SEBASTOPOL ALLOWS PATIENTS TO GROW THEIR OWN POT

The Sebastopol City Council on Tuesday approved the county's first
ordinance that sets rules for medical marijuana patients who want to
grow their own pot.

"We were trying to strike a balance of the objective of allowing the
cultivation of medicinal cannabis and public safety," said planning
director Kenyon Webster.

When voters approved Proposition 215, the Compassionate Use Act of
1996, it allowed the cultivation and use of medical marijuana, but it
didn't set standards.

"We are not enlarging or creating new rights. We are enabling rights
that are required by state law," said Vice Mayor Guy Wilson.

Under Sebastopol's ordinance, patients and caregivers can grow
marijuana at their homes. The gardens can cover up to 100 square feet,
with a maximum of 30 plants. Patients and caregivers can also possess
up to three pounds of processed marijuana at the site of the garden.

The city will also allow the creation of up to two 750-square-foot
gardens in town by medical marijuana dispensaries. Two additional
gardens of the same size could be established by collectives of
patients and caregivers for their own use, not for sale.

The garden must be inside a house or outbuilding or in a yard with
solid or opaque walls six feet high and with a locked gate.

It also allows for police to investigate if there are complaints about
such things as odor or public safety issues.

The ordinance, which passed on a 5-0 vote, is the first cultivation
ordinance in Sonoma County and was generally praised by medical
marijuana advocates.

"We feel it will be a model ordinance, that other cities and other
counties will look at this and recognize it as a reasonable approach,"
said Kumari Sivadas of the Sonoma County Alliance for Medical Marijuana.