One of the many predicted benefits of regulating marijuana is to allow police to focus on solving violent crimes, and an investigation into the Oakland Police Department shows just how imperative that focus is. In 2012, OPD solved only 28% of homicides, a figure that is largely due to an incredible backup of untested evidence.  The OPD’s crime lab has yet to test evidence pertaining to 659 homicide cases, some of which are 10 years old. Furthermore, the crime lab has no idea which of the cases with…

As part of the federal government’s escalating efforts to shut down the medical marijuana industry, the IRS is claiming that Harborside Health Center, an Oakland dispensary that is thought by many to represent the best practices in the industry, owes them roughly $2.5 million in back taxes. The reason for this is that during the audit, the IRS would not let Harborside deduct many of its business expenses. Most of these expenses were for things that all other legitimate businesses are allowed to deduct,…

Over the weekend, the Oakland Tribune reported that law enforcement officers at Oakland International Airport follow an official written policy of respecting California's medical marijuana laws. Qualified medical marijuana patients traveling out of Oakland are not arrested or cited for possession of eight ounces or less of processed marijuana. In fact, patients are allowed to board their plane with their marijuana just as they could with any other legal medicine or prescription drug. The policy was…

Yesterday, voters in Oakland, California overwhelmingly approved a proposal, backed by the city's medical marijuana community, that will create a new local sales tax for marijuana. The initiative, "Measure F," was one of  four budget-related measures in a vote-by-mail special election called by a city faced with a projected budget deficit of $83 million. Medical marijuana collectives teamed up with city officials to propose the new tax, set at 1.8% of gross sales. The tax is expected to generate…