City

City cannabis industry could be affected by federal intervention

Berkeley Patients Group, located on San Pablo Avenue in Berkeley, is one of the city's three licensed medical cannabis dispensaries.
Jan Flatley-Feldman/Staff
Berkeley Patients Group, located on San Pablo Avenue in Berkeley, is one of the city's three licensed medical cannabis dispensaries.

Medical cannabis is viewed as both a burgeoning industry and a cause of judicial contention for many people in California and across the country. In Berkeley, federal intervention is beginning to affect the city’s small — but growing — medical cannabis industry. In recent months, the U.S. Department of Justice Read More…

Editorials

Weeding out unfairness

CITY AFFAIRS: The courts should side with Oakland in its challenge against the federal government’s crackdown on medical marijuana.

Oakland deserves to win its bold challenge to the federal government that authorities should not shut down medical marijuana dispensaries operating in full compliance with state law. Due to a crackdown on medical marijuana initiated by the U.S. Department of Justice last year, many California dispensaries face the possibility of Read More…

City

A man walks by the Berkeley Patients Care Collective, one of the city’s three dispensaries.

City medical cannabis commission to develop policy guidelines

At the oft-delayed first meeting of the city’s reconstituted Medical Cannabis Commission Thursday, commission members made it clear they plan to develop guidelines for local medical marijuana policies in the interest of cannabis patients, despite unfavorable signals regarding marijuana from the federal government. The commission is charged with establishing a Read More…

Crime & Courts

Berkeley real estate investor pleads guilty to conspiracy charges

Following a joint investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and divisions of the U.S. Department of Justice, the department announced that eight Northern California real estate investors — including one from Berkeley — agreed to enter guilty pleas for their alleged involvement in conspiracies to rig bids at foreclosure Read More…

City

Harborside Health Center is one of the largest medical marijuana dispensaries in Oakland.

Potential federal crackdown could threaten Berkeley ‘cannabusinesses’

The federal government is now positioned to raise the heat on the issue of medical marijuana in California, possibly threatening Berkeley’s voter-approved efforts to develop cannabis-related business. This potentially increased scrutiny is due to a strongly worded letter from the U.S. Department of Justice to U.S. attorneys, which may result Read More…