COMMENTARY: The Politics of Cannabis in San Benito County

I attended the day-long Board of Supervisors’ meeting on Sept. 22 because I was specifically interested in the “Urgency Ordinance” to ban all outdoor cannabis growth in San Benito County. The proposed ordinance failed by a 3-2 vote; Botelho, Barrios and Muenzer voted for the outdoor cannabis growth moratorium with Rivas and De La Cruz voting against it. The proposed ordinance was intended to add a new Chapter 11.15 to the San Benito County Code, restricting and regulating marijuana cultivation within San Benito County, which in the alternative will now return to the board on Oct. 6 for consideration.

I spoke against the adoption of the Urgency Ordinance because I felt that there was no sense of urgency and that the people impacted the most by the Compassionate Use component of the proposed ordinance – sick people who benefit from medical cannabis – were not represented prior to the meeting.

In fact, only representatives from the Sheriffs Department county counsel and Supervisors Botelho and Barrios as an ad-hoc committee developed the proposed ordinance. Supervisors Rivas and De La Cruz expressed disappointment that the matter was not brought to their attention by staff for their respective consideration prior to the meeting; in other words, they too were surprised by the lack of communication afforded to them regarding this matter of public interest.

So what are the bottom line politics and expected outcome of this debate? 

It seems that supervisors Botelho, Barrios and Muenzer believe that the addition of this proposed chapter to the San Benito County Code banning outdoor marijuana cultivation completely and restricting the cultivation of marijuana plants to a maximum of 12 plants grown indoors per property parcel will meet the needs of medical marijuana patients and at the same time discourage medical marijuana industry growers from invading San Benito County because the new ordinance will provide the Sheriff’s Department with an enforcement tool to limit cultivation and hold property owners accountable for things like electricity theft, illegal water diversion and environmental damages.

Perhaps, but Supervisor Rivas was far more circumspect and realistic regarding the statewide cannabis industry. He expressed from the dais that recreational marijuana is almost a foregone conclusion in California and that San Benito County has an opportunity to benefit from the taxation and regulation of cannabis if recreational cannabis use is to become legalized as many people believe will happen as a result of a November 2016 election ballot measure. 

Like many political issues, there are polar opposite opinions and many common ground issues. For example, an overwhelming majority of people support law enforcement’s efforts to protect the public and the environment from illegal growers, guns and violent crime. But in my view, this ordinance will not address or improve that situation. However, if cannabis use is regulated and taxed by local government, provisions can be negotiated to develop revenue streams to improve deterrence education for youth, provide medical treatment for substance abuse addicts rather than jail time and fortify funding for law enforcement and social services. 

Clearly, even if California, like Washington state and Colorado, legalizes cannabis use for adults with regulation and taxation policies, marijuana will still be considered a Schedule 1 drug prohibited under the federal Controlled Substances Act of 1970.

Schedule I substances are those that have the following findings:

The drug or other substance has a high potential for abuse.
The drug or other substance has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.
There is a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision.

No prescriptions are allowed to be written for Schedule I substances, and such substances are subject to production quotas which the DEA imposes. Moreover, it is illegal, and indeed a Class 1 federal felony, even to conduct any otherwise legitimate scientific research of any kind on Schedule I substances.

American society as a whole seems to be moving toward acceptance of cannabis use. Many people believe the so-called “War On Drugs” failed from reaching its goals at great expense to taxpayers with no beneficial outcome and in many cases causing more social harm than good. 

The intent of this commentary is to provide a personal perspective based on observations made at the Sept. 22, 2015 San Benito County Board of Supervisors meeting. Responsible civil dialog is encouraged per Benito Link’s terms of service.