Local pot shops got a slight reprieve Tuesday when the City Council voted in favor of extending permit deadlines until November 2013 – maintaining a unilateral freeze on the process but leaving the door open to allowing medical marijuana dispensaries to continue to operate. “This isn’t changing anything directly, it’s just extending deadlines and keeping the status quo for the moment,” City Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy said. In November, the City Council adopted an interim city marijuana ordinance extending the application deadline from Oct. 11 to May 14, and extending the final permit completion date from Jan. 9 to Aug. 13, – essentially “freezing” the permit process. Tuesday’s 8-1 vote e

City Councilman Jay Schenirer said he wants to send a message to California lawmakers about the need to set clear guidelines for regulating medical marijuana with a resolution that highlights Sacramento as a model to follow. The resolution – drafted with the help of local medical cannabis industry lobbyist Max Del Real – will suggest an alternative to the way the state is handling the cannabis issue. “The resolution would talk about what we’ve done in Sacramento and the fact that we have a model program. We want to try to move the state forward in trying to clean up this mess,” Schenirer said Thursday. “My hope is that we can try to be a little bit of a catalyst with the state,” he adde

Signature gathering began this month for a new ballot initiative aimed at allowing medical marijuana dispensaries to operate in Sacramento despite a recent ban on cannabis-related operations in the county. The “Patient Access to Regulated Medical Cannabis Act of 2012” is the product of the newly established Committee for Safe Patient Access to Regulated Cannabis (CSPARC), organized by local medical marijuana industry advocate Mickey Martin. “In December when the Board of Supervisors passed the back-door ban on medical marijuana, there were a lot of people (who felt that) what they were passing was just bad policy,” Martin said Monday. “(The policy) just doesn’t address the issue,” Marti

In 2011, medical marijuana dispensaries in Sacramento city and county went from being barely legal to riding a wave of potential for acceptance – but in the end, saw the future of their operations heavily scrutinized or banned outright. Here’s what happened on the medical marijuana scene this year: In February, medical marijuana dispensaries in the city were lining up to complete a permit application process that would allow a limited number of facilities to operate within city limits. Pot shops that didn’t apply for the proper permits – or had applications denied through the process – were shut down by city code enforcement. Once the application deadline passed for the first part of a

Under heavy scrutiny from the federal government and an administrative freeze on the city’s permit program, medical marijuana dispensaries in Sacramento could face a full ban – but if Sacramento’s dispensaries are shut down, what happens to the city budget bottom line? In total, the city has received approximately $1.4 million since the start of the permit process for medical marijuana dispensaries – nearly $1 million from one-time fees – according to Maurice Chaney, Economic Development Department spokesman. If the city were to ban medical marijuana dispensaries, they could see a potential $528,000 budget shortfall from reduced or eliminated marijuana business operations taxes in the 20

The permit process for medical marijuana dispensaries came to a screeching halt Tuesday after the City Council adopted an interim city marijuana ordinance that puts applications on hold for nine months. The unanimous vote to approve the ordinance came as a reaction to recent changes in the federal government’s position on enforcing marijuana regulations. Greg Bitter, principal planner with the city’s Community Development Department, told council members Tuesday that the city attorney became concerned with the current Sacramento medical marijuana ordinance after learning about two legal situations – a court case in Long Beach and a press release from the four state attorneys general. Th

Two cannabis-themed events with “frightful” overtones are planned for Saturday night at two Sacramento medical cannabis dispensaries. One event is a fund-raiser for a group of patients, medical professionals, scientists and concerned citizens promoting safe and legal access to cannabis for therapeutic use and research. The other event marks a dispensary’s closure as Sacramento County and the federal government put the scare on the industry. At Common Roots Collective in south Sacramento, the cannabis activist group Americans for Safe Access hosts “Puff Puff Politics.” According to ASA’s flyer for the event, “It’s like a wine tasting but with cannabis.” Three top medical strains will be ta

With more than $5,000 in code violations and the threatened closure of two adacent businesses, Johnny Zonneveld, a U.S. Marines combat veteran who uses medical cannabis to battle post-traumatic stress disorder, conceded a skirmish in Sacramento County’s war on medical cannabis dispensaries and closed Sunnyfields Collective on Thursday. Sunnyfields joins One Solution, City of Trees, California Holistic Care, Citizen Collective, The Reserve, PACC Wellness, All Natural Solutions and Fort Kush among the confirmed casualties in the $1 million war that Sacramento County is borrowing to wage on medical cannabis dispensaries. The story of former infantryman and dispensary owner Johnny Zonneveld

A former Assistant U.S. Attorney speaking in favor of the federal government’s pot pogrom said recently that a letter from the U.S. Attorney warning medical cannabis dispensaries and the landlords who rent to them is a good thing. “This letter is the best news that marijuana growers have ever received from the federal government because this letter is a courtesy that most people don’t get,” Bill Portanova said. In the courtesy vein, but on the opposite side of the battle, Auburn Health & Organics, one of scores of medical cannabis dispensaries operating without the required permits that Sacramento County refuses to issue in the first place, is giving its patients the courtesy of a heads-

Around 20 medical marijuana supporters protested Friday in front of the Sacramento Federal Courthouse. The protest started at 10 a.m. and is scheduled to end by 1 p.m.

Joint. Spliff. Pre-roll. By any name, it’s arguably the most known and widely recognized vehicle associated with smoking pot. It’s certainly the most convenient. It’s portable. It’s easy to share — making it a truly social medium. You can even eat one — as medicine, of course — if it comes to that. And talk about portion control: You can cut a joint in half, thirds, quarters, smoke a bit and save the rest for later. Some joints have enough pot packed in them that you can re-roll their contents into two joints. Now that’s value. In Sacramento medical marijuana dispensaries, joints sell for as little as $2.50 each to as much as $15 each; doobies are doled out as patient rewards; and,

Hempfest Sacramento begins its inaugural three-day run today at the Rio Ramaza RV park on the Sacramento River just across the Sutter County line, and some of the performers are getting on their pre-func at Sacramento medical marijuana dispensaries today. Long Beach rapper Warren G, who performs today and Saturday at Hempfest, will make an in-dispensary appearance at Fort Kush, 6150 Florin Road, some time today. Call 916-424-2566 for details. He’s scheduled to appear at Hempfest at 4:20 p.m. today, so do the math or make the call for the exact time. Also today, comics from the Chronic Laughter Show, including Sacramento-based stand-up Mike Sinclair, will perform at River City Wellness (3

Editorial Note: The following Sacramento Press story contains incorrect figures. It was reported that the city's medical marijuana dispensaries would pay $54,000 in fees. The $54,000 was the sum of two fees that should not have been added together. Joy Patterson, the city's principal planner, provided the correct information Wednesday. Patterson said that depending on the medical marijuana dispensary, a fee of either $39,600 or $33,000 will be paid in the application process for the first year of operation. We apologize for the error and a followup story on the fee breakdowns will be posted later this week.  The city’s existing medical marijuana dispensaries can become legal businesses.

The 39 medical marijuana shops in Sacramento are on their way to becoming legal. The Sacramento City Council voted 8-0 to draft regulations for current pot dispensaries to legally operate with city permits. Councilman Ray Tretheway was absent from the meeting. Notably, Councilman Robbie Waters, who formerly served as a Sacramento County sheriff and city police officer, voted in favor of a path toward legal and regulated medical marijuana shops. Waters noted that he had originally approached the issue from a “cop view.” Michelle Heppner, a special projects manager for the city, explained after the meeting that the City Council intends to allow 39 medical marijuana dispensaries in Sacrame

Written by L.C. Linden, PublicCEO.com SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Sacramento has become a boomtown over the past year for medical marijuana dispensaries, but the influx of businesses may not be a boon to medical marijuana patients or the city in general. "We don't want Sacramento to become like Los Angeles," which has been overwhelmed by a rampant proliferation of medical marijuana operations, said Don Johnson, director of Unity Non-Profit Collective, a dispensary with 3,100 members that opened in March 2009. The collective, located in an industrial park off Tribute Road, sells only marijuana that is cultivated by its members and, unlike many other businesses of its ilk, scrupulously follows

Cloned cannabis plants at Canna Care Munching on a herbal brownie at El Camino Wellness Center, AAMC state director Ryan Landers explained how tricky and self-conflicting medicinal cannabis laws are. "In Sacramento County, publicly smoking medicinal cannabis is considered ten 10 times worse than just smoking weed," he said. Landers has been a medicinal cannabis activist for over 15 years and has worked extensively in drafting legislation and law enforcement plans for the new dimension of legal medicine. He works with patients and patients' rights groups, lobbies and national advocacy groups. If weed was legal expertise, he'd be "the guy on the corner." Regarding the legal gap between