Mendocino sheriff backs tighter pot rules

By MIKE GENIELLA
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

UKIAH -- Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman broke Tuesday with medical marijuana advocates and endorsed a local ballot initiative aimed at repealing the county's current liberal marijuana guidelines.

An angry Allman ended weeks of neutrality in an increasingly acrimonious campaign surrounding Measure B, which -- if approved in the June 3 election -- will sharply reduce the number of plants allowed to be grown for personal use from 25 to 6.

"Today, I lend my name and full support to the passage of Measure B," Allman said. "It is the right thing to do for Mendocino County."

Medical marijuana advocates issued a public apology to Allman, but the sheriff said Tuesday afternoon their "misrepresentation" no longer allowed him to remain neutral in a campaign being watched closely around the state and nation.

Mendocino County voters in 2000 were the first to locally legalize personal use of marijuana and set a standard significantly higher than recommended state medical marijuana standards.

Allman said he was shocked to learn anti-Measure B organizers had decided without his knowledge or permission to use a photo of him in uniform along with some old newspaper quotes relating to marijuana problems facing the county.

"First, they have taken the quote attributed to me out of context," Allman said. "Second, by doing so they are implying that I am opposed to Measure B."

Measure B proponents, who include law enforcement agencies, local political leaders, members of the medical community and educators, blame the county's liberal standards under the guise of medical marijuana for a surge in commercial production and associated crimes.

Critics contend the new standards will unfairly single out small growers who most need marijuana for medical purposes and will do nothing to rein in big-time growing operations.

Currently, 50 of the state's 58 counties follow legislative guidelines limiting possession of marijuana for medical purposes to six plants and a half pound of dried marijuana.

Eight counties, however, including Mendocino, Sonoma, Humboldt and Del Norte, decided to exercise a state option to set more relaxed standards. But while Sonoma County, for example, technically allows more plants -- 30 -- than Mendocino, its guidelines are actually more restrictive because of limitations on canopy size of marijuana gardens.

Laura Hamburg of Ukiah, a spokeswoman for opponents of Measure B, said Tuesday the use of Allman's photograph without his knowledge or permission was a mistake.

Hamburg produced a statement from an Oakland-based consulting firm called the Next Generation acknowledging it, not the local campaign, was responsible for the Allman photo.

While she believes the brochure made clear Allman was neutral in the Measure B debate, Hamburg said an apology to the sheriff was in order because of any "misperception voters may have received."You can reach Staff Writer Mike Geniella at 462-6470 or mgeniella@pressdemocrat.com.