TEHAMA COUNTY TO MULL POT RULE EXTENSION

Tehama County staff members are expected Tuesday to recommend a
one-year extension on a controversial medical marijuana dispensary
and collective ban.

The Board of Supervisors is scheduled to convene at 1:30 p.m. in its
chambers, 727 Oak St., to consider renewing the ban, which would
otherwise expire.

If the county approves the extension, it would be the last time it is
allowed to do so. California law allows an interim ordinance to be
extended twice without invoking a more complicated legal process
associated with permanent zoning policies.

The ban was first implemented in 2009, days after Red Bluff Patient
Collective opened on Antelope Boulevard, next to the Sheriff's Department.

Its owners closed up after a series of citations involving zoning
violations and for violating the county ban.

Similar storefront-style collectives have opened up in Red Bluff and
Corning but only Tehama Herbal Collective in Corning remains in
operation and its owners are cited regularly.

A recent court ruling could prevent Tehama County from using
marijuana's illegal federal status as justification for a permanent ban.

But the temporary ban cites a number of other concerns, including
that the same case, the pending Qualified Patients v. City of
Anaheim, has not yet resolved whether cities and counties have the
right to implement a permanent ban.

The ban argues large medical marijuana growths and dispensaries are
the targets of violent robberies.

Facilities which dispense marijuana have the potential to cause
serious harmful effects...to citizens living, visiting, shopping,
conducting business or otherwise present in the area, according to
the ordinance.

The ordinance cites a violent burglary in Los Molinos targeting
marijuana and a report attributed to the California Police Chief's Association.

Proponents have repeatedly argued these incidents are exaggerated and
are similar to the problems pharmacies and banks face.