A three-alarm blaze occurred early Saturday morning, around 4 a.m., in a small industrial space at 3050 Broadway on Oakland's Auto Row. Firefighters arrived to find flames shooting 20 feet in the air from a marijuana grow operation with upwards of 100 plants. more ›

Firefighters dousing a one-alarm electrical fire in Richmond early this morning uncovered a large-scale marijuana grow operation of "possibly over 1,000" plants. According to KTVU, the security guard on duty last night was asleep when the fire started, but she woke up after one of her pitbulls started whining. She called in the fire around 3:30 a.m. this morning after she noticed smoke coming out of the door of the warehouse. more ›

Like many local medical marijuana dispensaries, the Berkeley Patients Group officially closed its doors last week under pressure from U.S. Attorney General Melinda Haag. For Haag, who's been on a bit of a rampage sending threatening letters as of late, the concern was that dispensaries are often the target of violent crime and armed robberies, and that closing BPG would make the neighborhood safer. It's an argument that has been heard plenty of times, but for Tracey Taylor, whose three kids attend a nearby elementary school, the dispensary's security is the least of her worries. As she writes in an opinion piece for Berkeleyside: more ›

As is tradition on April 20th, scores of marijuana smokers, legal or otherwise, are currently making their pilgrimage to the hallowed ground of Golden Gate Park's Hippie Hill. Since we live in these modern times where smoking pot in public is pretty much fair game and nobody makes a move without documenting their exploits on Twitter or Instagram, we present a brief and humorous look at our favorite people at or en route to Golden Gate Park, where they've made "Hippie Hill" a trending twitter topic. Observe: more ›

Former Mayor and recovering substance abuser Gavin Newsom found some curious inspiration all the way from Kingston, Jamaica on the noted stoner holiday. As the Lite Gov. tweeted, in a surprising plug for marijuana culture (and a new documentary from Magnolia Pictures): "Go see the @BobMarley doc - still inspired by the man, the music, the legacy. It's out today. Great documentary." more ›

Today's reminder that the rest of America doesn't quite share San Francisco's loose morals compassionate attitude when it comes to marijuana sales: ten Bay Area residents and two East Coasters were busted in Santa Rosa for allegedly conspiring to cultivate and traffic Sonoma-grown weed to New York, Boston and California. more ›

HopeNet, S.F.'s oldest continually operating medical marijuana dispensary at 223 Ninth Street, is not going to take a threat from the federal government lying down. Owners Catherine and Steve Smith are not going to comply with a cease-and-desist order from federal prosecutor Melinda Haag which would have forced them to close on Friday, and they're hoping that a legal puzzle between a federally forced eviction having to play out in a state court where medical marijuana is legal could make for some interesting courtroom theater. more ›

Federal agents from the U.S. Marshals Service, the DEA and the IRS descended on Oaksterdam University sometime after 7 a.m. this morning, effectively shutting down the cannabis industry trade school school while carrying out a federal search warrant. Because all the paperwork for the raid is still under seal, an IRS spokeswoman on the scene could not disclose the reasons for the sudden closure other than to confirm that it is part of an ongoing joint investigation. NBC Bay Area reports that the school at 16th and Broadway, the nearby Oaksterdam gift shop and the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative were all among the four locations shut down by the feds this morning. more ›

After issuing the memo that declared all marijuana sales illegal and scared the crap out of local pot smokers last week, District Attorney Gascón would like to make it clear that his office actually supports medical cannabis sales in San Francisco. The brief that went out last week was actually a mistake on the part of Gascón's office, which apparently sent out a boilerplate document drafted up by Kamala Harris' administration three years ago. Yesterday, Gascón explained his office would no longer be pushing that position on pharmaceutical pot, telling the press "I support medical marijuana and I have said that very many times... Dealing with marijuana is not a priority for this office." more ›

SFist has been hearing rumblings from the medical marijuana community of late that that first wave of dispensary closures by the feds was just the beginning, and there were more closures to come. Now our very own DA, George Gascon, has become a turncoat in the fight as well, coming out with a memo stating that "marijuana sales are illegal," which represents an about-face from the line he toed as a candidate for DA. more ›

Robert Blitzer, 66, and his husband, Xenry, 63, were sitting in the Castro Plaza on March 11, doing what every honorable, Goddess-fearing San Franciscan should be doing on a warm weekend day of leisure: smoking weed. That is, until the fuzz killed the party. According to the BAR, "San Francisco Police Officer Matt Loya asked them if what they were smoking was tobacco, and Blitzer responded that it was marijuana. He said that Loya checked their medical marijuana ID cards and their drivers' licenses and spent half an hour with them." more ›

Oakland Airport TSA security screeners wasted both time and money busting a guy for carrying a stash of marijuana inside a jar of Skippy peanut butter on Sunday. "Nico Melendez, a TSA spokesman, said airport security screeners at the Oakland airport saw on the X-ray the jar inside the man's luggage and noticed something suspicious inside," notes Kristin J. Bender's excellent account for The Oakland Tribune. "What they found was less than half a sandwich bag full of marijuana. Melendez did not know the specific amount of marijuana that was confiscated." more ›

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 ›