Pubdate: Wed, 05 Nov 2014 Source: Record Searchlight (Redding, CA) Copyright: 2014 Record Searchlight Contact: http://www.redding.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/360 Author: Clay Duda MEASURE A: EARLY VOTERS SUPPORTING MARIJUANA RESTRICTIONS SHASTA COUNTY, California - Voters today weighed in on proposed updates to medical marijuana cultivation rules in Shasta County following months of press conferences, protests and news coverage of the contentious issue. Returns at midnight showed 59 percent of the total 40,226 votes are in favor of Measure A, with 41 percent opposing the measure with all 132 precincts reporting. If a "yes" vote wins the tally, Measure A would ban outdoor marijuana gardens in unincorporated areas of the county and limit indoor grows to 12 plants in a detached building on property where a patient lives. Violators of the rules could be charged with a misdemeanor. The measure includes storage of marijuana in its definition of cultivation. Patients would need a separate building built to spec to legally store any amount of medical marijuana, though county officials have said they likely would not prosecute someone storing small amounts for personal medical use indoors. Shasta County's Board of Supervisors unanimously passed the ordinance in January. A petition drive followed, collecting nearly double the number of needed signatures from registered voters in the county to have the measure placed on the ballot. Measure A would amend a section of the county's building code that has set regulations for marijuana cultivation since 2011. Those rules regulate gardens by canopy size based on a property's acreage, allowing an area up to 60-square-feet on parcels less than one acre and a maximum 360-square-feet on properties 20 acres or larger. Proponents of the more stringent regulations have said they are a step in the right direction to start addressing a proliferation of large, for-profit marijuana grows in the county, while opponents said the rules go too far and would infringe on the rights of legitimate medical marijuana patients that may not have the financial means to comply. Two groups formed in recent months to push for opposite outcomes from the election. The ballot committee Citizens for "Yes" on Measure A raised $13,241.86 in monetary and in-kind donations to support the measure, while Shasta County Citizens No on Measure A brought in $13,716.88 to oppose its passage, according to the most recent figures available from the county elections office. Tyler Terrell, a representative for the group opposing the measure, said it was clear the county needed updated regulations to address large-scale marijuana cultivation, but said Measure A would do little to help crime, patients, or neighbors dealing with out-of-control growers. "Most importantly we want to make sure Shasta County medical marijuana patients don't lose access and the ability to store their medicine in their homes," she said. Supporting the measure, Cathy Grindstaff said she had heard far too many horror stories from people living in the midst of out-of-control marijuana grows in rural stretches of the county. "I firmly believe the Board of Supervisors heard all the stories from both sides and made the best decision possible for the majority of people (when it passed the original ordinance in January," she said. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom