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MARIJUANA Jackson County adopts marijuana regulations Ordinance goes into effect immediately By Vickie Aldous Mail Tribune Follow @@VickieAldous MailTribune.com By Vickie Aldous Mail Tribune Follow @@VickieAldous Posted Mar. 16, 2016 @ 2:22 pm Updated Mar 16, 2016 at 2:31 PM By Vickie Aldous Mail Tribune Follow @@VickieAldous Posted Mar. 16, 2016 @ 2:22 pm Updated Mar 16, 2016 at 2:31 PM Medical marijuana growers upset with new law --> People who grow medical marijuana on rural residential zones in Jackson County are up in arms over a new law that blocks grows there. Jackson County officials said their hands are tied becaus... » Read more X Medical marijuana growers upset with new law People who grow medical marijuana on rural residential zones in Jackson County are up in arms over a new law that blocks grows there. Jackson County officials said their hands are tied because state legislation passed earlier this month has created the situation. Jackson County commissioners said legislators didn't fully understand how the state law would impact growing here. They noted existing medical marijuana growers on rural residential land can apply for non-conforming-use status, which is available to property owners using their land in a way that becomes illegal under a new law. An application for non-conforming use costs $1,563, Jackson County Development Services Manager Kelly Madding said. Growers will have to show they were operating lawfully before the law changed, she said. They will not have to demonstrate they have no negative impacts on neighbors. Neighbors will be notified during the process, Madding said. While medical marijuana growers say their product is essential medicine for patients and most growers are responsible, some neighbors have complained about skunk-like odors from maturing plants, barking guard dogs, extra traffic and lights, guns being fired, threats and other negative impacts. Some neighbors have said the conflicts are so intolerable they may have to sell their houses and move. "Odor doesn't matter," Madding said. "What matters is were they conforming to the law at the time it changed." County staff members will not be out hunting for illegal medical marijuana grows on rural residential land. Instead, the county's land-use enforcement process is complaint-driven, county officials said. If the county gets a complaint, it will investigate. A grower who doesn't have non-conforming-use status can apply and not be fined during the application and approval process, Madding said. A newly illegal grower who refuses to apply for non-conforming use status after the county receives a complaint can be fined $600 for the first violation and then $200 for every day the violation continues, up to $10,000, Madding said. Medical marijuana grower Tere Knight said her mother-in-law suffers from cancer. Knight had hoped to move onto her mother-in-law's rural residential land outside Talent and grow there. "We can't now because she's on rural residential land," Knight said. She said county commissioners are doing their best, but the Oregon Legislature pushed through a new law during this year's short session without adequately consulting patients and growers. The new state law defines medical marijuana as a farm use, and Jackson County's Comprehensive Plan and land-use laws ban farm use on rural residential land. Recreational marijuana was already defined as a farm use and illegal on rural residential land in the county. Knight said marijuana legislation kept changing during the legislative session and very few people were aware of the new state law's impact until the last minute. "They pushed it through in a short session and I think that was a mistake," she said. "Patients will go without medicine. It will effectively eliminate a large number of small growers, in my opinion." Scott Diesel of Right to Grow USA, who grows medical marijuana in the Applegate Valley, said he will have to drop patients. "People who have been legal for years will be now be made illegal overnight," he said. Diesel also objects to the county's complaint-driven process, which he said will cause marijuana opponents to drive around looking for illegal grows. "I feel like allowing complaints to drive enforcement is giving certain people too much power," he said. Diesel said growers will inevitably file a lawsuit against the county. Jackson County Commissioner Doug Breidenthal said county staff will be trying to help growers achieve compliance and will not be out hunting for illegal grows. "Growers have the ability to come to the county and apply for non-conforming status. If they are approved, that allows them to continue using the property in the way they have been doing into perpetuity," Breidenthal said. He said commissioners may consider revising the county's Comprehensive Plan and land-use laws, but they would have to undertake the process carefully and consider impacts to all community members. A man who grows medical marijuana between Rogue River and Gold Hill said he plans to continue growing without non-conforming-use status. If someone complains, then he will apply. He asked to remain anonymous. He said he has been growing for 10 years. "It's taking medicine away from the patients," he said. "We've been able to grow all these years and now they're putting a wrench in it." The Oregon Medical Marijuana Program was launched in 1998. In 2014, state voters approved Measure 91 to legalize recreational marijuana. Staff reporter Vickie Aldous can be reached at 541-776-4486 or [email protected] . Follow her at www.twitter.com/VickieAldous .     » Social News p bs:newslist StartDate="20121121" EndDate="p bs:datecalc Months="3"" DateSort="1" UseObjects="1" ObjectClass="81" Taxonomywords="2325,665" ExactTaxonomyMatch="1" Image="1" Count="4" --> After months of public meetings, the Jackson County Board of Commissioners on Wednesday adopted laws governing the growing, processing and selling of recreational and medical marijuana outside city limits. The laws go into effect immediately. Outdoor grows are not allowed within 250 feet of city limits. Marijuana can be grown in exclusive farm use and forest zones. New marijuana growing is allowed in industrial zones, as long as processing also takes place there. People who were already growing in industrial zones can continue to do so for three years, after which they have to become compliant with the new laws by adding processing or relocating. Commissioners had planned on allowing medical marijuana grows on rural residential land with 75-foot buffers from neighboring property, but a new law passed by the Oregon Legislature this month effectively bans medical marijuana grows there, according to how county officials are interpreting the state law. The Legislature designated medical marijuana growing a farm use, and Jackson County's Comprehensive Plan and land-use laws bar farm use on rural residential land. Recreational marijuana was already defined as a farm use and banned on rural residential land in the county. "It was the intention of this board to allow continued production of medical marijuana on rural residential land," Commissioner Rick Dyer said. "The legislation very clearly established medical marijuana as a farm use. We had no choice. It was clear. The mandate was absolutely clear." Rep. Peter Buckley, D-Ashland, said the intent of the state law was never to block medical marijuana grows on rural residential land. Legislators instead wanted to allow existing grows to continue, but to block new grows. Buckley and state Sen. Alan Bates, D-Medford, accused county officials last week of misinterpreting the new state law. Commissioner Doug Breidenthal said legislators rushed the state law through without taking time to study the impact in Jackson County. County officials had publicly raised red flags about their interpretation of the law before it passed. Dyer said Wednesday the Legislature's legislative counsel has apologized to the county about statements that Jackson County officials were misinterpreting the new state law. Existing medical marijuana growers on rural residential land can apply for non-conforming-use status, which is available to property owners using their land in a way that becomes illegal under a new law. Breidenthal asked for patience from growers and said county officials may carefully consider revisions to the county's Comprehensive Plan ban on farm use in rural residential zones. Under other new regulations adopted Wednesday by the county, commissioners banned grow fencing made of temporary materials such as plastic sheeting, tarps and hay bales. State law requires grows to be screened from public view — which led plastic sheet fencing to proliferate throughout Jackson County. Marijuana processing is limited to industrial and exclusive farm use zones in the county. Processing buildings must be equipped with odor filtration systems. Medical marijuana dispensaries and recreational marijuana shops are not allowed within one mile of the Veterans Affairs' Southern Oregon Rehabilitation Center and Clinics, which provides drug and alcohol treatment. Dispensaries and shops also must be at least 1,000 feet from parks, schools, other dispensaries and shops, I-5 interchanges and the Jackson County Transition Center for people in the criminal justice system. They are banned on property adjacent to residential zones. The county regulations generally don't apply to the four recreational marijuana plants and six medical marijuana plants adults are allowed to grow for their own personal use under state law. However, people in urban residential zones must grow their personal plants inside a home or building that is not a translucent greenhouse. Staff reporter Vickie Aldous can be reached at 541-776-4486 or [email protected] . Follow her at www.twitter.com/VickieAldous . Jackson County Marijuana Rules by Mail Tribune By Vickie Aldous Mail Tribune Follow @@VickieAldous MailTribune.com By Vickie Aldous Mail Tribune Follow @@VickieAldous Posted Mar. 16, 2016 @ 2:22 pm Updated Mar 16, 2016 at 2:31 PM » Comment or view comments Terms of Service /* $( document ).ready(function() { // Jquery mobile is trying to style the button and leaving a blank gry button on top of a white button $("#viafouracoms .vf-comment-controls li.vf-right").html(' Submit '); });*/ » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. calendar Connect with MailTribune.com Facebook Twitter RSS Back to top Reader Services Reader Services Home Subscriptions Subscriber controls Contact us Submissions Photos Events Letters to the editor Corrections Announcements Obituaries Story ideas Since you asked Alerts Email Alerts RSS Feeds Text Alerts Advertise Media Kit Home Products and services Ad rates Advertising contacts Propel Marketing Mail Tribune Daily Tidings The Nickel Shop Our Valley Blogs Mobile Site Stay Informed Email newsletter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. 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