LAKE COUNTY — Today at 9:45 a.m., the Lake County Board of Supervisors (BOS) will consider whether to dissolve the Medical Marijuana Cultivation Ordinance Advisory Board in the wake of a pending lawsuit.
On July 9, the BOS adopted a 45-day urgency ordinance to regulate medical marijuana grows in Lake County, only to see a request for a temporary restraining order and possible injunction filed in court three days later.
District 3 Supervisor Denise Rushing was appointed chair of the committee at its first meeting in May, which the BOS set up to come up with suggested regulations for a permanent cultivation ordinance.
“We were trying to create something new that allows us to move forward with strong regulations, but still allows individuals to grow their medicine,” Rushing said Monday.
Rushing said the possible dissolution of the committee has nothing to do with the urgency ordinance and everything to do with what happened afterward.
“When the injunction was filed, it became clear compromise would be difficult if not impossible,” Rushing said.
She said there are people on both sides of the issue who are not interested in compromise and want their way.
“That”s not going to happen,” she said. “We have to craft something that will work.”
Rushing said she spoke with Dan Rush, a representative for the United Food and Commercial Workers union who is working to get the injunction pulled and get the medical marijuana growers to come up with a strategy that will preserve the community.
She thanked the members of the committee for their work.
“I”m grateful to the committee for all the hours of hard work put in,” she said. “They worked very hard to try and come up with something that can work. We have a long way to go to turn that into an ordinance.”
Rushing said the committee”s work will help craft a permanent medical marijuana cultivation ordinance.
“We have enough information to come up with an ordinance,” she said.
She said she still has hope that the community can work things out.
“I”d like to see us resolve it,” Rushing said.
