SACRAMENTO COUNTY'S NEW POT LAW PROPOSALS DRAW CRITICISM

After more than a year of trying to shutter dozens of marijuana
dispensaries, Sacramento County officials are considering new rules to
permit the medical pot stores.

Yet the county's effort to regulate a legal marijuana trade is drawing
sharp protests from medical cannabis advocates.

They charge that an "urgency ordinance" to be considered by
supervisors Tuesday would close most dispensaries or force them into
undesirable industrial locations. And the proposal would deny many
medical marijuana users the ability to cultivate their own plants,
they say.

"It's a terrible ordinance. In all seriousness, it's pathetic,"
complained Mark Reichel, an attorney for the Sacramento Alliance of
County Collectives, a group representing 15 local marijuana
dispensaries. "They're on the wrong side of history."

Sacramento County has been trying to rein in unwanted marijuana
dispensaries since the spring of 2010. But by January, at least 27
dispensaries were still operating in the county despite orders to
close. Thirteen others went out of business.

Since then, new dispensaries have continued to open in unincorporated
areas of the county, despite officials' insistence that no local
ordinance allows them to exist.

"These dispensaries are operating illegally and we want to provide a
method for them to operate ... in a way that balances the needs of the
communities," interim County Executive Steve Szalay said in a statement.

Under a proposed temporary ordinance, the county is seeking to permit
dispensaries only in specified commercial or light industrial zones.

"They're going to put them in the middle of nowhere ... on the
complete outskirts," Reichel said. "They couldn't more effectively
deny medicine to people. They would never do this to a pharmacy."

In a list of "findings" included with the county plan, officials
declared that marijuana dispensaries and pot cultivation are a
nuisance in many parts of the county.

"The cultivation, distribution, dispensing or sale of medical
marijuana ... can adversely affect the health, safety and well-being
of the county and its residences," the document reads. It said
medicinal pot operations increase "the risk of criminal activity,
degradation of the natural environment, malodorous smells and ...
electrical fire hazards."

The ordinance would ban outdoor marijuana cultivation in the county,
limit the number of plants that can be grown indoors and bar sales of
edible products such as pot brownies or cookies that can be popular
with youths.

The proposed ban on edibles irked Jessie Degooyer, head baker of Ganja
Goodies, a local kitchen that creates baked goods for medical
marijuana users, including cancer patients and others who don't want
to smoke.

"I have patients who use the product and they depend on their one
cookie every day," Degooyer said. "They're being denied this (under
the plan.) Where are they supposed to get it?"

The new rules would be effective until July 26, when the Board of
Supervisors is due to adopt the plan as a permanent ordinance or
consider an alternative.

Advocates were hoping the county would follow the city of Sacramento
in how it treats medical marijuana.

The city passed an ordinance that set strict rules on the operation
and location of medical pot stores.

But, unlike the county plan, the city allowed 32 of 38 local
dispensaries to apply to stay at their current locations despite
violating requirements banning them from being near schools, churches,
parks and other sensitive locations.

Leighann Moffit, the county's interim planning director, said most
marijuana stores won't be allowed to remain but may seek permission to
move elsewhere.

"This is intended to provide a mechanism for folks to meet the
parameters, obtain a use permit and be able to operate," she said.

George Mull, an attorney for the California Cannabis Association, said
there may be only one dispensary in the county that can survive at its
current location under the proposed rules.

"They're also making everybody apply for a conditional use permit. So
even if you're in the right place, there's no certainty they'll let
you stay," Mull said. "There is a huge uproar. Patients are upset
their collectives are going to close."