Modesto takes next step on medical pot

Modesto’s Planning Commission is scheduled to hold a public hearing Monday on the city’s proposed ordinance to regulate medical marijuana, including limiting its cultivation to no more than 50 square feet and indoors.

The city is moving quickly on regulations in response to the Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act, which is made up of three bills Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law in October. The act represents the state’s first comprehensive effort at regulation since voters legalized medical marijuana in 1996.

Cities and counties have until March 1 to establish their own regulations or cede control to the state. To meet that deadline, the City Council would have to pass an ordinance in early January. The ordinance would get a second reading at the next council meeting and take effect 30 days later. The Planning Commission will take public comment and make a recommendation to the council.

City Attorney Adam Lindgren has said communities across the state are passing ordinances, and some are banning medical marijuana cultivation, ahead of the state deadline.

Modesto officials are recommending this proposed ordinance:

▪ Restrict cultivation to no more than 50 square feet and indoors.

▪ Require that plants be grown in a secure area, such as a locked bedroom or garage, which children cannot access.

▪ Require that the patient or primary caregiver live full time at the property.

▪ Require tenants to secure written permission from their landlord.

▪ Limit cultivation to residences; the residences can be in residential areas or what the city calls mixed-use areas that include offices and similar uses. A city report states that when the proposed ordinance comes to the council, staff members may recommend limiting cultivation to only residential areas.

Modesto officials have said they want to ban outdoor cultivation because the plant’s noxious odor can offend neighbors and the plants can draw criminals. But at a council workshop earlier this month, many audience members said it is much more expensive to grow indoors than outdoors. Audience members said the plant’s quality is not as good when grown indoors, adding that is critical when the plant is grown for its chemical compounds used in medicines.

They also asked that the city follow the state’s guidelines that allow for growing as much as 100 square feet of medical marijuana.

The council appeared divided at the workshop. Council members Kristi Ah You, Jenny Kenoyer, Tony Madrigal and Mayor Garrad Marsh supported allowing patients and their primary caregivers to grow as much as 100 square feet of marijuana, and outdoors as well as indoors. Councilmen Doug Ridenour, Bill Zoslocki and Mani Grewal supported the staff’s recommendation to limit grows to 50 square feet indoors.

In the end, six of the seven council members supported the staff’s recommendations. Madrigal dissented because of his concerns that limiting grows to 50 square feet indoors could harm some patients.

The Planning Commission will meet at 6 p.m. Monday in the basement chambers of Tenth Street Place, 1010 10th St., Modesto.

This story was originally published December 19, 2015 at 3:21 PM with the headline "Modesto takes next step on medical pot."