BOARD TO CONSIDER OPTIONS ON DEALING WITH DISPENSARIES

Kern County Supervisors Will, on Tuesday, Struggle Once Again With
the Tough, Many-Tentacled Problem of Medical Marijuana.

County attorney John Irby has been searching the law for a way to
balance the federal government's criminal stance toward the substance
and the state's laws, which treat it as a medicine.

He has found some information and a handful of options to offer
supervisors.

But Irby said he can offer them no perfect solutions.

"There's not a silver bullet solution," he said.

Medical marijuana advocates say they oppose an outright ban and want
responsibility for running the county ordinance removed from Kern
County Sheriff Donny Youngblood.

Here are some of the options county attorneys will present to the
board on Tuesday morning:

Remain with the status quo. The county allows medical marijuana
dispensaries, but, after federal drug raids, all of them have closed.
This would be a de facto ban.

Repeal its dispensary ordinance and let dispensaries open without
limitations -- at their own risk.

Create an ordinance that prohibits dispensaries that do not grow their
own marijuana and operate under other provisions of state law.

Regulate the location of dispensaries by making them illegal in
certain areas.

Designate someone other than the sheriff to issue dispensary
licenses.

There are a couple of things, Irby said, that the county probably
shouldn't do:

Ban dispensaries outright, which would violate state
law.

Create a "therapeutic research program" to study if marijuana has
medicinal value, which would require approval of the U.S. attorney
general, which is unlikely, Irby said.

He said the problem with dispensaries was that they were not growing
their own marijuana, as state law intended.

Kern County might create an ordinance that restricts the dispensaries
to something more like medical co-ops, rather than pot retailers, he
said.

"If you have a perfect solution under state law, then maybe the feds
won't bother them," Irby said.

But Doug McAfee, president of the Bakersfield chapter of
pro-legalization group NORML, said even a perfect dispensary is still
at risk.

"No matter what we do, there's no guarantee that the feds will" leave
dispensaries alone, he said.

Rick Morse, president of the Tulare County chapter of Americans for
Safe Access, said he's heartened that the county seems to be rejecting
the idea of an outright ban.

"What they want to do is make sure that these dispensaries are
community-oriented," Morse said. "We're trying to be good citizens
here."

Now all that remains is for supervisors to address the issue at 9 a.m.
Tuesday.