COUNTY MAKES POT LAW TOUGHER

New Restriction Added To Its Ordinance On Medicinal Marijuana

The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a new
medicinal marijuana ordinance that makes it more difficult to set up
cannabis dispensaries in unincorporated areas of the county.

The county's original ordinance, passed 17 months ago, restricts
marijuana dispensaries to commercial and industrial zones of the
unincorporated area, and requires operators to obtain a special use
permit from the county. No one has applied for a county permit.

The new law requires the county Public Health Department to verify
each marijuana ``prescription'' with the patient's doctor.

The county passed the original ordinance after California voters
passed Proposition 215 in 1996, which legalized medicinal use of marijuana.

The supervisors approved the ordinance 4-0, with Supervisor Blanca
Alvarado absent.

Supervisor Don Gage said the new ordinance gives the county better
control over a business fraught with potential problems.

``To me, what was important was that if we didn't have an ordinance, a
dispensary could go in anywhere, even next to a school,'' said Gage,
whose represents the south county. ``I'm confident this ordinance
protects areas we want to protect and keeps dispensaries out of
high-crime and low-income areas.''

The federal government filed civil lawsuits in January against six
Northern California cannabis clubs that provided medicinal marijuana.
The lawsuits contend that federal law banning marijuana distribution
overrides the California law.

Four clubs -- in San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Oakland and San Jose --
have been shut down.

Voters last week approved initiatives to legalize the medicinal use of
marijuana in Alaska, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon and Washington state.

Checked-by: Patrick Henry