In this year’s presidential election, medical marijuana advocates in California were pretty clear on which candidate they were rooting for. On multiple occasions, Democrat Barack Obama has pledged to end the federal raids that have bedeviled the state’s dispensaries for years under the Bush administration.

Several members of the Marijuana Anti-Prohibition Project on Tuesday asked the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors to reconsider its opposition to issuing medical marijuana identification cards to patients.

Forty of California's 58 counties are distributing marijuana cards.

The Desert Hot Springs City Council will get no help from a Planning Commission recommendation when it weighs whether to ban medical marijuana dispensaries next month.
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The commission tied 2-2 Monday on the contentious issue. Chairman John Gerardi, the tie-breaking vote, did not attend the meeting.

The Desert Hot Springs City Council voted Monday to have the Planning Commission weigh a ban on medical marijuana facilities at a meeting next week rather than make an immediate decision.
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The council's 5-0 vote sends the Planning Commission two draft ordinances for consideration at its Nov. 17 meeting: One would prohibit medical marijuana dispensaries and the other would regulate the outlets.

After a lively, lengthy discussion, the Desert Hot Springs City Council opted Tuesday to push the debate on whether to ban medical marijuana dispensaries to a Nov. 10 meeting.

Beginning about the first of the year, San Joaquin County residents will be able to acquire medical marijuana with a doctor's recommendation.

A draft ordinance reviewed Wednesday by the Palm Springs City Council would prohibit for-profit dispensaries, but allows not-for-profit businesses in areas zoned for industrial use. It will be forwarded to the Planning Commission to hammer out the details. The council voted 4-1, with Councilman Lee Weigel voting no.

The Palm Springs City Council on Wednesday got the ball rolling on a proposed zoning ordinance regarding medical marijuana that would allow providers organized as nonprofit collectives or cooperatives to operate in the City as long as they are located in areas zoned for industrial use and at least 500 feet away from schools, public parks, playgrounds or residential areas.

A proposed ordinance introduced at Wednesday night's Palm Springs City Council meeting that would regulate medical marijuana dispensaries was referred to the Planning Commission, a city official said.

Palm Springs’ proposed medical marijuana ordinance got the blessings — and a few tweaks — from patients and at least one dispensary owner at today’s meeting of the city’s medical marijuana task force.