POT GROWING GETS OUT OF HAND

Our view: Residents have valid complaints about stinky gardens,
intimidating dogs and armed confrontations. Law-abiding citizens must be heard.

The county Board of Supervisors chambers overflowed on Tuesday for a
meeting. Oroville's fire marshal had to kick a few people out before
the meeting started because the building held far more than its
capacity of 190 people. Once the meeting started, it went on for five
passionate hours of testimony by the assembled masses.

The subject of all the interest? Medicine.

Well, sort of. Obviously, hundreds of people wouldn't show up to
plead with supervisors for five hours over aspirin, ibuprofen or even
prescription drugs. No, this was about medical marijuana - and the
fact that marijuana proponents wanted to paint it as a simple
question of sick people needing their medicine shows they know a
thing or two about courting the sympathy vote.

The problem is, for many proponents medical marijuana has never been
about medicine, but more about the creeping legalization of an illegal drug.

For every 80-year-old with cancer who needs genuine relief, there are
numerous stoners who just want to be able to grow, smoke and maybe
sell the drug without hassle from the cops.

That's not the PR line, but that's the reality. To those who
legitimately need and use marijuana, we're sorry to lump you in with
those who take advantage of a poorly written voter-approved law - and
we wish there was a way law enforcement and regulations could
separate the two types of users.

Though marijuana advocates tried to paint proposed new restrictions
on residential growing in Butte County as a life-or-death matter -
just an issue of sick people needing their medicine - reality paints
a different picture. County supervisors haven been hearing complaints
for years about marijuana growers who are bad neighbors. Their
medicine stinks when it's close to harvest season, and their medicine
is frequently protected by vicious dogs. The landowners are often
armed and sometimes exhibit a foggy sense of reality and a very
unneighborly demeanor. It's like anarchy in the hills.

This doesn't happen with other forms of "medicine." Pit bulls don't
have to guard Sudafed or Lipitor.

The supervisors are right in trying to do something. The ordinance in
front of the supervisors seemed to overreach a bit. For example, it
would allow medical marijuana users to grow two plants on lots
smaller than an acre when law enforcement guidelines allow five
plants for each doctor recommendation. The fee structure, too, seemed
too high to encourage compliance.

The supervisors voted to rewrite the ordinance with a few changes and
will look at the revisions next month. We commend the supervisors for
their thoughtful approach. We've long maintained that restrictions
are necessary to protect neighbors and other people who don't grow.
The lawlessness surrounding this "medicine" cannot be tolerated.