SACRAMENTO SUPERVISORS DELAY VOTE ON NEW MEDICAL POT RULES

Outside county offices Tuesday, advocates for medical marijuana waved
signs proclaiming, "Honk if you love cannabis," and protested closing
dispensaries and banning outdoor pot cultivation.

Indoors, in an emotionally charged hearing before the Sacramento
County Board of Supervisors, cerebral palsy patient Jesse Wilson, 28,
grasped a microphone with shaking hands. From his wheelchair, he told
how marijuana eases his anxiety and searing pain, adding: "Without it,
I'd be crying more."

After hours of testimony, supervisors decided Tuesday they needed to
know more about medical marijuana and what steps they should take to
regulate and rein in a burgeoning marijuana industry in the
unincorporated region of the county.

Advocates for medicinal marijuana users hailed the supervisors' 5-0
vote to hold off on a controversial "emergency ordinance" that would
have set strict rules for cultivating and dispensing pot in the
county. The supervisors voted to consider a potentially revised plan
on July 27.

Medical marijuana advocates said the current plan would force people
to go to remote districts to get their marijuana and shutter nearly
every existing dispensary in the county. They urged supervisors to
adopt an approach similar to the city of Sacramento which allowed 32
of 38 dispensaries to remain where they originally opened.

"I'm not convinced that just because somebody opened up they should
get a pass," responded Supervisor Don Nottoli.

The board also heard angry protests from medical cannabis users who
said proposals to ban pot brownies and other marijuana edibles would
harm severely ill people, for whom it is unhealthy to smoke.

Billie Minso, 40, who has multiple sclerosis and pain from nerve
damage, told supervisors: "All I need is my cookies. Don't take my
cookies away."

Yet a handful of residents and business people, county staff and even
some marijuana advocates said supervisors need to do something about
pot dispensaries sprouting like weeds in the county.

County officials have been trying to control the spread of marijuana
dispensaries which are not permitted in unincorporated areas since
the spring of 2010. By January, at least 27 marijuana stores were in
operation despite orders to close, but 13 others had gone out of business.

Interim county planning director Leighann Moffitt told supervisors
Tuesday that as many as 50 dispensaries are now operating in the
county without permission.

George Mull, an attorney for the California Cannabis Association, said
the number is closer to 70. But Mull said the county dispensary plan
which would restrict marijuana stores to limited industrial and
commercial locations amounted to an illegal ban. He said his
organization would sue the county if it approved the plan.

Melinda Eppler, executive director of the Fulton Avenue Association,
expressed frustration over three dispensaries operating "illegally" in
the business district. She urged supervisors to adopt rules to
prohibit a glut of marijuana stores in some areas.

"If you end up with concentration you will end up with problems,"
Eppler said. "While medical marijuana is legal, it's still a drug and
it alters behavior. The fact is customers come to get their medicine,
they walk out their door and they light up in the parking lot."

Karla Alsgood, a registered nurse who said she supports medical
marijuana, told board members she was unhappy when an unsanctioned,
unannounced dispensary opened up in Rio Linda.

"They took away my rights my rights as a community member," said
Alsgood, a member of a Rio Linda community advisory board.

Ryan Landers, a veteran medical marijuana activist who has HIV, said
his rights are threatened by a plan that would ban his outdoor pot
garden and set a limit of 12 mature pot plants grown indoors. Some
speakers say indoor pot growing, requiring lighting and extensive
wiring, is costly and unsafe.

"I couldn't afford the electric bill," Landers said.