[420 Girl]

Citing public safety issues, the Trinity County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday repealed a year-old ordinance that allowed medical marijuana users to exceed state limits on how much marijuana residents could grow and keep.

After a public hearing at the Veterans Hall in Weaverville, the board voted unanimously to repeal the ordinance that was passed last fall.

"What we adopted last year ruined the fabric of the county," said Supervisor Wendy Reiss, who voted for the ordinance last year.

The ordinance repealed Tuesday allowed patients with a doctor's recommendation to have 3 pounds of processed marijuana and up to 12 mature plants. In the absence of a county ordinance, marijuana users in Trinity County must follow the state law, which says medical users can have 8 ounces of pot and six plants.

The board decided to revisit the ordinance after complaints from county residents and reports of a growing number of commercial growers in the county.

About 300 people attended the meeting. Most of the some 50 people who spoke at the meeting favored repealing the ordinance.

The meeting originally was planned for the Trinity County Library in Weaverville, but officials moved the hearing to the Veterans Hall to accommodate a larger crowd.

Supervisor Howard Freeman, who drafted last year's ordinance, said: "I'm not sure it's a quantity issue as much as it is an enforcement issue.

"Last year, the intent of the policy was so (the sheriff's) department could allocate resources elsewhere and to allow medicinal patients guidelines to operate under so they'd be OK," Freeman said.

But Sheriff Lorrac Craig said other problems arose from the new ordinance.

"The emphasis of marijuana growing has changed in most cases from medicinal to profiteering," Craig told the board Tuesday. "I have 15 men to patrol 3,200 square miles and the increased quantity. It takes us eight hours to get to some parts of this county who have never seen a cop."

During a supervisors meeting earlier this month, officials with the county's health department reported that the ordinance has led to an increase in hundreds of violations that included guard dogs running loose, unpermitted dwellings, rentals being destroyed when they're converted into grow houses, and septic lines draining into the ground or creeks.

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