Pubdate: Sun, 14 Oct 2012
Source: Record, The (Stockton, CA)
Copyright: 2012 The Record
Website: http://www.recordnet.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/428
Author: Keith Reid

LODI TO ADDRESS CODE ON MED POT

LODI - The Lodi City Council on Tuesday will discuss its options for
regulating the cultivation of medical marijuana and likely direct the
City Attorney's Office to draft an ordinance for what isn't allowable.

Deputy District Attorney Janice Magdich said the city Police
Department has heard complaints from residents where neighbors have
been growing marijuana in their backyards and the plant odor has
caused a stench in the neighborhood.

State law allows for the cultivation of marijuana in residential areas
by patients or caregivers who have been prescribed marijuana for
medical purposes, but cities have the ability to restrict how much is
grown and define how it is grown.

Lodi residents can grow marijuana, but the city does not have a code
outlining the appropriate way to do so. Police are not arresting or
citing any licensed grower.

"Some cities have banned all outdoor cultivation or required permits
for indoors or in a secured structure," Magdich said. "Some
jurisdictions require filtration systems in a detached structure to
make sure it doesn't smell."

Cultivation is the second medical marijuana-related topic Lodi has
decided to take on in recent years. In February 2011, the City Council
voted to ban dispensaries where patients could go to fill their
prescriptions, or cooperatives under which a group of people could
oversee a large grow together for the purpose of distributing among
themselves.

Because dispensaries are not allowed, Magdich said staff is not
recommending the council ban the cultivation of marijuana by
individual patients. There is an argument to be had, she said, that
doing so would discriminate against a patient that is allowed under
state law to use medical marijuana and not give them an opportunity to
either obtain it or grow it locally.

The City Council is being asked to decide among several possibilities
that have been enacted in other communities.

- - Take no action and continue addressing complaints on a case-to-case
basis.

- - Prohibit all cultivation of marijuana.

- - Allow and place restriction on outdoor and indoor
cultivation.

- - Prohibit outdoor cultivation, but allow indoor cultivation in
residential areas.

Elsewhere in San Joaquin County, Stockton has not adopted a
cultivation ordinance. Tracy has banned growing plants for any use,
and Ripon and Manteca have allowed cultivation in secured, locked and
fully enclosed structures not visible to the public. Manteca also
limits the number of plants that can be grown to six mature plants or
12 immature plants.

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If you go

Lodi City Council Shirtsleeve session on medical marijuana regulation,
7 a.m. Tuesday in the Carnegie Forum, 305 W. Pine St.
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MAP posted-by: Matt