Global Ganja Report

Three Mexican suspects were arrested April 24 after an ocean pursuit off the coast of Malibu. Los Angeles County lifeguards notified the sheriff's Malibu/Lost Hills Station of a suspicious boat about 50 feet off Latigo Beach. Deputies confirmed it was a panga boat and called the US Department of Homeland Security, which deployed an air and marine unit. Homeland Security's bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said the Mexican nationals were arrested following a chase that ended about 11 nautical miles southwest of Point Dume. Shortly before the pursuit ensued, the panga's occupants began tossing bales of compacted cannabis overboard. The US Coast Guard has recovered more than 80 bales.

The city of Walnut succeeded in shutting down the Natural California Medicine cannabis collective in mid-April, as a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge dismissed a complaint filed on behalf of the dispensary. The city of Walnut's municipal code prohibits the sale of marijuana, despite the state law that allows its use for medical purposes. California courts have in recent months overturned such municipal bans, and the issue will be heard this year by the state supreme court. (Walnut Patch, April 15)

United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 770 has decided to take Los Angeles area cannabis dispensary workers under its wing. The union announced March 22 that "health care and grocery workers will welcome the medical cannabis workers and their successful organizing campaign into their union." Said Local 770 president Rick Icaza: "This is the next step in professionalizing and stabilizing this new sector of the health care industry. Unionization and collective bargaining bring better training, less turnover, and more stability to the health care industry. This is a positive step towards successfully integrating compassionate care into our system of health care." (LA Weekly, March 21)

Two men dressed as ninjas who allegedly robbed a medical marijuana deliveryman in West Covina, Los Angeles county, remained at large, police said March 27. The two suspects allegedly wielded batons at a man delivering medicinal cannabis to a local home. The victim told police the robbers—dressed in black with masks over their faces—frightened him into dropping a bag containing an unspecified amount of cannabis and money. The suspects took the bag and fled. "It just sounds so unique and bizarre," Lt. Alan Henley told the Los Angeles Times. "We haven't had any similar incidents." (LAT, March 27) Actually, there has been a spate of similar incidents in Santa Cruz, Humboldt and elsewhere in California recently.

Two Air Force fighters on Feb. 16 intercepted a private Cessna that entered the same Los Angeles airspace as Marine One—the official presidential helicopter, with Barack Obama onboard. Police discovered about 40 pounds of cannabis in the plane after instructing it to land at Long Beach Airport, a law enforcement official anonymously told the Associated Press.

The California Supreme Court issued an order Jan. 18 indicating its intent to review two controversial medical marijuana cases that have resulted in the suspension of several local dispensary ordinances across the state. As a result of the order, Pack v. City of Long Beach and City of Riverside v. Inland Empire Patient's Health and Wellness Ctr., Inc. have both been vacated in anticipation of the high court's ruling. The Pack decision held that dispensary regulations may be preempted by federal law, and the Riverside decision held that localities could legally ban distribution altogether.

Advocacy group Americans for Safe Access (ASA) issued a letter Nov. 17 urging that Los Angeles' prestigious Cedars-Sinai Medical Center promptly re-list 63-year-old patient Norman B. Smith for a liver transplant. Smith was diagnosed with inoperable liver cancer in 2009 and became eligible for a transplant at Cedars-Sinai the following year. Smith's oncologist at Cedars-Sinai, Dr. Steven Miles, approved of his cannabis use to deal with the effects of chemotherapy and pain from an unrelated back surgery. But in February he was removed from the transplant list after testing positive for cannabis use.

Lawsuits were filed Nov. 4 in federal courts in Sacramento, Los Angeles and San Diego in a move to block efforts by US attorneys to crack down on medical marijuana dispensaries in California. A similar suit was filed in San Francisco days earlier. "We will ask for injunctive relief in all four districts," said PJ Johnston, a spokesman for the statewide legal effort, coordinated by American for Safe Access (ASA). "The US attorneys in each of the four districts have basically threatened landlords, cannabis cooperatives and media outlets with prosecution and property forfeiture if they don't shut down operations immediately."