SR READIES LAW TO CONTROL POT CLUBS

Council To Review Ordinance Regulating Medical Marijuana

Santa Rosa would license medical marijuana dispensaries and control how
they operate under a proposed ordinance that could set a standard along the
pot-friendly North Coast.

The law, scheduled for review by the City Council Tuesday [Sept 27], would
limit how close dispensaries can be to schools and how many people they may
serve. And it would create an application process that charges fees and
requires employees to undergo criminal-background checks.

California voters legalized marijuana for medical use in 1996, opening the
way for a burgeoning enterprise that has gone mostly unregulated.

"It's been proven to be a substance that helps sick people," said Mayor
Jane Bender, who helped draft the ordinance with a panel of police
officers, planning officials and city residents. "I hate to see someone
have to resort to becoming a criminal to get it."

Under the ordinance, Santa Rosa could have only two pot clubs serving no
more than 500 people each. Advocates estimate there are at least 3,000
medical pot users in the city.

"It allows dispensaries and that's the most important thing," said Doc
Knapp, spokesman for the Sonoma Alliance for Medical Marijuana. "But we're
concerned it won't meet the current needs, let alone the future needs."

Bender said the city would reconsider the limit after six months.

"If we're going to approve this and make it work, we're going to go
slowly," she said.

Santa Rosa began drafting its ordinance earlier this year when it
discovered it had three medical pot dispensaries, including one across the
street from City Hall.

Neighbors complained pot-club operators were selling to people who did not
appear to be sick and allowed unruly customers to smoke outside the
dispensaries and resell pot illegally.

In April the city enacted a 45-day ban, laid down regulations for the
existing clubs and formed a panel to write a permanent ordinance.

Since then, one of the clubs was robbed at gunpoint and closed. And a new
pot club opened outside the city limits on Santa Rosa Avenue.

State law allows cultivation of marijuana for personal medical use, but it
remains illegal under federal law that was upheld in June by the U.S.
Supreme Court.

A city license would not protect dispensaries from federal raids. However,
a coalition of local police chiefs and Sonoma County District Attorney
Stephen Passalaqua have said they will not prosecute those who possess pot
for medical use.

The issue of how to regulate distribution of medical marijuana is being
addressed across the Bay Area, where people who can't grow their own have
turned to cooperative dispensaries.

Oakland was among the first cities statewide to adopt regulations, limiting
the number of clubs citywide to four.

San Francisco, which has at least 40 dispensaries, is working on writing
city laws.

Eight Sonoma County cities and Ukiah in Mendocino County have enacted
temporary bans while they write laws governing pot clubs.

Sonoma County supervisors in May imposed a ban for the unincorporated area.

Santa Rosa's ordinance would require that dispensaries have security
cameras and prohibit smoking on their property. They would not be permitted
within 500 feet of youth-oriented facilities, including schools and parks.
And a fee yet to be determined would be collected in the application process.

If approved, Santa Rosa's ordinance would close at least one of the
existing clubs because of its proximity to Juilliard Park, a city planner said.

Reached Saturday, an employee at Resource Green Caregivers and Patients
Group, on Sonoma Avenue, said he was not authorized to comment and that
owner Ken Doerpinghaus was unavailable.

Santa Rosa's ordinance is being watched closely by other cities considering
their own laws.

Sebastopol Mayor Larry Robinson said several pot clubs have inquired about
opening in his city. It will be important to get a law like Santa Rosa's on
the books as soon as possible, he said.

"We're going to be looking at it very closely," Robinson said. "I doubt if
we would allow more than one, but I'm not sure."