SOLANO COUNTY SHOULD MAKE RULES, NOT ROADBLOCKS:

PATIENTS DESERVE ACCESS

A temporary ban preventing medical marijuana dispensaries from
setting up shop on land that falls under Solano County's jurisdiction
expired Friday, but not because county staff or the Board of
Supervisors have been proactive about the matter.

Instead, a proposal to extend the moratorium another 22 months failed
to garner the necessary four votes during last week's board meeting,
leaving the county right where it was two months ago, with no clear
instructions for staff should anyone apply to set up such a shop.

Supervisors Barbara Kondylis and Linda Seifert are to be commended
for standing against an extended moratorium. Nearly two years was a
ridiculous amount of time to "plan" to accommodate what would seem to
be a natural extension of California's 13-year-old medical marijuana
law. Even Solano County voters helped to enact it, agreeing that
patients who are ill should be allowed access to marijuana if their
doctors prescribe it.

But where are patients supposed to obtain it?

In recent years, nonprofit dispensaries have popped up to grow and
distribute cannabis to patients who hold prescriptions. It has been
up to cities and counties to determine the circumstances under which
those dispensaries may operate.

As an Associated Press story last week described, some communities
have embraced dispensaries -- and the tax revenue they bring in --
while others have sought to block them altogether.

Locally, Vacaville, Dixon and Benicia have enacted moratoriums
prohibiting them.

Solano County's general plan might limit where medical marijuana
dispensaries could set up, except that the county hasn't classified them.

Are they a business? If so, there are only a few places where they
could operate in the unincorporated areas.

But logically, they might also be considered an agricultural
enterprise. That could certainly expand the options.

During last week's meeting, Supervisor Jim Spering asked what would
happen if the county received a dispensary application. Staff members
said it would go through Planning Commission and then probably end up
in front of supervisors.

Why waste everyone's time?

The board should enact zoning regulations to accommodate dispensaries
so that Solano County patients don't have to leave the county to
obtain their medicine.