I Think The Smell Of Marijuana Plants Is Fantastic
I love the smell of high quality marijuana. Every marijuana consumer that I know agrees with me, but there are countless non-marijuana consumers that also think the smell of marijuana is fantastic. Even my grandma, who doesn’t consume marijuana at all, thinks that the smell of good marijuana is amazing. Unfortunately, there are some people in the town of Roseville, California that do not like the smell of marijuana.
Essentially, the Roseville City Council considered a proposed ordinance in July 2011 to prohibit backyard medical marijuana plants. The Roseville City Council decided to postpone the vote. During the Roseville City Council meeting on Feb. 15, ‘Roseville resident Jack Wallace asked the council to bring back the proposal because of citizens’ concerns over the “skunk-like” odor emitting from the backyard cultivation of marijuana.’
According to the Roseville Press Tribune Wallace said, “It’s a public nuisance, several other cities, including Rocklin, have enacted similar ordinances.” The article went on to say, “Councilman Tim Herman and Councilman John Allard said they aren’t interested in considering the item because of the uncertainty over medical marijuana laws at the state and federal levels.”
“I really don’t have any interest in bringing that back,” Herman said. “I think right now between the state and feds trying to figure out what the medical marijuana law is, we have an idea that our air pollution control district might be able to deal with this.”
Roseville presents an interesting case, because they have never allowed medical marijuana dispensaries in city limits. That leaves limited options for safe medical marijuana access. The obvious alternative is for the patient to grow their own medical marijuana. Growing medical marijuana can be very expensive, especially indoors. As a result, many patients grow their marijuana outdoors, especially California.
The City of Roseville is hesitant to pick up the issue in anticipation of a big court case that is on the horizon at the California Supreme Court level. “The law is pretty unsettled and uncertain at this time and it’s difficult to assess what kinds of liabilities may take place if we move forward with something because we can’t know how the California Supreme Court will rule,” Roseville Assistant City Attorney Bob Schmitt said.
Roseville medical marijuana patients are waiting around for the California Supreme Court. Mike Waak, 46, started a Facebook page, called Friends of Roseville Cannabis, to raise awareness and fight the proposed ordinance. Mike Waak points out that it’s an undue financial burden to require patients to pay for indoor gardens and the electricity bills that go along with it. Mr. Waak also points out building supplies to customize the room, exhaust fans, and space requirements are additional problems.
The head of the Roseville police doesn’t seem convinced that there is any need for such an ordinance from a public safety standpoint. “One of the significant concerns jurisdictions have is the violence they have seen, such as robberies, burglaries and shootings, regarding outdoor marijuana gardens,” Police Chief Daniel Hahn said. “We have not seen this sort of activity in Roseville.”
“Prohibiting medical marijuana growing only hurts patients,” Waak said. “It doesn’t do anything to stifle the illegal activity. All patients need to start getting out and learning what our rights are. We need shareholder meetings. We need public education. We need cooperation from the city.”
