Global Ganja Report

In an interview with SFGate.com's Zennie62 blog June 4, Oakland City Attorney John Russo became the first elected official to openly support cannabis legalization, which will be on the November ballot in California. Why does he support legalization? "Well, first, number one I think marijuana prohibition has been a demonstrated failure at this point, no different than alcohol prohibition in the 1920s." Russo says it's also "cooler" for the young to use marijuana and that's it's time for us to get out of "this collective denial" of the situation.

Humboldt County's Civil Liberties Monitoring Project will host a forum June 19 in Garberville, entitled "Cannabis Health and Safety: The Chemistry, the Economics and the Politics," featuring experts from California and Montana who have taken a "transparent" business approach to cultivating and dispensing marijuana. The Garberville Veterans Association is co-sponsoring this presentation, which will start 7 PM at Veterans Hall.

Gov. Bill Ritter Jr. signed two bills into law on June 7 intended to increase oversight of Colorado’s medical cannabis industry. Under the new legislation, municipalities can ban dispensaries.

A new Los Angeles ordinance went into effect June 7, requiring that more than 400 unauthorized medical marijuana dispensaries to immediately close their doors. A Superior Court judge rejected a last-minute legal bid to delay implementation. The targeted dispensaries all opened after November 2007, when the LA City Council approved a widely-ignored moratorium on new medicinal cannabis outlets. An estimated 130 dispenasires which were open before then will be allowed to stay open—but will have to register with the city and be subject to inspections. (Vertex News, June 8)

In San Jose's first public discussion on crafting an ordinance regulating medical cannabis dispensaries, ideas were shot down and applauded at an emotionally charged City Hall meeting June 7. Parents and teachers expressed fears about the proximity of the dispensaries to schools, while patients and operators dismissed the city's proposals as too restrictive.

With all eyes on November's vote on cannabis legalization in California, the state Senate narrowly voted this week to reclassify possession of less than an ounce an infraction with a penalty of $100—rather than its current status as a misdemeanor with the same fine. Since possession of a less than an ounce is not punishable by jail time, "That's an infraction, by definition," according to Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), the author of SB 1449. "All this bill does is call it what it is—an infraction. It doesn't change the penalties."

Jonathan Braun, 27, and looking more like a "skinny slacker from Staten Island" than the leader of an international drug-trafficking ring, was denied bail at a Brooklyn hearing June 3, with federal magistrate Viktor Pohorelsky saying, "The government has posited substantial evidence of Mr. Braun's involvement in this conspiracy, which involves huge amounts of marijuana and huge amounts of money."

The Montana Caregivers Network is traveling the state in "cannabis caravans," setting up shop in local hotels, where patients can walk in, see a doctor and—if they qualify—get a medical marijuana recommendation for a $150 fee. "You're helping end suffering on this planet for human beings," said mobile clinic organizer Jason Christ.