Mendocino pot repeal narrowly passes

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

How much is too much has been a topic of sometimes heated local debate since.

Critics of the attitude of tolerance toward marijuana-growing say some growers are principal suppliers to medical marijuana dispensaries statewide.

The controversial operations emerged after state voters in 1996 passed Proposition 215, which decriminalized marijuana for medical use but failed to impose specific standards.

State legislation set a standard of six mature plants per person but also allowed counties to set their own guidelines.

The more restrictive state guidelines, which Measure B imposes, recently were ruled unconstitutional by a state appellate court.

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.

Eight years ago, county voters by an overwhelming 58-42 percent margin agreed to what was then the nation’s most liberal marijuana policies.