Global Ganja Report

A Shasta County Superior Court judge on March 15 denied the town of Redding's request for a court order that would have closed down medical marijuana dispensaries across the city. Judge Stephen Baker's ruling relied heavily on the 4th District Court of Appeal decision in City of Lake Forest v. Evergreen, issued Feb. 29. The appellate court in the Lake Forest case ruled the city violated state law with its attempt to ban dispensing medical marijuana by declaring the dispensaries nuisances. The Orange County municipality tried to label its dispensaries nuisances solely because of their existence and not because of any illegal activity, the court ruled. (Record Searchlight, March 15)

ThinkProgress notes that over the last 48 hours, there has been a sustained effort to smear Trayvon Martin, the unarmed 17-year old African American shot dead last month in Sanford, FL, by self-appointed "neighborhood watch" vigilante George Zimmerman—who has notoriously still not been arrested. Martin's mother, Sybrina Fulton, said, "They killed my son, now they're trying to kill his reputation." Sleazy tricks apparently include circulation of a picture on Michelle Malkin's website Twitchy of a tough-looking kid in baggy pants which was passed off as from Martin's Facebook page (it wasn't—his actual Facebook photo is pictured here). Here are some other dirty tricks documented by ThinkProgress:

An odd irony has emerged around the pending Supreme Court decision on Obamacare. As Daily Beast notes, liberal advocates of Obama's "individual mandate" are pointing to the 2005 high court decision Gonzales v. Raich, in which the justices upheld Congress' ability to ban the growth of cannabis even in states that have legalized medical marijuana—rejecting the claims of California activist Angel Raich and two co-plaintiffs, who had sued to block enforcement of federal marijuana laws against them. Advocates note that Justice Antonin Scalia deviated from his "states' rights" principles in siding with the majority. He wrote:

A judge for the US District Court for the Eastern District of California on Feb. 28 dismissed a lawsuit challenging the US Attorney's authority to prosecute medical marijuana providers in the state. The suit was filed in November by Sacramento's El Camino Wellness Center Collective, after the US Attorney's Office sent a letter to the collective and its landlord warning that its activities violated federal law.

Washington's I-502—an initiative approved for the ballot in December—is creating a storm of dissension within the state's cannabis community. The measure would legalize possession of up to one ounce of cannabis by adults 21 and over, but limit sales to state-licensed stores overseen by the liquor control board. It contains no provision permitting home grow. It also contains a Driving Under the Influence of Cannabis (DUIC) provision that would make anyone guilty if they test at above 5 nanograms per milliliter (ng/ml) of active THC in blood. Critics call this an unscientific and arbitrary level.

Legislators in Colorado face a bill that would establish the nation's first "responsible medical marijuana vendor" designation, giving cannabis business the option to train employees in a state-approved program. The state Medical Marijuana Enforcement Division already requires cannabis workers to undergo background checks. Employees must wear state-issued badges and be under video surveillance at all times they are handling cannabis seeds, plants or products. The proposed "responsible vendor" designation would go to businesses whose employees have had additional training in such issues as identifying legal medical marijuana cards. 

Rep. Bob Filner became the first mayoral candidate Feb. 28 to endorse San Diego's Compassionate Use Dispensary Regulation and Taxation initiative, which would tax and regulate medical marijuana in the city. "It just makes sense to regulate medical marijuana, otherwise, as a city, we limit our ability to conduct oversight," Filner said. "If medical marijuana is prohibited, the city misses out on valuable revenue, and patients don't have legal access or the ability to manage pain and enjoy regular activities."

The "Westies"—Manhattan's "Irish Mafia," notorious for running loan-sharking and extortion rackets in the West Side neighborhood of Hell's Kitchen 20 years ago—have suddenly resurfaced with a highly sophisticated scheme using a fleet of private jets to smuggle high-grade cannabis from Northern California to cities across the country, authorities told the New York Post.