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Marijuana legalization

Residents now must register with the Pullman Police Department to engage in the production, distribution or cultivation of medical marijuana in the city.

Washington city to require regsitration for pot cultivation

Last updated Thursday, March 1, 2012 - 12:37pm

PULLMAN, Wash. -- Residents now must register with the Pullman Police Department to engage in the production, distribution or cultivation of medical marijuana in the city.

But the steps necessary to obtain registration could be impossible, for the time being.

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Calif. doctors' group calls for pot legalization

Ryan Sabalow Redding Record Searchlight

Last updated Monday, October 17, 2011 - 1:22pm

Calling prohibition of marijuana "a failed public health policy," California's largest doctors group says the federal government should legalize the drug so it can be studied, taxed and regulated.

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Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times/MCT
Although Proposition 19 was defeated in California, voters in 10 cities overwhelmingly approved taxes on sales of medical and recreational marijuana.

Clinics in L.A. turn against pot tax

John Hoeffel, Los Angeles Times

Last updated Monday, March 7, 2011 - 1:54pm

LOS ANGELES -- When Oakland's voters slapped the nation's first tax on marijuana sales a year and a half ago, the city's dispensaries backed the ballot measure, pushing it as a way to be seen as legitimate businesses.

And when voters in 10 California cities decided on pot taxes in November, the elections were largely uncontroversial. The taxes all passed by more than two-thirds.

But in Los Angeles, where voters decide Tuesday whether to create a pot tax, medical marijuana activists who once urged City Hall to tax and regulate them are hoping to defeat the proposal, angered by the council's decision to limit the number of dispensaries to 100 and choose them by lottery.

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Plans for "industrial" pot production may go up in smoke

Peter Hecht, Sacramento Bee

Last updated Thursday, December 30, 2010 - 12:37pm

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Former construction industry executive Jeff Wilcox has a $20 million bet riding on the future of marijuana commercialization in California.

That is what his AgraMed Inc. venture has invested in a warehouse near the Oakland waterfront and a bid to open a "business park for the cannabis industry." He hopes to lease the space to pot growers, bakeries, labs and processing facilities and to create hundreds of well-paying jobs.

But Wilcox is in limbo after Oakland officials last week suspended a plan to issue four licenses for factory-scale production of medical marijuana. Wilcox is only the most pronounced of numerous suitors for the coveted permits who suddenly have cause to worry.

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Ed Andrieski/The Associated Press
In this Friday, Nov. 19, 2010 picture, samples of marijuana are tested in an oven at Full Spectrum Laboratories in Denver. "You don't go into a Walgreens with a headache and put on a blindfold and pick something off a shelf. But that's what some people are doing when they buy marijuana," said Buckie Minor of Full Spectrum Laboratories, which currently does voluntary marijuana analysis for about 100 growers and dispensaries. Minor and others in the pot business say industry standards are needed. But Colorado officials are having a tough time writing regulations for a product that's never been scrutinized or safety-tested before.

Colorado mulls difficulties of pot rules

Kristen Wyatt, The Associated Press

Last updated Friday, November 26, 2010 - 4:25pm

DENVER -- What's in that joint, and how can you be sure it's safe?

Colorado is working toward becoming the first state to regulate production of medical marijuana. Regulators say pot consumers deserve to know what they're smoking, and producers should have safety regulations such as pesticide limits for plants destined for human consumption.

Right now, patients have no way to verify pot-shop claims that certain products are organic, or how potent a strain might be.

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Calif rejects legal pot, but cities embrace drug

Marcus Wohlsen, The Associated Press

Last updated Saturday, November 13, 2010 - 6:14pm

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Californians may have rejected legalizing recreational marijuana, but voters across the state are more than ready to reap revenue from the state's largest cash crop.

On Election Day, all 10 cities with local measures on their ballots approved new or higher taxes on marijuana sales that put the need for cash above the stigma of a federally banned drug.

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Pot proponents ready for 2012

John Hoeffel, Los Angeles Times

Last updated Wednesday, November 10, 2010 - 9:30am

LOS ANGELES -- Despite Proposition 19's loss at the polls last week, marijuana legalization advocates in California are already working on their comeback plan for 2012 and are almost giddy about their prospects.

They see the election as a trial run that could lead to a campaign with a better message, a tighter measure and more money.

Both the winning and losing sides say California's voters rejected this specific initiative, but remain open to legalizing the easily obtainable drug.

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