Tehama County Growers Seek 'Safe Access' for Medical Pot Patients

[Weedpipe]

Tehama County Board to Vote on Extending Pot Shop Ban

The Board of Supervisors is scheduled to convene at 10 a.m. Tuesday to vote whether to extend its ban on marijuana operations and whether to implement new fees for Tehama County development, with the fees going toward air quality improvement projects.

Marijuana ban

The ordinance, drafted by County Counsel Arthur Wylene, could extend the county ban for 10 months and 15 days.

In county documents, Wylene cites evolving state medical marijuana law as justification, as well as the pending case of Qualified Patients Assoc. v. City of Anaheim, which is expected to offer some clarity on the legality of permanent dispensary bans, sometime in the next two months.

The board previously agreed to a 45-day ban on medical marijuana outfits in the unincorporated county on the basis that board members needed more time to study the matter.

Some board members have said there is a need for zoning laws for medical marijuana operations similar to laws in place for pharmacies, and that the ban, being temporary, could allow them to draft such regulations with the caveat that they could also come back and ban dispensaries altogether.

Dispensaries, collectives and various non-profit medical cannabis operations have been cropping up faster in the north state than governments can set policies in place, including Tehama Herbal Collective in Corning and Red Bluff Patient Collective just outside city limits.

Local governments, including Corning and the county of Tehama, have responded by issuing retroactive bans on dispensaries and fighting them over zoning laws, a strategy some medical marijuana advocates say is in violation of their state rights under Prop. 215.

In the case of Red Bluff Patient Collective, Sheriff Clay Parker has told the Daily News he will cite the operation daily if it continues to operate.

Parker maintains any operation offering marijuana for sale, regardless of its non-profit status or whether it sells marijuana to people with doctor recommendations, is not permitted by Prop. 215.

Air fees

The board, convening as the Air Pollution Control District, is slated to vote on a series of air quality mitigation fees proposed by Air Pollution Control Director Alan Abbs.

The fees range from 21 cents a square foot for industrial developments to $429 per single family dwelling and would only apply to new construction.

Transportation is one of the primary sources of more ozone-creating chemicals Tehama County, Abbs has said. These, along with particulate matter, are responsible for respiratory illness and damage agriculture across the state.

County businesses and farms could face stricter regulation if Environmental Protection Agency standards tighten, as they are expected to do, Abbs said. With the county already on the edge of being in non-compliance for its air quality, improving air quality now could protect local industry in the future.

Abbs has said his goal is not so much to deter development as to reroute the fees into a fund used to back air quality mitigation projects submitted by the public, which could include everything from the installation of bike paths to paying for county industry to switch from diesel to electric motors. Diesel motors release lungdamaging particulate matter into the air.

The board will have the option of putting the fees in place for a year to see if they work, or ask Abbs to rewrite the new rules.

Read more online

Complete copies of both proposed ordinances are available online at co.tehama.ca.us. More information is available by calling 527-4655. The supervisors meet at at 727 Oak St. in Red Bluff. The meeting is open to the public.



News Hawk- Weedpipe 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: Red Bluff Daily News
Author: GEOFF JOHNSON
Contact: Red Bluff Daily News - Red Bluff Daily News Online
Copyright: 2009 - Red Bluff Daily News
Website:Tehama County Board to vote on extending pot shop ban - Red Bluff Daily News Online

 

[Weedpipe]

Jerry Doran basks in the autumn sunshine on his remote 171-acre spread in Tehama County as a black French bulldog he calls Honey Bear leaps up on the porch swing reserved for guests.

The marijuana he's been growing with Donna Will has been harvested, and she and her crew have been snipping and trimming in a nearby shed.

Guinea hens are everywhere, insurance against grasshoppers - they once ravaged an entire crop. Doran and Will say it's a lot of work and responsibility to provide for 10 patients, but it's important.

"I just want to see safe access to medicine," Doran said.

Twenty-five years ago, Doran was a passenger in a pickup that was rammed by a drunken driver in a Trans Am going 100 mph. Still in a wheelchair, he considers himself an advocate for two groups that often overlap - the disabled and medical marijuana users.

Hospitalized for 17 weeks after the crash, he ultimately found the powerful drugs doctors prescribed for pain and spasms were doing more harm than good. For him, cannabis proved a healthier alternative.

"I quit smoking, I quit drinking coffee," said Doran, 55. "I don't drink alcohol."

Will, 48, suffered three torn discs in her back in a fall nine years ago. The OxyContin she was prescribed early on was nearly as disabling as the pain.

"I couldn't even go to the grocery store," she said. "By using cannabis I didn't have to use it as much."

Not surprisingly, they're keeping a close watch as north state politicians in unprecedented numbers pass a variety of measures aimed at regulating the dispensing and cultivating of medical pot. As of last week, Redding, Anderson, Shasta Lake, Tehama County and Corning all had recently enacted or extended moratoriums on dispensaries.

On Tuesday, Tehama County supervisors will consider extending a temporary moratorium on dispensaries until late next year. A separate ordinance that would limit grow locations and the number of plants at each was proposed in July, but failed to win supervisors' approval. A revamped version of that proposal is almost finished and should soon be presented to supervisors, county officials said Friday.

Meanwhile, in November, Red Bluff's City Council will consider amending city zoning codes to specifically ban all marijuana cultivation and dispensing within city limits.

Local governments statewide are grappling with the voter-approved Proposition 215, the Compassionate Use Act of 1996, which allows patients with a doctor's recommendation to use and grow marijuana under certain conditions. While marijuana remains illegal under federal law, the Justice Department announced a policy last week saying its prosecutors would back off from pursuing people complying with state laws.

Neither Doran nor Will sees the need for the flurry of measures recently passed. Too much regulation, they say, will only drive the price up and divert scant government resources from more pressing problems.

"(Proposition 215) was voted in by the voters and if they want to change it, it needs to be the voters of California to change the law," Will said.

Doran acknowledges that while some may be abusing the medical exemption - an oft-cited reason for stricter local laws - more ordinances aren't the answer.

"We police each other, almost," he said. "The medicinal patients, none of us wants to break the law."

He promotes more education on the issue, and because he believes people will use marijuana regardless, there's room for more discussion.

"We want to bring some common sense to the table," he said. "Let's all try to work together because it's going to be there."

Doran and Will say they have a good relationship with local law enforcement. When someone stole more than 2 pounds of marijuana from him 10 years ago, he said, he filed a police report and received more than $10,000 for the loss from his homeowner's insurance policy.

Doran also speaks with fondness of his late father, whom he persuaded to try cannabis with a vaporizer bag when he was stricken with cancer in his 70s. The elder Doran was initially reluctant.

"(But) during his sickness we were really able to grow close; he was able to see the benefit," he said. "I really wish we could have experienced that sooner."



News Hawk- Weedpipe 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: Redding.com
Author: Janet O'Neill
Contact: Redding Record Searchlight: Local Redding, California News Delivered Throughout the Day.
Copyright: 2009 The E.W. Scripps Co
Website:Tehama County growers seek 'safe access' for medical pot patients Redding Record Searchlight