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OAKLAND - The Oakland City Council postponed a discussion of whether to license marijuana farms in the city Tuesday night, a move that could reshape the cannabis industry for the entire state.
A proposal by Councilwoman Desley Brooks would create a new city farming permit to allow the holder to operate both a medical marijuana dispensary and an off-site pot farm up to 50,000 square feet within city limits. The plan calls for the city to issue five of those permits.
Currently, the city has four permitted medical marijuana dispensaries. The proposal does not specify whether those dispensaries can add farming to their businesses.
But others questioned whether the issue needed to be rushed onto the agenda, and Brooks agreed to let it be vetted by the council's Public Safety Committee next week. City Attorney John Russo is expected to introduce his own plan within the next week.
By tying farming permits to dispensaries and their patients, Brooks hopes the plan will line up with Proposition 215, the 1996 proposition that legalized medical marijuana use.
That's critical because the city's previous pot farm plan, approved by the council in July, died because it did not abide by Prop. 215.
Prop. 215 authorizes only patients and "primary caregivers" to cultivate marijuana, according to an opinion written by Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O'Malley.
A primary caregiver is someone who has "consistently assumed responsibility for the housing, health or safety of that person," according to O'Malley's legal opinion. The city's previous plan would have allowed pot farmers to act independently of dispensaries and sell pot to whichever dispensary they chose.
Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan, who wrote the July plan, had said it would have been legal regardless of the outcome of Proposition 19, a November ballot initiative that would have legalized recreational use of marijuana. Voters rejected Prop. 19, however, and O'Malley issued her opinion suggesting the farm plan was not legal. She warned that city officials might face criminal prosecution if they pressed on with it.
The city's plans have stalled since then. O'Malley has declined to comment on Brooks' plan.
In 2009, Oakland's four dispensaries sold 6,000 pounds of pot, which would have required 45,000 square feet of growing area, according to a city staff report.
The nine prospective farm dispensaries could provide more than a fifth of the total state demand for medical marijuana if they grew the maximum allowed, according to a city analysis.
Brooks has said that prospective pot farmers have told her that the size is important given the high cost of starting a pot farm.
The dispensaries would be required to supply at least 70 percent of their patients' medical marijuana needs, giving less room for the small growers who currently are the bulk of farmers in Oakland.
Small growers typically cultivate farms of less than 96 square feet, because of state law and a perception of the limits of federal prosecution. Others worry the move will force small growers to sell into the nondispensary illegal market.
Stephen DeAngelo, owner of the Harborside Health Center dispensary, has said he worries that the outsize nature of the farms will force existing small growers into the black market.
News Hawk: MedicalNeed 420 MAGAZINE
Source: sfgate.com
Author: Matthai Kuruvila
Contact: Contact Us
Copyright: 2011 Hearst Communications Inc.
Website:Oakland council delays debate on pot farm licenses
A proposal by Councilwoman Desley Brooks would create a new city farming permit to allow the holder to operate both a medical marijuana dispensary and an off-site pot farm up to 50,000 square feet within city limits. The plan calls for the city to issue five of those permits.
Currently, the city has four permitted medical marijuana dispensaries. The proposal does not specify whether those dispensaries can add farming to their businesses.
But others questioned whether the issue needed to be rushed onto the agenda, and Brooks agreed to let it be vetted by the council's Public Safety Committee next week. City Attorney John Russo is expected to introduce his own plan within the next week.
By tying farming permits to dispensaries and their patients, Brooks hopes the plan will line up with Proposition 215, the 1996 proposition that legalized medical marijuana use.
That's critical because the city's previous pot farm plan, approved by the council in July, died because it did not abide by Prop. 215.
Prop. 215 authorizes only patients and "primary caregivers" to cultivate marijuana, according to an opinion written by Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O'Malley.
A primary caregiver is someone who has "consistently assumed responsibility for the housing, health or safety of that person," according to O'Malley's legal opinion. The city's previous plan would have allowed pot farmers to act independently of dispensaries and sell pot to whichever dispensary they chose.
Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan, who wrote the July plan, had said it would have been legal regardless of the outcome of Proposition 19, a November ballot initiative that would have legalized recreational use of marijuana. Voters rejected Prop. 19, however, and O'Malley issued her opinion suggesting the farm plan was not legal. She warned that city officials might face criminal prosecution if they pressed on with it.
The city's plans have stalled since then. O'Malley has declined to comment on Brooks' plan.
In 2009, Oakland's four dispensaries sold 6,000 pounds of pot, which would have required 45,000 square feet of growing area, according to a city staff report.
The nine prospective farm dispensaries could provide more than a fifth of the total state demand for medical marijuana if they grew the maximum allowed, according to a city analysis.
Brooks has said that prospective pot farmers have told her that the size is important given the high cost of starting a pot farm.
The dispensaries would be required to supply at least 70 percent of their patients' medical marijuana needs, giving less room for the small growers who currently are the bulk of farmers in Oakland.
Small growers typically cultivate farms of less than 96 square feet, because of state law and a perception of the limits of federal prosecution. Others worry the move will force small growers to sell into the nondispensary illegal market.
Stephen DeAngelo, owner of the Harborside Health Center dispensary, has said he worries that the outsize nature of the farms will force existing small growers into the black market.
News Hawk: MedicalNeed 420 MAGAZINE
Source: sfgate.com
Author: Matthai Kuruvila
Contact: Contact Us
Copyright: 2011 Hearst Communications Inc.
Website:Oakland council delays debate on pot farm licenses
