Ukiah Outdoor Pot Growing to Become Less Legal

Marijuana growing and the burgeoning backlash against the marijuana industry that is taking over Mendocino County are going to be under discussion again both at the county and city levels in the coming couple of weeks.

On Dec. 5 the Ukiah City Council plans to make growing pot outdoors a criminal offense. Already the council has by ordinance required that all pot be grown indoors or inside locked garden sheds and limited growing to 12 plants per parcel.

The problem is that since this ordinance isn't much more than a zoning code, it's being widely ignored by the pot growers and city zoning enforcers don't want to deal with the vicious dogs and handy weapons the growers harbor at their city addresses and who can blame them? So making it a criminal offense gives the Ukiah Police something to hang onto legally in order to go in and take illegal outdoor plants.

There are two ballot measures moving forward to reverse Measure G in Mendocino County - that's the measure passed by voters several years ago to protect mom and pop growers in the county from being prosecuted by local sheriff's and police by allowing anyone to grow up to 25 pot plants in their back yard.

However, it is also the measure by which the marijuana industry has gained hold here and from which supervisors David Colfax, Kendall Smith and John Pinches are hanging their argument that 25 plants per patient is the right amount for medical marijuana and 25 pounds of dried pot would be OK to transport - that part at least they withdrew when they realized how ludicrous it was.

http://www.insideudj.com/2007/11/pot_activity_heating_up.html