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Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009
More scrutiny for pot cooperatives
Medical marijuana cooperatives in Tulare County will face limits and could be shut down under an ordinance passed Tuesday by the Tulare County Board of Supervisors.
Sheriff's deputies will begin visiting the cooperatives to see if they are in compliance with the ordinance, which goes into effect Dec. 10, and with state law, said sheriff's Capt. Michael Boudreaux.
"We're going to look at each one individually to see if they're in violation," he said.
The ordinance limits the number of plants to 99 in each cooperative and only allows three cooperatives -- also referred to as collectives -- in the county's unincorporated areas.
Operators and users of the cooperatives say five are operating now in the county's unincorporated areas. They say that allowing only three cooperatives with no more than 99 plants apiece is not realistic.
Medical marijuana users in the county's unincorporated areas will need more, said Jeff Nunes, director of the Visalia Compassionate Care Center, a distribution center northeast of Visalia.
He said his center alone serves 4,000 patients.
Tammy Murray, director of Compassionate Cannabis Information Center in Goshen, which serves 1,600 patients, urged supervisors to delay approval of the ordinance so county officials can gather more information on the collectives.
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