Oakland's Harborside Health Center is in the business of selling medical marijuana. This is obvious to anyone -- and in particular the dispensary's landlord, who last week had her effort to evict the dispensary tossed by a judge.
Police in the gritty San Francisco Bay area suburb of Vallejo shot and killed one man and wounded another early Sunday morning and seized about 50 Ecstasy tablets in a roadside encounter turned fatal. Mario Ramiro, 23, becomes the 45th person to die in US domestic drug law enforcement operations so far this year.
We're no police theorist, but the goals of a law enforcement action are simple: to prevent, to intervene, or otherwise dissuade behavior deemed illegal.
Turns out the federal Justice Department's almost-yearlong crackdown on state-legal medical cannabis has nothing to do with hard-line drug warriors, forfeiture numbers, President Barack Obama's reelection effort -- or even marijuana itself.
Aside from strikes at the medical marijuana industry's most vocal, visible, and influential leaders, little rhyme or reason has accompanied the federal Justice Department's crackdown on California cannabis.
A once-thriving San Francisco pot shop forced to close this week is also on the hook for a serious IRS bill, following a new U.S. Tax Court decision that could complicate life for others in the medical marijuana business.
There were plenty of tears shed during yesterday's funeral procession dedicated to medical marijuana and all the local dispensaries that have closed in the last year.
Two San Francisco medical cannabis dispensaries praised as models for their industry will close under federal Justice Department pressure at the end of business today.