Los Angeles Times, 12 Aug 2012 – Armed With Tales of Grief Caused by Deaths and Incarceration, Activists Hope to Reform Policy on Both Sides of the Border SAN DIEGO – If there is a more profound and costly failure than the war on drugs, it hasn’t come to my attention.

The Daily Californian, 11 Aug 2012 – Following a three month closure of the Berkeley Patients Group — the oldest and largest of Berkeley’s three medical cannabis dispensaries – — construction has begun at its new location on San Pablo Avenue just a few blocks away from where it used to reside. Although a date of reopening has not yet been determined, construction to renovate the interior and exterior areas of the new property at 2366 San Pablo Avenue in the commercial district has already begun.

DrugSense

The Chico News & Review, 09 Aug 2012 – Can New, Tougher Medi-Pot Ordinance Stand Up to Legal Challenge? A Chico lawyer and medical-marijuana advocate contends the new medi-pot ordinance under consideration by the Butte County Board of Supervisors is illegal and a slap in the face to voters who recently rejected a less-restrictive ordinance.

Sacramento News & Review, 09 Aug 2012 – A couple of weeks back, the four council members on the city’s law-and-legislation committee discussed banning outdoor cultivation of medical-cannabis in residential areas. No decisions were made, and it seems unlikely a ban would make it through council-but it also sounds like the issue hasn’t been buried yet, either. But city of Sacramento police Sgt. Andrew Pettit told SN&R last week that, when it comes to police going on cultivation calls, "the numbers are so low."

Grunion Gazette, 09 Aug 2012 – This Sunday, yet another milestone arrives in the ongoing saga of medical marijuana cooperatives in Long Beach. They’re all supposed to close. At least that’s what the City Council said on July 3, when it narrowly voted to not extend exemptions for some cooperatives from a citywide ban on marijuana outlets.

The Times-Herald, 09 Aug 2012 – An open letter to the Ad Hoc Citizen Public Safety Advisory Committee: Marijuana vs. violence Of course the greatest need is to stop the violence, shootings, drug dealing (I don’t mean the marijuana clinics; I mean real drug dealing on the streets), burglaries, robberies, vehicle thefts, and way down at the bottom, prostitution and vandalism. The police should patrol — either in cars or walking or bicycling — to establish a presence. Arresting people for selling marijuana in clinics is silly, wasteful, and embarrassing for grownup cops. They won’t even come out to take a report on vandalism, and they don’t investigate burglaries or robberies. But they bust marijuana clinics.

The Chico News & Review, 09 Aug 2012 – These guys have the wrong "stuff" if they think they can just ignore the voters, who have already spoken. Voters approved the referendum, Measure A. Supervisors Larry Wahl of Chico, Kim Yamaguchi of Paradise and Bill Connelly of Oroville are clearly acting out of out of vindictiveness. They’re like little children who didn’t get their way, and now they want to throw a tantrum at taxpayers’ expense. Next time I vote, it will be against them. They are poor representatives of Butte County voters. Ron Cremo

Foothills Sun Gazette, 08 Aug 2012 – Last week detectives from the Tulare County Sheriff’s Department S.T.E.P. Unit completed several months of investigations by conducting marijuana raids on public and private lands throughout the foothill and valley areas of Tulare County. Several of these operations were conducted with the assistance of Federal Officers from the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and the Drug Enforcement Administration’s C.E.R.T. program (Cannabis Eradication & Reclamation Teams). The C.E.R.T. program has replaced the state run C.A.M.P. program.

High Country News, 08 Aug 2012 – BRINGING HUMBOLDT’S SHADOW ECONOMY INTO THE LIGHT One evening last October, I met with Anna Hamilton in the Northern California town of Garberville. A singer-songwriter with a barbwire voice, Hamilton is known locally for her radio show, Rant and Rave, Lock and Load and Shoot Your Mouth Off — which, it turns out, is a pretty good description of her approach to life.