Bruce M. Margolin, Los Angeles Criminal Defense Lawyer

Are you someone who lives in a city that banned marijuana dispensaries? Or someone who relies on home deliveries of marijuana? How do you feel about this lawsuit by these cities against the state? We’re taking your calls at 866-893-5722.

Calling all college students!

A Vallejo, Calif., police officer has been placed on administrative leave and is facing a lawsuit after a video showed him pulling his gun on a motorcyclist and then forcefully detaining another man for recording the incident on his phone. The interaction was captured in a video that was widely shared on Facebook and prompted the Vallejo Police Department to investigate. Officer David McLaughlin was placed on administrative leave Monday, according to the Police Department.

https://www.scpr.org/programs/airtalk/2018/12/26/19250/

June 13 around 9 p.m., Clare County Sheriff’s Deputy Ashley Gruno knocked on Delores’ door. According to court records, Gruno was trying to locate Saltzman’s great granddaughter, and return her lost phone and ID. That’s when the deputy smelled marijuana from Saltzman’s porch. Then, court records show Saltzman was handcuffed in the patrol car. She says the deputy did not read her rights to her, and she was escorted to jail for the night. YES AN 80 YR OLD women was jailed for s...moking cannabis in her home.... REALLY? https://internationalcbc.com/arrest-of-80-year-old-patient/

Thursday, May 24th, 2018 The California Cannabis Entertainment and Technology Forum 3 PM - 3:45 PM - Herscher Hall - Guerin B... Now that It’s Legal - What’s Really Legal? Navigating the Nuances of the Cannabis Industry Moderator - Bruce Margolin, Director, Los Angeles Chapter, NORML, National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws Ariel Clark, founder, Clark Neubert, LLP, founder and Chairwoman, Los Angeles Cannabis Task Force Cat Packer, Executive Director, Department of Cannabis Regulation, City of Los Angeles Amanda Conley, Partner, Brand & Branch LLP and Founding Treasurer, National Cannabis Bar Association Mitch Kulick, Partner, Feuerstein Kulick LLP Jocelyn Kane, Legislative Director, CVCAN Coachella Valley Cannabis Alliance Network Peter Goldstein, Principal, Regulated Solutions

But even in legal marijuana states, pot smokers face restrictions that in effect turn them into second-class citizens, unable to do things non-drug users or users of legally sanctioned drugs, such as alcohol, can do, or somehow punished for doing them. While legalizing marijuana is a giant breakthrough, as long as marijuana users face stigma, discrimination, and worse over their choice of substances, the job is only half-done. Here are four ways even legal marijuana users get screwed:

Temporary License Extensions: Temporary licenses for retailers, distributors, microbusinesses, testing laboratories and cannabis event organizers that were issued with an effective date of January 1, 2018 will expire on April 30, 2018. Temporary licenses may be extended for 90-day periods if the licensee submits a complete annual license application before the expiration date. To submit a completed annual license application, you must submit documents as requested for each co...Continue reading

The DPA estimates that up to one million people were eligible to have their crimes downgraded or cleared under Prop. 64. For those people, a change in their criminal background would mean wider access to jobs, housing, financial aid and other services that are currently out of reach. The DPA also estimates that 6,000 people who were in jail or prison when Prop 64 passed might be eligible to get their sentences reduced or even to go free. But so far, those are mostly just projections. More than 16 months after the measure passed, state data shows only a fraction of those who can clear up their records have even applied to do so. LET US HELP YOU clean up your record, call the office at: 1.800.420.LAWS (5297) for details

These seizures are all legal under the controversial practice of civil asset forfeiture, which allows authorities to take cash, contraband and property from people suspected of crime. But the practice does not require authorities to obtain a criminal conviction, and it allows departments to keep seized cash and property for themselves unless individuals successfully challenge the forfeiture in court. Critics across the political spectrum say this creates a perverse profit motive, incentivizing police to seize goods not for the purpose of fighting crime, but for padding department budgets.

Wolf said he believes that legalizing marijuana in Illinois would reform the criminal justice system and bring in billions in tax revenue. "As a former federal agent and law enforcement officer, I think legalizing cannabis would really free up the criminal justice system in terms of incarceration space, in terms of time and energy of first responders, and it would allow law enforcement officers to focus on what's really important," Wolf said.

This seminar will cover topics directly relevant to California’s medical and recreational cannabis laws and regulations under the Medicinal and Adult Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act and California cannabis businesses, including state and local licensing and approval structures, various local laws and land use issues and concerns, including in the City of Los Angeles, cannabis investment in California, intellectual property and patent registration and policing, a bankin...g update, California hemp laws and regulation, emerging areas in cannabis commercial litigation, various real estate issues around commercial leases and property purchases for cannabis uses, taxes and the treatment of cannabis income under IRC 280E, California cannabis water rights and licensing requirements, and a boots on the ground perspective from actual cannabis operators in the State of California. Attendees will also hear directly from leading practitioners and state and local officials about the changes and progress along the road to current laws and future regulations. https://www.theseminargroup.net/seminardetl.aspx?id=18.fivCA

They are doing the right thing!