CA--Medical Pot Clinic Approved for Willow Creek

by Andrew Bird, (Source:Times-Standard)
08 Dec 2004

California
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EUREKA -- In a precedent-setting move, the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors approved a permit Tuesday for a controversial medical marijuana dispensary in Willow Creek.

The board voted 3-1 Tuesday, with Supervisor Jimmy Smith dissenting, to allow the Humboldt Patient Resource Center, which has operated a successful medical marijuana clinic in Arcata for five years, to open a dispensary and growing operation in this unincorporated community along state Highway 299.

The board's decision sets a precedent, as it is the first time the county has approved such a project.

The decision came over the objections of a number of Willow Creek residents who spoke in opposition to the dispensary.

It also overturns the county Planning Commission's rejection of the dispensary last month.

In October the Planning Commission deadlocked 3-3 over whether to approve the HPRC's permit request, which the county's planning staff supported.

The tie vote in effect was a denial of the project.

The HPRC appealed the denial to the Board of Supervisors, which heard a report from the planning staff and listened to the objections of several Willow Creek residents Tuesday before making its decision.

Supervisor Bonnie Neely, present at the board's morning session, was absent from the afternoon hearing when the appeal was heard. Willow Creek is in Supervisor Jill Geist's 5th District.

Opening in the same location where a previous medical marijuana club operated for a brief time earlier this year, the HPRC operation will be open just three days a week to dispense organic marijuana grown on location by appointment only.

Only patients with recommendations from licensed physicians, as required under California's Compassionate Use Act, will be sold marijuana, said LindaAnne Cummings, director of the Arcata HPRC.

There will be no signage outside the building.

A number of Willow Creek residents wrote letters to the county opposing the HPRC's permit application.

Many were on hand for Tuesday's public hearing, and of the six Willow Creek residents who spoke, all were opposed.

"I don't want to change the atmosphere in Willow Creek," said a resident who identified himself as Patrick Bryant.

Bryant's comments were typical of those who spoke in opposition.

However, Cummings said the HPRC has been a "good neighbor in Arcata and we will be good neighbors in Willow Creek."

The Board of Supervisors approved the permit under the provisions of a 14-point "plan of operations," which was expanded at the meeting by Supervisor John Woolley, who made the motion to approve the permit.

The provisions establish detailed criteria and restrictions and provide for an annual review of the HPRC's operation.

Smith, the lone supervisor to vote against approving the permit, said he was not comfortable allowing the clinic to operate before the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on California's Compassionate Use Act, which is expected before June of 2005.

"I think we might be a little soon on this project," Smith said.

MAP posted-by: Richard Lake
Pubdate: Wed, 8 Dec 2004
Source: Times-Standard (Eureka, CA)
Copyright: 2004 MediaNews Group, Inc.
Contact: editor@times-standard.com
Website: http://www.times-standard.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1051
Author: Andrew Bird
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)