AUBURN PUTS 1-YEAR MORATORIUM ON POT GARDENS

On Monday the Auburn City Council unanimously slapped a one-year
moratorium on the growing of collective marijuana gardens within city
limits.

City leaders took the step because as of July 22 collective cannabis
gardens containing up to 45 plants have been legal under Washington
State law, placing the state at odds with federal law.

Because the City does not yet have rules and regulations it could
legally enforce as far as collective marijuana gardens, growers could
have exploited the gap. And if they did, there would be no telling the
federal government's reaction, said City Attorney Dan Heid.

"My concern is that the federal Food and Drug Administration really
needs to be involved in this, rather than pitting the state and the
local jurisdictions against the federal government, that's
ridiculous," Heid said.

"Growing marijuana is illegal under federal law, but the way the new
law was enacted and then partially vetoed by the governor took out
that piece that said growing pot is illegal," said Auburn Mayor Pete
Lewis. "So we put in a moratorium until we can figure out what to do
about what the state did."

Other cities, including Kent and Federal Way, recently have enacted
similar moratoria.

The City will use the year to study medical marijuana dispensaries and
the separate issue of collective marijuana gardens to see how Auburn's
law squares with state and federal law.

Earlier this year, the Auburn City Council enacted a similar
moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries.

"There was a hole in the law, and we had not addressed it," Lewis
said. "We were notified in talking to the state that they knew that
they had not adequately covered that particular area when we addressed
smoke shops or places where you could buy medical marijuana. This
addresses the growth of marijuana, period, which was left legal under
the way the law was made and then partially vetoed."

"It's a disagreement between the legislators who passed the bill and
the federal government," said Dan Sytman, a spokesman for the Attorney
General's office, adding that it had nothing to do with the AG.