There’s good news and bad news regarding the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisor’s ban on medical marijuana cultivation on Jan. 19.
Bad news first. The new ordinance, which passed unanimously, bans any new cultivation of medical marijuana on unincorporated county land.
However, according to Supervising Planner for Long Range Planning Allen Bell, existing cultivators (cooperatives, etc.) may continue to grow, provided that they operate with the new Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act (MMRSA) that was signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown late last year.
Also, deliveries will still be allowed, and patients can still grow their own but it must fit into a plot no bigger than 100 square feet, which can be compared to the size of a 10-by-10 storage unit.
Following the testimonies of several patients at the meeting, the supervisors agreed to eliminate deliveries as part of the ban and allow personal cultivation exemptions.
The ordinance comes at a time when cities in the county rushed to place a ban on cultivation (both commercial and personal) in the wake of a March 1 deadline imposed by the MMRSA that gives local governments the option to pass local regulations of medical marijuana. If they didn’t, then state law would take precedence.
Local politicians have criticized the deadline, saying that it doesn’t give them enough time to draft comprehensive ordinances.
“I’m mad at the state Legislature,” said 4th District Supervisor Peter Adam during the meeting. “They’ve just put us into this position that’s horrific.”
According to Paul Ramey, a spokesman for Assemblyman Jim Wood (D-Healdsburg) who helped draft the MMRSA, the deadline was a mistake, and he previously told the Sun that they intend to pass another bill changing the date.
Since Proposition 215 passed by voters in 1996 protecting medical marijuana patients from criminal prosecution in California, the impetus behind the ban centers on zoning and permitting issues for those who build structures for grow operations that would normally require a permit.
One case that comes to mind is the February 2015 house fire that occurred at 1040 N. Jasmine St. in Lompoc.
There, according to Lompoc Fire Department Chief Kurt Latipow, the renter installed several high-intensity heat lamps in the garage where marijuana plants were being grown and larger electrical fuses were installed on an overburdened system not rated for the extra electricity.
“Unfortunately there are a lot of folks who are cultivating and they are not living up to the standards,” 2nd District Supervisor Janet Wolf said at the meeting. “I truly believe that we need some teeth.”
The new ordinance doesn’t exempt current growers from nuisance abatement. If the county determines the grow op falls outside the regulations, such as if there were any polluting runoff coming from the land, the county could take the landowner to court.
While the supervisors were greeted with applause following their unanimous decision, Seymour Weisburg, a Santa Barbara-based attorney for the National Organization for the Reformation of Marijuana Laws warned that medical marijuana will become too expensive for patients to afford.
“The patient should not be subject to the monopolization of marijuana production and distribution,” Weisburg previously told the Sun. “It’s not covered by any medical insurance.”
Supervisor Adam echoed this sentiment.
“If you’re going to allow some of them and you don’t allow the rest, all you’ve done is just told the ones that are there now that they can charge whatever they want.”
This article appears in Jan 28 – Feb 4, 2016.