Back in the 1960s, Laguna Beach was full of hippies and weed. And acid. And also love. Now the hippies, acid and some of the love are gone, but the weed is apparently still here.
Lots of it. Until a few hours ago, that is.
This morning, according to a CNS report, Orange County Sheriff’s Department narcotics investigators discovered a “marijuana cultivation” area in the Muddy Canyon area of the Laguna Wilderness Park. “The location is south of the SR 73 toll road, east of Newport Coast Drive near East Coastal Peak Park and Ridge Park Road,” CNS reports. “The plants are located on property in OC Parks jurisdiction, outside city limits.”
Nick Schou at the OC Weekly has the rest.

A women’s correctional facility in Brush closed in 2010. But it could reopen soon — as a retail marijuana grow, shorthanded by the media as a “pot factory.”
Problem: Brush currently has a moratorium on marijuana businesses. But the city council could lift that ban after a town hall meeting tonight — and Nick Erker, the man behind the proposal, is hoping a sales campaign and a pitch from a popular former Denver Bronco will help him convince officials to give him a chance.
More at the Denver Westword.

Ever since the legitimized cannabis commerce became a reality in the United States, pot peddlers and other weed-slinging warriors in the medicinal and recreational sector have been challenged to track down lenders that do not have gnawing fear of being gang raped in a federal penitentiary to help finance their ventures. This is because traditional banking institutions have flat-out-refused to walk that fine line where the possibility exists that Uncle Sam could show up at their front door, label them money launderers, and then cart the president of the bank off to the nearest tattoo parlor to have a set of giant set of tits branded across his shoulders.
It is for this reason that unconventional lending services have become increasingly more attractive for ganjapreneurs scouring the planet for someone willing to give them a small business loan. And while the majority of these lenders typically market themselves as stiff collared elitists with a nubby chubby for dicey business deals, the newest lender to emerge on the scene pulls no punches regarding its intentions – it aims to profit by lending money to sleazy bastards all across the nation.

The paranoid stoner who seems overly concerned that the government is keeping tabs on his or her movements and behavior is a classic marijuana-user stereotype. But when government organizations like the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment discuss pilot population health surveillance programs that are currently in operation, it’s not hard to see why pot-smokers might be a little paranoid — perhaps justifiably.

Hide yo kids, hide yo wife and hide yo husband. Hash oil is coming to town and it’s dangerous!
Well, it isn’t really dangerous, and Fox News never explains why they seem to think it is – they merely claim it’s “dangerous to handle”. But whatever, it looks good and scary in their headline.

James H. Edwards III, a Miami-Dade Police sergeant and 27-year veteran of the force, now finds himself behind bars. Edwards allegedly provided a 15-year-old boy with booze and drugs, groped the boy, and then masturbated in front of him. He now faces charges of lewd and lascivious conduct and exhibition.
According to the Miami Herald, Edwards was booked into jail this morning but has already been granted an $85,000 bond. He’ll be under house arrest and forbidden from accessing the internet or having any contact with minors. In an odd twist, both the judge and prosecutor during Edwards’ appearance in bond court yesterday morning admitted they knew the officer.