The MENDOCINO COUNTRY Independent 11/26/09

Support Medical Marijuana Cultivation Ordinance 
  Proposed Mendocino County Health and Safety Ordinance chapter 9.31 soon to go before the board of supervisors sets standards for accountability in medical marijuana cultivation.
     And by having the sheriff grant highly conditioned exemptions from the per parcel nuisance limit of 25 up to 99 plants, this amended measure will provide a framework for its "safe and affordable distribution" as encouraged in the Compassionate Use Act.    This is in the interest of medical marijuana patients. But some medical marijuana growers are opposed, and have shown that opposition by persistent calls for delay, lawsuits and even civil disobedience in the hearing room.
   I would ask them to now allow this process to go forward after expressing their fears and concerns, and would offer the following information.
    The sheriff's office has issued a total of 20 civil abatement orders to marijuana growers in the last year, and six of them have been resolved leaving a total of 14 in the works. The county counsel has told me she is not persuing these cases while this amendment process is underway, because the final language may leave some of these moot.
        By contrast, the planning department has issued a total of 63 nuisance violations in the last two and a half years, and 51 of them are still unresolved.
          The sheriff and the county code enforement officer have no right, and no interest to go on private property fishing for nuisances. Nuisances are reported by neighbors and the public because they have impacts.
       If your marijuana is impacting your neighbors or the public, it needs to be mitigated, and if not, abated to reduce and eliminate the kind of backlash we experienced with Measure B.
     Finally, there are two forms of marijuana cultivation nuisances we must absolutely address and stop: armed invasion robberies and structure fires, of which there are numerous examples each year. If your marijuana is discoverable, or you are not wiring to code in your indoor grow, you are endangering the community.
     It's time for truly medical marijuana growers to come out from the shadows, comply with standards and enjoy the security of county law enforcement approval.
    Richard Johnson, Ukiah
    (Richard Johnson campaigned against Measure B and was principle author of Measure G). --