Global Ganja Report

San Diego authorities said they have reached an agreement with a North Park landlord to evict cannabis dispensaries and massage parlors from his properties. San Diego City Attorney Jan Goldsmith said the owner of the building, at 4009-4010 Park Blvd., agreed to evict four dispensaries and a dozen massage parlors after authorities determined the businesses were violating zoning laws. Police said they believe the cannabis businesses were the cause of recent increases in traffic, loitering and public cannabis smoking in the area. Goldsmith said the landlord agreed to pay $10,000 in civil penalties without admitting liability. (UPI, Sept. 30)

The US Navy transport ship USS New Orleans recovered an estimated 1,800 pounds of cannabis from a small boat off the coast of San Diego Aug. 20. Coast Guard officials received a call about a 20-foot fishing boat apparently from Mexico, and requested the New Orleans respond as they were operating in the vicinity. As the New Orleans approached, the boat's crew dumped several bundles overboard. Officials said some 1,800 pounds of cannabis was recovered from the dumped bundles. The recovered cannabis and several crew members were turned over to the Mexican navy.

On July 25, following extensive testimony from medical cannabis advocates, the San Diego City Council voted to repeal an ordinance passed in April that would have restricted dispensaries to a few remote industrial areas of the city. Only a couple of collectives would have been allowed to open after they came into compliance with one of the most strict ordinances in the state of California. The City Council must now consider the recommendations of its own Medical Marijuana Task Force, which came up with a less restrictive set of rules—although still keeping dispensaries 1,000 feet away from schools, playgrounds, libraries, childcare facilities.

Five medical cannabis activists were arrested April 12 in the San Diego City Council chambers protesting the final vote on a local distribution ordinance, which advocates say imposes a citywide de facto ban on collectives. During the hearing, members of the Stop the Ban Campaign—a coalition of over 20 local, state, and national groups spearheaded by Canvass for a Cause and the San Diego chapter of Americans for Safe Access (ASA)—repeatedly chanted "We demand safe access!" The action forced the council to clear the chambers, postponing a critical vote on the ordinance.

US authorities discovered a 1,800-foot tunnel linking drug warehouses in San Diego and Tijuana that led to the seizure of more than 25 tons of cannabis Nov. 2—one of the largest-ever drug seizures in San Diego. Mexican soldiers raided the warehouse at the other end of the tunnel the following day, and found about four tons of cannabis. "I can promise you there are some very unhappy people in the cartel," said John Morton, director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which leads the multi-agency San Diego Tunnel Task Force. About 75 tunnels under the US-Mexico border have been unearthed in the last four years, most in various states of construction. (LAT, Nov. 4)

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."

San Diego area medical marijuana dispensary operator Jovan Jackson was convicted by a jury Sept. 28 on all three counts of possession and sales. The conviction came after San Diego Superior Court Judge Howard H. Shore refused to allow Jackson a medical defense at trial. The jury took less than 24 hours to reach a verdict. Jackson is likely to appeal the conviction and his inability to use a medical defense. Leading medical marijuana patients' rights group Americans for Safe Access (ASA) had previously submitted a brief in Jackson's case supporting his right to a medical defense and is considering assisting with an appeal.

Opening arguments began Sept. 20 for the second trial in less than a year against Jovan Jackson, a San Diego medical marijuana patient and dispensary operator who was arrested in a multi-agency raid in September 2009. A jury acquitted Jackson in December of possession and distribution charges stemming from a 2008 arrest. This time, however, District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis convinced Superior Court Judge Howard H. Shore to deny Jackson a medical defense, seriously limiting his chances of a second acquittal.