KENT CITY COUNCIL VOTES 4-3 TO PASS NEW MORATORIUM ON MEDICAL
MARIJUANA OPERATIONS

The first couple of votes for the 2012 Kent City Council Tuesday
night turned into a contentious, legal maze over medical
marijuana welcome to the council.

With new members Dana Ralph and Bill Boyce taking their positions on
the dais, the council again considered zoning regulation for medical
marijuana collective gardens and extending the moratorium on all
medical marijuana operations.

The zoning measure failed 4-3 with Boyce, Ralph, Les Thomas and
Deborah Ranniger voting no. Elizabeth Albertson, Jamie Perry and
Council President Dennis Higgins voted in favor of zoning ordinance
for medical marijuana collective gardens.

An emergency ordinance was considered that would have extended the
current moratorium for six months without a gap when the previous
six-month moratorium lapsed Thursday, Jan. 5.

The emergency measure needed a five-vote super majority, which failed
with Albertson, Perry and Higgins voting no.

The council finally decided on a 4-3 vote to put a new six-month
moratorium in place that takes effect five days after it is published
by the city. It is expected there will be a gap of about one week
between the new measure taking effect and the lapsing of the previous
moratorium.

Boyce, Ralph, Thomas and Ranniger voted for the new moratorium.

The zoning measure also failed to pass when the previous council
considered it Dec. 12. The zoning regulation had passed out of the
Economic and Community Development Committee on a 2-1 vote with Perry
and Albertson voting yes and Ranniger no.

The battle lines over the issue that came to the surface in December
were much the same Tuesday.

"I have kids and I don't recommend to them they go out and smoke
marijuana," Higgins said. "I do think we have an obligation, however,
as a city of 118,000 people, to the people that live in our city that
legitimately need access to medical marijuana.... I think we need to
behave like a big city and we need to establish rules around this."

On the other side of the aisle, Thomas disagreed.

"Until the federal government changes this to a legal substance, I
still consider this an illegal substance," Thomas said.

Thomas drew a parallel stating "Prostitution is illegal. We all know
that. So are we going to zone it up on Highway 99 as a zone that can
allow that to happen? I don't think so. Until marijuana is made a
legal drug we shouldn't zone something that is illegal."

Albertson supported the zoning and stated, "When I raised my right
hand I vowed to do what was right for the citizens of the community
and what they are asking me to do. What they have asked me to do is
create an access point for those people who under state law have a
letter from their doctor that states they have a medical condition
that allows them to use medical cannabis for the treatment of that condition."

Perry said she wanted to "dispel the idea we are suddenly trying to
make legal something that is illegal. That's not what we are doing
and this is not akin to prostitution. The state has not said
prostitution is legal. They have said collective gardens are. We have
to deal with that reality."

Ralph said, "I believe the city is not in a position or should not
take positions to zone anything that is illegal under federal law.
Once federal law is clarified and makes this substance legal, at that
point I believe we have a responsibility to zone for it.... At this
point in time it is against the law and I stood up there tonight and
raised my right hand and promised to uphold the constitution of the
state and the laws of the federal government."

During the discussion of the moratorium, Albertson and Perry both
stated they would not support another moratorium if there was no
direction from the council members on the zoning ordinance.

The temperature of the discussion raised considerably as Albertson
said if the members were voting against the zoning because of the
federal law the members were essentially "banning it (medical
marijuana) totally," and that was a "cop out."

She continued stating, "I would be embarrassed to stand between
people and their doctor's recommendation that they use medical
cannabis for their illness. This to me is an issue of humanity and to
do anything less is heartless."

Ralph countered stating, "I respectfully have to take exception to
the fact that this makes me heartless. I am not standing between
anyone and their medicine that they and their doctor choose them to
have. I just do not believe the city is in a position to zone for
something that is against the law."

Ralph said she would support the extenuation of the moratorium to
give the current council time to consider the issue.

One of the issues outlined by the staff was without a moratorium or
zoning in place, collective gardens could open in most areas of the city.

Philip Dawdy, who worked with the Washington Cannabis Association
during the 2011 legislative session, said he was concerned about the
gap between the new moratorium taking effect and the end of the
measure passed in July.

"It is entirely possible someone could open (a medical marijuana
facility)," Dawdy said. "I am concerned about the gap. You never can
tell what will happen. We want this to be easy, smooth and orderly,
not random and disorderly."

Dawdy said legislation on medical marijuana is being drawn up in
Olympia that will likely be considered during the 2012 session.

A bill was passed during the 2011 session, but Gov. Chris Gregoire
vetoed 36 of 58 sections, leaving a confusing legal landscape for
cities to navigate.