Pubdate: Wed, 21 Jul 2010 Source: Times-Standard (Eureka, CA) Copyright: 2010 Times-Standard Contact: http://www.times-standard.com/writeus Website: http://www.times-standard.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1051 Author: Thadeus Greenson MEDICAL MARIJUANA ORDINANCE MOVES FORWARD IN EUREKA The Eureka City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to introduce a medical marijuana ordinance governing both the personal cultivation of medical cannabis and distribution facilities located within city limits. But, while the vote was unanimous, the sentiment was not. "I don't agree with any of this," Councilman Frank Jager said shortly before the vote. "I know we need a drug house ordinance, but I don't think we need dispensaries in Eureka." However, Jager said that, in the spirit of cooperation, he would vote to move the ordinance forward. The city's proposed medical cannabis ordinance is loosely modeled after Arcata's, and seeks to deal with the issue through a land-use approach. The ordinance essentially splits the issue into two categories: Cultivation for personal medical use and dispensaries. For personal use, the proposed ordinance would allow qualified patients to grow marijuana only in their personal residences, with grow spaces limited to 50 square feet. While the ordinance explicitly states that medical marijuana can only be grown in the residence of the qualified patient, it does allow caretakers to come into qualified patients' residences to grow the cannabis for the patient. The ordinance also requires that special wiring for medical marijuana grows receive a permit from the city's building department, and that lighting shall not exceed 1,200 watts. Further, the ordinance prohibits the use of gas products, including CO2 and butane, and requires that there be no external evidence of medical marijuana cultivation at the residence. Community Development Director Sidnie Olson explained for the first time Tuesday the enforcement mechanisms that would come into play for a residence that is believed to be out of compliance with the code. Olson said if her department receives information that a residence is out of compliance, it would contact the property owner through a certified letter. If the property owner fails to respond to the letter and schedule an inspection within seven days, Olson said the city would begin the process of seeking an inspection warrant for the property. After seven days of notification, Olson said the city would begin to assess $50 daily fines on the property until it is inspected. Further, Olson said there would be steeper fines for multiple offenders, and scaled fines for more "egregious" land-use violations. On the topic of dispensaries, the ordinance would allow a maximum of four cultivation/production facilities to be permitted within city limits, each of which would be allowed a maximum of two distribution facilities. The ordinance would also allow the location of two other distribution facilities in the city that produce their medical marijuana elsewhere. "The idea is that what's grown in Eureka gets distributed in Eureka," Olson explained, adding that dispensaries who grow their product elsewhere would have to take a back seat to those that produce within city limits. Under the ordinance, the city council would appoint a subcommittee to review requests for qualifications from prospective dispensaries to determine which could operate within the city. Based on comments from Laura Benedict, owner of Humboldt Medical Supply, an Arcata dispensary, Councilwoman Linda Atkins made several amendments to the proposed ordinance that was included in the city's staff report. First, Benedict asked that the council strike a staff recommendation that would limit dispensaries to distributing to patients that have state or county-issued medical marijuana identification cards. Benedict said that the government-issued cards cost $175 a year, which places a financial burden on patients. Similarly, Benedict asked the council to strike a provision requiring dispensaries to have their products tested for potency and chemicals. She said there are no local testing facilities, and that samples need to be hand-delivered, as it's illegal to ship them. She said the testing requirement would add an additional layer of overhead costs for dispensaries -- costs that would ultimately be passed on to patients, many of whom Benedict said can ill afford added expenses. "In this country, if you're really sick, you're really poor," she said. After some discussion, the council agreed to strike the identification card requirement, and changed the ordinance so the testing requirement wouldn't go into affect until January 2011, which it hoped would allow a local testing facility currently in the county permitting process time to open. The council also asked Olson about whether patients would be allowed to smoke medical marijuana in public -- with Councilman Larry Glass asking if people would be allowed to smoke "hooters" on the Boardwalk and Councilman Mike Jones asking if patients would be allowed to "light up, torch up, blaze up or whatever they do" at the dispensaries. Olson and others assured the council that public smoking would be prohibited, and any dispensary not following the rules could risk losing its conditional use permit. The ordinance is due to come back before the council at its August 3 meeting for possible adoption. After lengthy discussions on the city's budget and the medical marijuana ordinance, the council voted to continue the balance of its meeting agenda to a special meeting Thursday. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D