SHASTA LAKE DOESN'T BAN POT; DISPENSARIES GET COUNCIL VOTE TO STAY
OPEN

SHASTA LAKE -- Council members reversed the local trend of banning
medical marijuana dispensaries Tuesday night and voted instead to
ditch their permit system.

The council voted 4-1 to have city staffers prepare an ordinance that
will remove dispensary permitting requirements from the municipal code
while keeping existing zoning regulations in place, City Manager Carol
Martin said Wednesday.

The discussion of a possible ban, placed on the agenda at Councilwoman
Dolores Lucero's request, comes more than a month after Redding's City
Council voted to outlaw at least 14 dispensaries in its city limits.
Anderson's City Council approved a ban in October, while the Shasta
County Board of Supervisors approved a dispensary ban for the county's
unincorporated areas last week.

Redding's ban was inspired, in part, by a 2nd District Court of Appeal
ruling in October that efforts by officials in Long Beach to dictate
which collectives can operate and which cannot go far beyond the
state's Prop. 215 and conflict with federal law.

"That decision invalidated any permitting activities," Martin
said.

City Attorney John Kenny argued Tuesday that while the ruling doesn't
allow for permitting, the city can still regulate dispensaries through
zoning. There are two dispensaries operating in Shasta Lake.

Lucero cast the lone dissenting vote. She said at Tuesday's meeting
she sympathized with patients but didn't think the city could allow
collectives.

"I know that you need the medicine, but I'm not willing to break the
law," she said.

Nearly 30 people spoke on the item, with all but two in favor of the
dispensaries, City Clerk Toni Coates said Wednesday.

"I know there were a lot of people concerned that Shasta Lake was
going to follow Redding," said Jamie Kerr, owner of the 530 Collective
on Locust Avenue. "From what I've learned from two-plus years
operating here is Shasta Lake really takes its own path."

Kerr called the council's decision a "win-win-win" for the
dispensaries, their patients and the city.

"I really applaud the decision of the City Council and commend them on
taking a progressive stance," she said. "They took the path that I
truly hoped that they would."

Tammy Brazil, CEO of the Queen of Dragons collective on Shasta Dam
Boulevard, said patients and employees were worried the council would
enact a ban.

"Sometimes it's 'monkey see, monkey do,' but we've got some great
people in Shasta Lake," Brazil said.

"It just really, from what we can see today, it really brought back
everybody's faith."

The 530 Collective's permit expires in April, and the permit for the
Queen of Dragons expires in March. Those permits won't be revoked, but
they won't be renewed either, Martin said.

Zoning code will still be in place to regulate where, when and how the
dispensaries may operate. Those rules have been in place since January
2010.

Unlike Redding, Shasta Lake's two dispensaries haven't had any law
enforcement calls or nuisance complaints, Development Services
Director Carla Thompson said in a staff report.