Mendocino pot repeal narrowly passes

<p>UKIAH — Mendocino County voters by a narrow margin approved a measure that repeals local marijuana standards that had earned the county a national reputation as a haven for commercial growers.</p><p>The vote for Measure B was 52 percent to 48 percent, a race that narrowed late into the night when precincts from rural areas were counted.</p><p>The divisive election campaign was marked by high-profile, local criminal cases, including the marijuana possession arrests of the daughter of a former congressman and a local high school teacher.</p><p>In a new case that further underscored public concerns, sheriff’s deputies said Monday a Willits-area man could face criminal charges for destroying 37 towering fir trees in a public preserve so he could provide more light for his marijuana garden.</p><p>The repeal represents a sharp shift in public sentiment in a county where marijuana long has been tolerated. Since the influx of young outsiders to Mendocino County beginning in the late 1960s, marijuana has been part of the local scene.</p><p>How much is too much has been a topic of sometimes heated local debate since.</p><p>Critics of the attitude of tolerance toward marijuana-growing say some growers are principal suppliers to medical marijuana dispensaries statewide. </p><p>The controversial operations emerged after state voters in 1996 passed Proposition 215, which decriminalized marijuana for medical use but failed to impose specific standards.</p><p>State legislation set a standard of six mature plants per person but also allowed counties to set their own guidelines.</p><p>The more restrictive state guidelines, which Measure B imposes, recently were ruled unconstitutional by a state appellate court.</p><p>In the meantime, Proposition 215 has spawned a surge in marijuana production across the state and especially in rural counties, such as Mendocino. Locally, the underground cash crop is valued at $500 million or more a year.</p><p>Eight years ago, county voters by an overwhelming 58-42 percent margin agreed to what was then the nation’s most liberal marijuana policies.</p>