Pubdate: Mon, 11 Jun 2012
Source: Chico Enterprise-Record (CA)
Copyright: 2012 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

BUTTE SUPERVISORS TO BE ASKED IF THEY WANT TO REVISIT MARIJUANA GARDEN RULES

OROVILLE - With the vote last week that voided Butte County's medical 
marijuana cultivation ordinance, the question is what's next.

Tuesday, Butte County voters soundly rejected Measure A, a referendum 
on the county's land use ordinance that put strict limitations on 
where medical marijuana gardens can be planted, and on how many 
plants can be grown on what size parcels of land.

"The ordinance that the board passed was rejected, so we do not have 
an ordinance (now)," according to Paul Hahn, Butte County's chief 
administrative officer.

"We are back to where we started in a technical, legal sense. That 
was rejected by the voters, which is their right obviously," said the CAO.

Some hints of what might be coming next may surface during Tuesday's 
board meeting.

Hahn said he is going to ask the board, during his regular remarks to 
the panel, if they want to have a discussion of Measure A and/or a 
new marijuana ordinance put on a future agenda.

Since the voters rejected Measure A, the board is prohibited from 
reintroducing the same ordinance again for at least one year. But 
according to Hahn, they could move on a "substantially different" 
proposal immediately. He explained the precise legal definition of 
"substantially different" is not itself entirely clear.

The ordinance voided by Tuesday's vote was crafted by the supervisors 
after a series of intense public hearings where smaller groups of 
individuals living in residential neighborhoods begged the board to 
keep pot gardens away.

They complained about the smell of the plants, sometimes known as 
"skunk weed," and they said they were afraid of the violence and even 
gunfights that have broken out when people tried to steal somebody's plants.

On the other side, a much larger group of people came before the 
supervisors to describe their need for the marijuana as "medicine." 
They claimed the county could not regulate marijuana gardens because 
that right was pre-empted by way of Proposition 215. The 
pro-marijuana faction threatened to recall any supervisors who 
supported the ordinance, and even said the use of the "herb" was a 
God-given right and the panel risked celestial judgment if they 
didn't do the right thing.

Board Chair Supervisor Steve Lambert, who was re-elected Tuesday to 
his 4th District seat after running unopposed, said he was 
disappointed by the way the whole process played out last year.

"I think we bit off more than we can chew," said Lambert.

He said he thinks the county needs a cultivation ordinance but needs 
to reach out to the community and find a way to strike a balance with 
the competing needs.

Hahn said crafting a new ordinance is made more difficult because 
what is legal and acceptable to the courts is a moving target.

In the two years since the idea of a cultivation measure first began 
percolating in county government, "things have changed," according to Hahn.

He said there have been court cases on the local and appellate level 
that have a bearing on what the county can regulate.

"Now the feds are certainly putting their two cents into the legality 
of marijuana in California," Hahn said.

The ordinance behind Measure A was a land use regulation that had no 
criminal or law enforcement aspect to it.

Hahn said, in the absence of any local regulation, control of 
marijuana cultivation falls back on law enforcement.

The Butte County District Attorney's website lists a series of 
"guidelines" it says are to help growers avoid legal troubles.

Among the guidelines is a statement that says, "Do not grow more than 
six mature or 12 immature plants at any one time. A plant is 
considered mature at the point where the sex of the plant is apparent."

The guidelines also caution, "Do not possess more than one pound of 
dried marijuana at any one time."

Public meeting

Butte County Board of Supervisors

9 a.m. Tuesday

Supervisors Chambers

25 County Center Drive, Oroville
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom