DA SAYS POT GROWING COMPLAINTS ARE CIVIL MATTERS

District Attorney Norm Vroman met with local police chiefs Thursday
morning to discuss the problem of marijuana gardens in residential
areas.

Vroman wanted to make it clear that his office is not the place to
look for a solution to what many in the community believe is out of
control pot growing in local neighborhoods.

In two recent incidents, a man was slightly wounded when a pot thief
shot at him during an effort to steal pot plants from a back yard
garden. Another man died of a heart attack - presumably while trying
to climb a fence into a pot garden - and was found dead in another
back yard.

These and the numerous complaints of pot plant odors wafting through
the city of Ukiah and its outskirts have put pressure on local
politicians to do something to curb the growing.

The marijuana growing has steadily increased since the passage of
Prop. 215 legalizing medical marijuana in the state of California. As
part of the law, people are allowed to grow pot either as users or as
caregivers to medical marijuana patients.

Either designation has become relatively easy to get in Mendocino
County.

Vroman says each local community has to deal with the marijuana
growing problem as a nuisance, not as a criminal event to which his
office must respond.

"I get letters every day accusing me of not prosecuting marijuana
growing, or not understanding the problem," Vroman said, adding,
"There's definitely a problem, but not a law enforcement problem."

Vroman said that if someone sneaks into someone's back yard to steal
the marijuana, yes that's a prosecutable offense and he has prosecuted
cases of medical marijuana theft as he would prosecute any theft from
a home.

But as far as just the fact that pots plants exist in residential
neighborhoods, or that they give off an odor, is not law enforcement's
problem as long as medical marijuana is legal in California.

"There's a lot of emotion about it from both the public and law
enforcement," he said.

As Vroman sees it, most of the concern about marijuana growing in back
yards falls under local nuisance ordinances - "and there are adequate
laws for that."

Ukiah Police Chief John Williams said that's what he's going to try to
find out: what are the ordinances in place now, are they enough and
are measures needed to regulate medical marijuana growing
specifically, even though it is legal.

"(Prop. 215) has led to problems we're experiencing now where we have
individuals in residential areas growing marijuana which is causing
concern with neighbors," Williams said. "As things stand right now
they do have the right to do that.

"As a city we are investigating what possible avenues are available to
us to at least have some control within residential areas, to maybe at
least address the concerns of people," Williams said.

Williams said that while the odors from marijuana plants are a problem
to some - (Vroman says regulating for odors opens a "whole Pandora's
box") of more concern to law enforcement is the "safety aspect which
we witnessed here this year."

Both Vroman and Williams noted that the kind of marijuana growing the
county saw emerging in the hills 20 to 30 years ago has now been
brought down into town.

With people able to see pot plants over a neighbor's fence, it's like
growing "a money tree" in your back yard, Vroman said. How do you keep
people from inviting crime?

"That's what were trying to determine," Williams said, adding that he
will soon be going to the Ukiah City Council with some
recommendations. First, City Attorney David Rapport is investigating
what legal avenues the city may have to regulate medical marijuana.

"But we do think that we can have some control over it, just to limit
the exposure and public safety problem," Williams said. "Eventually
it's something the City Council will be looking at."