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)

Eviction notices from local and federal authorities shut down eight cannabis dispensaries in Orange County's Lake Forest this week, after years of litigation over zoning and more than $600,000 in legal fees. The dispensaries, in suites on the second floor of a strip mall, included Lake Forest Patients Group, Pharmers' Choice, Cannabis Permanente, Evergreen Holistic, Cooperative, Florentina Organic, Independent Collective of Orange County and The Health Collective.

Five cannabis dispensaries were raided by a multi-agency task force in Southern California Oct. 6, with 11 arrested in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Diego counties. Among those targeted was the Alternative Medicine Collective of Covina. "This organization was definitely working outside the law," said Capt. Ralph Ornelas of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Narcotics Bureau said. "Our investigation proved they were charging people and making a profit out of it. You're not supposed to make a profit."