We can hardly believe the awesomeness of today's palate cleanser, which comes to us straight from the airwaves via Buzzfeed. On the latest episode of the reality show Joan & Melissa, Joan Rivers and her buddy Lynne score some medical marijuana and then, like a couple of teenagers in Lynne's Scion, go find a quiet cul de sac in which to smoke out. more ›

A concerned citizen with absolutely no sense of the value of good marijuana spotted an attended bag on the sidewalk near a Richmond District bus stop early Wednesday. Upon inspection, he saw a tear in the bag, and identified the contents as pot. What did he do? High-five the nearest stranger and high-tail it back to his man cave? No, he immediately called police. more ›

Five busloads of Bay Area high school students bound for a ski trip in Utah were busted by cops in Elko, Nevada for a truly impressive drug stash that looks to amount to pounds and pounds of kind bud, pills, and whatever else. Some narcs concerned citizens at the Maverick Country Store in Elko spotted the young city slickers allegedly toking outside the buses during a pee break, and they called in the authorities ... because it's Nevada. more ›

What's up with TSA inspectors these days? First they're leaving inappropriate notes for ladies who travel with (ahem) electronic accessories and now Freddie Gibbs, a rapper from Gary, Indiana, received the following note on his baggage inspection notice after those prying hands apparently found a stash of weed in his checked baggage: "C'mon son". more ›

"No really," attorney general Eric Holder seems to be saying. "We still don't care that much about medical marijuana enforcement. But California's got their own stuff to deal with." In a House Judiciary Committee hearing yesterday, in response to questioning from a congressman about the medical marijuana crackdown in California that has succeeded in closing hundreds of dispensaries in the last two months, Holder reiterated that the Justice Department remains firmly behind the Ogden memo — the 2009 document which declared that the sale and use of medical marijuana in states where it's legal are a low priority for federal prosecutors. However, in the case of California he got more equivocal. more ›

Two late-stage teenagers from Alameda are in police custody after raiding the Richmond district home of a medical marijuana distributor Saturday afternoon. According to police, 18-year-old Kevin Carey Harvell II pulled a handgun on the 24-year-old legal weed dealer after the victim showed him the product. Harvell and his accomplice, 19-year-old Aivan Eugene Acala, grabbed "three large bags" of weed and attempted to make off in their 1991 Toyota Celica. more ›

Nine House representatives, including Alameda County Democrat Barbara Lee, penned a letter to President Barack Obama last week condemning the Justice Department's recently announced crackdown on the medical marijuana industry in California. They cite Attorney General Eric Holder's earlier promise to be more hands-off with dispensaries who were complying with state law. Signers of the letter included seven California Democrats, a CA Republican (Rep. Dana Rohrabacher) and Tennessee Democrat Steve Cohen. more ›

San Francisco-based mosaic artist Jason Mecier has gained some critical attention for clever, timely portraits of celebrities like this one of Taylor Lautner made out of Red Vines; and this one of Rosie O'Donnell made from cookies, chocolate, potato chips, and candy. One of his latest is a portrait of Snoop Dogg made out of -- what else? -- weed. more ›

Just days after we hear about a federal crackdown, via the IRS, on several large California marijuana dispensaries, we learn that three Mission-based pot club landlords received strongly worded letters from the Department of Justice stating that their property could be forfeited and rent monies seized by the government because their buildings were centers of drug activity within 1,000 feet of schools. San Francisco has its own law that prohibits dispensaries from operating within 1,000 feet of schools, however several dispensaries -- like the ones which received these letters -- were grandfathered in and exempted. more ›

The largest of the medical marijuana operations in Oakland — one of the largest in the world, and the largest on the West Coast, in fact — is Harborside Health Center, which posted $22 million in revenue last year. But now the IRS has come a-callin, asking for $2.5 million in back taxes for the years 2007 and 2008, citing a 1982 federal law that prohibits "businesses that traffic in illegal drugs" from deducting things like payroll, rent, insurance, and other expenses like a normal business. Harborside executive director Steve DeAngelo, while saying, "We're happy to pay our taxes," sees this new tactic by the feds as an effort to shut them down, and he's probably right. more ›

Is Mary Jane an outdated term? Oh well, we like saying it, at least in blog post headlines. FunCheapSF, always the first to know about such fun events as these, informs us that Medithrive, a local medical marijuana dispensary who is celebrating its second birthday today, is giving away "adult goody bags" to registered users with valid prescriptions. more ›

Over on the 900 block of Geary Street, around 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, a man was robbed of over a pound of medical marijuana while leaving a dispensary. (Presumably The Divinity Tree at 958 Geary.) "The victim, a 34-year-old man, was walking out of the dispensary when a suspect pointed a gun at his face and demanded 'weed,' " reports SF Appeal. "The victim handed over a satchel that contained 1.25 pounds of medical marijuana and cash." more ›

It goes to show you: Everybody smokes weed! A truck loaded with bags of kind bud crashed near the Oakridge Mall yesterday in South San Jose, and, not wanting to get nabbed by cops showing up at the scene, the driver fled. Meanwhile, bags of weed were spilling out of the truck and into the street near Blossom Hill Road and Playa Del Rey, and passing motorists quickly pulled over and snatched most of them up before the cops arrived. more ›

Not necessarily local, but in breaking OG West Coast news, friends of behemoth rapper Tupac Shakur have just come out with the details of Tupac’s memorial. According to rapper Young Noble: more ›

Fort Bragg City Councilman Jere Melo, 69, was shot and killed Saturday morning as he and another man hiked into the woods about four miles from town, near Highway 1. They were investigating a report of a marijuana field along the Noyo River, in the rugged woodlands that are owned by Campbell Timber Management, the company Melo worked for. The mayor of Fort Bragg, Dave Turner, says Melo discovered a man living and growing marijuana on the property. Melo's coworker, who was with him at the time, managed to escape and call for help after Melo was shot. more ›

Dolores Park's Truffle Guy has delivered his special brand of magic to jonesing park denizens for quite some time. Now you can get a t-shirt featuring the noted drug dealer, making you the envy of your stoner pals. Made out of 50% cotton and 50% recycled polyester, you can score this gem for a mere $35 over at Turk + Taylor. more ›

Early Sunday morning, a nude woman armed with a gun and high on marijuana and ecstasy confronted a motel clerk at the Super 8 in Vacaville. The lunacy started around 2:40 a.m. after motel guest Patricia Wright entered the lobby of a Super 8 on Allison Court and started waving around a gun. NY Daily News reports, "Authorities said the 32-year-old was waving around a loaded .38-caliber semiautomatic. The clerk quickly called 911, then tried to ease the woman's nerves." more ›

On Thursday, Marin authorities eradicated an estimated 13,000 baby marijuana plants found on Bolinas Ridge near Kent Lake. Marin Municipal Water District, National Park Service, California Department of Justice and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration all took part in the operation. Lt. Barry Heying explained why to CBS, saying, "These types of criminal enterprises result in erosion damage created by the clear-cutting of indigenous plants as well as hazardous trash left behind by the lawless operators." Well then. [CBS] more ›

The San Mateo County Narcotics Task Force conducted a coordinated raid of nine homes Monday, in both S.F. and Daly City, all of which are thought to be connected to the same "tight-knit drug trafficking organization." They arrested eight individuals, all of whom have Vietnamese-sounding names, and seized 55 pounds of the green bud along with 1,400 plants, six guns, and $47,000 in cash. more ›

During the annual ode of marijuana at 4:20 on 4/20/2011 in Golden Gate Park, hordes of stoners gathered at Sharon Meadow to partake in some kind bud. But the party turned sour after one woman was attacked during a seating area dispute. "A 47-year-old woman was bashed over the head with a portable radio and threatened to be killed in a dispute with two other women over space to sit at a National Marijuana Day celebration in Golden Gate Park Wednesday," reports The Examiner. The assailant's friend then threatened to kill her. Charming. Later in the day, a 24-year-old Citrus Heights woman was arrested for making felony threats against the victim. The basher escaped on foot. [Ex] more ›

Because we can't let a children-ingesting-drugs story go untouched, we bring you word of another of a near epidemic of incidents of grade-school kids finding a tasty dessert treat, eating it, and falling out like amateurs at High Sierra. more ›

It shouldn't come as a shock that Oakland's recently enacted ordinance allowing for large-scale medical marijuana grow-houses violates federal law, but now a U.S. attorney has written the City a strongly worded letter to that effect, calling into question whether the government plans some sort of crackdown down the road. more ›

The image/idea of a pot-smoking baby might be amusing -- even hilarious -- to many, but this is no laughing matter, kids. A SoCal couple has been charged with cruelty to a child after a tipster sent police a video of the couple making their 23-month-old son smoke from a marijuana pipe. more ›

A mischievous San Mateo teen tried and failed multiple times to extort local drivers by impersonating a police officer and threatening them with speeding tickets. 19 year old Alex Grabovetsky used a siren and flashing red lights mounted on his mother's teal pickup truck to pull over drivers in Millbrae and on the 101 near SFO in early December. more ›

Apparently spooked by warnings from the Alameda County DA that city officials could face prosecution if they approved permits for possibly-illegal, "industrial-scale pot farms", the Oakland City Council voted 7-1 to put the plan on hold. Which means we might not seeing the Ikea of Weed after all. [InsideBayArea] more ›

In an effort to waste time, or whatever, Santa Clara County authorities on Thursday busted several medical marijuana clubs selling weed in the county. "An official with the County Special Enforcement Team said narcotics agents served warrants on two MediLeaf medical marijuana clubs in San Jose and properties in Gilroy and Morgan Hill," reports AP (via CBS 5)."Task force commander Danielle Ayers said agents shut down the clubs, seized marijuana, documents and computers." more ›

Speaking of stoned all the time, are you having a hard time figuring out how the heck you're supposed to vote on this Proposition 19 thing? Don't worry, because Katie Baker cuts through the haze of bong smoke for this week's Ask the Appeal which answers the burning question "How should I vote on Prop 19? Because I'm too stoned to figure it out." more ›

We all had a good laugh at the reporter from Texas who discovered "there's some people smokin' weed!" near McCovey Cove before the World Series, but it wouldn't be a hilarious stereotype if it weren't at least partially true. more ›

While we hesitate to post anything that might distract Timmy before tonight's game, Mexican security forces seized 134 tons of marijuana after a shootout Monday night. On Wednesday evening Mexican Officials near Tijuana burned the haul, which was reportedly worth $200 million and is the equivalent of roughly 334 million joints according to the LA Times' sources in the military. [LATimes] more ›

A month ago, we took you inside the Apple store of Pot Dispensaries, now The Atlantic brings us a preview of something more like the Ikea of weed growers. more ›