NO DISPENSARIES FOR TRINIDAD

TRINIDAD -- The City Council took the first step Wednesday to ban
medical marijuana dispensaries or cooperatives within the seaside town.

The only medical marijuana cultivation that will be allowed under
the new ordinance is that of certified 215 patients or their
caretakers, Trinidad Police Chief Ken Thrailkill said Thursday.

Because the Trinidad City Council has not officially adopted the
Humboldt County guidelines for allowable amounts of medical
marijuana -- 99 square feet or 99 plants -- the state guidelines of
12 immature plants or 6 mature plants and 8 ounces of processed
marijuana are used in Trinidad, the police chief said.

The council had the first reading of the ordinance Wednesday, with
the second reading and vote set for the April 8 meeting. There were
a couple of minor modifications to the ordinance but none that would
delay action on the measure, according to City Attorney Paul Hagen.
If approved, the law would go into effect 30 days after the council's vote.

Thrailkill proposed the ban at the council's first meeting in
December in response to the discovery of several grow houses within
the city limits. Four grow houses have been busted in the last six
months, the police chief.

"Every single one of these grow houses we busted had some sort of
215 but well exceeded county legal limits and state limits," he said.

And each had indications, he said, that the marijuana was grown for
sale rather than 215. Those indications included packaging materials
and scales.

The proposed ordinance includes several stated reasons for the ban
of dispensaries or cooperatives including potential impacts to the city.

Among those are illegal drug activity and sales near dispensaries,
robbery of dispensary customers, resale of the marijuana to
unqualified people and a general increase in burglaries and robberies.

The proposed law states: "It shall be unlawful for any person or
entity to own, manage, conduct or operate any medical marijuana
cooperative or collective, or to participate as an employee,
contractor, agent or volunteer, or in any other manner or capacity,
in any medical marijuana cooperative or collective in the city of Trinidad."

If the council adopts the ordinance, those found guilty of operating
a dispensary within the city limits will be charged with a misdemeanor.