TEHAMA EXTENDS DISPENSARY BAN

RED BLUFF - Tehama County's controversial ban on medical marijuana
dispensaries will continue another year, after county supervisors on
Tuesday voted 4-1 for an extension.

"I think this stands in the door of patients getting their rights,"
said Supervisor Charlie Willard in his dissent. He noted it had been
nearly a year since the moratorium - which he opposed - was first
passed and questioned whether another 12 months would yield a viable
replacement.

Over two hours about a half-dozen medical marijuana patients, some
repeatedly, approached the podium in defense of safe access. They
included Ken Prather, who owns the 2,500-member Tehama Herbal
Collective in Corning.

Among other things, he accused the board of ignoring Attorney General
Jerry Brown's 2008 guidelines for collectives and cooperatives.

"I don't understand why you folks aren't being more compassionate,"
he told supervisors.

Donna Will, a medical marijuana patient and grower, made an emotional
plea on behalf of those who have benefited from pot when other
medicines proved harmful.

"Safe access for sick people is what this is about," she said. She
also accused supervisors of dragging their feet.

"You guys have had over a year and done nothing," she said.

First adopted Sept. 15, the interim urgency ordinance was renewed
after 45 days. It was due to expire Sept. 14.

In November, the board held a study session in which Assistant County
Counsel Arthur Wylene offered up an exhaustive list of options for
regulating dispensaries, with more than 70 bullet points culled from
other jurisdictions and court cases.

"Staff did not sit back and do nothing," Wylene said. But litigation
over medical marijuana continues "all over the state," he added,
advising the board a long-awaited appellate ruling Aug. 18 in a case
against the city of Anaheim failed to resolve the dispensary question.

He said the county has been monitoring other agencies in an effort to
determine what's working and what isn't.

The yearlong extension approved Tuesday is the last allowed under state law.

No dispensaries currently operate in unincorporated Tehama County.
Red Bluff Patient Collective closed late last year after Sheriff Clay
Parker issued daily citations for more than a month alleging
violation of the ban and zoning rules.

Prather faces a court trial in Corning later this month on alleged
zoning infractions related to his collective, he said after the meeting.