MARYSVILLE CITY COUNCIL EXTENDS MARIJUANA MORATORIUM

MARYSVILLE - A trio of personal testimonies as to the benefits of
medical marijuana was met with interest by the Marysville City Council
on Dec. 12, as two citizens of Marysville and one from Lake Stevens
urged them to allow the city's moratorium on medical marijuana
dispensaries to expire on Jan. 5 of next year.

Nonetheless, the Council voted unanimously to extend the moratorium
into June of 2012, after Marysville City Attorney Grant Weed warned of
potential confusion in interpreting the existing laws regulating
medical marijuana, as well as conflicts that could arise between
municipal, state and federal laws on the subject.

"There are several moving parts to the law which have yet to be
resolved," Weed said. "The provisions have become more vague, and the
state Legislature is interested in clarifying them. The federal
Controlled Substances Act is still in effect, under which marijuana is
deemed to have no medical value, and its use, possession and sale
remain illegal, which preempts any state law. The law is anything but settled."

After city of Marysville Chief Administrative Officer Gloria Hirashima
noted that the city of Marysville has been discussing zoning responses
with the cities of Arlington and Lake Stevens, which are also
considering such an alternative, Lake Stevens resident Laura Healy
spoke to the Council about the collective garden that she's operated
for the past two years in Shoreline.

"We want to be regulated rather than eliminated," said Healy, who'd
previously spoken to the Council in July of this year, just before
they imposed the initial six-month moratorium. "Our patients need safe
access to their medicine. We don't want them to have to call somebody
up and pick it up in a parking lot out in the open. The public
shouldn't have to see it."

When asked by Council member Michael Stevens, Healy elaborated that
such co-ops follow self-imposed boundaries, such as not establishing
locations within 1,000 feet of schools or day care establishments,
because they respect the right of parents to shield their children
from what may be a taboo subject to many families. Council member
Carmen Rasmussen requested copies of the ordinances of cities such as
Shoreline and Mukilteo, which Healy cited as balancing the needs of
medical marijuana dispensaries with their surrounding communities.
Healy promised to send those to Hirashima for city of Marysville staff
to study.

Marysville resident Joanna Kasner followed Healy by recounting the
centuries of historic precedent for legal medical marijuana usage,
before sharing how medical marijuana had given her back a part of her
life that she'd thought she'd lost after a physical assault left her
unable to function without narcotics.

"It damaged my lower back, my shoulders and my knees," Kasner said. "I
lost my job as a long-haul trucker. Medical marijuana minimized the
side-effects I'd experienced with opiates, and the people at the
dispensaries have treated me with respect and kindness."

Marysville's Lonnie Smith is a 58-year-old fibromyalgia sufferer who's
also coping with a hernia, and she touted medical marijuana's "instant
results" without any side-effects.

"I'm not laid out in bed with chronic pain," Smith said. "I just want
safe access to my medicine. Please don't make me go out on the streets
to get it."

Weed's final advice to the Council that evening noted that, regardless
of state laws, the city could potentially be charged with aiding and
abetting violations of the Controlled Substances Act under federal law
if it allowed such dispensaries within city limits.