Pubdate: Wed, 05 Nov 2014
Source: Chico Enterprise-Record (CA)
Copyright: 2014 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

BUTTE COUNTY MARIJUANA MEASURES: A WINS, B LOSES

Measure B Backers Had More Campaign Funding, but Measure A Leads

OROVILLE - Voters in Butte County approved Measure A, which creates 
new rules for growing marijuana including limits on the size of 
gardens and setbacks from other property.

Voters also rejected Measure B, a proposal that would allow up to 99 
plants on larger parcels of land and limit the ability of the Board 
of Supervisors to set new marijuana cultivation rules without a ballot vote.

Measure A passed resoundingly, with 61.6 percent of the vote. At the 
same time, 66.9 percent of voters said no to Measure B.

Measure A is similar to rules approved by the Board of Supervisors in 
February. These rules however, were challenged by a referendum, and 
the supervisors chose to put the rules up for a public vote. Measure 
B was then put on the ballot through a petition drive, and largely 
matched the rules in place before February.

At about 8:30 p.m., former sheriff Jerry Smith said he was pleased 
with the way the vote was going.

Measure A "will give the county residents ... the opportunity to take 
back this out-of-control scenario and still allow for medicinal 
marijuana patients to have access to cannabis."

An original ordinance on growing marijuana was passed more than two 
years ago, Smith said. At the time the rules were a compromise, but a 
committee including local law enforcement determined it wasn't 
working, Smith said. The grows were too large and people from out of 
the area were coming to the county to grow commercially, he said.

Last year law enforcement was successful in "pounding hard on Mexican 
nationals" caught growing marijuana, often on federal lands.

This year there have been several arrests of people who have come to 
Butte County from out of state to grow, he said.

Measure A puts a requirement that people who legally grow marijuana 
must have lived in the county for at least a year. It also requires 
there be a residence on the property.

A difference in Measure A and previous rules includes that people can 
report problems with the grow even if they do not live within close 
proximity of the pot garden.

Smith said the campaign was difficult. Backers of Measure B had 
significantly more campaign funding, he said.

He said he was concerned about damage to the environment if Measure B 
had passed or if both Measure A and B had been defeated. He also 
hopes that fewer children will be "raised in an environment where 
growing pot has been decriminalized."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom