CALAVERAS SUPERVISORS TO WEIGH IN ON POT CLUBS

Should medical marijuana dispensaries be allowed in Calaveras County, and
if so, where?

That's a question the Board of Supervisors will answer Monday.

The Planning Commission's answer was no, saying there's no right location
for it.

The issue was prompted in September when Kim Cue of San Andreas applied to
open a dispensary in San Andreas near the county surveyor and 4-H offices.

The county has no ordinance regulating such facilities. To buy time,
supervisors passed a ban and later extended it so staff members could come
up with an ordinance regulating such facilities.

That ordinance is complete and went to the Planning Commission Nov. 4, when
Commissioner Mike Dell'Orto's motion to approve the ordinance died for lack
of a second.

Commissioners then recommended to supervisors the ordinance is not in the
nest interest of Calaveras County residents since there's no appropriate
location for such use.

Marijuana should go through the Federal Drug Administration to become a
legal drug, Commissioner Suzanne Kuehl said.

Kelly's Drug Store pharmacist Ray Guidi agreed.

"If the drug is going to be legally dispensed under a physician, then it
should be under the same controls as any other prescription medicine,"
Guidi said. "I think there's a lot of problems with it now."

Others argue that medical marijuana is legal in California.

At its Nov. 2 meeting, when the Board Supervisors extended the ban,
questions of the legality of medical marijuana use came up.

The 1996 passage of Proposition 215 allows California patients to use
medical marijuana with a physician's recommendation. But federal law says
marijuana use, medical or otherwise, is illegal. The issue has continued to
fester and different counties have treated it differently.

Per the board's request, the county counsel will present background and
history and any relevant Supreme Court decisions pertaining to medical
marijuana use.

The proposed ordinance puts the dispensaries as a conditional use in all
zoning districts designated as professional offices. Conditional uses
require an administrative use permit, which is issued by the planning
director and is good for one year with an option to reapply every year.

Also the ordinance would allow the dispensary to have six mature plants and
12 immature plants per patient.

Cue said she approves of the ordinance and maintains she is willing to work
with the county.

In other action, the Board of Supervisors will consider new cell tower
regulations, which allow the towers essentially anywhere in the county,
subject to a decision by the Planning Department director.

The change was prompted by a situation in Copella Park in Angels Camp.

The park district wanted a Cingular Wireless cell tower for the added
revenue from leasing the land. But cell towers were not permitted in the
recreation zone.

The board changed that for the park in August and at that time Interim
Planning Director Bob Sellman said he would bring a resolution allowing
towers as an administrative use in all of the county's zones.

The Planning Commission approved the new regulations Nov. 4.