If you like drama and marijuana together, then 2012 was the year for you: It was jam-packed with topsy-turvy cannabis news.

As the Obama administration cracked down on medical marijuana
dispensaries in California, the president himself said pot users in
marijuana-legal states shouldn’t be prosecuted. Come again?

Here’s our list of top pot stories for 2012. Hold on to your bongs:

Dave H / Flickr

10. Pot prices drop.
After the U.S. Department of Justice’s crackdown on state-legal medical
marijuana in California, you would think that the Golden State would
have become a Mojave Desert of weed. Quite the contrary: Prices
plummeted in spring because big growers in the northern half of the
state had a surplus crop they couldn’t sell to legit outlets that either
closed or were afraid to operate. Oops? And, yay (for consumers).

401(K) 2012 / Flickr

9. Marijuana for profit?
The crux of the debate over the legality of marijuana dispensaries
often comes down to whether the law allows profit-taking in the
distribution of such medicine. The likes of L.A.’s own City Attorney,
Carmen Trutanich, says it doesn’t. The guy who wrote the law, SB 420,
made a stand: Former state Sen. John Vasconcellos said the law was
indeed intended to allow for retail-style, for-profit sales of pot.
However: Trutanich’s office says California courts have ruled that
notion out of existence. Today, it’s still up in the air, sort of like
what you just exhaled.

sanduskylegalfund.com

8. Unluckiest pot proponent ever.
Southern California pot shop operator Aaron Sandusky bravely fought the
law. And the law won. He stood up to federal prosecutors who
essentially said he was a drug dealer for operating G3 Holistics
dispensaries in the Inland Empire. Sure medical marijuana is legal in
California. But feds don’t recognize that. Now Sandusky faces life
behind bars.

Zen Healing

7. Marijuana as medicine.
President Obama himself has said there’s not much he can do about the
illegality of marijuana. It’s a law. Not his law. But decriminalization
advocates have been pushing his administration on that point — all the
way to federal court. The group Americans for Safe Access has challenged
the DEA regarding its "scheduling" of pot as an outlaw drug with no
medical benefits. That’s not law, it’s policy. In fact, ASA, argues,
there is evidence of medicinal qualities for weed. If the group wins, it
might be harder for feds to prosecute pot shops in medical marijuana
states like California. Results are pending.

Dominic Simpson / Flickr

6. Pot shops and crime. Despite our victory dance last year when RAND withdrew a study that said local dispensaries seem to reduce neighborhood crime
after we had some serious questions about the data, it’s nice to see
that your friendly neighborhood weed retailer is indeed not much more
dangerous than Trader Joe’s. UCLA researchers concluded "the density of
medical marijuana dispensaries may not be associated with crime rates
… " Good ’cause that stuff makes us paranoid.

Nightlife of Revelry / Flickr

5. Call 911.
A sad part of modern drug law means that some of you party people are
afraid to call for help when your friend passes out from too much
chronic and/or whatever else you’re doing. A new law by state
Assemblyman Tom Ammiano should put a stop to this madness. It provides
immunity to people with small amounts of drugs on them who want to call
paramedics when a friend overdoses.

That_Dude69 / Flickr

4. You like your pot.
Despite repeated attempts by the city of Los Angeles to choke out the
medical marijuana business, the people have spoken: According to
November exit polling by Loyola Marymount University 56 percent of
Angeleno voters support "the cultivation, prescription (recommendation),
and distribution of medical marijuana." So why was the city trying to
ban dispensaries again?

ABC News

3. Obama says smoke ’em if you got ’em.
Sort of. Strange days, though, when the Obama administration’s
Department of Justice is going after medical marijuana dispensaries in
L.A. and the president is saying that small-time pot users shouldn’t be
prosecuted in medical-legal states. Obama told Barbara Walters recently
that federal authorities "have bigger fish to fry," adding: "It would
not make sense for us to see a top priority as going after recreational
users in states that have determined that it’s legal." Um. Okay.

Chuck Coker / Flickr

2. L.A. crack down. So Obama is like, Blah-blah-blah smoking weed is no big deal I used to do it.
Then his administration targets every pot shop in downtown and Eagle
Rock and tells them to shut their doors or be prosecuted like common
drug dealers? That’s exactly what happened in September. Each and
everyone one of those shops got warning letters and then follow-up
visits by federal agents. Wisely, some if not many closed their doors.

Jennie Warren for the Weekly.

1. Dispensaries live!
After the L.A. City Council banned all pot shops in town, dispensaries
organized and fought back with a referendum that forced the council to
either bring the matter to voters or overturn its own ban. It did the
latter. Pot shops remain and, perhaps, thrive (except for those in
downtown and Eagle Rock), although there are now two ballot initiatives
aiming for May that would regulate and even shut down many shops,
depending on how you vote. Your weed is safe for now.

A showdown over the fate of the country’s largest medical marijuana
dispensary heads to federal court here Thursday, and the outcome could
hint at what lies ahead as a growing number of states opt for
legalization.

This fall, Oakland became the first municipality to sue federal
prosecutors in an attempt to block them from shuttering a medical
cannabis facility. Harborside Health Center, with facilities in Oakland
and San Jose, has more than 108,000 members in its patient collective.

The first hearing in the high-profile case comes a month after
Colorado and Washington voters legalized the use and sale of small
amounts of recreational marijuana

Some local medical
marijuana advocates see good things coming from President Barack Obama’s
comments that prosecuting recreational marijuana users in Colorado and
Washington state should not be a "top priority" of federal law
enforcement.

Obama told ABC News’ Barbara Walters last week that law
enforcement has "bigger fish to fry" than the recreational users in the
two states, which legalized marijuana on Election Day.

The attorney for Aaron Sandusky, who was convicted in October
of operating medical marijuana dispensaries in the Inland Empire, said
he will use the president’s words at his client’s sentencing on Jan. 7
in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.

"I will get a copy or try to record the interview tonight and
show to the judge that federal policy is not pursuing medical marijuana
or marijuana that’s been legalized in certain states," said attorney
Roger Jon Diamond.

Obama didn’t comment on how the federal government would
respond to new laws that officials from the two states are tasked with
creating to regulate commercial pot sales.

"It does not make sense from a prioritization point of view"
to focus on drug use in states where it is now legal, Obama told
Walters.

Sandusky opened G3 Holistic in Upland in November 2009, six
months after Obama, in a well-publicized interview with the Oregon
Mail-Tribune, said the federal government would not aggressively pursue
medical marijuana cases in states that had legalized it.

"I’m not going to be using Justice Department resources to try to
circumvent state laws on this issue," Obama said in March 2009.

Despite his statements, the Obama administration increased its
enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act, which makes it illegal to
sell or possess marijuana. This includes states that have legalized
marijuana.

Sandusky was president of Upland-based G3 Holistic, a medical
marijuana dispensary, which, in California, is legal. But in October,
however, Sandusky was convicted in federal court of eight counts related
to growing, possessing and intending to sell marijuana for profit.

Obama’s statement "should have an impact, a positive impact, for both medical marijuana and also Aaron," Diamond said.

Diamond said Judge Percy Anderson will be given Obama’s statement during Sandusky’s sentencing hearing.

Anderson would not allow Diamond to introduce evidence in
support of Sandusky related to Obama’s past statements about legalized
medical marijuana. Sandusky was also barred from even mentioning the
president in his testimony.

"In fact, the president made that statement the first time in 2008, and Aaron relied on that," Diamond said.

"Hopefully, the judge will consider his position once we show
him the interview that will be shown to all the viewers of the country.
It’s just not fair to single out people arbitrarily for prosecution,
especially when a nationwide announcement is made."

Christopher Kenner, a former patient at G3 Holistic Inc. in
Upland, said he is wary of Obama’s statement to Walters, but remains
hopeful that it will have an effect on Sandusky’s sentencing.

"I’m hoping he’s being truthful this time and is going to stop
these prosecutions," Kenner said. "I’m hopeful that he understands that
by arresting these people he is messing with patients."

Kris Hermes, spokesman for Oakland-based Americans for Safe Access, said he had heard this type of political rhetoric before.

"It’s incumbent on the Obama administration to show good faith
in this regard and not say one thing and do another, as we heard both
before and after the 2008 election," Hermes said.

"In other words, he can say all he wants at this point, but
what’s going to matter most is what the U.S. attorneys do and what the
Drug Enforcement Administration does."

Paul Chabot, founder of Rancho Cucamonga-based Inland Valley
Drug Free Community Coalition, said the statement by Obama speaks
volumes about his true feelings.

"I think the bottom line is we are really concerned because
Obama has said on social issues that his opinions have evolved," Chabot
said.

"For example, gay marriage. We hope that the president isn’t
going to evolve his opinion and say that drugs should be legalized."

Amanda Reiman, the California policy manager for the Drug
Policy Alliance, said that if the Obama administration does respect
voters’ rights in Colorado and Washington and allows them to use
marijuana, it has a positive effect on California medical marijuana
cases.

"You could say why are you respecting state law in Washington and you’re not respecting state law in California? Reiman said.

"Right now, we don’t have that. The administration doesn’t respect state law anywhere."

President Barack Obama says he won’t go after pot users in Colorado
and Washington, two states that just legalized the drug for recreational
use. But advocates argue the president said the same thing about
medical marijuana

The Pittsburg Planning Commission will consider a staff recommendation to ban medical marijuana dispensaries.

If
commissioners on Tuesday approve the staff recommendation, the matter
will go to the City Council as an ordinance for a vote.

In April
of 2011, council members adopted a moratorium, which expires in April,
that prohibited dispensaries from operating while staff studied whether
to develop regulations to allow them to operate. The recommendation
calls for making it official city policy to ban them outright.

Before
the moratorium went into effect, East Bay Collective operated a
dispensary without a permit, but it didn’t stay open because the city
got a court injunction to shut it down.

There are no requests
before the city to operate a dispensary, and when the city considered
the initial moratorium and two later extensions, no one showed up to
protest the action.

If approved, the ban on dispensaries would not
prevent a qualified patient from growing medical marijuana in his or
her own home for personal use, City Attorney Ruthann Ziegler said in an
email.

A staff report said the ban was needed in the interest of
public safety and that the use of medical marijuana is prohibited under
federal law, even though its medical use was approved by California
voters in 1996. The report cited a white paper by the California Police
Chiefs Association that said many violent crimes, including armed
robbery and murder, have been associated with dispensaries.

Antioch has a moratorium on dispensaries, while Oakley and Brentwood have banned them.

"Unfortunately,
(a ban) is not all that unusual," said Kris Hermes, spokesman for
Americans for Safe Access, a national organization advocating for safe
and legal use of medical marijuana. "While there are dozens of
municipalities that have recognized their patients’ needs for medical
marijuana and regulate their activities, there are more than three times
the number that have banned it outright."

Statewide, more than 50
cities and counties allow dispensaries, more than 70 cities have
moratoriums against them, and 170 cities have banned them, according to
Americans for Safe Access.

"California is still a patchwork of
bans and regulatory ordinances," Hermes said. "That is still very
problematic for a large number of patients who don’t live anywhere near
an operating dispensary."

Cannabis is legal in two states, but the metropolis of Los Angeles has yet to regulate medical access to the plant.

Hoping to exit the quagmire, a coalition of medical cannabis
patients, providers and organized labor filed 70,000 signatures to
regulate pot clubs Friday.

According to Americans for Safe Access

As of Monday, marijuana is legal in the state of Colorado. Governor John Hickenlooper has signed
an official proclamation making Amendment 64, the voter-passed
amendment that legalizes possession of up to an ounce of marijuana, part
of the state

A medical marijuana dispensary in California expresses evangelical Christian views and is known to hand out Bibles along with the controversial drug.

Canna
Care of Sacramento, a family owned dispensary known for supplying
medical marijuana and advocating for decriminalization, evangelizes and
prays with its customers. Canna Care oversees group prayers in a typical
day around 6:00 p.m. and has handed out an estimated 3,000 Bibles to
those who come for their services.

Kris Hermes, spokesperson for
the nationwide pro-marijuana legalization group Americans for Safe
Access, told The Christian Post about its ties to Canna Care.

"Canna
Care has been a supporter of Americans for Safe Access as have scores
of dispensaries across the country," said Hermes. "We have also worked
with the operators of Canna Care on a number of political campaigns over
the years, given their active involvement in advancing medical
marijuana policy."

Hermes also told CP about the building of
bridges between ASA and faith communities in the United States in the
effort to decriminalize the drug.

"As an advocacy organization, we
try to build bridges with many different communities, including those
organized around faith, labor rights, healthcare reform, and many
others," said Hermes.

"The
relationship between faith-based groups and medical marijuana is
certainly healthier and more focused on compassion than the relationship
between medical marijuana and law enforcement."

Hermes also added
that ASA "has also worked with the Universal Life Church on various
political campaigns. The ULC is promoting us and our efforts to bring
medical marijuana access to patients nationwide."

The debate over
marijuana legalization has not only come to mainstream American society,
but also before public Christian leaders.

Pat Robertson, founder
of the Christian Coalition and host of "The 700 Club," gained headlines
when he expressed his support for decriminalizing pot.

"I really believe we should treat marijuana the way we treat beverage alcohol," said Robertson to The New York Times.

"If
people can go into a liquor store and buy a bottle of alcohol and drink
it at home legally, then why do we say that the use of this other
substance is somehow criminal?"

However, Mark Driscoll, lead pastor of the Seattle-based megachurch Mars Hill, recently published an e-book wherein he found the practice to be an example of immature foolishness.

"Young
men are the most likely to smoke weed and, by seemingly all measurable
variables, are immature, irresponsible, and getting worse," wrote
Driscoll. "There is nothing wrong with being a boy, so long as you are a
boy. But when a man acts like a boy, that’s a real problem."

Last month, Washington
State and Colorado voted by popular referendum to decriminalize
recreational pot; these measures go contrary to present federal
government drug enforcement law.

West Sacramento may join a string of cities across the region in
at least temporarily banning outdoor plantings of medicinal marijuana.

A
decision on a proposed 45-day moratorium could come at the City
Council’s meeting today following a public hearing on the issue starting
at 7 p.m. at West Sacramento City Hall, 1110 W. Capitol Ave.

The proposed ban could be extended for as long as two years.

If the moratorium is adopted at the meeting, it goes into effect
immediately and runs to Jan. 19. Primary caregivers and their patients
would still be able to grow cannabis under a roof if the temporary ban
goes into effect, said city officials.

If council members do not
adopt the moratorium, city staff will return in the spring with draft
regulations for city leaders to consider.

West Sacramento
officials last year passed a ban on outdoor cultivation associated with
marijuana dispensaries, but left alone provisions on growing for
personal medical use.

But city staffers say they have since become aware of rising burglaries and thefts of marijuana plants that they say are connected to cultivation.

That and the nuisance the plants’ strong odor creates in the city’s neighborhoods led to the push for a temporary ban.

Staff members cite police statistics that show a dramatic rise in marijuana-related complaints.

West Sacramento police have received 112 such complaints to date this year, department statistics show.

That’s
more than twice the 60 complaints filed last year, nearly as many as
during the previous four years combined and 43 percent of all narcotics
complaints filed so far this year.

"It seems to be more
prevalent," said Charline Hamilton, the city’s community development
director. "Plants are stolen. Homes are burglarized. Each year, it’s
getting worse."

But medical marijuana advocates say moving
cultivation indoors would be too costly for patients who would have to
rely on hydroponics and other equipment and that cities are too hasty in
imposing outdoor growing bans.

"By forcing (growing) inside, it
can be prohibitive for many patients. We believe patients need the
option to grow outdoors," said Kris Hermes, a spokesman for Oakland-based medical cannabis advocate Americans for Safe Access.

Hermes added that cities’ bans are a "knee-jerk reaction to complaints received from people in the community."

"They’re using a blunt instrument to make the lives of thousands of people more complicated," Hermes said.

West Sacramento is just the latest city in the greater Sacramento region to look at outdoor cultivation of medical marijuana.

Sacramento
leaders enacted a ban last month that went into effect Nov. 20.
Roseville imposed a ban Nov. 1. Elk Grove banned outdoor growing in
April, and Lodi considered a similar ban in October.

Americans for Safe Access has scheduled a Washington, D.C. town hall
meeting to answer questions about implementation of the law passed 15
years ago that allows for cannabis use medicinally.

While the use
of marijuana for medical purposes has been approved, it remains a
Schedule 1 drug and therefore not covered by health insurance.

The