Psychoactive Drugs

Dana Rohrabacher To Feds: Respect State Marijuana Laws

Like the proverbial broken clock that is right twice a day, U.S. Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach) is occasionally doing things that aren't completely crazy, like defending the Taliban or accusing the Obama Administration of intentionally lying to the American public about the Islami ... More >>

Lawsuit Alleges Long Beach Cops Brutalized Marijuana Dispensary Worker During 2012 Raid

A lawsuit filed March 26 alleges that Long Beach police conducting a raid on a medical marijuana dispensary last year. The Weekly first reported on the June 19, 2012 incident, last July, noting that the employee, Dorian Brooks, a young African-American with no prior arrests or convictions on hi ... More >>

Little Saigon Ecstasy Pill Ring Busted By Drug Task Force Agents

The Southern California Drug Task Force assigned to a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) designated "High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area" has busted a large scale drug distribution ring selling the party drug Ecstasy out of a Little Saigon apartment complex.According to a federal grand jury indi ... More >>

Chronic Pot Smokers Beware: THC Remains in System For Weeks!

According to a study just released by the American Association of Clinical Chemistry, chronic pot smokers can test positive for residual levels of THC in blood for up to several weeks after abstaining from smoking marijuana. The study is based on findings from 30 daily pot smokers who smoked ten joi ... More >>

Oakland Pot Dispensary Ruling Could Curtail Federal Crackdown

Anybody notice that ever since Obama was re-elected, all's been quiet on the federal marijuana crackdown front?Maybe all those conspiracy theorists who claimed that Obama would move to legalize marijuana during his second term, or at least back away from the crackdown his administration launched in ... More >>

Forget Medical: Colorado Legalizes Recreational Weed

If there's anything that Californians have learned in the 16 years since voters passed Proposition 215, it's this: medical marijuana is a mess. On the one hand, marijuana has gotten a lot easier to come by over the years. What used to be only available on the street or in a few scattered dispensarie ... More >>

[UPDATED W/STATEMENT BY VICTIM'S MOTHER] Emmanuel Walker, Long Beach Police Snitch, Sentenced To Life In Prison

*See bottom of this post for a statement by Kathy Windom, mother of victim Stephen Brown, which she read during Walker's sentencing hearing.ORIGINAL POST, Sept. 18, 2:22 p.m.: Sixteen months after he allegedly murdered 32-year-old Long Beach resident Steven Brown, Emmanuel Walker was sentenced ... More >>

[Updated W/Details of Council Meeting]Long Beach To Ban Medical Marijuana Tonight?

See updated details of last night's council meeting at the end of this post.On Feb. 14, Long Beach city officials voted to ban all medical marijuana dispensaries in the city with the exception of those that had won a lottery, paid hefty fees, and managed to survive subsequent revisions of the city's ... More >>

Disabled Californians Have No Right to Smoke Weed, Federal Court Rules

This isn't exactly surprising, seeing as how marijuana remains illegal under federal law despite having been legalized for medicinal purposes in more than 15 states. But yesterday,a three-judge panel with of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit filed against the citie ... More >>

[UPDATE: Oaksterdam's Lee Retires] Feds Raid Oaksterdam University As Local Lawmakers Demand End to Pot War

UPDATE, April 6, 12:00 p.m.: According to the LA Times news blog, Oaksterdam University's founder Richard Lee is retiring from the medical marijuana industry he helped create. "I've been doing this a long time," he told the newspaper. "Over 20 years...I kind of feel like I've done my time. It's time ... More >>

Long Beach Offers Collective Punishment

How the city's botched marijuana lottery screwed its winners and losers alike

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

Eric Holder​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 thinking. Message boards for medical marijuana activists in the state have been abuzz with on ... More >>

[UPDATED With Delay of Possible Pot Ban] Pot Protests Engulf Long Beach!

​UPDATED, Nov. 11, 11:00 A.M.: Hey everybody: happy 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of the 11th year of the current millennium!And a happy hour it is indeed. Things might not be going so well for Long Beach collective operators Joe Byron and Joe Grumbine who are facing a trial later th ... More >>

[UPDATED W/CALIFORNIA ATTORNEY GENERAL'S REACTION] Obama Administration Memo Spells End of Medical Marijuana Industry?

​UPDATE, Oct. 21, 11:00 A.M. Ever since four U.S. attorneys in California announced their planned crackdown on medical marijuana dispensaries in the state, cannabis rights activists have been asking one question above all others: where is California's top law enforcement official, Kamala Harris ... More >>

[UPDATED WITH CITY'S NEAR CLUELESS REACTION] Long Beach Pot Ordinance Ruled Illegal: Cannabis Activists Winning?

​UPDATE, OCT. 7, 12 P.M.: Long Beach city officials are scratching their heads about how to respond to an appeal court decision that appears to overturn the city's medical marijuana ordinance. According to an article by Greggory Moore posted yesterday evening on Long Beach Post, the city attorney ... More >>

Obama Says Marijuana Is Not Medicine, Will Remain As Illegal As Heroin

​Any hope that President Obama, a legendary pot smoker back at Occidental College in the late 1970s, might reclassify marijuana as a drug that has medicinal value just went up in smoke. Nine years ago, for the third time since marijuana was prohibited more than a half-century ago, medical marijuan ... More >>

[UPDATED with All I.D.'s, Pleas to Revised Charges:] No Murder Counts in Shooting Death of Minh Kinh Dang in Medical Pot Delivery Robbery-Gone-Bad

​UPDATE, JUNE 28, 10:55 A.M.: Authorities have identified the third man who allegedly tried to rob a medical marijuana deliveryman--only to watch his partner get shot and killed by a security guard--as 20-year-old Hwa Sung Sim.Because Minh Kinh Dang of Santa Ana was killed in the apparent commissi ... More >>

Marijuana Activists to Protest Orange County Raids at Supervisors Meeting Tomorrow

​In December 2010, the Orange County Board of Supervisors passed a ban on medical marijuana dispensaries in unincorporated areas of the county. Then, for a few months, nothing happened. Cannabis collectives that had been operating on county turf continued to to so without being raided or even fine ... More >>

American Express Pulls Plug on Marijuana Purchases

​If you're in the habit of using your American Express card to purchase marijuana from your local dispensary, you might want to break out that Visa or remember to bring some cash in your pocket. That's because, according to an email that began circling among dispensaries and medical marijuana acti ... More >>

Thomas George Hogue Accused of Breaking Really Bad: Making Meth, Miscaring for Aunt

​A woman called Anaheim Police Monday after failing to reach her bedridden grandmother or the 87-year-old's caretaker by phone. Officers arrived at grandma's mobile home in the 5800 block of La Palma Avenue around 11 p.m. to find her alone--along with a meth lab. The caretaker was arrested when he ... More >>

The Year in Pot: Looking Back at Our Top Five Marijuana-Related Stories of 2010

​From the failure of Prop 19 to the various battles between cities and medical marijuana dispensaries fighting to stay open, 2010 was, well, the year of pot. Take a look through Staff Writer Nick Schou's picks for marijuana-related stories of the year after the jump.

Long Beach Medical-Marijuana Activists Sue the City

Anthony Gayle and Ryan Pack hope to make the city dismantle its cannabis-collective law

Shock the Junkie

A hallucinogen called ibogaine has helped addicts kick heroin, meth and everything in between. Is it the trip that does the trick?

Dueling Sides on Prop 19 Trot Out Research

​As California voters weigh whether to support legalization of marijuana on the November ballot, forces for and against Prop 19 are stepping up the studies, statistics and rhetoric aimed at propping up their respective sides.

Pot Tax Weighed in City That Spawned the World's Cannambassador Snoop Dogg

​On the same November ballot that will have Californians decide whether to legalize marijuana, Long Beach voters will decide whether the city that spawned Snoop Dogg should tax recreational marijuana.That's right, not medical cannabis but recreational pot, the kind consumed by the pride of LBC and ... More >>

Feds Bust Massive OC-Related Ecstasy Pill Ring

DEA agents now have lots of party favors​The price to party without inhibitions in Southern California likely just went up.Federal law enforcement officials announced this afternoon that a grand jury has indicted 15 individuals in Los Angeles and Orange County for conspiracy to possess and distrib ... More >>

[UPDATED:] Will OC's Pot City Roll Into Surf City?

​UPDATE: As expected, the Huntington Beach City Council voted Monday night to annex Sunset Beach (updates throughout) . . . What's apparently Orange County's marijuana capital is one step closer to being part of Huntington Beach, which takes a dim view of the devil's weed. (At least officially ... More >>

Malinda Traudt's Suit Argues State Constitution Should Keep Her Dana Point Collective Open

From Beach Cities Collective's Facebook page​A San Clemente woman born with epilepsy, blindness and cerebral palsy has filed the first lawsuit by a medical-marijuana patient alleging Dana Point's dispensary ban unconstitutionally interferes with her fundamental rights to life and safety under the ... More >>

Will This Pot Case Get Weeded Out?

The change from Bush to Obama allows an OC couple to use Prop. 215 as a defense against federal drug charges

Power of Trinity Medical Marijuana Collective Goes to Court to Open Dispensary in Irvine

​A medical marijuana collective is seeking court intervention to be allowed to operate in Irvine.According to documents filed in Orange County Superior Court, the Power of Trinity Inc. alleges the city improperly denied the collective's request for a business permit in November.Sean Emery has the ... More >>

Earth Cann, a Casualty in OC's Medical Pot War

Illustration by Simon Davidson​While new fronts have opened in the legal war to keep the doors open at local medical marijuana dispensaries (more on that after the jump), there is one casualty to report.Yet to be determined is whether it is a fatal blow or merely a flesh wound. Earth Cann Wellness ... More >>

Gerard Maddox, Los Al Man Popped in Nebraska With 62 lbs. of Pot, Gets 5 Years

Illustration by Simon Davison​Remember last October's arrest of a Los Alamitos man for having 62 pounds of pot and four pounds of hashish in his car after getting pulled over in Nebraska?The hammer has come down on 50-year-old Gerard Maddox.

Dana Point's Legal Ping-Pong Match Over Cannabis Collectives is in Full Swing

SafeHarborCollective.comDana Point Safe Harbor Collective looks safe from here.​Sheriff's deputies served search warrants at a Dana Point medical marijuana dispensary and four homes in San Clemente associated with the business.

Judge Denies Restraining Order to Keep Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Open

​A federal judge has denied a restraining order aimed at keeping medical marijuana dispensaries open in Costa Mesa and Lake Forest while the court considers a lawsuit filed on behalf of four MedMar Patient Care Collective patients and based on the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA).

Santa Ana Medical Marijuana Grower is Victim and Suspect

​After responding to an armed robbery Friday, Irvine Police indicated the city may shut down the victimized business: a medical marijuana dispensary.After responding to a robbery in Santa Ana Monday in which the homeowner was beaten by two men, Orange County sheriff's deputies seized items from th ... More >>

Remembering Yorba Linda's 1st Medical Marijuana Collective, Jan. 2010-Feb. 2010

"We've established a safe access facility for all patients and their medical needs," stated the WeedMaps.com write-up for Salubrious Rx. "We always attempt to add compassion for this industry, and give it a more professional touch." And that the medical marijuana dispensary at 22607 L ... More >>

Today, Medical Marijuana. Tomorrow, Legalize It!

OC Weekly Goes to Pot: Medical Marijuana Writer Needed

​The Weekly is seeking a freelance writer for our biweekly medical-marijuana e-mail newsletter, Toke of the Town. The ideal candidate will be a skilled, experienced writer and reporter who is well-versed in the history and politics of California's medical-pot laws--from Proposition 215 to Senate B ... More >>

Letters From OC Weekly Readers

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 legalizin ... More >>

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 recon ... More >>

Taking the High Road With One of OC's Burgeoning Medical-Marijuana Delivery Services

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 v ... More >>

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 ... More >>

NORML Weekly Cartoon 2.25

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

OC NORML Cartoon of the Week

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

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, ... More >>

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 ... More >>

Letters