MENDOCINO POT REPEAL HEADS FOR PASSAGE

Measure B Leading in Ukiah, but Rural Vote Still Uncounted

UKIAH -- Mendocino County voters were repealing, by a 56-44 percent
margin, local marijuana standards that had earned the county a
national reputation as a haven for commercial growers.

The tally represented votes from about 90 percent of the precincts,
including the Ukiah Valley area where strong support for Measure B
was expected. However, votes still were to be counted in Willits and
Laytonville, rural areas where the underground marijuana economy is
more pronounced, and along the Mendocino Coast, a liberal voter bastion.

The divisive Measure B campaign was marked by high-profile, local
criminal cases, including the marijuana possession arrests of a local
high school teacher and of the daughter of a former congressman.

In a new case that further underscored public concerns, sheriff's
deputies said Monday a Willits-area man could face criminal charges
for destroying 37 towering fir trees in a public preserve so he could
provide more light for his marijuana garden.

If current local standards are repealed, it would represent a sharp
shift in public sentiment in a county where marijuana long has been
tolerated. Since the influx of young outsiders to Mendocino County
beginning in the late 1960s, marijuana has been part of the local scene.

How much is too much has been a topic of sometimes heated local debate since.

Critics of the attitude of tolerance toward marijuana-growing say
some growers are principal suppliers to medical marijuana
dispensaries statewide.

The controversial operations emerged after state voters in 1996
passed Proposition 215, which decriminalized marijuana for medical
use but failed to impose specific standards.

State legislation set a standard of six mature plants per person but
also allowed counties to set their own guidelines.

The more restrictive state guidelines, which supporters of Mendocino
County's Measure B seek to impose, recently were ruled
unconstitutional by a state appellate court.

In the meantime, Proposition 215 has spawned a surge in marijuana
production across the state and especially in rural counties, such as
Mendocino.

Locally, the underground cash crop is valued at $500 million or more a year.

Eight years ago, county voters by an overwhelming 58-42 percent
margin agreed to what was then the nation's most liberal marijuana policy.