#Ryan Coonerty

[thechristiancrusader]

Violent removal of kids by private citizens hired by the gov to force kids into privately owned #ReunificationCamps that force kids to interact w/abusive parents&their location is kept secret from family members! Kids were never heard from after this video https://lookout.co/santacruz/civic-life/story/2022-11-04/court-ordered-reunification-therapy-after-violent-video-goes-viral-ryan-coonerty-sonja-brunner-seek-answers

[humanengineers]

Local Government: Where Democracy Goes to Live | Ryan Coonerty | TEDxSantaCruz

Local Government: Where Democracy Goes to Live | Ryan Coonerty | TEDxSantaCruz

Source | YouTube | TEDx Talks

Ryan Coonerty is Chair of the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors and the two-time former Mayor of Santa Cruz. He is also an entrepreneur, author, and educator. He is currently the host of “An Honorable Profession” podcast and a lecturer on law and government at UC Santa Cruz. Previously, he cofounded NextSpace Coworking, co-authored of The Rise of the Naked…

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this LA Times story:

For most humans, life on these jagged islands off the coast of San Francisco would be a nightmare: Waves lash the shore with treacherous force, the stench of guano fills the air, and the screech of seagulls is so loud that resident scientists wear earplugs to bed.

The islands boast one of the world’s largest breeding colonies for seabirds, including the rare ashy storm-petrel, and their beaches are covered with lolling sea lions and seals. The waters surrounding the islands teem with 18 species of whales and dolphins.

The islands also host tens of thousands of house mice — an invasive species that is wreaking havoc on the native ecosystem, according to biologists.

The explosive growth in mice has attracted burrowing owls, who not only eat the mice but also prey upon the storm-petrels, a rare bird with a declining population.

The federal government contends that the only way to get rid of the mice is to drop 1.5 tons of rat poison pellets from a helicopter onto the islands. But Bay Area conservationists are worried that the poison, an increasingly controversial rodenticide called brodifacoum, will kill other species and make its way up the food chain.

“This is a case of using a shotgun to go after an ant,” said Richard Charter of the Ocean Foundation, one of the plan’s fiercest opponents.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the agency that manages the Farallones, acknowledges that while some non-target species will likely be killed in the process, broadcasting poison over the islands is a tried-and-true method of tackling rodent infestations. Biologists say that the long-term benefits will far outweigh any collateral damage.

“If we didn’t believe this option was going to dramatically benefit the islands, and safely and effectively, we wouldn’t be recommending it,” said Doug Cordell, spokesman for the Fish and Wildlife Service.

The issue is expected to come to a head on Wednesday, when the California Coastal Commission holds a public hearing on the plan.

The FWS published a final environmental impact statement in March, a 300-page document more than a decade in the making. Since its draft was published in 2013, more than 34,000 people have signed a Change.org petition objecting to the proposal.

Santa Cruz County Supervisor Ryan Coonerty has also spoken out against the plan and urged the Coastal Commission to oppose it. The commission’s staff, however, released a report expressing its support for the project, saying it was consistent with the state’s marine protection and water quality policies.

[gordonwilliamsweb]

Needle Exchanges Are Targeted by Eco-Rooted Lawsuits. A New California Law Will Stop That.

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. — For more than 30 years, public health officials and nonprofits in California have provided clean hypodermic needles to people who use them to inject drugs.

For nearly that entire time, opponents have accused the free needle programs of promoting drug use and homelessness.

But recently, opponents have deployed a novel strategy to shut them down: using environmental regulations to sue over needle waste. They argue that contaminated needles pollute parks and waterways — and their lawsuits have succeeded across the state.

A bill signed Monday by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom will thwart that tactic.

Environmental challenges have already forced free needle programs in Orange County, Chico and Eureka to close or modify their operations.

The new law comes at a critical moment for a program in Santa Cruz. A final court ruling that could determine the fate of the program is expected within days, and it’s not clear how the law will affect the judge’s decision.

“We’re in the midst of an opioid crisis,” said Assembly member Joaquin Arambula (D-Fresno), a physician who wrote the bill Newsom signed, AB 1344. “We need all the tools that we have available for us to address this crisis head-on.”

Despite the legislative victory, lawsuits to challenge needle programs on other grounds are still possible, and local ordinances banning needle exchanges have flourished across California.

Under the new law, which takes effect Jan. 1, opponents of free needle programs will no longer be able to sue over violations of the California Environmental Quality Act, known as CEQA.

CEQA requires projects that need approval from a public agency or receive public funding to be assessed for their potential environmental impacts. This requirement applies to major construction projects, like reservoirs and freeway overpasses, and localized ones such as affordable housing. CEQA is enforced by lawsuits and has been invoked over the years to stop or slow unpopular proposals, like homeless shelters.

California allows licensed physicians to give clean needles to patients without authorization. Free needle programs run by local governments or community groups must be approved by the state, a county or city.

These programs, which allow people to dispose of used “rigs” and get new ones, attempt to reduce the spread of HIV and hepatitis C, which can spread among drug users who share needles, and decrease infections among users. Some are true “exchanges” that require people to turn in a used needle to get a new one. Others allow people to take what they need without returning them.

In the past few years, opponents have started focusing on the programs’ environmental impacts because some needles end up on the ground or in creeks and rivers.

Walt McNeill, a lawyer in Nevada City, California, challenged nonprofit-run needle programs in Chico, Eureka and Santa Cruz on behalf of local officials, former law enforcement officers and community groups.

McNeill said his clients aren’t opposed to needle programs in general, just ones they believe are run irresponsibly. “You have no idea where the needles are going, and no way of recovering needles effectively,” he said.

The trend in environmental challenges began a few years ago when the only needle program in Orange County shut down following a CEQA lawsuit. In 2020, a program created to address needle pollution in Chico closed after it settled a CEQA lawsuit, then later reopened on a smaller scale under a physician’s authority. Also in 2020, Eureka officials wouldn’t reauthorize a needle program after McNeill challenged it on environmental grounds.

Last year, McNeill sued one of two free needle programs in Santa Cruz County. Run by the Harm Reduction Coalition of Santa Cruz County, it operates out of a van and serves up to 75 people each Sunday on the same street corner in an industrial part of town. The complaint alleged the program “spread tens of thousands of used and unused hypodermic needle ‘litter’” throughout the community and has led to “environmental degradation of the creeks, streams, rivers and beaches.”

A superior court judge in Sacramento is expected to hand down her ruling soon. McNeill said he’s confident the judge will side with his clients despite the new law because of other flaws in the program. If she disagrees, he said, he may file another suit on other grounds.

“No matter how you slice it, the program will be deauthorized,” he said.

But Denise Elerick, founder of the coalition, said she believes her program will survive. She said arguments about needle litter mask anti-homeless sentiment.

“They say it’s about the environment but it’s not. They want people to die and disappear,” she said.

Decades of research shows that needle giveaways aren’t a major source of pollution, and that people who get needles from an exchange are more likely to dispose of them properly than those who don’t.

A 2019 study by Santa Cruz County’s Health Services Agency found that for every 10 needles that ended up on the ground or in a river, 1,000 made it into a sharps container, used to collect used needles, or an official disposal point. The report concluded that reducing needle litter would require more syringe programs and disposal sites, not fewer.

The Santa Cruz program, which began in 2018, gives out as many syringes as people request.

In addition to offering nine sizes of syringes, the program gives out sharps containers, ranging in capacity from a quarter gallon to 8 gallons, which can be returned, picked up or left at disposal kiosks around town.

On one Sunday in August, 56 people stopped by the van and 51 sharps containers were distributed. The coalition would not disclose how many needles it typically gives away.

The clients also gathered supplies to protect them from staph infections, covid and other dangers: condoms, hand sanitizer, masks, alcohol pads, drug-testing strips to ferret out fentanyl, and medication to reverse overdoses. The program even offered clean pipes to encourage that drugs be smoked — rather than injected — and reduce the spread of covid from sharing pipes.

Many who line up each week live in nearby parks and alongside creeks that are the focus of opponents’ environmental concerns. They said they have a vested interest in keeping the environment clean.

“Just because we’re drug addicts doesn’t mean we don’t take care of ourselves,” said one woman, 35. (In order to observe how the program works, KHN agreed not to name the people procuring supplies.) “Yeah, I live in a tent, but my tent is clean. I try to take care of other people and I take care of myself.”

The new law comes too late for programs like Chico’s, because the city has since passed an ordinance banning syringe exchanges. Similar bans have been adopted in Anaheim, Oroville, Butte County, Yuba City and elsewhere in the past few years.

Ryan Coonerty, a Santa Cruz County supervisor, said the county likely won’t adopt a ban, though he’s disappointed by Newsom’s decision. He believes the nonprofit needle program in Santa Cruz contributes to needle pollution more than the county-run program, which requires people to turn in used needles to get fresh ones.

“We will continue to struggle with needle litter and, unfortunately, not get any help from the state to stop needles from going into the ocean, parks and beaches,” he said.

But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other public health agencies say one-for-one programs limit the ways people can safely dispose of sharps, forcing them to hang onto their needles until the next needle exchange. That’s not realistic, according to the people who lined up to get needles from the Santa Cruz program.

“A lot of us are homeless,” said one 40-year-old woman, “and we can only stay someplace for so long.”

This story was produced by KHN, which publishes California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation.

KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.

USE OUR CONTENT

This story can be republished for free (details).

Needle Exchanges Are Targeted by Eco-Rooted Lawsuits. A New California Law Will Stop That. published first on https://nootropicspowdersupplier.tumblr.com/

[stephenmccull]

Needle Exchanges Are Targeted by Eco-Rooted Lawsuits. A New California Law Will Stop That.

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. — For more than 30 years, public health officials and nonprofits in California have provided clean hypodermic needles to people who use them to inject drugs.

For nearly that entire time, opponents have accused the free needle programs of promoting drug use and homelessness.

But recently, opponents have deployed a novel strategy to shut them down: using environmental regulations to sue over needle waste. They argue that contaminated needles pollute parks and waterways — and their lawsuits have succeeded across the state.

A bill signed Monday by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom will thwart that tactic.

Environmental challenges have already forced free needle programs in Orange County, Chico and Eureka to close or modify their operations.

The new law comes at a critical moment for a program in Santa Cruz. A final court ruling that could determine the fate of the program is expected within days, and it’s not clear how the law will affect the judge’s decision.

“We’re in the midst of an opioid crisis,” said Assembly member Joaquin Arambula (D-Fresno), a physician who wrote the bill Newsom signed, AB 1344. “We need all the tools that we have available for us to address this crisis head-on.”

Despite the legislative victory, lawsuits to challenge needle programs on other grounds are still possible, and local ordinances banning needle exchanges have flourished across California.

Under the new law, which takes effect Jan. 1, opponents of free needle programs will no longer be able to sue over violations of the California Environmental Quality Act, known as CEQA.

CEQA requires projects that need approval from a public agency or receive public funding to be assessed for their potential environmental impacts. This requirement applies to major construction projects, like reservoirs and freeway overpasses, and localized ones such as affordable housing. CEQA is enforced by lawsuits and has been invoked over the years to stop or slow unpopular proposals, like homeless shelters.

California allows licensed physicians to give clean needles to patients without authorization. Free needle programs run by local governments or community groups must be approved by the state, a county or city.

These programs, which allow people to dispose of used “rigs” and get new ones, attempt to reduce the spread of HIV and hepatitis C, which can spread among drug users who share needles, and decrease infections among users. Some are true “exchanges” that require people to turn in a used needle to get a new one. Others allow people to take what they need without returning them.

In the past few years, opponents have started focusing on the programs’ environmental impacts because some needles end up on the ground or in creeks and rivers.

Walt McNeill, a lawyer in Nevada City, California, challenged nonprofit-run needle programs in Chico, Eureka and Santa Cruz on behalf of local officials, former law enforcement officers and community groups.

McNeill said his clients aren’t opposed to needle programs in general, just ones they believe are run irresponsibly. “You have no idea where the needles are going, and no way of recovering needles effectively,” he said.

The trend in environmental challenges began a few years ago when the only needle program in Orange County shut down following a CEQA lawsuit. In 2020, a program created to address needle pollution in Chico closed after it settled a CEQA lawsuit, then later reopened on a smaller scale under a physician’s authority. Also in 2020, Eureka officials wouldn’t reauthorize a needle program after McNeill challenged it on environmental grounds.

Last year, McNeill sued one of two free needle programs in Santa Cruz County. Run by the Harm Reduction Coalition of Santa Cruz County, it operates out of a van and serves up to 75 people each Sunday on the same street corner in an industrial part of town. The complaint alleged the program “spread tens of thousands of used and unused hypodermic needle ‘litter’” throughout the community and has led to “environmental degradation of the creeks, streams, rivers and beaches.”

A superior court judge in Sacramento is expected to hand down her ruling soon. McNeill said he’s confident the judge will side with his clients despite the new law because of other flaws in the program. If she disagrees, he said, he may file another suit on other grounds.

“No matter how you slice it, the program will be deauthorized,” he said.

But Denise Elerick, founder of the coalition, said she believes her program will survive. She said arguments about needle litter mask anti-homeless sentiment.

“They say it’s about the environment but it’s not. They want people to die and disappear,” she said.

Decades of research shows that needle giveaways aren’t a major source of pollution, and that people who get needles from an exchange are more likely to dispose of them properly than those who don’t.

A 2019 study by Santa Cruz County’s Health Services Agency found that for every 10 needles that ended up on the ground or in a river, 1,000 made it into a sharps container, used to collect used needles, or an official disposal point. The report concluded that reducing needle litter would require more syringe programs and disposal sites, not fewer.

The Santa Cruz program, which began in 2018, gives out as many syringes as people request.

In addition to offering nine sizes of syringes, the program gives out sharps containers, ranging in capacity from a quarter gallon to 8 gallons, which can be returned, picked up or left at disposal kiosks around town.

On one Sunday in August, 56 people stopped by the van and 51 sharps containers were distributed. The coalition would not disclose how many needles it typically gives away.

The clients also gathered supplies to protect them from staph infections, covid and other dangers: condoms, hand sanitizer, masks, alcohol pads, drug-testing strips to ferret out fentanyl, and medication to reverse overdoses. The program even offered clean pipes to encourage that drugs be smoked — rather than injected — and reduce the spread of covid from sharing pipes.

Many who line up each week live in nearby parks and alongside creeks that are the focus of opponents’ environmental concerns. They said they have a vested interest in keeping the environment clean.

“Just because we’re drug addicts doesn’t mean we don’t take care of ourselves,” said one woman, 35. (In order to observe how the program works, KHN agreed not to name the people procuring supplies.) “Yeah, I live in a tent, but my tent is clean. I try to take care of other people and I take care of myself.”

The new law comes too late for programs like Chico’s, because the city has since passed an ordinance banning syringe exchanges. Similar bans have been adopted in Anaheim, Oroville, Butte County, Yuba City and elsewhere in the past few years.

Ryan Coonerty, a Santa Cruz County supervisor, said the county likely won’t adopt a ban, though he’s disappointed by Newsom’s decision. He believes the nonprofit needle program in Santa Cruz contributes to needle pollution more than the county-run program, which requires people to turn in used needles to get fresh ones.

“We will continue to struggle with needle litter and, unfortunately, not get any help from the state to stop needles from going into the ocean, parks and beaches,” he said.

But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other public health agencies say one-for-one programs limit the ways people can safely dispose of sharps, forcing them to hang onto their needles until the next needle exchange. That’s not realistic, according to the people who lined up to get needles from the Santa Cruz program.

“A lot of us are homeless,” said one 40-year-old woman, “and we can only stay someplace for so long.”

This story was produced by KHN, which publishes California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation.

KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.

USE OUR CONTENT

This story can be republished for free (details).

Needle Exchanges Are Targeted by Eco-Rooted Lawsuits. A New California Law Will Stop That. published first on https://smartdrinkingweb.weebly.com/

[holysmokescrafts]

The California Compassionate Care Network (CCCN) marijuana dispensary's grow operation is one of the stops on the cannabis tour organized by L.A.-based Green Tours, in Los Angeles on Jan. 24, 2019. LOS ANGELES — California has entered a potentially landmark legal fight against some of its own cities over one of the most basic questions in the nation's largest legal marijuana market: Where can you buy it? Beverly Hills and 24 other local governments sued California regulators Friday to overturn a rule allowing home deliveries statewide, even into communities that banned commercial pot sales. Ultimately at issue is who is in charge: the state bureaucracy that oversees the market or local governments where pot is grown and sold. When California adopted the delivery rule in January, the League of California Cities and police chiefs complained that unrestricted home deliveries would create an unchecked market of largely hidden pot transactions, while undercutting local control guaranteed in a 2016 law broadly legalizing marijuana sales. Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors Chairman Ryan Coonerty said in a statement that the state rule damages local marijuana businesses and "betrays the promise made to the voters" in 2016. The significance of the lawsuit goes beyond home deliveries. It represents an important early court test of Proposition 64, the law that legalized pot sales for adults in California. There have been numerous disputes over precisely what parts of the law mean, including those governing the size of cannabis farms. The state Bureau of Cannabis Control, which wrote the rule, had no immediate comment on the lawsuit, which was filed late Thursday in Fresno County Superior Court. #staylifted #holysmokes #holysmokescrafts #fueledbythc #fueledbycbd #hightimes #rawlife #rawlife247 #cannabis #oneman #breal #massroots #cannabidiol #cbd #thc #mmj #marijuana #highsociety #hemp #ismokecannabis #medicalcannabis #highamerica #medicalmarijuana #kief #highlife #cannabislaws #420 #420daily (at Los Angeles, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bv6XjjBh92f/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1j9d539wfr7o7

[delovidenie]

Local Government: Where Democracy Goes to Live | Ryan Coonerty | TEDxSantaCruz

This TEDxSantaCruz talk is part of 22 surrounding our theme of “the Art of Hope.” Defined as the anticipation of something desired happening, hope is ferocious, persistent, necessary; hope is a powerful force for invention, change, and social justice. To hope is to be human. Our fifth TEDxSantaCruz event was held on December 7, 2019, […]

Сообщение Local Government: Where Democracy Goes to Live | Ryan Coonerty | TEDxSantaCruz появились сначала на Деловидение.

http://delovidenie.com/local-government-where-democracy-goes-to-live-ryan-coonerty-tedxsantacruz/

[blockheadbrands]

Local Governments Sue State of California Over Cannabis Delivery Laws

A.J. Herrington of High Times Reports:

Some local governments have already banned cannabis and are now seeking to ban home deliveries from other counties.

Local governments for 24 cities and one county are suing California state regulators in an effort to change cannabis home delivery regulations that were adopted earlier this year. The suit, which was filed in Fresno Superior Court on Thursday, seeks to allow local governments to block deliveries of cannabis products to addresses within their jurisdiction. The legal action names the Bureau of Cannabis Control and its head, Lori Ajax, as defendants in the suit.

At issue is a provision in the permanent regulations that were initially released by the BCC in June of last year that reads “a delivery employee may deliver to any jurisdiction within the State of California.” Walter Allen, a council member for the city of Covina, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said that the BCC regulation is contrary to Prop 64, the initiative passed by voters in 2016 to legalize the recreational use and sale of cannabis. The proposition included language to allow local governments to ban cannabis businesses from operating in their jurisdictions.

“Californians voted to allow recreational and commercial cannabis with the specific promise that each community would be able to regulate or even ban it within their community,” said Allen. “The BCC’s actions in adopting this regulation burden local governments in jurisdictions that have regulated or banned commercial cannabis deliveries.”

“We don’t want deliveries in our city because of the concern over criminal activity,” added Allen, who is a retired police officer. “The problem we have is the state has taken it upon itself to bypass Proposition 64 and supersede our local ordinances, and we are really upset about that.”

The plaintiffs in the suit also include Santa Cruz County and the Northern California cities of Angels Camp, Atwater, Ceres, Clovis, Dixon, McFarland, Newman, Oakdale, Patterson, Riverbank, San Pablo, Sonora, Tehachapi, Tracy, Turlock, and Vacaville. In Southern California, the cities of  Arcadia, Agoura Hills, Beverly Hills, Downey, Palmdale, Riverside, and Temecula have joined the suit against the BCC.

Plaintiffs Want Local Control

Ryan Coonerty, chair of the Board of Supervisors of Santa Cruz County, said that the delivery regulation takes away power guaranteed to local governments by the initiative.

“The BCC is fundamentally changing Proposition 64, eroding local control and harming our local cannabis businesses by allowing commercial cannabis deliveries in every jurisdiction in California,” said Coonerty. “This betrays the promise made to the voters in Proposition 64.”

But Dale Gieringer, the director of the California chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said that the local governments in the lawsuit are trying to overstep their authority.

“To invalidate home delivery of any legal product whatsoever is really well beyond the line,” he said. “I think they are stretching local authority to an outrageous and unprecedented extent.”

Advocates for statewide cannabis home delivery say that it provides a legal avenue for recreational users who live in communities that have banned dispensaries and allows easier access to cannabis for medical marijuana patients.

“It’s absolutely outrageous for local governments to say they cannot have their medicine delivered to them,” he said.

Alex Traverso, a spokesperson for the BCC, declined to comment on the suit, according to media reports.

TO READ MORE OF THIS ARTICLE ON HIGH TIMES, CLICK HERE.

https://hightimes.com/news/local-governments-sue-state-california-over-cannabis-delivery-laws/

[weedconsortium2]

Local governments for 24 cities and one county are suing California state regulators in an effort to change cannabis home delivery regulations that were adopted earlier this year. The suit, which was filed in Fresno Superior Court on Thursday, seeks to allow local governments to block deliveries of cannabis products to addresses within their jurisdiction. The legal action names the Bureau of Cannabis Control and its head, Lori Ajax, as defendants in the suit.

At issue is a provision in the permanent regulations that were initially released by the BCC in June of last year that reads “a delivery employee may deliver to any jurisdiction within the State of California.” Walter Allen, a council member for the city of Covina, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said that the BCC regulation is contrary to Prop 64, the initiative passed by voters in 2016 to legalize the recreational use and sale of cannabis. The proposition included language to allow local governments to ban cannabis businesses from operating in their jurisdictions.

“Californians voted to allow recreational and commercial cannabis with the specific promise that each community would be able to regulate or even ban it within their community,” said Allen. “The BCC’s actions in adopting this regulation burden local governments in jurisdictions that have regulated or banned commercial cannabis deliveries.”

“We don’t want deliveries in our city because of the concern over criminal activity,” added Allen, who is a retired police officer. “The problem we have is the state has taken it upon itself to bypass Proposition 64 and supersede our local ordinances, and we are really upset about that.”

The plaintiffs in the suit also include Santa Cruz County and the Northern California cities of Angels Camp, Atwater, Ceres, Clovis, Dixon, McFarland, Newman, Oakdale, Patterson, Riverbank, San Pablo, Sonora, Tehachapi, Tracy, Turlock, and Vacaville. In Southern California, the cities of  Arcadia, Agoura Hills, Beverly Hills, Downey, Palmdale, Riverside, and Temecula have joined the suit against the BCC.

Plaintiffs Want Local Control

Ryan Coonerty, chair of the Board of Supervisors of Santa Cruz County, said that the delivery regulation takes away power guaranteed to local governments by the initiative.

“The BCC is fundamentally changing Proposition 64, eroding local control and harming our local cannabis businesses by allowing commercial cannabis deliveries in every jurisdiction in California,” said Coonerty. “This betrays the promise made to the voters in Proposition 64.”

But Dale Gieringer, the director of the California chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said that the local governments in the lawsuit are trying to overstep their authority.

“To invalidate home delivery of any legal product whatsoever is really well beyond the line,” he said. “I think they are stretching local authority to an outrageous and unprecedented extent.”

Advocates for statewide cannabis home delivery say that it provides a legal avenue for recreational users who live in communities that have banned dispensaries and allows easier access to cannabis for medical marijuana patients.

“It’s absolutely outrageous for local governments to say they cannot have their medicine delivered to them,” he said.

Alex Traverso, a spokesperson for the BCC, declined to comment on the suit, according to media reports.

The post Local Governments Sue State of California Over Cannabis Delivery Laws appeared first on High Times.

The post Local Governments Sue State of California Over Cannabis Delivery Laws appeared first on CBD Oil Vape Liquid Spray - Cbd Pain Relief Capsules - Weed Consortium.

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[mikemortgage]

25 local governments sue over California marijuana delivery

LOS ANGELES — California has entered a potentially landmark legal fight against some of its own cities over one of the most basic questions in the nation’s largest legal marijuana market: Where can you buy it?

Beverly Hills and 24 other local governments sued California regulators Friday to overturn a rule allowing home deliveries statewide, even into communities that banned commercial pot sales. Ultimately at issue is who is in charge: the state bureaucracy that oversees the market or local governments where pot is grown and sold.

When California adopted the delivery rule in January, the League of California Cities and police chiefs complained that unrestricted home deliveries would create an unchecked market of largely hidden pot transactions, while undercutting local control guaranteed in a 2016 law broadly legalizing marijuana sales.

Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors Chairman Ryan Coonerty said in a statement that the state rule damages local marijuana businesses and “betrays the promise made to the voters” in 2016.

The significance of the lawsuit goes beyond home deliveries. It represents an important early court test of Proposition 64, the law that legalized pot sales for adults in California. There have been numerous disputes over precisely what parts of the law mean, including those governing the size of cannabis farms.

The state Bureau of Cannabis Control, which wrote the rule, had no immediate comment on the lawsuit, which was filed late Thursday in Fresno County Superior Court.

The lawsuit asks the court to invalidate the rule and prohibit state regulators from enforcing it.

The rule “permits commercial cannabis deliveries to any physical address in the state,” which conflicts with the authority of local governments to prohibit marijuana deliveries within their boundaries, the lawsuit said.

Marijuana companies and consumers had pushed for home deliveries because vast stretches of the state have banned commercial pot activity or not set up rules to allow legal sales, creating what’s been called pot “deserts.” Residents in those areas were effectively cut off from legal marijuana purchases.

Supporters said the problem was worse for the sick and frail, who would not be able to drive long distances to buy pot.

Because pot remains illegal on the federal level, it cannot be sent through the U.S. Postal Service. But people can get it delivered to their door in California. Under state rules, all cannabis deliveries must be performed by employees of a licensed retailer. Regulators say there are 311 active licenses to deliver pot.

The delivery rule sought to clarify what had been apparently conflicting regulations about where marijuana can be delivered in California.

The 2016 law said local governments had the authority to ban nonmedical pot businesses. But state regulators pointed to the business and professions code, which said local governments “shall not prevent delivery of cannabis or cannabis products on public roads” by a licensed operator.

The cannabis bureau had said it was merely clarifying what had always been the case: A licensed pot delivery can be made to “any jurisdiction within the state.”

In addition to Beverly Hills and Santa Cruz County, plaintiffs include the cities of Agoura Hills, Angels Camp, Arcadia, Atwater, Ceres, Clovis, Covina, Dixon and Downey. Also participating are McFarland, Newman, Oakdale, Palmdale, Patterson, Riverbank, Riverside, San Pablo, Sonora, Tehachapi, Temecula, Tracy, Turlock and Vacaville.

——

Associated Press writer John Antczak contributed.

——

Blood is a member of AP’s marijuana beat team. Follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MichaelRBloodAP . Find complete AP marijuana coverage here: https://apnews.com/Marijuana

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[growlegalweed-blog]

Legal Weed Resources

Check out... https://legalweed.gq/420/local-governments-sue-state-of-california-over-cannabis-delivery-laws/

Local Governments Sue State of California Over Cannabis Delivery Laws

Local governments for 24 cities and one county are suing California state regulators in an effort to change cannabis home delivery regulations that were adopted earlier this year. The suit, which was filed in Fresno Superior Court on Thursday, seeks to allow local governments to block deliveries of cannabis products to addresses within their jurisdiction. The legal action names the Bureau of Cannabis Control and its head, Lori Ajax, as defendants in the suit.

At issue is a provision in the permanent regulations that were initially released by the BCC in June of last year that reads “a delivery employee may deliver to any jurisdiction within the State of California.” Walter Allen, a council member for the city of Covina, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said that the BCC regulation is contrary to Prop 64, the initiative passed by voters in 2016 to legalize the recreational use and sale of cannabis. The proposition included language to allow local governments to ban cannabis businesses from operating in their jurisdictions.

“Californians voted to allow recreational and commercial cannabis with the specific promise that each community would be able to regulate or even ban it within their community,” said Allen. “The BCC’s actions in adopting this regulation burden local governments in jurisdictions that have regulated or banned commercial cannabis deliveries.”

“We don’t want deliveries in our city because of the concern over criminal activity,” added Allen, who is a retired police officer. “The problem we have is the state has taken it upon itself to bypass Proposition 64 and supersede our local ordinances, and we are really upset about that.”

The plaintiffs in the suit also include Santa Cruz County and the Northern California cities of Angels Camp, Atwater, Ceres, Clovis, Dixon, McFarland, Newman, Oakdale, Patterson, Riverbank, San Pablo, Sonora, Tehachapi, Tracy, Turlock, and Vacaville. In Southern California, the cities of  Arcadia, Agoura Hills, Beverly Hills, Downey, Palmdale, Riverside, and Temecula have joined the suit against the BCC.

Plaintiffs Want Local Control

Ryan Coonerty, chair of the Board of Supervisors of Santa Cruz County, said that the delivery regulation takes away power guaranteed to local governments by the initiative.

“The BCC is fundamentally changing Proposition 64, eroding local control and harming our local cannabis businesses by allowing commercial cannabis deliveries in every jurisdiction in California,” said Coonerty. “This betrays the promise made to the voters in Proposition 64.”

But Dale Gieringer, the director of the California chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said that the local governments in the lawsuit are trying to overstep their authority.

“To invalidate home delivery of any legal product whatsoever is really well beyond the line,” he said. “I think they are stretching local authority to an outrageous and unprecedented extent.”

Advocates for statewide cannabis home delivery say that it provides a legal avenue for recreational users who live in communities that have banned dispensaries and allows easier access to cannabis for medical marijuana patients.

“It’s absolutely outrageous for local governments to say they cannot have their medicine delivered to them,” he said.

Alex Traverso, a spokesperson for the BCC, declined to comment on the suit, according to media reports.

The post Local Governments Sue State of California Over Cannabis Delivery Laws appeared first on High Times.

[iancolby]

How to Win at College

Professor Coonerty’s (UC Santa Cruz) 5 Easy Secrets for Success

Ryan Coonerty

My office hours will soon be full of about-to-graduate-college students panicking at the realization that they wasted their time at college (they mostly did) and, after more than 17 years in school, they don’t have a plan or options when they graduate in a few months (they mostly don’t).

It doesn’t have to be that way. After 15 years of teaching and counseling hundreds of students, here are some secrets for making the most of college:

*A note: Many students are working several jobs, balancing family demands and/or returning to college after years of working or serving in the military. Most students are also going heavily into debt. Their situation is incredibly stressful and unfair. These suggestions were designed with them in mind to be as easy and inexpensive as possible to accomplish.*

Win Over Alumni

You are investing tuition and time, first and foremost, to get an education, but a close second are connections that will allow you to take your newfound knowledge and succeed in the world. Elite private universities do an outstanding job connecting students to alumni. Unfortunately, public and non-elite schools do virtually nothing to facilitate what will be the most important connections students (particularly from disadvantaged backgrounds) will ever have the opportunity to make.

So, Secret #1: Figure out every way possible to connect with alumni. Take jobs or volunteer at events for alums — bartending or driving speakers to events are the best. If you are in a student club, be the chair of the program committee and invite alums to speak to your group (and to coffee with you beforehand). When you go home for breaks, do informational interviews with alumni in the area. If your university has family camps or alumni weekends, do everything you can to work there. Read the alumni association’s magazine and emails to find people that you admire and reach out to them.

When you meet with alumni, do the following: (1) research who they are and what they do/have done, (2) ask a lot of questions, and (3) remember that especially when they are back on campus, they are at their most sentimental and desiring to help. When they see you, they see themselves. They want you to ask for advice, but you have to take the initiative to connect.

Win With Professors

Like alums, professors want to be asked for their knowledge and advice. Lecturing to a bunch of students who are checking their Instagram or staring into space is soul crushing. We yearn for your engagement.

Secret #2: In every class, introduce yourself to the professor after the first class. Look them in the eye, shake their hand, say your name and why you are looking forward to the class. Then go to (at least) two office hours and ask a question about the class or the professor’s work. (If you cannot think of two questions about a topic or person that you are spending a hundred hours and thousands of dollars on, drop out of college immediately (no judgement) and stop wasting your time and money). After the last class, shake the professor’s hand again and thank them for the class. This strategy alone, requiring less than 30 minutes of effort, will increase your GPA, could get you a research position, lead to a letter of recommendation and, just maybe, create a lifetime friendship.

Develop Life Skill 1: Entrepreneurship

Secret #3: Start a business. Seriously. It doesn’t have to be big. In fact, it should be very small. And it will likely fail. And that is okay.

Start an Etsy page for you or a friend who is an artist. Promote a band. If you work at a restaurant or retailer, develop a promotion or product and convince your boss to try it (and to share any profits!). Then put everything you have into making it succeed. Hustle. Try different strategies and build a team.

The future economy is going to require an entrepreneurial mentality above all else. Develop it while the risk is low. The experience will be more valuable than most of your classes.

Develop Life Skill 2: Listening

Secret #4: An easy one. Listen to podcasts. Constantly.

College, by definition, means a lot of time in transit — to and from campus, between classes, and home for breaks. Use this precious time to listen to podcasts — not Joe Rogan, but real, thoughtful podcasts.

You should do this for two reasons. First, you can learn a lot. Speaking intelligently about China-US trade policy or the merits of social media regulation will help you get a job, be a better citizen and attract a more interesting mate. Second, good podcasts will teach you how to tell a compelling story. Listen for how they chose to structure a story, why they lead with this not that, what made one interview fascinating while another was dull. Success for the rest of your life is dependent on you telling a good story about yourself, your organization, a product, service, or cause. Colleges do a terrible job teaching you how to do that. Luckily, podcasts will teach it to you entertainingly for free.

Win College Life

Secret #5 may surprise you, but it’s something I worry about a lot with my students. Have fun. Lots of fun. I get it, you are in debt and sea levels are rising. Your future is far from certain, but college is a singular moment in your life to access dozens of new activities, people and ideas in a given week.

So, what does that mean? Take a music, art or film appreciation class. Learn how to rock climb, play the bongos, or how to fix a bike instead of chasing a second major. Go to parties. Cut class to drive 8 hours with friends to see a random place and then turn around and come back the next day. Worry way less. Enjoy way more. It’s still college.

Ryan Coonerty teaches law and politics at UC Santa Cruz and is the host of “An Honorable Profession” podcast.

[lazylittledude]

Last summer, Ryan Coonerty, a county supervisor in Santa Cruz, got word that the neighboring county of San Mateo was about to take a bold step in adapting to climate change.

[infoterrorism]

Santa Cruz County Votes to Cease Doing Business with Five TBTF Mega Banks

http://dlvr.it/BWwFL9