GET A GRIP ON POT

Note to Chico City Council: The Marijuana Ordinance Is a Land-Use Issue

The Chico City Council cannot stay on track when it comes to setting
up regulations for marijuana dispensaries. Instead of coming to grips
with a proposal intended to keep the public safe while allowing
people access to their medicine, council members appear to want to
fix the problems associated with the state's ultra-vague Proposition 215.

Mayor Ann Schwab started the most recent discussion on marijuana a
week ago Wednesday (Dec. 1), saying her philosophy with the law is to
keep it very simple. Later, however, she said the city should require
collectives to run as a "closed circle" with a fixed number of
members. She also wants the city to keep tabs on the co-ops by
requiring them to turn in detailed records, including the names of patients.

Further complications came from others on the panel. For example,
Councilman Jim Walker, a physician's assistant, launched into a
backgrounder on how the initial intent of Prop. 215 was to provide
seriously ill patients with relief but now the law has made sick
people out of well people. In other words, people are abusing the
Compassionate Use Act.

Tell us something we don't already know. That issue, a valid one, is
something for the state to take up. Chico's proposed cannabis
ordinance is simply a land-use issue.

Councilman Andy Holcombe was the only one on the dais who was able to
distinguish the city's proposed law and the fraud associated with
medical cannabis as two separate issues: "If there's a problem with
the Compassionate Use Act or with doctors who are writing scripts who
shouldn't, that problem should be addressed. But that is not within
the scope of the zoning ordinance."

He's right. The council should keep it simple and determine where
dispensaries should be located to meet the needs of the public-both
patients and residents.