Pubdate: Thu, 17 May 2012
Source: Porterville Recorder (CA)
Copyright: 2012 Freedom Communications Inc.
Contact: http://www.recorderonline.com/sections/editor-form/
Website: http://www.recorderonline.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2887

MARIJUANA GROWING REGULATIONS NEEDED TO BE STRENGTHENED

THE ISSUE County effort to curb illegal marijuana growing.

OUR VIEW Laws needed to be strengthened.

The new county ordinance which shortens the time a grower of 
marijuana has to comply with county zoning laws was needed and should 
help to curb the illegal growing of marijuana in Tulare County.

County Supervisors a week ago amended the code enforcement 
regulations affecting medical marijuana growing, reducing the amount 
of time a grower has to comply with from as many as 180 days to as 
few as 30 days. The amendment speeds up the process and at the same 
time places a $765 fee and a daily fine of $100 on violators.

Officials pointed out that before when a grower was cited, by the 
time the administrative process was completed, the crop was harvested 
and any enforcement became moot. With the changes, a grower will not 
have time to harvest the crop.

The growing of marijuana, most of it illegally, has mushroomed and 
those grow sites are a threat to neighbors. Officers with the Tulare 
County Sheriff's Department said they identified approximately 600 
grow sites last summer and anticipate they will find even more this 
summer. Officials said there were eight homicides connected to 
marijuana growing in the past 18 months in the county.

There is much confusion and controversy over the legal growing of 
marijuana, which is only allowed for medical purposes. However, most 
of those gardens found last year had far more plants than the state 
law allows and were obviously illegal grow sites for the purpose of 
selling the marijuana on the street.

Until the state Legislature acts to clean up the medical marijuana 
law passed by voters in 1996, counties like Tulare are left alone to 
deal with a problem that has many residents scared because a large 
marijuana garden is just down the street and law enforcement is 
scrambling to keep up.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom