Pubdate: Sun, 18 Oct 2015 Source: Ukiah Daily Journal, The (CA) Copyright: 2015 The Ukiah Daily Journal Contact: http://www.ukiahdailyjournal.com/feedback Website: http://www.ukiahdailyjournal.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/581 THE WORK BEGINS Now that the state legislature has passed new laws around the cultivation of medical marijuana, the real work must begin. There is time before the new rules which will need to be created by legislation go into effect for local communities to decide on how they want the new laws to be carried out in their counties. Under the law, counties can have their own regulations or allow the state's regs to take effect in their counties. We have been hearing for years about marijuana, "Well, just tax it and regulate it." That time has come. The new laws are meant to get regulations in place with an eye to the possibility - or perhaps probability - that recreational marijuana smoking and growing may become law after the 2016 November elections. While marijuana growers had a huge say in how these new laws were written, and made sure to keep their own businesses the topmost priority, we think the general public needs to start weighing in on how it wants regulated marijuana growing to operate. For instance, under the new laws, marijuana is reclassified as an agricultural product. Mendocino County is a "Right to Farm" county which generally means that nuisances from agricultural production smell, noise, dust, sprays, etc are acceptable and that owners of residential properties next to these farms just have to accept them. In Mendocino County a residential builder must sign an acknowledgment of that to get a building permit, and real estate transactions must include notification of right to farm practices. So does that mean that a marijuana grower next door to you no longer has to worry about the smell or the lights? No one seems to know. Environmental protections and smell and other nuisances from pot growing which are in the new law - are already in this county's cultivation ordinance along with strict limits on the number of plants allowed, but that has not stopped significant illegal production and practices. Under the new law, counties issue the permits for growing and can add their own taxes to the state's fees. Local governments are supposed to have a lot of say-so in how the new regulated marijuana industry works. We think it should not simply mean the legitimization of all the current growers who will now just be more immune from prosecution, paying some fees and taxes, but basically continuing with business as usual. We think this county and its cities need to get lots of public input about how the residents want to see a legalized marijuana industry controlled. (We have even heard it suggested that after legalization, this county might want to be the first to opt out of marijuana growing altogether. Think of the businesses and families who would want to come to a Northern California county where pot growing was banned? It's something to think about.) There's a very emphatic and activist marijuana grower community in this county and they will do everything in their power to make sure that growing gets easier, that they are not hassled and that they can continue to make lots of money. But we know there's also a very large population of people out there who, while they don't really care who smokes marijuana, don't want to live around it, don't want to smell it, and don't want our children exposed to it. This county needs to make sure that, now that regulation of marijuana growing is the mission, it takes a strong stand on behalf of non-growers, protects the local environment and raises enough in marijuana taxes to pay for whatever it takes to make sure that a regulated marijuana industry is just that. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom