Mendocino to levy fees on illegal pot farms

<p>People caught growing excessive amounts of medical marijuana in Mendocino County could soon be charged with the cost of destroying their surplus plants.</p><p>The Mendocino County Board of Supervisors on Monday narrowly approved adding marijuana eradication fees to the county’s medical marijuana ordinance.</p><p>Medical marijuana advocates vowed to challenge the amended ordinance, which was tentatively approved on a 3-2 vote. It returns to the Board of Supervisors for a final vote in two weeks.</p><p>“This is like taxation without representation,” said Sheila Dawn Tracy, of Comptche, one of about a dozen people attending the hearing.</p><p>Supervisor David Colfax also opposed the ordinance. He said efforts to control marijuana cultivation are futile.</p><p>“The solution is to legalize this wretched weed,” Colfax said.</p><p>Supervisor John McCowen said the county must try to regulate medical marijuana production as long as it remains illegal under federal law and a majority of area residents want pot production restricted.</p><p>Voters last year passed a measure mandating that the county set stricter limits on marijuana production, which many believed had run amok.</p><p>The county receives numerous complaints each year about the stench of ripening marijuana, the ordinance notes. People have complained they can’t open their windows or go outdoors when pot plants are ripening.</p><p>Residents also fear the crime associated with marijuana production, which has been known to attract armed robbers.</p><p>Similar complaints have spawned marijuana regulations in cities and counties throughout the North Coast.</p><p>In response to the marijuana backlash, the county of Mendocino restricted the number of medical marijuana plants individual patients may possess to six adult plants or 12 immature plants. That rule was added to the ordinance on Monday. The existing ordinance already limited the number of plants grown on individual land parcels to 25.</p><p>State law allows counties to recoup the cost of eradicating illegal marijuana gardens and other drugs. The county ordinance will enable the sheriff to exercise these powers.</p><p>The fees will be levied on growers on a case-by-case basis, depending on the size of the marijuana plants and the cost of destroying them. Last year, for example, it cost the county $1,400 to eradicate 100 small plants seized during a raid.</p><p>The fees are aimed at people who “thumb their nose at the law,” Sheriff Tom Allman said in an interview.</p><p>“It’s not for people who are trying to comply with the law,” Allman said.</p><p>Other amendments made Monday to the county’s marijuana ordinance include the addition of a $25 fee for dispensing tags to medical marijuana growers. The tags — zip ties with serial numbers on them — are voluntary.</p><p>The tags are intended to protect medical marijuana growers from having their plants seized in error. They also save time for deputies investigating complaints about marijuana gardens, Allman said.</p><p>Marijuana advocates said they don’t have a problem with the voluntary program, which allows up to six tags per person.</p>