CA: Clovis Considers Marijuana Ordinances

Clovis is considering a break with other Fresno County communities that \t\twould make it easier for medical marijuana patients to receive their \t\tdrug.
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\t\tPlanning commissioners are examining several alternatives to temporary \t\tordinances approved by Fresno County and the cities of Fresno and Clovis \t\tthat would make it easier to supply and acquire marijuana for prescribed \t\tpatients.
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\t\tThe ordinance now limits marijuana sales to no more than two patients, \t\tpermits cultivation only in locked structures and limits possession to \t\tsix mature or 12 immature plants per person.
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\t\tUnder the existing ordinance, a cultivation cooperative must be confined \t\tto an industrial zone with a limit of 100 plants. Under state law, a \t\tpatient can possess up to 8 ounces.
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\t\tThe more-lenient approach is being pitched by an attorney who represents \t\tmedical marijuana users. The alternate Clovis proposal would allow \t\tmarijuana dispensaries in industrially zoned areas if the more stringent \t\tordinance is deemed too restrictive by a court.
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\t\tState law allows medical marijuana, but the U.S. Supreme Court is \t\texpected to rule this year whether state law can supersede federal law, \t\twhich considers marijuana an unlawful substance.
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\t\tShaver Lake lawyer Bill McPike appealed through the Clovis planning \t\tcommission for a system that allows identification cards for medical \t\tmarijuana users. He also seeks dispensaries with fees that will pay for \t\tpolice department inspection and patrol of sales sites.
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\t\tHe also wants a more definitive description of backyard "structures" or \t\tin-home grow areas. Those wanting to make medical marijuana purchases \t\tcould be any person with a medical marijuana prescription, not just \t\tClovis residents.
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\t\tA medical marijuana prescription card, McPike envisions, is one that \t\tpolice will be able to check on a computer in their vehicles, similar to \t\ta drivers license.
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\t\tUnder the ordinance now in force, a caregiver can sell to two medical \t\tmarijuana patients, but McPike said that people growing marijuana from \t\ttheir homes and selling it to two people at a time will be more \t\tdifficult to control than at a central location.
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\t\t"You are better off to put this into a larger scale," McPike said. "It \t\twill be easier for police to monitor."
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\t\tHe said police can audit all receipts and take a 10% cut as an \t\tadministrative fee.
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\t\t"Why should police worry about chasing patients and why should patients \t\tbe mad at police?" McPike asked, describing Clovis' interest as \t\t"thoughtful cooperation."
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\t\tRevenue, McPike forecasts, could be substantial with hundreds, possibly \t\tthousands, of patients paying $300 per ounce for marijuana. He said \t\tthere might be as many as 5,000 medical marijuana users living in the \t\tarea.
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\t\tPolice don't view the ordinance as a money-making proposition but also \t\tas a safety issue.
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\t\t"From their perspective, they paint a picture that it would bring \t\tlucrative revenue generation, but it doesn't address the problems \t\tcommunities have experienced from large-scale dispensaries," Clovis \t\tpolice Capt. Russ Greathouse said. "The most important thing is to \t\taddress the needs of people under the care of a doctor and address their \t\tneeds to cultivate [or acquire] marijuana while preserving the health, \t\twelfare and safety of the city."
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\t\tBut McPike contends local cities should consider Kern County as a model \t\tto follow.
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\t\tUnder rules set out by the Kern County District Attorney's Office, a \t\tprescription must be forged or a county health department-issued \t\tidentification card must be fake or used by a different person before a \t\tviolator is jailed. Kern County also permits up to 50 plants per \t\tidentification card.
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\t\tJoe Fortt, who operates a Bakersfield-area dispensary and has 300 \t\tpatients, addressed Clovis planning commissioners, saying his business \t\thas been open for two years and serves patients from 10 counties. \t\tServing as a caregiver with 300 patients means he can have 1,800 mature \t\tplants in his possession for his patients, under state law.
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\t\t"We don't want to be a nuisance," Fortt said. "We have had no associated \t\tcrime."
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\t\tFresno County law enforcement agencies have voiced concerns about \t\treports of groups of patients smoking marijuana near dispensaries in \t\tother communities and congregating and smoking in nearby parks. Other \t\tcities have reported increased numbers of people arriving in their \t\tcommunities to get a doctor's recommendation and drugs.
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\t\tThere have even been more localized problems.
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\t\tLast year, a Clovis couple with medical marijuana authorization were \t\tvictims of trespassing after high school students saw their plants and \t\tclimbed into their yard to steal marijuana, police said. The couple took \t\tto sleeping outdoors with weapons, police said.
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\t\tGary and Paula Ainsworth said a local dispensary would save them the \t\ttrouble of having to grow their own plants and allow them to buy the \t\tdrug locally. Now they go to Oakland.
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\t\t"That's the idea, is to have dispensaries open so patients can get safe \t\taccess," said Gary Ainsworth, who needs the medicine for chronic pain.
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\t\tHe said the couple still have a problem with thieves and have installed \t\tsurveillance cameras.
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\t\t"It's not fair to me, my family or my neighbors," he said. "It's just \t\tlike somebody ripping off a pharmacy."
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\t\tBut Kern County Sheriff's Cmdr. Dave Fesler said deputies have had no \t\tserious issues with medical marijuana dispensaries.
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\t\t"We have had a few situations where we had search warrants, but \t\t[patients] were well within the guidelines of the law," Fesler said.
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\t\tMcPike said he made overtures to Fresno city officials about changing \t\ttheir nearly identical ordinance to Clovis, but he received no response.
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\t\tFresno police Chief Jerry Dyer disagrees with McPike's assessment of a \t\tcentralized dispensary causing fewer problems.
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\t\tThe threat of burglary and robbery, he said, looms larger because of \t\tsizable amounts of money changing hands and the nature of the product \t\tbeing sold.
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\t\tWhile he agrees that prescribed marijuana should be available to those \t\twho need it, Dyer said the idea of law enforcement's receiving an \t\tadministrative fee, or cut of the profits, from the growing and sales of \t\tmarijuana seems unethical.
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\t\tPlanning commissioners will discuss the issue and possibly recommend a \t\tpolicy on March 24 to the Clovis City Council.

Source: Fresno Bee (CA)
Author: Marc Benjamin, The Fresno Bee
Published: Sunday, February 27, 2005
Copyright: 2004 The Fresno Bee
Contact: letters@fresnobee.com
Website: http://www.fresnobee.com/
Link to article: http://www.freedomtoexhale.com/considers.htm