Pubdate: Fri, 16 Dec 2011
Source: Chico Enterprise-Record (CA)
Copyright: 2011 Chico Enterprise-Record
Contact:  http://www.chicoer.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/861
Note: Letters from newspaper's circulation area receive publishing priority
Author: Roger H. Aylworth

POT DISPENSARY BAN GOING BACK TO BUTTE SUPERVISORS

OROVILLE -- Almost two years to the day after they first voted to ban 
medical marijuana dispensaries in Butte County, county supervisors 
will find the topic back on the agenda for their Jan. 10, 2012 meeting.

On Jan. 12, 2010, the supervisors voted in favor of a temporary ban 
on dispensaries that was later extended. This Oct. 25, the board 
voted to make the ban permanent.

Almost immediately afterward, opponents began a petition drive 
seeking to have it removed from the county code.

Wednesday, Butte County Clerk-Recorder Candace Grubbs announced the 
petitioners had collected enough signatures to certify their petition.

On Nov. 22, petitions containing 12,039 signatures were turned in to 
the county. Grubbs said after her staff examined 500 signatures as a 
test, the petitioners had collected a projected 9,703 valid 
signatures, easily qualifying the referendum.

The petitions needed a minimum 7,605 valid signatures.

Thursday, Kathleen Moghannam, assistant clerk of the Board of 
Supervisors, said the referendum will be put on the agenda for the 
board's first meeting of the new year.

A certified referendum gives the supervisors two choices: put the 
matter before the public for a vote, or rescind the ordinance.

Butte County Attorney Bruce Alpert has stated repeatedly that 
dispensaries have never been legal in Butte County, with or without 
the ordinance.

Under the zoning code, any land use that is not specifically allowed 
is prohibited, he has said.

Andrew Merkel, formerly a dispensary operator and one of the leaders 
in the fight against the dispensary ordinance, was not immediately 
available for comment Thursday, but in the past he has said the 
public deserves the right to vote on the ordinance.

In early September, supervisors voted to send to the voters an 
earlier referendum against the county's stringent ordinance 
restricting where medical marijuana could be cultivated in the county.

That will be on the June 2012 primary election ballot.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom