SUPES REJECT LODE POT SHOP PROPOSAL

SAN ANDREAS - The Calaveras County Board of Supervisors has decided to
just say no to a proposal for new regulations on medical marijuana
providers.

County planning staff and the Sheriff's Department had collaborated to
produce a revised ordinance intended to bring the medical marijuana
code in line with state law and to address concerns Sheriff's
Department officials had with security at retail outlets, including
one that opened this year in Valley Springs and one proposed for San
Andreas.

But after learning Tuesday that the ordinance aimed at storefronts
could also close down collectives that privately grow medical
marijuana for friends and relatives, supervisors told planning staff
to try again.

"I don't want to shut down what's currently working in the county,"
Supervisor Tom Tryon said.

Part of the problem, supervisors said, was that the language in the
proposed ordinance update was drawn largely from a recent update in
Stockton. Inside that city, officials felt it was necessary to require
marijuana growing be done under lock and key, beneath a roof and
enclosed in four walls. The rule is intended to protect the marijuana
crops from theft.

Medical marijuana collective members in Calaveras County said such a
rule would greatly increase their costs and, in some cases, prevent
them from providing care to severely ill people.

Among other things, the proposed ordinance would have defined
marijuana collectives and commercial storefronts that sell medical
marijuana as the same thing, thus requiring the collectives to hire
uniformed security guards and to comply with other rules aimed at
retail outlets.

Thomas Liberty of Mountain Ranch said he knows of at least a dozen
marijuana collectives working quietly to privately meet the medical
needs of members in Calaveras County. None of those collectives
operates stores.

Liberty described the proposed ordinance as a "reactionary and
whacked-out document."

Another element of the proposed ordinance would have restricted those
who work or own medical marijuana storefronts from carrying firearms.

Supervisors objected that they did not see a need to infringe on
members' Second Amendment rights when such rules are not applied to
other types of businesses.

"I think we ought to jettison Stockton and do things the Calaveras
way," Supervisor Steve Wilensky said.

County staff agreed they would revise the proposed ordinance and come
back at a future date for further discussion.