Jim Finnel
Fallen Cannabis Warrior & Ex News Moderator
A Kern County Superior Court judge has refused to temporarily block the Kern County ordinance that makes it illegal to grow more than 12 marijuana plants on a piece of property.
That ordinance has sparked two weeks of frenzied raids by Kern County Sheriff's deputies, who have eradicated marijuana grows of between a few hundred and thousands of plants under the authority created by Kern County Supervisors on Aug. 9.
Wednesday's ruling, which went against medical marijuana advocates, will allow those raids to continue until at least Sept. 16 when the full case against the 12-plant rule is scheduled to go to a hearing before Superior Court Judge David Lampe.
Kern County Chief Deputy County Counsel Mark Nations said the decision does not guarantee that the county will prevail at that September hearing.
"But it does set the parameters for the debate," Nations said.
Lampe ruled on Wednesday that there was not enough evidence that the ordinance either illegally amended the 1996 law that legalized medical marijuana or violated state law.
He further ruled that the plaintiffs, owners of a nonprofit medical marijuana collective, had not shown they would be irreparably harmed if the 12-plant limit was not blocked while the trial continued.
Nations said the county argued that the ordinance is not trumped by state law and that the county was attempting to achieve a reasonable governmental goal by passing the ordinance.
Attorney Phil Ganong, who is representing the plaintiffs fighting the county ordinance, could not be immediately reached for comment.
Medical marijuana advocates are doing better on another front of their battle with Kern County.
On Aug. 9, in addition to creating the 12-plant rule, supervisors approved a ban on store-front medical marijuana collectives and the sale of marijuana in edible form.
Unlike the 12-plant rule, which was passed by emergency ordinance and took effect immediately, the bans on collectives and edible marijuana sales do not go into effect until 30 days after the decision -- Sept. 9.
There is an aggressive campaign by opponents of the ordinance to gather enough signatures from Kern County voters to block implementation of those ordinances and send a final decision about the new Kern County laws to the voters.
Activists need 17,350 signatures to block the ordinance and trigger a process that will likely put the question on the ballot, according to the Kern County Elections Division.
Medical marijuana advocates must turn in their signatures by 5 p.m. on Sept. 8. Since those signatures must be turned in together, there is no data to show how many signatures have been collected.
But medical marijuana advocates have also launched an aggressive voter registration drive.
In the past week that drive has resulted in the filing of 2,525 new voter registrations with Kern County Elections and the pace of filings has been accelerating, from 472 voters on Aug. 19 to 870 on Tuesday and 1,183 on Thursday.
With just less than two more weeks left to gather signatures, medical marijuana advocates have already registered enough voters to meet nearly 15 percent of their goal.
NewsHawk: Jim Behr: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: Bakersfield Californian, The (CA)
Copyright: 2011 The Bakersfield Californian
Contact: opinion@bakersfield.com
Website: Bakersfield.com
Details: MapInc
Author: James Burger
That ordinance has sparked two weeks of frenzied raids by Kern County Sheriff's deputies, who have eradicated marijuana grows of between a few hundred and thousands of plants under the authority created by Kern County Supervisors on Aug. 9.
Wednesday's ruling, which went against medical marijuana advocates, will allow those raids to continue until at least Sept. 16 when the full case against the 12-plant rule is scheduled to go to a hearing before Superior Court Judge David Lampe.
Kern County Chief Deputy County Counsel Mark Nations said the decision does not guarantee that the county will prevail at that September hearing.
"But it does set the parameters for the debate," Nations said.
Lampe ruled on Wednesday that there was not enough evidence that the ordinance either illegally amended the 1996 law that legalized medical marijuana or violated state law.
He further ruled that the plaintiffs, owners of a nonprofit medical marijuana collective, had not shown they would be irreparably harmed if the 12-plant limit was not blocked while the trial continued.
Nations said the county argued that the ordinance is not trumped by state law and that the county was attempting to achieve a reasonable governmental goal by passing the ordinance.
Attorney Phil Ganong, who is representing the plaintiffs fighting the county ordinance, could not be immediately reached for comment.
Medical marijuana advocates are doing better on another front of their battle with Kern County.
On Aug. 9, in addition to creating the 12-plant rule, supervisors approved a ban on store-front medical marijuana collectives and the sale of marijuana in edible form.
Unlike the 12-plant rule, which was passed by emergency ordinance and took effect immediately, the bans on collectives and edible marijuana sales do not go into effect until 30 days after the decision -- Sept. 9.
There is an aggressive campaign by opponents of the ordinance to gather enough signatures from Kern County voters to block implementation of those ordinances and send a final decision about the new Kern County laws to the voters.
Activists need 17,350 signatures to block the ordinance and trigger a process that will likely put the question on the ballot, according to the Kern County Elections Division.
Medical marijuana advocates must turn in their signatures by 5 p.m. on Sept. 8. Since those signatures must be turned in together, there is no data to show how many signatures have been collected.
But medical marijuana advocates have also launched an aggressive voter registration drive.
In the past week that drive has resulted in the filing of 2,525 new voter registrations with Kern County Elections and the pace of filings has been accelerating, from 472 voters on Aug. 19 to 870 on Tuesday and 1,183 on Thursday.
With just less than two more weeks left to gather signatures, medical marijuana advocates have already registered enough voters to meet nearly 15 percent of their goal.
NewsHawk: Jim Behr: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: Bakersfield Californian, The (CA)
Copyright: 2011 The Bakersfield Californian
Contact: opinion@bakersfield.com
Website: Bakersfield.com
Details: MapInc
Author: James Burger
