Mendocino County's economic future may rest with a marijuana-fueled version of Wine Country, complete with tasting rooms, bud boutiques and pot-garden tourism.

"It's the only thing we have that brings money into the county," said Mendocino County Supervisor John Pinches, who believes that marijuana accounts for at least half of the county economy.

Estimates of the value of the county's pot crop range from $1.2 billion to $4.4 billion. In comparison, the county's total taxable retail sales were $1.3 billion in 2007, according to the Center for Economic Development at CSU Chico.

pressdemocrat.com

A 99-plant maximum for permitted marijuana growers is the new limit after the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted 3-2 to adopt a set of changes to its ordinance governing medical marijuana cultivation, codified as Chapter 9.31 of the county code.

Fifth District Supervisor David Colfax and 3rd District Supervisor John Pinches voted against the changes.

"The people of California voted Prop. 215 (for) medical marijuana to be legal, but yet now we're going to get the sheriff department involved and coming into the houses and their bedrooms and stuff ... to me, that's not the whole concept of what legal' means," Pinches said.

ukiahdailyjournal.com

Los Angeles County, which has seen a whirlwind expansion in medical marijuana dispensaries this year, has notched another marijuana milestone. The county has moved to No. 5 for the amount seized in the state's annual eradication campaign, with 340,187 pot plants uprooted -- more than a fourfold increase.

Statewide, the 27-year-old effort, known as the Campaign Against Marijuana Planting, found and destroyed almost 4.5 million plants in 41 counties, up from 2.9 million seized in each of the two prior years' growing season. The amount has climbed steadily since 1996, when California voters approved the nation's first medical marijuana law.

latimes.com

According to figures provided to CelebStoner by CAMP (Campaign Against Marijuana Planting), 4.463,917 marijuana plants were seized this year in California - a huge increase over last year's total of 2,905,232. More than three-quarters of the plants were pulled from public lands during a total of 665 raids that resulted in 111 arrests. CAMP estimates the plant value at $17.8 billion.

County

1 - Shasta
2 - Lake
3 - Mendocino
4 - Fresno
5 - Los Angeles

celebstoner.com

Die Gesetzgeber des Bundesstaates hatten am letzten Mittwoch eine Anhörung über die Regulierung und Besteuerung der kommerziellen Produktion und Verteilung von Marihuana für Erwachsene ab 21 Jahren.

Mitglieder des kalifornischen Kommitees für die öffentliche Sicherheit haben zu dem Treffen, das “Untersuchungen zur Finanziellen und Rechtlichen Stellung der Legalisierung und Regulierung von Marihuana” getitelt wurde, eingeladen. Die Anhörung wurde von Tom Ammiano geleitet, dem Unterstützer des Gesetzesvorschlag 390, der zu Marihuana Kontrolle, Regulierung und Bildung vorschlägt.

hanfplantage.de

Photographer Mathieu Young captures some beautiful images of marijuana harvest in Mendocino.

mathieuyoung.com

California's pot police have again shattered records for confiscating marijuana.

The state's Campaign Against Marijuana Planting seized 4.4 million marijuana plants during this year's eradication operations of four-and-a-half months, up from last year's take of 2.9 million, officials said Wednesday.

State Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement spokeswoman Michelle Gregory attributed the hike to increased cultivation and more comprehensive eradication.

pressdemocrat.com