LAKEPORT — A judge Thursday continued a hearing requesting the issuance of a temporary restraining order against Sheriff Frank Rivero and the County of Lake regarding the medical marijuana cultivation urgency ordinance the Board of Supervisors (BOS) adopted Monday.
Attorney Joseph Elford filed the claim on behalf of Don Merrill and Does 1-3 against the county and sheriff. Judge David W. Herrick presided.
Elford said he was asking to maintain the status quo until the ordinance can be fully vetted and Herrick could hear a preliminary injunction he filed against the ordinance.
“We don”t want the sheriff to go out and destroy people”s property and take their medicine,” Elford said.
Deputy County Counsel Robert Bridges and Community Development Director Rick Coel represented the county. Bridges said the BOS made important findings about issues related to marijuana cultivation, including sanitation issues, stormwater pollution and risks for wildland fires, when it approved the urgency ordinance.
“These are serious matters that affect all of us living in this county,” Bridges said.
The ordinance is effective for 45 days. After that time, the BOS would hold public hearings to decide whether to continue with the ordinance.
Elford claimed the patients were protected under Proposition 215, known as the Compassionate Use Act, to cultivate as much medical marijuana as prescribed by a doctor, and that the ordinance violated their rights. He said the patients are “scared.”
“They don”t know how the law will be enforced,” he said. “They don”t know if they”re being made into criminals.”
Bridges said the patients had other options, such as using a greenhouse to cultivate or buying processed medical marijuana at a dispensary.
Herrick said he found no evidence to support the conclusion that Merrill, who grows medical marijuana as part of a collective for the unnamed Does 1-3, would be harmed in the next 30 to 60 days before a hearing on the preliminary injunction.
Elford requested more time to file additional declarations and see if he could persuade some of the unnamed plaintiffs to go on record.
Herrick continued the hearing to July 27 at 3:30 p.m. in Department 1.
Kevin N. Hume can be reached at kevin.n.hume@gmail.com or call directly 263-5636 ext. 14. Follow on Twitter: @KevinNHume.
