By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – Lewis County commissioners yesterday morning put an emergency moratorium in place on receiving applications for collective medical marijuana gardens.
A new state law went into effect on July 22 allowing up to 10 medical marijuana patients to grow their marijuana in a single plot, but county officials want to create land use rules to regulate the plantings.
The three commissioners suggested there are more questions than answers at this point.
The sheriff’s office and the prosecutor’s office are working on a proposal to put before the county planning commission, Lewis County Board of Commissioners Chair Ron Averill said yesterday.
A public hearing will be held on the morning of Aug. 15, to receive input from the public on proposed local rules, the commissioners said yesterday.
“We will probably opt for the most restrictive we can get,” Averill said.
On the same day, county commissioners plan to put a 60-day moratorium in place, according to Averill.
County Commissioner Bill Schulte described some of his concerns later yesterday morning.
Schulte worries about teenagers and criminals raiding the gardens and the security of crops only legal for certain people to cultivate and use.
A nightmare scenario is that which existed in northern California when he was stationed in the Coast Guard there in the late 1970s, early 1980s, he said.
Local law enforcement looked the other way somewhat when residents around Eureka grew marijuana and the plots drew armed bandits and shootouts, as in turn, marijuana farmers began setting booby traps, Schulte said.
The National Forest was so dangerous, members of the Coast Guard in Eureka were told not to hike there, he said.
Schulte wasn’t sure if the new state law allowed 45 or 99 plants per plot, but either would be very attractive to outsiders, he said.
The moratorium will give county officials time to find the best way to handle the gardens, he said.
Among the questions they have are would multiple plots be allowed on the same acreage, for example, he said. And, who will be responsible for protecting the crops, he asked.
“If you get ’em too clustered, they’re a bigger target,” Schulte said. “If you spread them out, they’re harder to police.”
The commissioner said they’d like to hear ideas from the public about how the county should deal with the gardens.
He agrees with Averill’s notion about making Lewis County unfriendly to potential collective cultivators.
“I’d like to make it difficult enough they grow it in Clark County, or Cowlitz, or Thurston County,” Schulte said.
The city of Centralia is expected to put a six-month moratorium in place as well.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
James, you trust the FDA? do a youtube or google search for “Dr. Birzinski” this guy discovered how to cure many cancers in the 80’s, he’s been treating people in “trials” ever since because the FDA will NOT approve it, and have indited him 8 times in superior court to shut him down, but…. they failed because it works, the FDA only cares about industry profits and the cancer business is HUGE profits, pot works is cheap to produce and hard to control, you watch it will become legal but through government dispensaries and way over priced – i give it 5 years till this happens.
I believe the biggest opposition here against medical marijuana is our Sheriff, Steve Mansfield. And I also believe that it is just a pet peeve to him. So, cause the system wants its way…..history in progress as we speak…..but, in the meantime, the patients have more distress in their lives….but who cares? Not the system, or in particular, Mansfield.
In 1981, my mother was dying from cancer. She was in the Stanford University Hospital in Palo Alto. She heard of marijuana helping to ease the SYMPTOMS of her disease. She asked me to bring her some pot and a pipe. My mother asked me that! I figured that if she asked me for that then she was desperate. Which she was. All the pain from the sickness, and the cures, was too much for her. I took her her pipe and her pot. They turned their heads when she smoked it in her bed. They knew it helped, they dealt with disease first hand.
It eased my mothers symptoms, I know cause she smoked it until just before her death. It wasnt meant to cure her, just ease her pain and sickness.
I know for a fact that medical marijuana does what it is meant to do. I know that it should be available to people who need it. And it is inhumane to prevent or to hinder the patients from receiving it. Give in Lewis County, and Steve Mansfield, and stand for what is right. Its not being sold on the street corner to little kids. Its not gonna make people go out and get crazy. The patients and the growers are agreeable to keep it within themselves. They dont want to flaunt it to the public.
How much more proof do you need? I know my Mother was proof enough for me. First hand.
I don’t understand why the politicians are so afraid of medical marijuana . If the Feds , states and county’s would just embrace it and create a tax for it. It doesn’t matter if you stop the medical growers all your doing is creating a black market . But that’s what law inforcment wants cause the government spends millions or billions on trying to stop it and that is how they get paid . Lately the government doesn’t care what the people want our government is being dictators and we the people will remove the politicians that go against the people. So start packing cause you will not have a job soon the election is near !!!!!!
D
Thanks george. And for the responsible person who has a prescription you shod never see them smoke in front of you. It is part of the law to keep it from public eye. I can tell you I will be at that meeting monday and im sure i wont be welcomed.
Whether or not it is good for you or bad for you, my position is…. I have no position. If a person who is in pain smokes it and the pain goes away, fine and dandy, I’m happy for them. For those who it does nothing for, well, there are alternatives.
The whole thing about bringing in medical marijuana simply to make recreational use easier is nothing but a load of scare tactics from the government, and we know how they are with that, right?
As for the FDA being bought out by the wealthy and by the drug companies, that’s just another lie. Sure, there might be reports showing the FDA being controlled by whoever, but I can make up any report I want to, make it say whatever it is I want people to believe, and before long, people DO believe it, no matter how much of it is truth or fiction.
So, if you want to smoke pot because it makes your pain go away, that’s fine by me. If you DON’T want to, that’s fine, too. Same thing with recreational use… it’s your choice, not mine.
Just don’t do it in front of me.
Ya sure i should choose oxycontin over mmj. NOT. Pills are horrible.
Oh and James, do your homework on the FDA and see how they are bought out by the wealthy and the drug companies. It’s even wrote by the liberal PBS!
http ://www .pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/prescription/hazard/independent .html
James, you are wrong. Many drugs on the market now are terrible for your body and if your on pain killers , your body builds up a tolerance to them and you keep have to use heavier drugs. Within years your on methadone and it’s leaching from your skin through the sores. I know many people this has happened to and almost killed them. Look up the affects of methadone and tell me it’s better for you than pot.
Now before you label me as a doper, did I smoke it when I was a teenager? yes, I did alot of things when I was a teen I don’t do now. I hold CDL so I get random tested, so it’s a no-brainer, I haven’t smoked pot for over 25 years. I do remember smoking pot in high school with people that are now cops though…lol.
Funny thing is a cop would rather deal with a pot head any day rather than a drunk. Drunks beat their wives, pot heads laugh at them. If you were going on a domestic (the worst call for cops) would you rather deal with two pot heads or two drunks?
Did you know it was legal until 1937? Some say to destroy the hemp industry, some say it was introduced by a kkk racist to criminalize the “negros” because they smoke it a lot.
But I can tell you, if I got cancer, I would smoke pot before putting all those nasty synthetic drugs in my body to stop the pain and increase my appetite. Why should we take that away from the dying?
Now do dopers want it legal so they can run to Dr. liberal and have them write out a script for pot? DUH yes.
Maybe we need honest Doctors, lie detectors for patients, and reall stiff penalties for people stoned doing crimes!
People act like marijuana is some wonderful miracle drug that has magical healing properties. There are plenty of REAL drugs on the market that are FDA approved and have MUCH BETTER results and are SAFER.
AGAIN, medical marijuana is a BACK DOOR to get marijuana legalized for casual use TO GET HIGH. NOTHING ELSE.
I have compassion for people who suffer from disease and pain. I just get frustrated when people conceal the REAL reasons for their “effort” to have marijuana more avaiable.
GET REAL AND BE HONEST
I know where people should be on the 15th. Thanks for your lack of experience and compassion for those who suffer james. Have a great day!
Just to counter the comment from above:
The Federal Government started clinical trials in the 1970s on Marijuana, they are still dispensing it to the remaining living members of those original trials. Marijuana was classified as a drug for financial reasons.
The Harvard doctors who ran trials on Marijuana for the DEA found that it was nowhere near as harmful as the DEA still claims that it is, the head researcher has appeared on shows hosted by Morton Downey Jr. and Ron Reagan (the son of Ronald Reagan) and said that the DEA had lied to the public about his findings.
All of the real information is on the internet, people believe disinformation if they hear it enough (hence the tea party).
Anyone with an open mind who wants to know the real truth can contact: http://www.oaksterdamuniversity.com/
I suggest you get their course material and read through it, also do not believe anything until you check the facts yourself. You might discover that you can’t trust everything you’ve ever been told.
A) It has a high potential for abuse
Lower than Alcohol and roughly the same as prescription medication
B) It has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the US
The United States Government is currently supplying Medical Marijuana to 15 of the original clinical test subjects from the 1970’s
C) It lacks accepted safety for use in treatment under medical supervision
Not one person (ever) has died from overdosing on Marijuana, unlike Alcohol or Prescription Medications
Don’t take anyone’s word (including mine) for anything, Actively seek the truth for yourself.
Why not make it legal? Seriously can you tell me the difference between marijuana and booze? Both the pros and the cons? I see marijuana users sitting at home watching tv, enjoying a twinkie (or 5) While the boozers are loud, rude, driving, causing car wrecks, killing people….I mean really, if the government can just figure out how to control it and make there $$ from it will be as assesable as booze. And yes Buck Wild I agree I had a family member who had cancer and the only way we could get him to eat was for him to be “stoned” with a bad case of “the munchies”! And him being stoned gave him another year and all of us alot of laughs!!
Look on youtube this search: dad gives toddler medical marijuana for brain tumor. Tell me that didnt save that 2 year old boy’s life.
First off….. Medical Marijuana does not exist. It is a “back door” to get marijuana legalized across the board. There is no ACCEPTED medical use for marijuana. Marijuana is a Schedule 1 drug. RCW 69.50.203. There are 3 criteria to classify a drug as Schedule 1
A) It has a high potential for abuse
B) It has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the US
C) It lacks accpepted safety for use in treatment under medical supervision
There are MANY valid studies that show there is NO medical benefit to marijuana. There are some benefits of THC but the dangerous chemicals in marijuana FAR outway the benefits. Smoking marijuana is a very crude way to deliver THC. There is a synthetic THC called Marinol that is a better way to dliver THC for medical benefits. (Some will say Marinol does not work. Does it not work in releaving symptoms or does in not work at gettng you high?)
LET”S BE HONEST ABOUT THIS. People who support medical marijuana also support marijuana for casual use. People have the opinion that marijuana is safe and okay to use. SO IS IT REALLY ABOUT MEDICAL MARIJUANA or IS IT ABOUT LEGALIZING MARIJUANA FOR CASUAL USE.
If there is TRUELY a medical use for marijuana, let it get FDA approval and have it dispensed in a pharmacy.
The environment of Humboldt County California (the world’s marijuana capital) in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s was worlds away from the attitudes and cultures of Washington state and the rest of the west and east coast in 2011. Fifty years makes a big difference in culture. I encourage the commission to do their research in current time with valid studies on medical research, law enforcemnt attitudes, as well as international studies (which are more advanced and pragmatic) on marijuana and eliminate as much fear mongering from the process as possible. Resources are plentiful. The disparity between law enforcement, which is political in nature, and the rest of the culture and research are worlds apart. The commission has a marvelous opportunity to move forward in a sensible common sense manner in their inquiries.
We will be there. As many patients as i can find
the county commissioner’s regular meeting room in the historic courthouse on Main Street in Chehalis, at Chehalis Avenue. Monday Aug. 15, 10 a.m.
I agree! And if they want opinion when and where do we go?
I thouroughly enjoy how Lewis County leaders are always trying to control and deter anything they possibly can. I say don’t put any restrictions on these people legally growing their own plants, and let people from other areas move here for that as well. I’d so much rather have a bunch of old stoner neighbors instead of the tweakers and thieves that the police allow to be here now. Priorities are way out of order here, and they have been for too long.