Pubdate: Tue, 22 Apr 2014
Source: Sacramento Bee (CA)
Copyright: 2014 The Sacramento Bee
Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/0n4cG7L1
Website: http://www.sacbee.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/376

SACRAMENTO COUNTY SUPERVISOR ROBERTA MACGLASHAN PROPOSES FLAT BANS ON
CULTIVATION OF MARIJUANA, UNDERSTANDABLY SO

With the Legislature unable to seriously regulate marijuana,
SACRAMENTO COUNTY SUPERVISOR ROBERTA MACGLASHAN IS PROPOSING FLAT bans
on cultivation of the weed indoors and outdoors.

MacGlashan will offer two separate ordinances at today's Board of
Supervisors hearing. They're understandable, if extreme, reactions to
the Legislature's annual failure. They deserve serious consideration
and raise significant issues.

Whatever you think of marijuana, voters in 1996 approved its use for
medicinal purposes. No one should quibble if an individual grows a few
plants for personal use.

Based on polls, California voters may one day soon follow the lead of
Colorado and Washington state by legalizing marijuana.

What's clear is that Californians almost certainly never will return
to a ban. What's also clear is that the medical marijuana industry is
hardly what voters thought they were approving when it was pitched to
the electorate as a palliative for people with AIDS, glaucoma, cancer
and a few other diseases.

Outdoor cultivation can be a public nuisance at a minimum, and a crime
magnet and an environmental scourge in the extreme. No right-thinking
person should support taking water from fish, people and farms to
water a weed, especially in a drought.

Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones and code enforcers responded to
180 locations last year, removing 13,500 plants, MacGlashan says. At
an average of 75 plants per site, that's hardly an amount being used
for a single ill individual.

The Sacramento Area Intelligence Narcotics Taskforce, investigating
cases for criminal prosecution, removed 44,263 plants from 35
locations, the supervisor says. District Attorney Jan Scully has
pending homicide cases stemming from marijuana thefts or attempted
thefts.

California courts have held that cities and counties have the
authority to ban marijuana cultivation. Fresno County has banned
cultivation. The cities of Sacramento, Elk Grove and West Sacramento
ban outdoor cultivation, a reasonable step.

Mendocino County authorizes 25 plants, although clearly that
regulation is regularly ignored. Some localities allow limited indoor
cultivation, which is reasonable.

In Humboldt County, the city of Arcata, heavily affected by the
marijuana industry, permits indoor cultivation but limits it to no
more than 50 square feet.

On Monday, legislation by Sen. Lou Correa, D-Santa Ana, to overhaul
marijuana regulation cleared the Senate Business and Professions
Committee. Backed by California police chiefs, Senate Bill 1226 seeks
to limit marijuana to the truly sick.

Today, Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, will push his version
of regulation. His Assembly Bill 1894, which will be heard in Assembly
Public Safety Committee, would authorize a unit within the California
Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control to regulate marijuana.

It remains unclear why the ABC rather than, say, the Department of
Public Health should be in charge of regulating a product that
supposedly is medicinal.

By the end of the year, Correa, Ammiano and the rest of the
Legislature ought to come together on a compromise. Either that, or
cities and counties will be left to sort out their positions. That's
an imperfect solution but also perfectly understandable.
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MAP posted-by: Matt