MEDICAL MARIJUANA SUPPORTERS STAVE OFF COUNTY BAN, FOR NOW

Opponents of a Kern County ban on storefront medical marijuana
collectives temporarily blocked the law from taking effect Friday morning.

Activists with the Kern Citizens For Patient Rights turned in 26,335
signatures to Kathleen Krause, the clerk of the Board of Supervisors,
at about 4 p.m. Thursday -- an hour before they were due.

They needed to turn in at least 17,350 signatures to stop the ordinance.

By 5:15 p.m., elections workers had confirmed the number of
signatures turned in and were preparing for the long task of
verifying their validity -- work expected to stretch into next week.

COLLECTIVE BAN

On Aug. 9, Kern County supervisors passed ordinance G-8191, which
bans storefront medical marijuana collectives and the sale of edible
marijuana products like brownies in unincorporated county areas.

The ordinance was set to take effect at 12:01 a.m. Friday.

But delivery of the signatures automatically prevented the ordinance
from becoming law, at least for another few days. If it turns out not
enough signatures qualify, the ban would take effect.

Heather Epps, president of Kern Citizens, said the ordinance puts
medical marijuana patients in danger by forcing them to search the
streets for medication that is legal under state law.

Passage of the ordinance galvanized the collective community, she
said, turning a loose group of competitors into "friends and allies."

She said the collectives have repeatedly called for comprehensive
regulation of how they operate in Kern County, but supervisors
responded only with an outright ban.

Supervisors said the storefront operations were a nuisance and public
safety hazard and that patients could get their medication through a
loose collection of "caregivers."

VERIFICATION

Kern Citizens For Patient Rights faces a new challenge next week.

Kern County Elections Division Chief Karen Rhea said her staff will
work through the weekend to finish filing the 5,933 new voter
registration cards submitted by Kern Citizens in the past three weeks.

Once that is done, possibly by Monday or Tuesday, elections workers
will begin checking every signature submitted Thursday to confirm
they match up with a registered Kern County voter, Rhea said.

Elections could, legally, verify only a sample of the signatures to
certify the petition as valid. But, Rhea said, it's prudent to do a
100 percent count.

Ordinance opponents need to have 17,350 of the 26,335 signatures
verified to take the next step. Once the count is done, Kern County's
ordinance will reach another turning point.

PROCESS

If too many signatures are disqualified, and medical marijuana
advocates fall short of the required number, the ordinance would take
effect immediately.

If enough valid signatures have been collected, however, the
ordinance would be suspended again and supervisors would hold a
re-hearing of the ordinance.

Supervisors would have two options at that meeting:

* Repeal the ordinance -- eliminating it permanently.

* Move the ordinance forward by calling for a referendum on the law
- -- setting up an election on the issue before Kern County voters
either in a special election or at the June 2012 primary.

Supervisor Mike Maggard said Thursday that supervisors will have
until March to make that decision and he will advocate for waiting that long.

"The legal landscape is changing by the minute," Maggard said,
explaining supervisors should wait until they have as much
information as they can to make a decision about whether to repeal
the law or take it to a vote.

He wouldn't comment on whether supervisors would avoid a vote by
repealing the ordinance and then passing a new ordinance.

Rhea said the last special election, for a state budget measure in
2009, cost $1.14 million to hold in Kern County.

In contrast, adding the medical marijuana referendum to the June 2012
primary ballot would cost roughly $50,000 to $100,000 Rhea said.