Global Ganja Report

As Barack Obama pressed the flesh at a fundraiser in Oakland's historic Fox Theater July 23, hundreds of medical marijuana supporters rallied nearby to oppose the Justice Department crackdown on California's dispensaries—and particularly to support the city's Harborside Health Center, now facing federal forfeiture proceedings. Speakers at the rally included many patients who said cannabis had helped them—and Stephen DeAngelo, Harborside's executive director, who called for a halt to actions against dispensaries and said the Justice Department should instead focus on the violent crime that plagues Oakland. "We are here for every medical cannabis patient around the world," DeAngelo said. Later, the cannabis advocates joined Occupy Oakland and assorted anti-war activists to block the intersection of 19th Street and Broadway. Police reported two arrests. (San Francisco Chronicle, Oakland Tribune, July 23)

The fourth bi-annual Kush Expo opened July 21 at the Anaheim Convention Center—an exposition of the latest in medical marijuana trends and technology, as well as an unabashed celebration of cannabis culture. This Expo was by far the largest, with more than 150 vendors, and over 14,000 attendees. Exhibitions ran the spectrum from a Los Angeles laboratory that tests homegrown cannabis strains for THC levels and for pesticides, to a Hot Kush Girl contest (OC Register, July 22) But as entrepreneurs and revelers schmoozed and toked in the convention center, police repression and angry protests were sweeping the streets of Anaheim... 

Brooklyn judge Gustin Reichbach, who won notoriety two months ago when he wrote an op-ed for the New York Times expressing his support for medical marijuana, died July 14 after a nearly three-year struggle with pancreatic cancer. In his May 16 op-ed, he wrote: "My survival has demanded an enormous price, including months of chemotherapy, radiation hell and brutal surgery... Inhaled marijuana is the only medicine that gives me some relief from nausea, stimulates my appetite, and makes it easier to fall asleep." 

Mark Bagdasarian, a cannabis dispensary owner in Clovis, Calif, already facing possession and distribution charges, was hit with federal money laundering charges July 16. Federal prosecutors say Bagdasarian laundered money through ATMs at his Buds 4 Life dispensaries in Tarpey Village and Friant. Bagdasarian pleaded not guilty to the new charges. Prosecutors say Bagdasarian would take cash from cannabis sales—illegal under federal law—and load it into the ATMs at the dispensaries, to be withdrawn by customers.

On July 17, US Representative Sam Farr (D-CA) and 18 co-sponsors introduced HR 6134, the "Truth in Trials" Act—bipartisan legislation to allow defendants in federal criminal prosecutions the ability to use medical marijuana evidence at trial. Because of a June 2005 US Supreme Court ruling in Gonzales v. Raich, the government has the discretion to enforce federal marijuana laws even in states that have passed medical marijuana laws. The Raich ruling also allows federal prosecutors to exclude all evidence concerning medical use or state law compliance in federal trials, virtually guaranteeing the convictions of medical marijuana patients and providers.

Potent rat poisons used on large-scale cannabis grows on forest lands throughout California may be killing off a rare forest carnivore, according to a study released July 13. "This could be a game changer," said Arcata city councilman Mark Wheetley of the study prepared by UC Davis biologists documenting the deaths of fishers—reclusive members of the Mustelid family that are candidates for protection under the Endangered Species Act. "I think this whole study should serve as a wake up call for the public to understand the magnitude of the impact of what's being done to what we consider sacred, protected public lands," added Wheetley, who also works as a biologist for the California Department of Fish and Game.

Oregon's Secretary of State on July 13 announced that Measure 80, the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act, received 88,887 valid signatures—just over the 87,213 needed to qualify for the general election ballot. Oregon now becomes the third state, following Washington and Colorado, to place measures on the ballot this year to legalize cannabis.

A July 12 shootout between a robber and a resident of an East Oakland house led to the discovery of a suspected illegal cannabis grow—that police valued at $200,000—and the arrest of three people. The robber escaped, but those in the house were all arrested after police responded to reports of gunfire. No one was injured in the incident. Police found 249 potted cannabis plants and trash bags filled with about 20 pounds of harvested herb in a search of the house. Lighting, ventilation and power systems were recovered, as well as scales and packing materials, police said.