Sonoma County holds public meetings to help draft pot regulations

A series of town hall meetings are underway to help Sonoma County create a comprehensive set of rules to regulate and capitalize on a burgeoning marijuana industry, from seeds in the ground to manufacturing, delivery and sales.

County supervisors have signaled their intent to bring marijuana cultivation and related businesses into the legal sphere - and under local control - before regulations and license programs under the state’s landmark Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act are likely operational in 2018.

No draft rules have yet been written. County staff from nearly every department are taking part in the meetings to gather public input. Three meetings remain, including town hall events Wednesday in Sebastopol and Thursday in Santa Rosa.

“We’re essentially acknowledging a sector of our economy and setting up a regulatory structure for it for the first time,” said Tennis Wick, director of the Sonoma County Permit and Resource Management Department.

Odor, noise and public safety will be major considerations, as well as environmental impacts, Wick said.

Medical marijuana advocates have said they’re pushing the county to avoid regulations favoring large, commercial operators over patients and small farmers with overly restrictive zoning restrictions or prohibitively expensive permitting fees.

“If our goal is to get people out of the shadows and into the light, if we can’t give them that option because they’re not in a zone where they can operate, we’re going to lose,” said Sarah Shrader, who chairs the Sonoma chapter of Americans for Safe Access.

Currently, the county does not have an ordinance permitting marijuana cultivation in unincorporated areas. But the county in 2006 recognized a patient’s right to grow and consume marijuana in amounts greater than the state minimum, which it established as possession of 3 pounds of dried pot and 30 plants per patient.

Santa Rosa has already taken interim steps to help legalize the underground cannabis economy while it drafts long-term rules for the industry.

The city opted earlier this year not to ban commercial cannabis cultivation, as some suggested would be easiest, and instead allowed businesses to apply for permits and limited the areas to the city’s industrial zones. Three such applications are pending.

Now the city is proposing to allow so-called cannabis “support” industries to locate here as well, including companies involved in testing, manufacturing, distributing and transporting cannabis products.

The first two town hall meetings held by the County of Sonoma Medical Marijuana Ad Hoc Committee took place July 18 at the Sonoma Veterans Memorial Building and July 20 at the Petaluma Community Center.

Staff Writer Kevin McCallum contributed to this report. You can reach Staff Writer Julie Johnson at 521-5220 or julie.johnson@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @jjpressdem