SONOMA SUPES OK MORATORIUM ON NEW PATIENT POT DISPENSARIES

Bay City News Wire
http://cbs5.com/localwire/localfsnews/bcn/2005/05/17/n/HeadlineNews/MARIJUANA/resources_bcn_html

SONOMA SUPES OK MORATORIUM ON NEW PATIENT POT DISPENSARIES
05/17/05 6:10 PDT

SANTA ROSA (BCN)

Sonoma County's Board of Supervisors approved a 45-day moratorium on new
medical marijuana dispensaries in the unincorporated area of the county
this morning.

The vote was unanimous and Supervisor Mike Kerns, who was absent, cast his
vote by cell phone.

The board joined the city councils of Rohnert Park, Sebastopol and Santa
Rosa that also have approved or considered such moratoriums. The
Sebastopol City Council will vote on such an ordinance tonight.

Two existing medical marijuana dispensaries are operating in the county,
one in Guerneville and the North Bay Wellness Cooperative that began
operations on Santa Rosa Avenue south of Santa Rosa on April 20. Their
operations are not affected by the ordinance.

Ken Beyries, attorney for the wellness cooperative, said "intense media
inquiry'' prompted the dispensary to cancel a ribbon cutting ceremony at
the cooperative on Monday. Beyries said the media coverage would have
jeopardized the privacy, security and confidentiality of the
not-for-profit cooperative's 500 medical marijuana patients.

Staff at the county's Permit and Resource Management Department will draft
regulations for medical marijuana dispensaries over the next six months.
The moratorium is expected to be extended another 10 months before the
45-day ban expires.

Sonoma County's current zoning regulations do not expressly allow medical
marijuana dispensaries in any zoning district. Sonoma County patients who
have a physician's prescription to use marijuana as medicine are currently
allowed to possess 99 plants or three pounds of pot a year.

That will be reduced to 25 plants on July 1, Sheriff Bill Cogbill said
this morning. Cogbill said the sheriff's office and the county district
attorney's office consulted with the county's public health department
before coming up with the new standard that complies with a law passed by
the Legislature.

The 25-plant, 3-pound allowance will provide for the needs of 90 percent
of medical marijuana patients but patients will still be able to grow more
than 25 plants with a physician's approval, Cogbill said.

The moratorium was prompted by concerns that some buyers of marijuana at
the dispensaries were re-selling the pot, loitering and increasing the
potential for robberies of the dispensaries.

About a dozen medical marijuana patients spoke against the moratorium.
Jose Gutierrez, a volunteer counselor for Americans for Safe Access, said
the only emergency in the county is the unavailability of medical
marijuana.

"No urgency was shown,'' he said regarding the urgency ordinance that
takes effect immediately. None of the five existing dispensaries,
including three in Santa Rosa, are open on Sunday, Gutierrez said.

Placing a moratorium on new dispensaries will create a monopoly for
existing dispensaries, Gutierrez said.

"Where will we get our medication at a better price,'' he asked.

Other marijuana patients said lowering the plant allowance to 25 and
placing a moratorium on new dispensaries will force patients to buy
marijuana of dubious quality on the street