Global Ganja Report

Law enforcement agents in six Northern California counties are preparing for the largest series of cannabis raids yet conducted in the Emerald Triangle.  "Operation Full Court Press" will unleash hundreds of local, state and federal agents, first targeting the Mendocino National Forest, combing the mountains for illegal growers who authorities say have set up "huge plantations" deep in the woods, some reportedly numbering tens of thousands of plants. Law enforcement contends that many of the illegal growers are Mexican nationals who are linked to large drug-trafficking cartels. As evidence of a strong Mexico connection, prosecutors point to hundreds of Mexican nationals arrested in recent years at illegal outdoor grows in the Golden State. (California Watch, July 21)

Entertainment Weekly's Inside TV blog reports July 20 that the Discovery Channel has announced a "docu-soap reality show" entitled Weed Wars, set in Oakland's Harborside Health Center, the USA's largest medicinal cannabis distributorship. Set to air this fall, Weed Wars will follow the day-to-day dealings of Steve DeAngelo, owner of the establishment, which serves some 80,000 clients. 

The East Bay Express' Legalization Nation blog reports July 13 that organizers expect up to 30,000 to pack Frank H. Ogawa Plaza in front of Oakland City Hall on Sept 3-4 for the International Cannabis and Hemp Expo 2011—dubbed "Mardi Grass" by blogger David Downs. Tickets for the event just went on sale for $18, marking the first time Oakland has turned over public space for a a paid cannabis-oriented event. Plans call for three entertainment stages, some 400 industry vendors, dozens of food trucks, guest celebrities, and heavy hitters from the movement. The expo will also feature an open-air "215" area for medical cannabis patients.

We have noted before that the cannabis industry has a huge carbon footprint—something of a dirty little secret for the legalization movement. David Downs in the July 13 issue of East Bay Express has a fascinating cover-story, "How Green Is Your Pot?" Traveling to backwoods Humboldt County, Downs finds: "A new collective is trying to sell sustainable, organically grown marijuana, but patients are hooked on indoor weed that wastes energy and pollutes the planet."

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) reports that as of July 8, at least 6,600 prisoners in at least 11 of the state’s 33 prisons have joined the hunger strike initiated by some 400 inmates at the Pelican Bay facility on July 1. With large numbers of inmates striking at Corcoran, Folsom, Tehachapi, Centinela, Calpatria and San Quentin state prisons, advocates and lawyers working to support the strike claim the number is much higher, and are pressing the CDCR to enter into negotiations with prisoners at Pelican Bay and immediately implement their demands.

Jim Squatter was already a longtime veteran of the squatting, anti-nuclear and anarchist movements before a devastating accident turned him into a medical marijuana user—and a fighter for the right to medicinal cannabis.

The US Supreme Court ruled on May 23 to uphold an order requiring California to release up to 46,000 prisoners to remedy overcrowding in the state's prisons. The ruling in Brown v. Plata calls on California to reduce its prison population from more than 200% of design capacity to 137.5% of capacity within two years. The 5-4 decision written by Justice Anthony Kennedy finds that the extreme overcrowding of the California prison system is causing inmates to receive inadequate medical care in violation of the Eighth Amendment.

California's Fresno County has banned outdoor medical marijuana growing following the case of Phayvanh Dydouanghphan, who shot to death an intruder who tried to steal his crop. Dydouangphan, a licensed medical grower, was sentenced to life in prison for the crime, AP informs us May 16. County Judge Arlan Harrell, imposing the sentence, said that Dydouangphan "apparently valued his pot more than human life," in AP's paraphrase. A story from Sept. 8 of last year on Fresno's KFSN provides more details on the case: