Pot activity heating up
Marijuana growing and the burgeoning backlash against the marijuana industry that is taking over Mendocino County are going to be under discussion again both at the county and city levels in the coming couple of weeks.
On Dec. 5 the Ukiah City Council plans to make growing pot outdoors a criminal offense. Already the council has by ordinance required that all pot be grown indoors or inside locked garden sheds and limited growing to 12 plants per parcel.
The problem is that since this ordinance isn't much more than a zoning code, it's being widely ignored by the pot growers and city zoning enforcers don't want to deal with the vicious dogs and handy weapons the growers harbor at their city addresses and who can blame them? So making it a criminal offense gives the Ukiah Police something to hang onto legally in order to go in and take illegal outdoor plants. You may recall that the city acted on its ordinance when former DA Norm Vroman was in office. Vroman made it clear he wouldn't be prosecuting any of the city's proposed pot restrictions. Now, however, the city feels it may have a better chance.
(How I'm not sure, when DA Meredith Lintott's own employee is found with 39 pounds of pot and she gets administrative leave rather than a trip to the booking room ....)
Meanwhile, the county supervisors on Dec. 11 are supposed to discuss a new ordinance on pot from Jim Wattenburger and Mike Delbar, the board's Criminal Justice subcommittee. The ordinance is a 27-page regulation of medical marijuana dispensaries in the county. It would limit the number to three, one on the coast, one up north and one in the Ukiah Valley. It would limit them to commercial and industrial zones only and bar them within 500 feet of a church, school, school bus stop, senior center and other such traditionally protected spots. It would also prohibit any pot smoking or alcohol in our outside the dispensary and require background checks of all dispensary employees and prohibit felons from working at them. There will be also a discussion of banning dispensaries altogether in this county. Currently there are two and a third is hoping to open under the auspices of this new ordinance.
Finally, I understand that there are two ballot measures moving forward to reverse Measure G in this county - that's the measure passed by voters several years ago to protect mom and pop growers in the county from being prosecuted by local sheriff's and police by allowing anyone to grow up to 25 pot plants in their back yard. However, it is also the measure by which the marijuana industry has gained hold here and from which supervisors David Colfax, Kendall Smith and John Pinches are hanging their argument that 25 plants per patient is the right amount for medical marijuana and 25 pounds of dried pot would be OK to transport - that part at least they withdrew when they realized how ludicrous it was. Anyway, Measure G really started the whole out-of-control pot industry here since we announced basically that we weren't going to prosecute pot growing any more. And with both Sheriff Tony Craver, and DA Norm Vroman is charge to make it stick, the pot industry grew and grew until now it has overwhelmed neighborhoods, and made our county and especially the inland county a dangerous place to live.
Anyway I hear that both Supervisor Mike Delbar and local resident Jimmy Rickel have ballot measures in the works (I've seen Rickel's). The problem is that they are both likely to want to press for their own and it would be a bad thing if two ballot measures ended up on the ballot since it would likely divide the vote and none would be successful. I am hoping that Delbar and Rickels can get together to agree on one version. Delbar no doubt wants to be the champion on this as he faces a tough run for reelection against Carre Brown and perhaps Rickels has political motives as well (although the recent elections should have given him all the message he needs on his political future). Either way if such a ballot measure is to succeed it needs a united voice.