Cannabis Law Group’s Medical Marijuana Legal Blog

States across the country are legalizing the sale of medical marijuana, and the federal government isn’t happy about it. U.S. attorneys recently voiced their warnings, urging local governments to rethink their plans of opening medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles and elsewhere throughout the country. Rhode Island recently attempted to open one of its first…

Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims alleges local collectives are illegal “money-making drug operations.” Five medical marijuana collectives in Fresno dispute the claims, according to AOL News. “The Board of Supervisors made it clear in December that instead of regulating [the collectives] they wanted to ban them all,” said attorney Brenda Linder of Fresno, a spokesman…

A case was recently dropped against the longest-serving medical marijuana dispensary in Los Angeles, and the owner publicly vowed to continue to cultivate marijuana in his own backyard for seriously ill HIV/AIDS patents. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office dropped a criminal case against the owner just days before it was due to go…

Many government officials are contemplating new sources of tax revenue as they learn about the cash that could be collected from San Francisco medical marijuana dispensaries. Currently, every other major Bay Area city enlists a gross-receipt tax on their medical marijuana dispensaries. Every California medical cannabis company pays 9.5 percent in state sales taxes, and…

“The county does not have any existing zoning laws that allow for this kind of business to operate,” said Sacramento County spokeswoman Chris Andis. “This is ‘step one’ toward creating rules and regulations for these kind of businesses. We want to create a careful planning process that balances the needs of the neighboring communities, the…

According to California NORML, there are now an estimated 1.1 million medical marijuana users in the state. These users make up roughly 3 percent of the population. This number has continued to increase, as has the demand for the product. There were an estimated 300,000 patients in 2007, 150,000 in 2005 and 75,000 in 2004.…

San Diego’s medical marijuana advocates collected thousands of signatures to have a say in the fate of new restrictions on pot clinics, according to Mercury News. Citizens for Patient Rights collected 46,000 signatures for the ballot initiative. The city only requires that 31,000 signatures be collected for an issue to proceed. The issue is a…

A group of high-profile war leaders recently joined together to urge the Obama administration to end the war on drugs. The group calls it a costly drug failure as the battle only focuses on “the criminalization, marginalization and stigmatization of people who use drugs but do no harm to others,” according to the Los Angeles…

The State Senators of California were called to debate a possible new law last week, Senate Bill 129. This bill would restrict the ability of an employer to fire an employee, or to discriminate against the hiring of future employees, because of legal medical marijuana use. This law would not allow patients to use the…

Three medical marijuana dispensaries in Newport Beach are facing scrutiny from city council as they’re the target of “nuisance abatement.” Many believe after being served with this warning, these shops will be fined and forced out of business, according to Hydroponic Meds. City officials have been known to place fines or liens on companies in…