THE BIGGS COMPROMISE

Town's Medi-Pot Solution Merits Consideration

We sympathize with local public officials who are struggling to
accommodate medical marijuana. They've been given the difficult job of
implementing an initiative that is profoundly flawed and vulnerable to
abuse.

Last week, the county Board of Supervisors, following a contentious
public hearing in Chico, voted preliminarily to allow
medical-marijuana cultivation in varying amounts, depending on parcel
size, in acknowledgement of the needs of legitimate medical-marijuana
patients. But they also prohibited it on parcels smaller than a
half-acre, in deference to neighboring property owners concerned about
smells, loss of property values and vulnerability to thieves.

That's an understandable compromise, but it potentially excludes many
legitimate users from growing their own. The supervisors didn't have
to look far for a better compromise-just to the city of Biggs, which
allows outdoor cultivation on small parcels as long as it is contained
in a lockable structure such as a greenhouse.

Such structures hide the marijuana, contain its smell and discourage
thieves, and they're not expensive to build. Biggs officials say their
ordinance has been problem free. The supervisors should consider
something similar when it discusses the ordinance again May 24.