Council: Six pot plants is limit

New ordinance for both recreation and medical users

The Porterville City Council agreed Tuesday to have the city attorney prepare a new marijuana ordinance, which will permit the personal cultivation of up to six plants indoors or outdoors with certain restrictions.

Under the new ordinance, both recreational and medical marijuana users will be limited to cultivating six plants. However, the council agreed to allow those with an existing medical cannabis cultivation permit to continue until their permit expires.

The council also prohibited all commercial cannabis activities to be in effect by Jan. 1, 2018.

City Attorney Julia Lew said the city can still continue to consider whether it wants to allow commercial activities with regard to marijuana down the line, but noted that having a prohibition in place for now is the safest option for the city.

“You just want to make sure you have something in place when it hits because if you don’t then the state will regard that as no prohibition or no regulations or restrictions and they will just issue the permits through the state system,” Lew said.

If the council does decide it wants to share a regulation with regard to commercial marijuana activity, Lew said such regulations need to be in place before the state starts allowing licensing in the beginning of next year.

In terms of the limits on cultivating marijuana in the city, not everyone at the council meeting was pleased.

One person in particular was Porterville resident Jeff Fore, who urged the council to consider allowing medical marijuana users to continue cultivating their 12 plants, which is permitted under the city’s current marijuana ordinance.

“We need those plants,” he said, adding that six marijuana plants is not enough for those who need them for medical purposes. “Please don’t limit the medical patients because we need the extra plants to take care of our illnesses.”

Vice Mayor Brian Ward, who was the only one to vote against the council’s decision, echoed a similar concern.

“I think recreational [marijuana] is radically different from medicinal [marijuana],” Ward said. “I have no problem limiting six [marijuana plants]

for the recreational, my problem comes when you limit six to the medicinal.”

Councilmember Cameron Hamilton disagreed, stating that several recreational marijuana advocates told him that six plants were fine. Ward wouldn’t budge. “It depends on the need, it depends on how you use it,” Ward said.

A big reason for the limit of six plants for both medical and recreational marijuana users, Lew said, is to make it more convenient for the city’s police department in not having to use personnel to check for compliance.

“I understand that aspect

of it, I just don’t like comparing the recreational community to the medicinal community and the needs of both,” Ward said.

Lew said the police department also recommended that no registration be required for marijuana usage in the city.

Although the city can’t regulate whether marijuana is cultivated indoors, Lew said it can give residents an option to grow it outdoors instead.

“We are saying you can have it indoors, but we will allow you to grow it outdoors if you choose not to have it indoors,” Lew said, adding that landlords do have the authority to allow or not

allow tenants to cultivate marijuana inside apartment complexes.

Councilmember Monte Reyes said the council should think twice before giving residents the option to cultivate marijuana outside, especially since reports have shown that growing the infamous plant indoors can have a negative impact on the air quality.

“There are some definite concerns that we need to think about, especially since the Central Valley happens to have some of the worst air quality around,” Reyes said.

As far as the new ordinance, Lew said she will bring it back to council “in pretty short order.”