HomeMy WebLinkAboutpapa letterApril 20, 2011
Dear Supervisor Lambert,
Thank you for your.caring patriotic service in behalf of us citizens of Butte County. My family
and I appreciate all your time and energy devoted to deciding extremely critical issues that deal
with the health, safety and constitutional privileges we enjoy in this wonderful place to live.
Many friends and I have learned recently that agenda for the May 4, 2011 Board of Supervisors
meeting includes the potential adoption and enactment of a Medical Marijuana Cultivation
Ordinance, drafted by County Staff. I believe the intentions of the Board have the goad of the
citizens in mind, however I am writing to respectfully and sincerely request that the ordinance
not be approved as written. My reasons are as follows:
1. The County I love, call home, and speak so proudly of, is much better than the drafted
ordinance represents. We can do better than this. As it stands now the ordinance
language ordinance is so weak that there may as well be no ordinance at all.
2. The expressed purpose and intent of the MMCO is to balance the needs of patients, AND
the health safe and welfare of residents and businesses of Coun .The proposed
regulations heavily favor patients and da not protect the interests of the rest.
3. The expressed purpose and intent of the MMCO states that it does not allow non-
medicinal or illegal cultivation, distribution or consumption of marijuana. The land use
allowances granted by the current language in fact enables marijuana production to
become a huge illegal business venture, reaching well beyond easing the bodily pain
suffered by legitimately ill citizens.
4. Section 34-A5 Describes the registration and documentation requirements of persons
who wish to produce marijuana. Then item (c) of the same section declares that
persons cultivating certain numbers of mature and or immature plants are NOT to be
required to meet these requirements!
5. Section 34A-1$ states that nothing in the MMCO will require the enforcement of any
provision of the ordinance dealing with unlawful cultivation of marijuana. It makes no
sense to have an ordinance that is not meant to be enforced?
To me the ordinance proposed to strengthen the County's position in controlling the use of
marijuana does the opposite: It enables more people to take advantage of the County's
WEAKENED ability to control it. This ordinance is actually unenforceable. Butte County will find
the production of marijuana mushrooming out of control with the acceptance of this ordinance.
I sincerely hope that more time will be granted to strengthen the proposed ordinance before it
is adopted.
Thank you for your timely consideration.
Weldon Papa, Retired School Administrator, Father of 6, Grandfather of 2~.
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