California is a very confusing place. Medical cannabis is somewhat legal, but that three-foot skull bong sticking out of your convertible can earn you a trip to the slammer. Existing law makes it a crime to possess, deliver, furnish, or transfer drug paraphernalia, whether it be pipes, bongs, chillums, roach clips, papers — or everything else you can buy on Haight Street, Telegraph Avenue, and elsewhere. Local Assemblyman Tom Ammiano wanted to end the charade and make pipes legal with Assembly Bill 1811, but California reform group NORML reports this week that the Governor's Office has effectively killed the bill.

eastbayexpress.com

In November 2010, California voters will consider a ballot initiative that would legalize marijuana in the state. The proposed law includes restrictions on sale and use, such as a minimum purchase age of 21, but the bill gives marijuana roughly the same legal status as alcohol. Early polls suggest the measure will pass, although full-scale debate has not yet occurred.

smallgovtimes.com

Almost 100 workers in Oakland's medical marijuana industry have voted to be represented by organized labor, a first-of-its-kind event for an industry trying to build public support.

Marijuana advocates joined leaders of the United Food and Commercial Workers union in making the announcement Friday. Californians are split over a November ballot measure that would legalize use of marijuana by adults 21 and older, but proponents of the initiative hoped labor can now give them a boost.

"I think it's another historic step toward ending cannabis prohibition," said Richard Lee, founder and president of Oaksterdam University and a proponent of the Tax Cannabis 2010 initiative.

.insidebayarea.com
bizjournals.com
nytimes.com
examiner.com
sfgate.com

In the 60s hippies fled to the backwoods of northern California to grow pot. There they have been joined by growers of 'medical marijuana' – available with a doctor's recommendation – as well as by Mexican drug cartels. With cannabis now its largest cash crop, the state will soon vote on whether to legalise it fully – and even Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is thinking the enormous tax revenues might just solve his budget deficit…

guardian.co.uk

California's medical marijuana dispensaries generate as much as $1.3 billion in sales and $105 million dollars in state sales taxes, according to new -- and dramatically increased -- state sales estimates.

The new calculations by California's Board of Equalization reflect both a burgeoning legal medical pot trade and improvements by the state in calculating the scale of the industry.

sacbee.com

For much of his life, Richard Lee needed neither liberation nor a cause.

The Oakland medical pot entrepreneur, who spent $1.3 million to qualify this November's initiative to make recreational pot use legal in California, once lived for thundering his Harley-Davidson motorcycle down Texas highways.

His father, Bob Lee, said his son used to ride to a Houston airport, climb into an ultralight airplane and soar above the rice fields, "playing tag with the seagulls."

sacbee.com
ukiahdailyjournal.com
miamiherald.com
whyprohibition.ca

What's that smell in the air, wafting from bus stops, parks, and most any street corner? It's evidence of a cavalier attitude regarding open-air cannabis consumption: This is San Francisco, after all -- feel free to puff away freely.

Or, maybe not.

According to statistics obtained by SF Weekly, marijuana-related arrests are up by nearly 15 percent. The San Francisco Police Department arrested 1,637 people in San Francisco for pot-related offenses in 2009, according to its own count. This is way up from 1,428 arrests in 2008; that's a 14.6 percent jump (conviction and jailing statistics are sadly absent).

sfweekly.com

When it comes to marijuana policy, California has been stuck in a fairy tale for decades.

This particular fairy tale is like "The Emperor's New Clothes."

Everybody can see that marijuana prohibition has done nothing to prevent its use, and that arresting tens of thousands Californians every year for misdemeanor possession diverts police resources from violent felonies.

sfgate.com