Email Author Chris Roberts

2012 Stories by Chris Roberts

• "Landmark" Medical Marijuana Dispensary Ruling May Hurt Feds

  published Oct 25, 2012

  A court ruling in San Diego could hinder the federal Justice Department's war on California's legal cannabis industry.In what cannabis advocates called a "landmark ruling," an appeals court in San Die... More >>

• Mayor Ed Lee Blocks Plan to Let Shuttered Pot Clubs Operate on City Property

  published Oct 24, 2012

  The boom and bust cycles that have created jobs and driven up rent and home prices in San Francisco apply to things other than technology. A year ago, there were nearly 30 medical marijuana dispe... More >>

• City's First Union Medical Marijuana Dispensary Opens -- Finally

  published Oct 19, 2012

  San Francisco may be a union town, but that doesn't mean it's easy for a union business to open up shop.Especially if that business is a medical cannabis dispensary.Nearly three and a half years after... More >>

• Feds Play Circular "Game of Gotcha" With Marijuana Prohibition

  published Oct 17, 2012

  Burden Not on DEA to Prove Marijuana Is Dangerous; Judges Asked to Heed Research, Science.Keeping marijuana under the government's list of most controlled, most dangerous substances is easy for the Dr... More >>

• Supervisor Christina Olague Explains Her Vote to Save Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi

  published Oct 10, 2012

  The cheers from no-longer-suspended Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi's supporters were still echoing in City Hall when the fallout started hitting Supervisor Christina Olague.Less than 12 hours after casting th... More >>

• Medical Marijuana Advocates to Protest Obama Tonight

  published Oct 08, 2012

  President Barack Obama sure does love the Bay Area. Northern California has proved to be a very handy ATM for the president, who is making yet another fundraising swing through San Francisco on Monday... More >>

• Tax Cheat or Heror Medical Marijuana Tax Revolt Brewing

  published Oct 05, 2012

  Taxes are never far from Dave Hodges' mind. According to the state of California, Hodges, the founder and operator of the All American Cannabis Club in San Jose, owes almost a quarter million dollars ... More >>

• Palo Alto Mulls Medical Marijuana, With Conservative Backing

  published Oct 04, 2012

  It's a fine town, but Palo Alto is a bit one-dimensional. There's nearby Stanford, and nearby Silicon Valley (fine, that's two dimensions), but not much else is happening in that Peninsula city.But wh... More >>

• Super Friends: Overworked S.F. Reps Hire Extra Aides

  published October 3, 2012

  A bigger government is a hard sell in these times. Or so you'd think listening to national political discourse. But here in San Francisco, it's... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Roseanne Stumps for Medical Marijuana Vote in Oakland

  published Sep 28, 2012

  As third-party hero Gary Johnson cements his status as the most viable alternative presidential candidate in recent memory (the Libertarian challenger to Obama-Romney broke the 10 percent mark in one ... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Medical Marijuana Researchers to Present Findings at UCSF

  published Sep 27, 2012

  The myth that medical cannabis is a myth has been fairly exploded by now -- at least according to, you know, science and healthcare professionals, who have produced data that pot shrinks tumors, sooth... More >>

• Jury Nullification Does Work -- If You're a White Rastafarian

  published Sep 21, 2012

  The right thing isn't always the legal thing, as many moralists venturing inside a courtroom will discover. Mandatory minimums mean a judge must sometimes hand down a stiff sentence. The law is t... More >>

• Medical Marijuana Advocates to Protest at Obama HQ Tonight

  published Sep 20, 2012

  Cannabis advocates have been mad as hell for almost a year now. And as the first anniversary of the war waged on state-legal medical marijuana by President Barack Obama's Justice Department approaches... More >>

• Cops Called to Marijuana Garden Robbery Seize Crop; Growers Could Be Arrested

  published Sep 18, 2012

  Forgive marijuana growers if they're not yet prepared to participate fully in society. The same society asking cannabis cultivators to pay taxes and apply for permits has been locking them up for 40 y... More >>

• Pepperdine University Refuses Student's Internship With Marijuana Policy Project

  published Sep 14, 2012

  Ah, working for free. That unforgettable experience in lean times -- also called an "internship" -- is an entry into the white-collar world for many young go-getters in college.So Victoria Stanzione w... More >>

• East Bay Resident Manages to Keep S.F. Pot Club Closed With Dubious Claims

  published Sep 12, 2012

  It might be difficult to do business in San Francisco, but it's certainly easy to undo a business.All you need to do is say that a park or an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting hall is the same thing as a s... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Paul Ryan's Take on Marijuana: Worthless or Desperater

  published Sep 10, 2012

  Scooping up votes in swing states is how Paul Ryan serves Mitt Romney best. And what better dissatisfied liberal bloc for the Republicans to court than marijuana supporters, stunned by President Obama... More >>

• Endorse the Federal Narcotics Price Support Program and Other Drug War Euphemisms

  published Sep 06, 2012

  To win a war, one must win the minds of the people (unless one chooses to vaporize said minds with a superweapon instead).So the next time you step over a crack-addled soul sprawled out on a Tenderloi... More >>

• Stoners for Obama: Conservatives, Marijuana Activists Blast "Harold and Kumar" Video

  published Sep 04, 2012

  Be honest: Who would you rather knock back a cold one or pull a few tubes of your favorite Choom with -- Barack Obama or Mitt RomneyrNeither, clearly. The portrayal of George W. Bush as an "Alabama Ku... More >>

• Nation's Biggest Marijuana Dispensary Is Wearing Out Its Welcome in San Jose

  published Aug 31, 2012

  It is no secret that Harborside Health Center sells medical cannabis. Harborside sells lots and lots of it, according to U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag, who wants to shut down the dispensary's two locatio... More >>

• Marijuana Elimination Program Is Smaller but Still Helicoptering in Pot Country

  published Aug 29, 2012

  The Campaign Against Marijuana Planting is dead.Long live the Cannabis Eradication Reclamation Team.Last year, rumors that the drug war -- or at least California's role it in -- was over began flying ... More >>

• Marijuana Sweep: Feds Mostly Ignore "Emerald Triangle"

  published Aug 28, 2012

  Another year, another fleet of helicopters hovering overhead and federal agents tramping through publicly owned woods in search of illegal marijuana plots and the (Mexican) people who grow them.In 201... More >>

• California Supreme Court Dismisses Landmark Medical Marijuana Ban

  published Aug 23, 2012

  The courts are a funny thing. A case that caused the sky to fall is six months ago is now being declared irrelevant.A state appeals court case that some feared would cause all medical marijuana dispen... More >>

• Want to Open a Medical Marijuana Dispensary in S.F.r The DEA Is Onto You

  published Aug 22, 2012

  We're no police theorist, but the goals of a law enforcement action are simple: to prevent, to intervene, or otherwise dissuade behavior deemed illegal.If this is the case, the federal Justice Departm... More >>

• Mission Property Owners Ask Feds to Close Medical Marijuana Club That's Not Yet Opened

  published Aug 16, 2012

  Opening a new store, building a backyard deck, erecting a skyscraper -- getting stuff built in San Francisco, known to wonks as "the planning process," is nothing if not participatory. Residents, me... More >>