NAPA OUTLINES MEDICAL POT RULES

Napa's experiment with medical marijuana dispensaries should start
small, with a single, heavily regulated clinic, the Napa City Council
said Tuesday night.

If the first dispensary works out, the city will consider allowing a
second operation a year later.

Since these clinics will be dispensing cannabis under a physician's
orders, the council said they belong in medical office districts. The
city will prohibit storefront operations.

Members of the dispensary's marijuana collective will be encouraged
to grow their plants in warehouses in the city's industrial zones,
rather than in other areas or settings. Houses devoted to marijuana
cultivation will be prohibited.

Qualified people will be able to grow enough plants for personal use
on their residential properties, as allowed by state law, but larger
neighborhood operations will not be permitted, council members said.

Since deciding last summer that residents with valid medical needs
should have a legal, local source for marijuana, the council has been
waiting for staff to draft regulations.

Some 50 people, including multiple potential dispensary operators,
attended Tuesday's medical marijuana workshop.

A half dozen speakers wanted the city to grant a permit to more than
one dispensary, saying consumers deserved a choice. Some said
limiting clinics to medical office zones was too restrictive.

The five council members said they all supported tight regulations
that made sure a clinic did not bother neighbors or become a magnet
for crime.

Staff will be drafting rules for evaluating applications, then
monitoring operations.

The city intends to have rules in place by June 1, but this could
slip if the staff runs into complications shaping an ordinance, City
Manager Dana Smith said.

Top staff members, including City Manager Mike Parness and Police
Chief Rich Melton, have visited the highly regarded Peace in Medicine
dispensary in Sebastopol to see what a well-run pot clinic might look
like.

Councilman Mark van Gorder said he was disturbed that Peace in
Medicine's client list is larger than the population of Sebastopol.
He would like the Napa clinic to serve only locals, he said.

No one suggested a way that this would be possible, but staff may be
able to garner information as to where patients are coming from,
officials said.

Van Gorder said the dispensary's sized should accommodate people with
serious illnesses for whom marijuana can provide pain relief and
stimulate appetite. He suggested that staff talk to the American
Cancer Society to get an estimate as to how many people this might
be.

Dr. Neil Watter, a physician, reminded the council that it has no
jurisdiction over doctors who are the ones who write recommendations
for medical marijuana.

Patients are able to get recommendations for many medical complaints,
such as "situation anxiety," not just life-ending illnesses, Watter
said.

Medical marijuana recommendations are so easily available that
current laws and regulations don't make much sense, Watter said. It
would be more straightforward for California to legalize marijuana
for everyone, he said.

Councilman Peter Mott worried that the city was spending a lot of
effort drafting a medical marijuana ordinance, yet state voters may
be asked to legalize pot for recreational use at the November election.

"We're putting a lot of time and money out for something that may be
moot in nine months," Mott said.

Napa City Attorney Michael Barrett said later that a local ordinance
regulating sales might still be worthwhile, depending on what form a
statewide marijuana initiative takes.

The city's ordinance will meet the state's requirements for marijuana
dispensaries, but will not make a clinic legal under federal law,
Barrett said.

Federal law generally outlaws marijuana, although the Obama
administration has said it will not crack down on operations that
meet state standards.

Napa's ordinance may allow the dispensary to deliver medical
marijuana to homebound patients, especially those in hospice care. If
the local dispensary has surplus cannabis, it will not be allowed to
export it to other cities.

Once staff selects the best application to run a dispensary, the
applicant will undergo public hearings by the Planning Commission and
City Council.

The council agreed that applicants should pay fees that cover the
city's cost of administration and monitoring.