Medical Marijuana Measure Goes Before Nevada County Voters

Ian McDonald, Fox 40

Voters in Nevada County will decide the fate of a new medical marijuana grow ordinance at the polls next month.

Measure S would limit the amount of plants to six per person in any circumstance.

But County Sheriff Keith Royal says the problem lies with commercial grows.

“The problem is commercial growers. The majority of the ones we go to (for calls for service) are commercial operations,” Royal said.

Measure S author and local chair for Americans for Safe Access Deborah Smith thinks commercial operations should be allowed to grow.

“Only if they do it legally, which many are not,” Smith said.

Royal, who helped draft the county’s current ordinance that limits growing, says Measure S would hamper his department.

“There are no enforcement provisions built into the new measure,” Royal said. “We could not do anything.”

Advocates argue that the measure only gives Nevada County residents the same rights as every other Californian.