triprey
Concerned Medical Patient
- Joined
- Jul 20, 2007
- Messages
- 160
- Reaction score
- 51
US CA: OPED: How to Solve Arcata's Grow House Crisis
by Jeff Schwartz, (23 Oct 2007) Arcata Eye California
The Arcata City Council is about to form a task force to study plans for a proposed ordinance to regulate the lawful indoor growing of medical marijuana plants. Right now, people grow medical marijuana indoors surreptitiously and often under unsafe conditions; the amount of electricity needed to maintain a grow through harvest often overloads jerry-rigged systems in residential rental units. Growers show a lack of concern and until now, the city has failed to address the problem.
It is important that the task force be clear from the beginning about the role of the City Council. The council should not try to enforce the Penal Code and so the police should have no input on this issue. The council should view the safety of marijuana grows as they would the growing of heirloom tomatoes in residential apartments.
Tomatoes need a lot of sun, as does marijuana, and thus a lot of electricity. If tomato growers started growing Brandywines in residential neighborhoods, overloading the electrical wiring and starting fires, the community would have to do something about it. But bringing in the police would be out of the question.
The state allows medical marijuana grows. Humboldt County allows up to 100 plants or 10 square feet of plant canopy. Although that's a much greater allowance than you'll find anywhere else, this is not the time to debate whether these grows are really geared for the sale of medical marijuana. If a grower complies with state and county limits, the city needs to recognize it as legal.
But a valid question is whether agriculture belongs in residential houses and apartments, particularly in a city with a housing shortage.
So what to do? I believe that Arcata needs to provide public garden areas for people to grow medical marijuana in designated areas that are protected and secured.
These public gardens could be on City property in greenhouses similar to the types of grows now going on in apartment houses and homes. The police would stay off limits and the only inspection would be from building and safety and fire officials, who would make sure that these public facilities are safe.
Arcata should provide all individuals who have proper medical marijuana cards this opportunity to grow in the sanctuary of public gardens. The City could charge fees equivalent to the cost of electricity these people would spend on grows in their homes. We could also use solar energy to replace the thousands of megawatts now polluting our air.
How would this be funded? How are our community gardens now funded? It might mean an additional fee on landlords, but they will now have their properties protected from the risk of property damage or fire from illegal grow operations. The growers themselves can contribute what they can.
Finally, landlords have to start taking responsibility. Landlords make money on their property and they have to make sure their units are safe and habitable. Just as we expect them to do something to stop a rock band from practicing in the middle of the night in a quiet neighborhood or a multi-unit apartment building, or make sure that a deck doesn't collapse or a bathtub drop from a second floor apartment because of rotted wood, we should expect them to do something about people operating grows under unsafe conditions.
A grow takes several months. It is not unreasonable for a landlord to inspect his or her property three times a year. Some do that now simply to make sure a tenant doesn't bring in a dog or cat.
Any city ordinance to regulate indoor grows should include sanctions to make sure landlords do their part; they are the front line in this quest to make the City safe from fires caused by marijuana grows.
Let's not spend a year on this. Let's treat this as a safety problem and a medical services issue. We need to allow those who are entitled to grow medical marijuana to continue growing.
But we need to also protect the City from hazardous conditions and do something about the inappropriate use of housing structures.
[SIZE=-1]MAP posted-by: Richard Lake[/SIZE]
Pubdate: Tue, 23 Oct 2007
Source: Arcata Eye (CA)
Copyright: 2007 Arcata Eye
Contact: [email protected]
Website: http://www.arcataeye.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1210
Author: Jeff Schwartz
Note: Jeffrey Schwartz is a local attorney practicing in Arcata and
living in Arcata with his family. He is on the Arcata Economic
Development Committee.
Cited: Arcata City Council
http://www.arcatacityhall.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=72&Itemid=148
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Arcata
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Marijuana - California)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Marijuana - Medicinal)
by Jeff Schwartz, (23 Oct 2007) Arcata Eye California
The Arcata City Council is about to form a task force to study plans for a proposed ordinance to regulate the lawful indoor growing of medical marijuana plants. Right now, people grow medical marijuana indoors surreptitiously and often under unsafe conditions; the amount of electricity needed to maintain a grow through harvest often overloads jerry-rigged systems in residential rental units. Growers show a lack of concern and until now, the city has failed to address the problem.
It is important that the task force be clear from the beginning about the role of the City Council. The council should not try to enforce the Penal Code and so the police should have no input on this issue. The council should view the safety of marijuana grows as they would the growing of heirloom tomatoes in residential apartments.
Tomatoes need a lot of sun, as does marijuana, and thus a lot of electricity. If tomato growers started growing Brandywines in residential neighborhoods, overloading the electrical wiring and starting fires, the community would have to do something about it. But bringing in the police would be out of the question.
The state allows medical marijuana grows. Humboldt County allows up to 100 plants or 10 square feet of plant canopy. Although that's a much greater allowance than you'll find anywhere else, this is not the time to debate whether these grows are really geared for the sale of medical marijuana. If a grower complies with state and county limits, the city needs to recognize it as legal.
But a valid question is whether agriculture belongs in residential houses and apartments, particularly in a city with a housing shortage.
So what to do? I believe that Arcata needs to provide public garden areas for people to grow medical marijuana in designated areas that are protected and secured.
These public gardens could be on City property in greenhouses similar to the types of grows now going on in apartment houses and homes. The police would stay off limits and the only inspection would be from building and safety and fire officials, who would make sure that these public facilities are safe.
Arcata should provide all individuals who have proper medical marijuana cards this opportunity to grow in the sanctuary of public gardens. The City could charge fees equivalent to the cost of electricity these people would spend on grows in their homes. We could also use solar energy to replace the thousands of megawatts now polluting our air.
How would this be funded? How are our community gardens now funded? It might mean an additional fee on landlords, but they will now have their properties protected from the risk of property damage or fire from illegal grow operations. The growers themselves can contribute what they can.
Finally, landlords have to start taking responsibility. Landlords make money on their property and they have to make sure their units are safe and habitable. Just as we expect them to do something to stop a rock band from practicing in the middle of the night in a quiet neighborhood or a multi-unit apartment building, or make sure that a deck doesn't collapse or a bathtub drop from a second floor apartment because of rotted wood, we should expect them to do something about people operating grows under unsafe conditions.
A grow takes several months. It is not unreasonable for a landlord to inspect his or her property three times a year. Some do that now simply to make sure a tenant doesn't bring in a dog or cat.
Any city ordinance to regulate indoor grows should include sanctions to make sure landlords do their part; they are the front line in this quest to make the City safe from fires caused by marijuana grows.
Let's not spend a year on this. Let's treat this as a safety problem and a medical services issue. We need to allow those who are entitled to grow medical marijuana to continue growing.
But we need to also protect the City from hazardous conditions and do something about the inappropriate use of housing structures.
[SIZE=-1]MAP posted-by: Richard Lake[/SIZE]Pubdate: Tue, 23 Oct 2007
Source: Arcata Eye (CA)
Copyright: 2007 Arcata Eye
Contact: [email protected]
Website: http://www.arcataeye.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1210
Author: Jeff Schwartz
Note: Jeffrey Schwartz is a local attorney practicing in Arcata and
living in Arcata with his family. He is on the Arcata Economic
Development Committee.
Cited: Arcata City Council
http://www.arcatacityhall.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=72&Itemid=148
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Arcata
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Marijuana - California)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Marijuana - Medicinal)
