The MENDOCINO COUNTRY Independent 3/27/10

     
Matthew Cohen of Northstone Organics, Inc. supports the measure

by Richard Johnson
       Mendocino County Health and Safety ordinance Chapter 9.31 was approved 3-2 by the Mendocino County board of supervisors on March 23, supervisors Pinches and Colfax dissenting. It was finally approved after brief discussion by the same vote on Tuesday, April 6. On May 6, it will be the law in Mcendocino County.
      Chapter 9.31 is a history making reform of the medical marijuana industry here that could become a model for the rest of the state.
       Because it will provide a framework for  “safe and affordable distribution" as encouraged in the Compassionate Use Act, it is in the interest of patients.
       Because it provides for highly conditioned exemptions from the current per parcel nuisance limit of 25 up to 99 plants, this amended measure would encourage currently hidden producers who qualify to come out from the shadows, comply with standards and enjoy the security of county law enforcement approval.
    Because it will require all medical marijuana cultivators to comply with local nuisance ordinances and Proposition 215 and SB 420, and those wishing to obtain the voluntary 99-plant permit to comply with the Attorney General's Guidelines, as well as and state tax, labor and environmental law, it is in the public interest.
      May it attract progressive, educated, affluent and honest people from all over to move here, buy land to grow medical marijuana, register to vote and pay taxes.
      May it transform Mendocino County for the better and harbinger a better future where medical cannabis is a safe and prosperous industry bringing tax revenue into the county.
       During the initial board debate there was some back and forth, but no perfect storm of opposition from the Farm Bureau, Yes on B prohibitionists, Democrat Party liberals and the Mendocino Medical Marijuana Advisory Board, although there could have been.
    Now cultivators who want to come in from the cold should start gathering the data they will need to qualify for the program. Certified third party inspectors can be hired to assist preparing the application.

The Nuisance Aspect and Remedies
     The measure amends current H&S 9.31 language passed in early 2008 that declares the cultivation of more than 25 plants per legal parcel a public nuisance, no matter how many members of a collective or cooperative own the crop.
     The nuisance aspect of cannabis cultivation can come from the threat of armed robbery as well as fires originating in improperly wired indoor grows. Cultivators frequently don’t report armed robberies or fires for fear of prosecution, yet their neighbors are unwillingly and perhaps unwittingly being put at risk.
    Local nuisance ordinances are civil, whereas state statutes are criminal. Many people get confused.
    State law typically comes into play if there are the customary indicators of cultivation or possession for sales like large numbers of plants, excess amounts of cash, firearms, scales, packaging equipment, stores of processed marijuana in small packages, and pay-owe sheets.
        No county ordinance can grant exemptions from or modify state statutes like the marijuana prohibition laws H&S §11357 and so on. But having passed a nuisance ordinance about medical cannabis, the county can permit conditioned exemptions from it.
      Such is the innovative nature of this ordinance.
      Typically, nuisance enforcement results from citizen complaints.
Sheriffs and public officials have no interest, no funding and no incentive to randomly scour the hillsides on their own initiative searching for code infractions. If someone complains about your grow, it’s detectable outside your boundaries and thus a threat to public safety.
       Chapter 9.31. .070-100 specifically address the most common public safety, legal, and environmental problems associated with cannabis cultivation in all cases, whether growers seek the 99-plant permit or not.
    In addition to the 25 plant per parcel limit for those who do not hold permits to grow more, copies of medical recommendations must be posted in view. Growers must be able to show they have notified the legal owner of the parcel of the operation unless they are the owner. Next, there are prohibitions on locating marijuana plantings within specified distances of certain public facilities, nearby residential structures, and in any location visible to the public. And finally, the garden must be surrounded by a secure fence with a locked gate.

The Voluntary 99-Plant Permit.
    In the case of cooperatives, collectives and persons whose doctors recommend they use more than 25 plants for their immediate medical need, Section 9.31.110 provides a voluntary sheriff’s permit to to grow from 26 up to 99 plants on a single parcel. There is no limit to the number of parcels a group could own.
    Before applying, groups and individuals with recommendations for more than 25 plants could hire a certified third party inspector as a consultant to make sure they will qualify.
    The permit is subject to annual review for renewal. Denial of a permit or denial of renewal can be appealed for the cost of re-inspection.
    Approved farms are accountable to the sheriff’s department for their compliance with over two dozen conditions.
    After approval, a subsequent failure to comply could result in permit revocation, a notice of violation and a civil court order to abate the violation. Voluntary abatement could reduce the fine, depending on the time taken to do so.
     Resistance to the abatement order would result in fines of up to $100 per day which multiply through the years and become a tax lien on the property which could result in condemnation. The notice of violation can be appealed, but at a cost of $1,400. The appeal would be to an administrative law judge.
        
The Conditions:
Some of the conditions of the voluntary 99-plant permit program are:
    • A physician's recommendation that the amount of marijuana to be grown is consistent with a patient's medical needs, or that the grower is a member of a collective and has been authorized to produce medical marijuana for that collective;
    • Reveal the location of the garden and the number of plants to be grown;
        • Applicants, but not all members must provide identification.
         • Employees to be over 18 years of age with no felony convictions;
         • Describe security measures, require fencing.
         • 100 foot canopy on indoor grows;
         • Limits on indoor and outdoor lighting;
         • Describe power system, including total load and storage of diesel fuel and disposal of waste oil;
         • Describe water source and declare there is to be no illegal water diversion;
         • Declare compliance with state labor law, including workers compensation;
         • Collective must operate under the Attorney General’s guidelines, sharing net income among the members, providing product only to members and not diverting to the illegal market, Members must all be California residents.
         • Sheriff's deputies and other appropriate county employees can enter their property during normal business hours to ensure the applicant's statements about the operation are true. The initial inspection could be done by certified third party inspectors.
         • Plants are to have zip-ties issued by the Mendocino County Sheriff's Department.
         • Possess a valid sellers permit and pay sales taxes to the state Franchise Tax Board.
         For more information, see the complete text of the ordinance at www.mendocinocountry.com