LODE SUPERVISORS RE-EXAMINING POT RULES

San Andreas Woman Requested License to Open Dispensary

SAN ANDREAS -- A San Andreas woman's desire to open a
medical-marijuana dispensary has prompted Calaveras County supervisors
to re-examine the county's 4-year-old medical-pot guidelines.

Kim Cue applied to the county in September for a business license to
open a dispensary but could not obtain one, because the county's
zoning code does not authorize such uses.

The board enacted an urgency ordinance in September prohibiting such
dispensaries for 45 days so zoning ground rules could be established.
But because those rules were not ready for supervisors to consider
this week, the board extended the urgency ordinance for another 60
days.

Meanwhile, county Planning Commissioners on Thursday reviewed the
proposed dispensary ordinance but chose not to endorse it.

Ted Allured, the commission chairman, said the panel did not feel it
was in the best interest of the public to have such a law -- and they
wanted the board to know as much.

"We didn't recommend the board adopt it or turn it down," Allured
said. "But the fact that we didn't feel it is in the best interest of
the public pretty much tells you where our feeling is."

The proposed ordinance permits dispensaries to operate only in a
professional office zone with a Planning Department permit that would
need to be renewed each year.

Dispensaries could have no more than eight ounces of dried marijuana
and no more than six mature or 12 immature plants per qualified
patient. Those limits, however, could rise with a doctor's
recommendation.

Dispensaries also could not operate within 1,000 feet of each other or
within 1,000 feet of a school, public library, public park or any
youth-oriented establishment.

Robert Sellman, the county's interim planning director, said
supervisors are set to consider the proposed dispensary ordinance Nov.
22. The same day, the board will tackle the broader issue of medical
marijuana and guidelines that the county established for its use four
years ago.

The guidelines were recommended by a local task force created to help
clear up confusion over how the state's medical-marijuana law should
be applied locally. California voters in 1996 approved Proposition
215, which legalized the use of marijuana to treat certain illnesses.

The local guidelines allow legitimate users to possess up to two
pounds of dried marijuana and permit those users to cultivate up to
six plants at any one time.

Supervisor Paul Stein said earlier this week he wants the guidelines
changed to make it more difficult to obtain marijuana for medical
uses. Stein, who voted against the guidelines in 2000, said those who
claim to get relief by using marijuana for medical reasons should
instead use a synthetic derivative, because it can be more closely
regulated and monitored.

Cue, who operates a medical-marijuana delivery service, said she has
been contacted by many county residents who have legitimate medical
reasons to use marijuana and that she is not looking to open a
dispensary to serve anyone but those people.

"I have been extremely patient with the county and I understand this
is a very conservative community. But there are hundreds of people in
the community who want this service, who are asking for it. I'm trying
to do everything in my power to give it to them," said Cue, who added
she has been using marijuana for medicinal purposes for five years to
help her with post-traumatic stress syndrome symptoms that include
depression and insomnia.

"If I didn't take medical cannabis, I'd be a wreck," she said. "That
might not be understandable to everybody, but everybody doesn't live
in my shoes."