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

Local medical marijuana dispensaries recently came under fire as the federal government began cracking down on illegal marijuana growing and dispensing operations across the nation. But wait – medical marijuana is legal in California, right? Yes and no. In the wake of a June 2011 memo sent to state attorney generals from the Department of Justice warning of the federal government’s intention to shut down illegal marijuana operations, there have been numerous raids on dispensaries in California. Some local operators have received warning letters that they may be next. “Joanne,” a dispensary operator in Sacramento who wants to remain anonymous, said Wednesday that local operators have al

Medical pot advocates hashed out their concerns about the city’s draft medical marijuana rules Monday night. Sacramento City Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy, two city staffers and about 40 medical marijuana providers and advocates met at City Hall to discuss the details of the city’s newly released draft medical marijuana regulations. City staff released draft medical pot rules – which technically consist of two ordinances – on Friday afternoon. The City Council will discuss the ordinances at its Nov. 9 meeting. At the Monday night meeting, medical pot advocates passed around a microphone and expressed their views of the draft regulations, while a city staffer took notes. Some medical pot ad

Standing outside of a Sacramento medical cannabis dispensary, you might detect something in the air. No, it's not secondhand THC vapor — public medicating is prohibited in the county. What you sense is a shift in perspective. Public pressure is building for the legalization and regulation of one of the oldest cash crops in America: the plants of genus Cannabis. The US federal government has held since 1970 that cannabis is a danger to public health and safety and listed the annual flowering herb under US code as having "high potential for abuse" and "no accepted medical potential." "A lot of people are thinking that federal drug laws are arbitrary and now we're starting to see the transl

Medical cannabis in California wouldn't be what it is today if it wasn't for Ryan Landers. The Sacramento activist helped to develop the laws, policies and realities of medical marijuana in a career of activism that spans more than a decade. He was there to help roll Proposition 215 into motion in 1996 and had a significant hand in crafting SB 420 in 2003. "I live the cause," he said. "When I'm not out testifying or counseling or negotiating for the cause, I'm just home and sick." He's a 15-year survivor of HIV/AIDS, a personal fact that he doesn't usually publicize partly due to prior experience. Landers, now 37, became a member of Californians for Compassionate Use in 1995. CCU is the