cannabisnews.com: Taking on Pot Issues





Taking on Pot Issues
Posted by CN Staff on August 16, 2004 at 16:10:44 PT
By Erin Mayes
Source: Union Democrat
If medical marijuana clinics ever come to Angels Camp, city officials will be ready with rules on where and how they can operate. The Angels Camp City Council will discuss the topic tomorrow before setting a public hearing for Sept. 21. "We have nothing on the books to regulate or require permits for activity like that," said Judy King, city administrative assistant. "It was the police chief who recommended we have something on the books." 
She said no one has yet expressed interest in opening a medical marijuana clinic. Last Thursday planning commissioners agreed 4-1 to OK the new amendment to an Angels Camp ordinance, with all but commissioner Steve Difu recommending the city council adopt the resolution. Planning Director Kaye Simonson said Difu told commissioners Proposition 215, the Compassionate Use of Marijuana Act passed by California voters in 1996, does not authorize cannabis dispensaries. But, as even commissioner Roger Neuman — a former police chief — agreed, the law's passage requires some sort of establishment through which medical marijuana can be dispensed. If the council OKs the ordinance amendment, medical cannabis clinics would be restricted to selling their wares only to primary care givers, qualified patients or people with identification cards that allow such purchases. Medical marijuana clinics would be allowed in commercial and industrial areas but would first have to obtain conditional use permits from the city. They would not be allowed in residential areas or within 1,000 feet of another medical marijuana clinic. They would not be within 1,000 feet of any youth-oriented establishment or any establishment frequented mainly by minors. Medical cannabis also would not be sold at health care clinics, residential care facilities — including those for the elderly — or hospices. And they would not be allowed to sell alcohol or distribute any other goods or services. Currently chronically ill patients in California with the proper paperwork from their doctors are allowed to grow as many as six mature marijuana plants or own up to a half-pound of processed marijuana. Counties can also restrict how much marijuana a patient may possess at any given time. Calaveras County supervisors in 2000 adopted a six-plant, 2-pound limit and Tuolumne County law enforcement and the District Attorney's office set a three-plant, half-pound limit. Other counties, such as Del Norte, Sonoma and Humboldt, allow 99 plants per person. There is no limit in Marin County. Stanislaus, Alameda, Fresno, Mariposa, Merced, Madera and a few others have set no guidelines. That means law enforcement officials in those counties must decide on their own whether to arrest people who claim they are growing marijuana for medical rather than recreational use. Vallecito resident Bill Harrison, with a license to grow marijuana to treat his chronic rib pain and vertigo, said he used to cultivate the plant but stopped after he was robbed of his cannabis at gunpoint last fall. Since then he has obtained marijuana through other means, but said he doesn't know of any local medical marijuana dispensaries as might be found in a large city. Angels Camp Police Chief Tony Tacheira was not available for comment. City Administrator Tim Shearer said he knows citizens may grow their own plants, but he's not sure where patients can legally acquire processed marijuana. Harrison said it's not as simple as having a prescription filled at the local drugstore, that it must be obtained through special clubs — most of which are in urban areas. Source: Union Democrat, The (CA)Author: Erin MayesPublished: August 16, 2004Copyright: 2004 Western Communications, Inc.Website: http://uniondemocrat.com/Contact: letters uniondemocrat.comRelated Articles & Web Site:Medicinal Cannabis Research Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/research.htmCompassion and Prosecutionhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19198.shtmlLode Town Lays Down Law on Medical Pothttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18918.shtml
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