Santa Cruz Sentinel, 29 Sep 2010 – SANTA CRUZ – The sale of medical marijuana is – technically – illegal in Santa Cruz County’s unincorporated communities. The drug is banned by federal law, and county building codes don’t permit dispensaries. But since passage of the voter-approved California Compassionate Use Act and more recently the Obama administration’s decision not to crack down on medicinal pot use, marijuana ventures have increasingly emerged across Santa Cruz. Nearly a half dozen dispensaries, from Soquel to Boulder Creek, sell to the public and many other businesses operate discretely in homes and garages.