UPDATE January 19 – Fresno County activists are organizing a referendum to repeal the county’s new ordinance banning cultivation. They have until Feb 7th to submit signatures to the county. For information, see FresnoCannabis.org or call 559-270-1411
January 7, 2014 – The Fresno County Board of Supervisors Supervisors has voted 5-0 to ban ALL medical marijuana cultivation as a public nuisance.
The County is also banning dispensaries and collectives, leaving patients no legal access to medicine.
Fresno is the first county in California to ban medical marijuana cultivation entirely, even by the severely ill patients that Prop 215 is intended to help. The Fresno ordinance is in blatant conflict with the intent of the Compassionate Use Act to ensure access to medial marijuana for all patients in medical need.
In a lawsuit supported by Cal NORML, attorney Joe Elford has filed a motion challenging the right of local governments to ban medical marijuana cultivation. It petitions the State Supreme Court to review a recent Appellate Court decision, Maral v Live Oak, which upheld an ordinance banning all medical marijuana cultivation in the city of Live Oak, Sutter County.
“The right to cultivation is fundamental to Prop. 215,” said Dale Gieringer, director of California NORML. “We must not let this attack go unchallenged.”
Patients whose rights are violated by local cultivation bans are invited to report their complaints to Cal NORML: canorml [at] canorml.org.
Meanwhile, a companion ordinance will be heard at the Fresno planning commission on Thursday, Jan. 9. Read more.
D. Gieringer, Cal NORML (415) 563-5858/(510) 540-1066
Also see: Fresno County supervisors ban growing of medical marijuana
BY MARC BENJAMIN
The Fresno Bee January 7, 2014
Fresno County Begins Ban on Marijuana Cultivation
The California Report, February 6, 2014