POLL: Did the City Council Do the Right Thing in Banning Outdoor Pot Growing?

Want to grow medical marijuana in Elk Grove?

Not in our backyards, city council members said Wednesday.

The council on a 3-2 vote passed one of the strictest medical weed cultivation ordinances in Northern California, responding to from pot gardens in the Sheldon area and elsewhere.

The new law restricts growing to inside houses and specially-constructed sheds, and requires users to pay for a permit from the city.

Some council members said they would prefer to ban marijuana growing outright, but had their hands tied by California's Compassionate Use Act, which permits it for patients with prescriptions and their caregivers.

"Elk Grove is a family-oriented community...If we're known as being tough on drugs, good," said Councilmember Gary Davis.

The new measure sets up an array of hurdles for medical marijuana patients that even some on the city's planning commission had criticized as almost impossible to overcome.

Permit-carrying patients can choose one of two options: grow inside their private residence, or inside an outbuilding in their yard.

Plants inside a house could not be placed in kitchens, bathrooms, bedrooms, carpeted areas or places to which minors have access. Outbuildings, meanwhile, would need to be less than 120 square feet and outfitted with security, ventilation and filtration systems. Greenhouses could not be used.

The measure also prohibits growing within 1,000 feet of a school, child care center or park. A similar provision in Tehama County's medical marijuana ordinance provoked a lawsuit by medical marijuana advocates. The ordinance was recently upheld in court, but the group that filed the suit, California NORML, says it plans to appeal.

"There is no justification for disallowing patients to grow their own medicine in the privacy of their homes, no matter where they are located with respect to schools," said California NORML director Dale Gieringer. "Elk Grove should brace itself for a lawsuit if it proceeds with its ill-advised plan."

The ordinance must be read once more at a council meeting before it is officially enacted, and would then take effect within 30 days.

Not everyone on the council took a hard line on marijuana use.

"I would be in support of full-blown legalization: tax it, regulate it," said Councilmember Patrick Hume. But Hume ultimately supported the measure, saying he sympathized with neighbor complaints.

Councilmembers Steve Detrick and Sophia Scherman voted no, Scherman saying she'd like an outright ban on pot grows and Detrick raising concerns about residents growing the green stuff inside their houses. The city already bans medical marijuana dispensaries.

Readers, what's your take?

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Councilmember Steve Detrick cast the lone no vote on the measure. In fact, both Detrick and Councilmember Sophia Scherman voted no.