Pubdate: Sat, 17 Mar 2001
Source: Berkeley Daily Planet (US CA)
Copyright: 2001 The Berkeley Daily Planet
Contact:  2076 University Ave, Berkeley 94704
Fax: (510) 841-5695
Website: http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/
Author: John Geluardi, Berkeley Daily Planet Staff

Pot Growing Limits On  Berkeley Council Agenda

The City Council will have to hash out one final problem in the Medical 
Marijuana    Ordinance it will consider Tuesday night - what amounts 
individuals and collectives will    be allowed to grow and possess.

Medical marijuana advocates want the ordinance to match Oakland's, which 
allows    individuals to grow 144 plants indoors or 60 outdoors. Collective 
growers have no    limits. City staff is recommending that Berkeley's 
ordinance stay more in line with counties such as Marin and allow 
individuals to grow no more than 10 plants and limit collectives to 50 plants.

The council first referred the issue to the City Attorney's Office in 
December 1999    asking for a draft ordinance that would allow chronically 
ill and terminally ill patients to    legally grow and use marijuana.

The draft was then sent to the Community Health Commission in July. The CHC 
revised    the ordinance allowing more plants for personal use and 
possession than city staff had    recommended. City Manager Weldon Rucker 
asked the commission to reduce the    allowable numbers. The CHC voted not 
to reduce the quantity and sent the recommendation to the City Council on 
Jan. 25.

Now the City Council will attempt to decide on reasonable amounts for 
individuals and    collectives to grow.

"We had staff look at what was a reasonable dosage and considered legal 
implications,"    said Fred Medrano, director of Health and Human Services.

"Oakland allowing 144 plants just doesn't make any sense. You just don't 
need that    many for medical purposes."

Lt. Russell Lopes addressed the CHC on Jan. 25 and said the department 
supports    medical marijuana use but does not support growing a large 
number of plants. He said    that large amounts of marijuana being grown in 
homes or in collectives might encourage burglary and possibly home-invasion 
robberies.

Councilmember Kriss Worthington said he supports a larger number of 
allowable plants,    but said what number the council will be able to agree 
on remains to be seen. "Ten    plants per year is clearly not sufficient," 
he said. "When you say 10 plants you have to remember that not every plant 
becomes full grown and is usable."

Councilmember Polly Armstrong said it will be a challenge for the council 
to determine a    fair number. She said she would rather err on the side of 
smaller amounts. "We want to    take care of people who need it and we have 
a lot of learning to do to know what that means," she said. "I have to say 
144 plants sounds like a lot, but I'm not a farmer or a    marijuana 
cultivator," she said. "I do know that we don't want Berkeley to turn into 
the    Amsterdam of northern California."

Tod Mikuriya, a Berkeley resident and former psychiatrist in charge of 
marijuana    research for the National Institute of Mental Health, said 
Oakland enacted its Medical    Marijuana Ordinance two years ago and has 
not had problems.

He said Berkeley should have adopted an ordinance a long time ago and would 
have if    the city attorney and city manager had not tried to stall the issue.

"It's really a disgrace when a city like Oakland, which does not have a 
reputation for    being terribly liberal, can move ahead with a good 
ordinance," Mikuriya said "and here in    Berkeley we have a city 
government that's being run by a group of civil servants against the will 
of the people."

Court approved cannabis expert Chris Conrad said the problem with lower 
numbers of    allowable plants is that it assumes all the plants will be 
usable and the grower will    experience no problems.

"The city manager's recommendation for 10 plants is utopian in that it 
assumes your    growing system will work perfectly all year around," he 
said. "It doesn't take into    consideration things like bug infestations 
or growers having to stop a crop because their electricity bill is too high."

Co-medical Director of the East Bay Aids Center Steve O'Brien said growing 
20 to 25    plants would be reasonable. He said that his patients who grow 
marijuana usually grow    between four and 10 plants at a time. "The number 
one goal should be to protect the rights of sick people to use the drug," 
he said. "If the higher numbers are approved there    will be too much room 
for abuse."
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