COUNTY OFFICIALS LOOKING TO CREATE GUIDELINES FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Following in the footsteps of Arcata, other jurisdictions in the
county are hoping to create guidelines to regulate medical marijuana
distribution through land use codes.

With the increasing attention to medical and recreational marijuana
in the state and marijuana production locally, officials with the
Humboldt County Board of Supervisors and the Eureka City Council has
been meeting with Arcata staff and the Humboldt County District
Attorney's office to try and come up with similar guidelines.

Supervisor Mark Lovelace said the legalization of marijuana has been
taking center stage recently and drawing away from the issue of
regulation. He said jurisdictions don't have authority to say whether
access to medical marijuana is being abused, but they can have a
discussion about land use and building and zoning.

"I think we get stuck too much on legalization," he said. "That takes
off attention that it needs to be regulated."

In Eureka, the City Council will be deciding Tuesday whether to
impose a 45-day temporary moratorium on dispensaries, as the
participating council members continue to work on the guidelines.

Councilman Jeff Leonard said he hopes the moratorium will discourage
any dispensaries that are trying to create establishments before
guidelines are created. These guidelines are meant to become
something jurisdictions throughout the county can turn to.

Leonard said all those participating agree that there needs to be
uniform guidelines.

"We all work on it on our own and we've all arrived at the same
conclusion," he said. "The problem is bigger than just within the
Eureka city limits."

The council has been trying to address the growing concern over
residential grow houses through other law enforcement means, but the
issue seems to be taking a toll on resources. Leonard said grow
houses are a reoccurring issue for neighborhood community and public
safety officials, particularly the fire department.

"In Arcata -- they have probably had more experience than we have --
they put together their original guidelines based on some of their
problems," he said.

Arcata adopted its guidelines in November 2008, stating that a
medical marijuana cultivation area cannot exceed 50 square feet nor
exceed 10 feet in height, per residence, and that the qualified
patient must live in the home where the medical marijuana is being grown.

Arcata's ordinance also allows dispensaries to grow medical
marijuana, provided the area designated for growing does not exceed
25 percent of the dispensaries' total square feet and is no larger
than 1,500 square feet. Plant height is also limited to 10 feet. In
addition, a use permit is required to grow medical marijuana within
Arcata city limits.

Lovelace, whose district includes Arcata, said the ordinance has been
relatively effective.

"It's effective -- it's not a overnight success kind of thing. They
certainly have enough of an existing problem that its going to take
awhile," he said, adding that effectiveness is limited by law
enforcement resources.

Leonard said Arcata's ordinance is a good example of how to handle
the issue from a standpoint other than that of law enforcement.

Supervisor Jimmy Smith agrees.

"Arcata stepped up with some building and land use ordinance language
that we may be really looking at great detail," he said.

Smith said the county is concerned with a multitude of issues related
to the growing of marijuana, including homicides, home invasions,
property damage and fire concerns.

While the county can learn from Arcata's guidelines, it will not be
able to use them for the entire county since it was created for an
urban setting, Lovelace said.

"For the county, we have 3,600 square miles of rural lands," he said.
"If we're saying that you can't do this because it's an agricultural
use that's not allowed in a residential area, then what can you do in
an agricultural area or rural area?"

Lovelace said this will apply to figuring out if there can be a cap
on collectives or cooperatives. Arcata's made its cap at four establishments.

"I'm not sure where we're going to land on that side of the coin," he said.

However legalization or the guidelines play out, Lovelace said,
moving forward and working in collaboration is the right direction to go.

"It should not be up to every jurisdiction to create it from scratch," he said.