Amador County – The Amador County Board of Supervisors last week directed staff to draft a temporary ban of medical marijuana growing, but still wanted to preserve the growing allowed under the Compassionate Use Act.

Supervisor Louis Boitano said he thought every one of the people in six county cooperatives has a medical card, but Supervisors agreed urgency exists for regulation, and they realized the county could be drawing for-profit growing operations that are illegal.

District Attorney Todd Riebe said the closer you are to the medically recommended number of plants, the harder it is to prosecute. He said in one case, “a 900-plant grow in Sonoma County” had testimony saying the pot was going to a cannabis club in San Francisco for aids patients. Riebe said it was clear profit was involved, but the jury still decided for the growers. He said numbers were not part of the initiative, so it failed.

Supervisor Brian Oneto said River Pines has a medical pot growing operation, right across the street from a “whole bunch of kids.” Undersheriff Jim Wegner said “we are aware of that one.”

Wegner said they look at the medical recommendation, see how many plants they have, and allow them to pull plants. He said there are “all kinds of issues with prosecution.” He said some collectives have recommendations for 200 plants, but grow that number of plants in different locations.

County Counsel Greg Gillott said Fresno County banned outdoor cultivation, and Trinity County limited it in all residentially zoned areas, and would not take code enforcement action in other areas if they met certain conditions.

Regarding legal medical pot, Oneto said: “I wouldn’t want to take that away from people that actually do need it.”

Gillott said the “board can adopt an urgency measure prohibiting any uses that may be in conflict with the contemplated ordinance. So I think that any cultivation may be banned, then you ban everything. If you think that there are certain low thresholds that may be acceptable to you, then you can theoretically carve out that and ban the rest.”

Supervisor Chairman John Plasse said he would “like to keep them from starting outdoor crops in the spring.” Boitano said they “eventually have to come to the conclusion that we have our own ordinance.” He wanted to temporarily ban the growing “so out-of-county growers go elsewhere.”

Supervisor Richard Forster preferred the limited ban that Trinity County used, then forming a committee to address the issue. Boitano said he would like to pick and choose from the ordinances. Plasse said: “I’d like to see the temporary ordinance be as restrictive as possible and have no outdoor cultivation, then we can draft our own ordinance.” Boitano said: “I agree with you.”

Plasse said then they can get into setbacks and distances from boundary lines. Gillott said Trinity does allow some use, and they can draft it, then come back and make changes.

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.