August 28, 2012
Oroville, CA – The Butte County Board of Supervisors have all but jettisoned a second attempt at a Medical Marijuana Ordinance after a public hearing this afternoon. Board chambers were full, mostly with people opposed to what I refer to as Ordinance 2.0 because it would become the second medical marijuana measure adopted by the Board of Supervisors (the first ordinance having been repealed after a popular referendum vote on the June primary ballot).
Ordinance 2.0 would have banned outdoor growing of medical marijuana. The theory goes that moving the marijuana indoors would reduce things like odor, attractive nuisances (like neighbor kids reaching across the fence out of curiosity), light pollution from security lighting, barking guard dogs, increased traffic and noise, and violent confrontations between thieves and growers. It’s essentially an out of sight, out of mind approach.
Problems with indoor growing of medical marijuana include the added expenses of hardware, electricity, the pollution created by generating said electricity, and costs of construction and permits for the buildings (not a particularly “green” solution). Also, to the extent thefts of medical marijuana are perpetrated by acquaintances, moving marijuana grows indoor increases the likelihood of residential burglaries and home invasion robberies – which can be some of the deadliest crimes.
At the end of the hearing, there seemed to be a consensus that the parties needed to get together and try to craft a solution that can be embraced by everyone. In the meantime, I’d like to propose some self-policing among the growing community – get together and set some standards of conduct. If a member of the group is giving the group a bad image by leaving barking guard dogs chained up (which seems like animal cruelty), blinding neighbors with flood-lights (a nuisance), leaving trash strewn about (a nuisance and a blight), allowing multiple vehicles to come and go at all hours (a nuisance), and making noise (a nuisance), tell them to clean up their act. For the Board of Supervisors, I propose putting some teeth in ordinances regarding nuisances and animal control by increasing penalties and funding for nuisance abatement and animal control enforcement. In this way, good growers and non-growers will be rewarded with more peaceful neighborhoods.
Chico (530) 354-4066 Oroville (530) 534-6100