MUNICIPALITIES HAVE MEDICAL POT CHALLENGES

While Oakland's regulation of medical marijuana appears to have gained
wide acceptance, local governments elsewhere in California continue to
struggle with how to control its cultivation and distribution within
the parameters of a decidedly fuzzy state law. Here are some examples
around the state:

Los Angeles

Hundreds of dispensaries have opened in the past two years, becoming
more abundant than Starbucks and McDonald's in some areas of the city.
A city-imposed moratorium was considered ineffective because it
included a "hardship" exemption that was widely exploited. "They were
like a rash," City Councilman Ed Reyes recently told the Wall Street
Journal. The city has an estimated 600 to 800 dispensaries. Arcata

The use of rental housing for growing marijuana has become so rampant
that it is creating housing shortages and straining liberal attitudes
toward the drug in this Humboldt County town. Law enforcement
estimates that marijuana is being grown in up to 1,000 of the town's
7,500 homes. The City Council recently declared a moratorium on new
dispensaries downtown. Santa Cruz

The beach town became worried about inquiries from out-of-state
entrepreneurs after the Obama administration's announcement that it
would no longer raid dispensaries. The city responded last month by
imposing a 45-day moratorium on new dispensaries. San Francisco

The controversy over medical marijuana clubs diminished significantly
after the Board of Supervisors voted in 2005 to require dispensaries
to get a city permit, with a $7,000 fee and oversight by the
Department of Public Health. There were 40 clubs at the time; now
there are two dozen - and, most important, a dramatic reduction in
complaints from neighbors. Ukiah

Mendocino County voters recently approved Measure B to limit residents
who grow medical marijuana to six plants each. The previous limit in
the county, in the heart of the pot-growing "Emerald Triangle," had
been 25 plants for "personal use." San Diego

San Diego and San Bernardino counties had filed a lawsuit to get
clarification over the contradiction in state and federal marijuana
laws. But in May, the Supreme Court refused to take up the case - and
San Diego County has just begun issuing medical marijuana cards.