Sonoma County Gazette November 2018

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EMBER 2018
Your LOCAL GUIDE BREAD ... spread
Can COMPOST HEAL the Planet? ~ 22
HUGE pages Holiday 68-71
Calendar
to Cannabis Dispensaries ~ 12
THICK with Fresh BUTTER ~ 14
Your HOME TOWN NEWS: pgs 28-43 EVERYTHING to DO Calendar: pgs 49 - 71
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What’s Wrong with our
“Permitted
Cannabis Ordinance
Cannabis”
By SOS Neighborhoods
Sonoma County’s newly-approved
By Alexa Rae Wall
There’s been plenty of talk about
Cannabis Ordinance fails to protect the environment from self-monitored, unenforced, and unpermitted land alteration. The ordinance fails to protect rural neighborhoods by allowing commercial cannabis operations to reside within a few feet of neighboring homes. The County does not have enough resources to properly inspect or enforce the current ordinance.
has been heavily involved with the Board of Supervisors, Code Enforcement, its Cannabis Program team, and its Planning Commission to create policy, raise awareness of real evidence of the negative impact to both neighborhoods and the environment and to shape meaningful policy considerations to improve the County’s cannabis ordinance.
ORDINANCE cont’d on page 6
cannabis and where or where not it should be grown. However, there hasn’t been enough talk about what a locally-permitted and state-licensed cannabis farm would look like in Sonoma County.
Save Our Sonoma Neighborhoods
County Officials had to make a decision in 2016 to either spend valuable resources on policing the illicit market, or to regulate and tax cannabis and increase public health and safety.
Despite this, County officials continue to promote permits which do not allow for any public comment.
Sonoma County chose the latter and the ordinance was created. Sonoma’s ordinance is one of the most restrictive in the state, requiring all sorts of detailed information and professional studies. Yes where cannabis should be grown is a big question, but I think first people should ask, what does “Permitted Cannabis” mean in Sonoma County?
What does it mean?
For far too long the images of razor wire and high fences, security dogs, strong smells, and sketchy behavior has dominated the opposition’s cannabis dialog in our county.
CANNABIS cont’d on page 8