• Registered: 2007-09-11
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Topic: Mendo County pot permits not suspended

http://www.times-standard.com/ci_197184 … ost_viewed

Mendo County pot permits not suspended

Despite confusion, county's pot ordinance still in place
The Ukiah Daily Journal
Posted: 01/11/2012 09:18:44 AM PST

Contrary to rumors, permits for zip ties and cooperatives for growing medical marijuana in Mendocino County have not been suspended.

”(The program) has not been suspended,” Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman said Tuesday, adding “but there's no movement on it in January and February anyway.”

Rumors are flying around the North Coast that the ground-breaking cultivation permits pioneered by Allman have been called off due to fears that a recent court case may force the county to refund hundreds of thousands in permit fees.

Mendocino County Counsel Jeanine Nadel said that she will have a recommendation on what to do for the board of supervisors, possibly by the end of the week. She had already told county officials internally a suspension may be necessary. That preliminary opinion may have fueled the suspension rumors.

No decision has been made, and according to Allman, it can only be made by the supervisors themselves.

Normally, the medical marijuana cultivation permit applications start to come in March and April as the growing season gets underway. Allman said he has no applications pending and that the 2012 applications aren't even ready yet.

Mendocino County has an innovative medical marijuana cultivation program which sells zip ties to individuals cultivating medical marijuana to identify legal p...

The county also has an ordinance allowing cooperatives to grow up to 99 plants under a set of county rules. All those activities come with fees which have helped fund the sheriff's department.
A recent state appellate court decision nullified a similar cultivation program in Long Beach, saying the county had overstepped its legal bounds since marijuana growing in any form is still illegal under federal law. The rest of California is waiting to see if that case is confirmed as precedent-setting by the state Supreme Court.

Medical marijuana advocates have asked the high court to review the case, citing what they see as the appellate court's influence in forcing unnecessary actions by fearful counties to cancel or suspend medical marijuana programs.

  • Registered: 2007-09-11
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Re: Mendo County pot permits not suspended

http://www.times-standard.com/localnews/ci_19734867

Mendo backs away from pot ordinance; citing federal pressure, legal uncertainty, supes to reconsider landmark regulations

Tiffany Revelle/The Daily Journal
Posted: 01/13/2012 02:20:05 AM PST

Mendocino County will soon rethink its medical marijuana permit program, according to a statement late Wednesday from the Mendocino County CEO's Office.

Under the threat of legal action from the U.S. Attorney's Office, and anticipating the effect of a Southern California court ruling that could end the popular permitting program, the Board of Supervisors will consider changing its medical marijuana cultivation ordinance at its next meeting, Jan. 24, according to CEO Carmel Angelo.

The ordinance allows medical marijuana cooperatives to grow up to 99 plants as long as they buy permits from the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office and follow a set of rules.

The Ryan Pack v. City of Long Beach ruling, which came down in October, could end the program if it is allowed to stand as a precedent. The ruling quashed a similar medical marijuana permitting program in Long Beach, saying the city overstepped its legal bounds by issuing the permits, since growing and using marijuana for any reason is illegal under federal law.

At the Jan. 24 meeting, County Counsel Jeanine Nadel will propose “amendments (to the county's cultivation ordinance) that will conform to the Pack decision and the concerns expressed by the U.S. Attorney's Office,” according to the CEO's Office.

If the board approves the changes Jan. 24, the amended ordinance will go back before the board for approval Feb. 14, and would be effective 30 days after that. ....

  • Registered: 2007-09-11
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Re: Mendo County pot permits not suspended

http://www.thecalifornian.com/usatoday/article/38416377

Mendocino votes to revoke pot-growing permits

5:46 PM, Jan. 24, 2012

UKIAH, Calif. (WTW) — Mendocino County lawmakers have abolished a program that allowed medical marijuana collectives to grow 99 plants at a time with county approval out of fear that federal officials would take legal action against local officials.

The Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 Tuesday to repeal a nearly two-year-old ordinance that created a process by which collectives that claimed to be growing marijuana for a number of medical marijuana patients could apply for cultivation permits that exceeded a 12-plant limit for individuals.

As part of the permit program, sheriff's deputies monitored marijuana farms and tagged plants for compliance.


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