC James Smith subsequently arrested Derek Craig Bradley, 20, and Brandon Angelo Meredith, 19 both of Lusby, and charged each with possession of marijuana and possession with intent to use drug paraphernalia (a spoon and a small metallic homemade burner, used to

  February 18, 2009

• It's a Quick Read 19

  Orange County Register: Yvonne Pampellonne--who it must be noted, based on her DMV mugshot, "That's a man, baby"--is wanted by Huntington Beach Police for grand theft fake boobies. Okay, technically the 30-year-old is accused in a $20,000 arrest warrant of stealing another woman's identity to open a line of credit to pay for breast implants and cosmetic surgery. Dr. 90210 beware! . . . Anaheim coppers' surveillance of the poor may be illegal under federal law, acco

  March 24, 2009

• The Real Drug Bust of "Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County"

  The Peruvian boyfriend of Alex Murrel, a cast member from season 2 of MTV's Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County, was arrested in her rented Laguna Beach house on suspicion of felony possession of cocaine with intent to sell.Murrel, 22, was questioned as a witness last week but is not expected to face charges, according to an E! Online report. It goes on to state: - Laguna Beach Police officers, at the request of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, raided Murrel's residence because her boyfrien

  March 25, 2009

• UCI Research May Ease Cocaine Cravings

  UC Irvine pharmacological researchers may have hit on a new way to battle cocaine addiction. Material they shared with Science Daily suggests that blocking a hormone related to hunger regulation can limit coke cravings. A study led by Shinjae Chung and Olivier Civelli zeroed in on how the melanin-concentrating hormone works with dopamine in the brain's "pleasure center" to create an addictive response to cocaine use. The researchers further found that blocking MCH in these brain cells limited co

  April 2, 2009

• Adderall Treats ADHD But Can Lead to Addiction. One Clinic Tries to Help OC Kick 'College Crack'

  August 28, 2008

• Lords of Acid

  July 7, 2005

• Taco Bell Crime of the Week!

  I thought people went to Taco Bell after toking the doob, not in search of it. The following story shows how much I know. From southwest Florida:The manager of a Cape Coral Taco Bell has been arrested after allegedly selling marijuana to undercover deputies on four separate occasions, three in the very parking lot of the restaurant he managed.Paul Price, 27, of 812 SW 6th Avenue, Cape Coral (Gustavo note: is southwest Florida still so backwards that the newspapers feel comfortable in printing so

  April 26, 2009

• Chuck DeVore Tweets on the Issues!

  May 21, 2009

• Fun With Rotating Teasers

  We in the Biz call those little photos and story captions at the top of the OC Weekly home page "rotating teasers" because Flash technology allows promotions for several stories on our site to occupy the same space by fading in and out. It's all thanks to a patented process called "magic." Anyway, what I believe just happened is I was staring at one teaser, blinked, and then my eyes picked up the next at the exact same spot for the next teaser that had rotated in while my eyes wer

  June 12, 2009

• Reefer Madness

  July 2, 2009

• Tax-Pot-to-Save-Teachers Ad is Too Hot for TV

  Every two-bit party hack, corporate lobbying group and, yes, of course, The Chosen One can get TV airtime to sway the masses this way and that, to and fro, the hot issue du jour. But make that issue the legalization of marijuana so that it may be taxed to save our state from going into the shitter and, by golly, it's as if you were suggesting NAMBLA take over day cares.Take this ad . . . please! 

  July 8, 2009

• Grandma Holding May Bring Lasting Peace to Laguna Woods

  Things can get mighty testy in Laguna Woods, the town formerly known as Leisure World in polite corners and Seizure World in less polite ones. A recent Residents Voice meeting in Clubhouse Five deginerated into a physical assault, according to one United Mutual Board of Directors candidate. It brings to mind the testy clashes Jerry's dad had with his Florida retirement community board colleagues on Seinfeld.Fortunately, as Janet Whitcomb reports in the Register-owned Laguna Woods Globe, a way to

  July 17, 2009

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

  July 23, 2009

• Outdoor Marijuana Eradication Called "Costly," "Futile"

  ​A sheriff's helicopter was chugging over Cleveland National Forest, about 15 miles off Ortega Highway, three years and one month ago when the pilot spotted a vast marijuana field. Deputies on the ground later confirmed--and cut down--about 1,000 young plants that had been thriving thanks to an elaborate irrigation system. You'd imagine the men and women in  uniform hoisted a few of their favorite legal consumables that night to celebrate a job well done.But with cannabis legalization eff

  July 28, 2009

• Lil Wayne

  August 13, 2009

• Crime Time: Nekkid Folks, Robber Baby, Strip-Club Stabbers, Loaded Brownie and a Flaming Bag of Poo

  Courtesy of Orange Police Department and Orange County Sheriff's DepartmentWe call this collage "Robberies, Solved and Unsolved." Top left: a man hands a teller a note demanding cash at Chase Bank in Orange. Top right: Booking photo of Adam J. Bennett, 20, of Santa Ana, who is suspected of robbing $700 from a Mission Viejo Wells Fargo on July 27. Bottom left and right: Surveillance photos from armed robbery that occurred around 9:30 p.m. Aug. 7 at the Orange Olive Mini Market in Orange. ​It'

  August 18, 2009

• OC Reality TV Produces (At Least) 6 Who've Drawn Police Calls [UPDATED]

  Too much reality for Orange County law enforcement (clockwise from top left): Ryan Alexander Jenkins, Josh Waring, Renzo Gamboa, Dennis Rodman, Jason Wahler and Matt Keough.​ UPDATED TO REFLECT MURDER CHARGE, CRIMINAL BATTERY COMPLAINT AGAINST JENKINS. If anyone in Orange County with a Hispanic surname, baggy jeans and a tattoo can be branded "gang affiliated" and therefore subjected to a life as a suspect in any goddamn local crime, then why the hell can't scofflaws tied to reality TV

  August 20, 2009

• 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 probation on a 2007 drug conviction when Costa Mesa Police was notified that he was selling one of the department's old SWAT uniforms on Craigslist.com. McVay then sweetened the offer to undercover officers

  September 9, 2009

• Medical Cannabis Supporters Light Up City Council Meeting

  Photo by Christopher Victorio Ready for face time with the Lake Forest City Council Tuesday night. ​Medical marijuana advocates offered 1,000 free hamburgers to draw supporters to Tuesday night's Lake Forest City Council meeting, but only 300 showed up to plead with city officials to reconsider their attempts to shut down 14 cannabis dispensaries around town. (See photographer Christopher Victorio's slideshow.) With stomachs swelled and munchies satisfied by the burgers, that was

  October 7, 2009

• Feds Finally Lighten Up on Those Who Light Up

  Flickr user theskywatcher​In a move that will likely increase President Obama's favorable rating even here in conservative Orange County, Attorney General Eric Holder ordered federal drug agents to stop prosecuting cases involving medical marijuana users and providers who obey state laws legalizing the drug for medical purposes. In other words, if you've got a doctor's license and a state medical marijuana ID card, you're not going to get fucked with by the feds. It's about time: California vo

  October 19, 2009

• 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 attempt to seize more than $186,400 from a legally compliant Southern California medical marijuana distributorship.The justices showed no patience for LAPD's efforts to keep the cash for itself and then l

  October 20, 2009

• Lawyer for Jailed Brotherhood Figure Demands Dismissal of Case

  Brenice Lee Smith: Welcome Home, Now go to Jail.​Wow, that was fast.Yesterday I blogged that a judge denied a request by Gerardo Gutierrez, the lawyer for Brenice Lee Smith, the onetime member of the Brotherhood of Eternal Love who has spent the past three decades living in a Nepalese monastery, to reduce his client's bail from $1.1 million to $50,000. Smith has now been behind bars for a month, apparently awaiting trial on 40-year-old charges that he conspired to smuggle a bunch of hashish fr

  October 29, 2009

• Snoop Dogg

  November 12, 2009