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Cop Who Gave Snitch A Pound Of Marijuana Resigns

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By on News

Photo: San Leandro Talk
Jason Fredriksson allegedly decided he liked informant nookie so much, he’d give the snitch a pound of weed.

​A San Leandro, California police detective accused of giving more than a pound of marijuana to a female informant with whom he was having an extramarital affair, has resigned.

Jason Fredriksson, 38, told San Leandro officials of his decision on Friday, said his attorney, Harry Stern, reports Chris De Benedetti of the The Oakland Tribune.
“He weighed his overall situation against the idea if litigating the employment aspect of it, and he decided it would be in everybody’s best interest for him to resign,” Stern said.
Fredriksson, one of four detectives in the department’s vice/narcotics unit, has been a San Leandro officer since 2002. He has admitted to banging a police snitch.
He pleaded not guilty on May 20 to one count of transporting and furnishing marijuana to the woman.
“There is no evidence concerning the idea that he provided marijuana to the informant,” Stern said “Jason took responsibility for having the relationship with the informant. He let down his family, first and foremost, and the department. And it was on that basis that he chose to resign.”
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Oakland Could Charge $211K A Year For Pot Cultivation Permit

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By on Dispensaries, Growing, Medical

Photo: Hollywood Grind

Oakland, California’s plan to license and regulate large-scale medical marijuana farms have taken another tentative step forward after several setbacks. Unfortunately, the news isn’t particularly good for smaller growers.
The city’s rules and laws about medicinal cannabis dispensaries have sometimes been controversial, but mostly successful, with four dispensaries in town servicing thousands of patients and enjoying about $28 million in annual sales, reports Sean Maher at the Oakland Tribune.
But City Council members including Desley Brooks have long argued that there is little local control over where those four dispensaries get their marijuana. They have proposed, instead, city-licensed, industrial-scale marijuana grow operations to supply the dispensaries.
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Poll: Californians Evenly Divided On Legalizing Marijuana

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By on Culture, Legislation

Graphic: Earth First

This one’s going down to the wire. ​California voters are evenly divided for and against legalizing marijuana, according to poll results released Wednesday. The survey shows 49 percent oppose legalization while 48 percent support it.

Politics, geography and demographics seem to predict which side of the cannabis divide people are on: 56 percent of Democrats and 55 percent of independents favor legalization while only 34 percent of Republicans support it, reports Josh Richman at The Oakland Tribune.
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Philadelphia Marijuana Arrests Point To Racial Bias

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By on News

Graphic: Philly NORML

​Something more than criminal activity underlies the extraordinarily high numbers of marijuana possession arrests among blacks in Philadelphia, reports Linn Washington Jr. of The Philadelphia Tribune.

Across Pennsylvania, whites accounted for 58 percent of marijuana possession arrests in 2008, according to the Pennsylvania Uniform Crime Report (UCR) covering that year.
But in Philadelphia during the same year, black males accounted for 82.8 percent of the 4,716 adults arrested for smoking (not selling) marijuana, according to statistics harvested from Pennsylvania’s UCR by the Philadelphia chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).
Blacks and whites account for roughly equal proportions of Philadelphia’s population, with 43 percent blacks and 45 percent whites, according to the 2000 Census.
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Cannabis & Hemp Expo Coming To The Cow Palace

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By on Culture, News, Products

Graphic: International Cannabis & Hemp Expo

​The International Cannabis & Hemp Expo is coming to Daly City, California’s Cow Palace next month. Organizers say no marijuana will be sold during the expo, planned for April 17 and 18.

“It’s mainly to bring awareness and education to the public” on the medical, recreational and industrial uses of cannabis, according to Bob Katzman, the expo’s chief operations officer.
“We want to enlighten people on the fact that we are looking at an estimated $8 billion-a-year industry in California alone,” Katzman said, reports Neil Gonzales of the San Mateo County Times.

Patients are allowed to bring their own medical marijuana to the Cow Palace, according to organizers, but they will need to show valid documentation before they can enter a “safe, secure” designated outdoor smoking area.
​”It will be an area outside the building and only accessible to people who prove to have a valid prescription [he means a doctor’s recommendation]for medical marijuana use,” Cow Palace CEO Joe Barkett told The Oakland Tribune.
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S.F. Suburb Stops Short Of Banning Pot Dispensaries

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By on Dispensaries, Legislation, Medical

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Despite a moratorium on the opening of any new dispensaries, beautiful Richmond, California still has safe access for medical marijuana patients — for now.

​East Bay city Richmond, Calif., will hold off on an outright ban of medical marijuana dispensaries, Katherine Tam reports in The Oakland Tribune.

City leaders in Richmond, an residential inner suburb of San Francisco, say they are still looking for a way to regulate dispensaries without exhausting police resources, “which should be focused on homicides and more serious violent crimes.”
Richmond officials plan to study other cities’ tactics as they weigh their options.
“See if there is a way to try to accomplish the goal of getting a convenient way for people to have access to medical marijuana in a way that doesn’t lead to constant drains of police resources,” said Councilman Jim Rogers.
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