Mail Tribune
Jackson County commissioners headed into potentially controversial territory Tuesday to pursue land-use regulations that could curb large-scale medical marijuana operations.
Responding to complaints from neighbors of medical marijuana gardens, the commissioners directed planning and legal staff to craft an ordinance that would regulate traffic, noise, smell, visibility of the gardens and lights used for growing and prohibit cultivation within 1,000 feet of a school.
County legal counsel Frank Hammond told commissioners a local ordinance may be legally feasible because state law regulating medical marijuana doesn't address land-use issues with gardens.
But there likely would be legal challenges from marijuana advocacy groups, he said.
"One of my points is this whole thing would be very controversial," he said.
Some of the concerns could be addressed in Initiative 28, an effort that would regulate growers in Oregon and subject them to state oversight, said Rep. Peter Buckley, an Ashland Democrat.
Buckley said Initiative 28, which has about half the signatures necessary to put it on the November 2010 ballot, could end the problems associated with fly-by-night growers.
Buckley is a strong supporter of state medical marijuana laws, but he said he is also concerned about the behavior of some growers.
"It is extremely frustrating for me when people who are involved in the program as growers don't behave like responsible citizens," he said.
Buckley said the Legislature isn't likely to deal with land-use problems associated with medical marijuana when it convenes in February for a limited session.
With 2,418 medical marijuana cardholders, Jackson County has the third highest number of patients using the drug behind Multnomah and Lane counties, according to the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program.
A caregiver can grow up to six mature plants and 18 starts and seedlings per patient for up to four patients.
The county cannot create an ordinance that contradicts or is more restrictive than the state medical marijuana law, Hammond said.
He suggested commissioners consider regulating marijuana cultivation as an agricultural use.
The county leaders wondered whether the nonprofit marijuana gardens could be treated as a small business.
Commissioner Jack Walker likened them to an operation that wanted to open a rock quarry.
Hammond said that under state law, growers can be reimbursed for expenses but can't make a profit like a regular business.
Commissioner C.W. Smith said he is concerned that growers are banding together to create large operations that increase traffic and cause other issues in neighborhoods.
"It is a quasi-commercial event, even though it is not a profit-making one," Smith said. He noted that he doesn't have a problem with people who have medical marijuana cards.
Smith said the state should have more oversight of marijuana since it is still considered a controlled substance.
Commissioner Dave Gilmour said some of these gardens are a nuisance in some neighborhoods, and he thought it appropriate to have some restrictions.
Bruce Mirken, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, a national organization that has sought to decriminalize marijuana, said most of the conflicts with medical marijuana have arisen over dispensaries, not the gardens.
In general, he said his organization doesn't have a problem with reasonable laws that deal with neighborhood nuisance problems that might arise from marijuana gardens.
"There may be some things not solvable by the law," he said. "Living with other people in society requires dealing with some level of nuisance."
For instance, a homeowner who lived next to oil fields couldn't shut down production just because he didn't like the smell, Mirken said.
He said commissioners are confronting the kind of neighborhood concerns local governments face every day.
"They are trying to find a way to solve legitimate legal concerns," he said.
Reach reporter Damian Mann at 776-4476, or e-mail dmann@mailtribune.com.
