Pubdate: Wed, 29 Aug 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 MARIJUANA CULTIVATION PROPOSAL DIES; IT'S BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD FOR BUTTE SUPERVISORS OROVILLE -- A hearing on a proposal to regulate the growing of medical marijuana took a surprising turn Tuesday when Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey said the ordinance was unconstitutional as written. Three hours later, when the hearing was over, the entire proposal was scrapped and the county was headed back to the drawing board. The hearing was the first reading of an ordinance that would outlaw all outdoor growing of marijuana. Ramsey said provisions of the proposal would make outdoor growing a misdemeanor and grant sheriff's deputies authority to destroy any plants found growing outside. "Your new proposed ordinance does go too far and goes illegally too far," said Ramsey. He said under Proposition 215, which was passed in 1996, people with a medical marijuana recommendation are allowed to grow their "medicine." Making the ordinance a misdemeanor makes it illegal to grow marijuana under some conditions in Butte County. "State law fully occupies the area of criminal prosecution of marijuana for compassionate use," Ramsey said. Moreover, according to the district attorney, there is no circumstance where it would be legal for deputies to destroy plants on their own say-so. If the measure was a land use item - like the one that was rejected by voters in a June referendum - Ramsey said it could be legally crafted to say where and how the marijuana was grown. Butte County Chief Administrative Officer Paul Hahn said even as just a land use item, there would still be a need for additional deputies. As a land use item, county code enforcement officers would do the investigations. Hahn said he could not let them go into potentially dangerous situations without sheriff's backup. If the ordinance was passed as a land use regulation, additional staffing and equipment would cost the county between $750,000 and $1 million, according to Hahn, and the money would come out of the general fund. Chico Supervisor Larry Wahl said it sounded to him like the board was being told to give up on marijuana regulation. Supervisor Bill Connelly of Oroville said he is regularly getting calls from people who won't come before the board in an open hearing because they feel intimidated. He said these people, who have done nothing wrong, say they are unable to use their land because of the stench of the growing marijuana, are fearful of the violence that can erupt when thieves invade a garden, and fear the potential the raiders could hit the wrong address and attack them. Over most of the next three hours, all but a handful of the people who spoke denounced the proposed ordinance and touted cannabis as a miracle cure. A relative handful of speakers rose to endorse the proposal, citing the smell, the dangers and the negative impact the gardens have on adjacent property values. After the public comment, Paradise Supervisor Kim Yamaguchi said, "We need something that is going to work for our citizens on both sides of the fence." He called for a committee of individuals from the District Attorney's Office, the Sheriff's Office, county administrator's office, the county counsel and representatives from the pro- and anti-marijuana contingent to work out a proposal all parties could live with. Connelly said he wanted to expand the size of the committee to see that more people who are growers or impacted by gardens would be involved in crafting the proposal. Butte County Counsel Bruce Alpert said it could be an ad hoc committee that would not have to deal with public meeting issues to move forward speedily. Hahn said he could have a plan for the committee by the end of the year, and an ordinance could be crafted before the time comes to plant marijuana in the spring. Any proposal would come back before the board for additional public hearings. The supervisors told Hahn to move ahead on forming the panel. By taking no action on the ordinance before them, they killed the proposal, according to Alpert. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom