Sonoma County Supes Approve 1-Year Ban On Hemp Growing
SANTA ROSA (CBS SF) – Sonoma County's Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a ban on growing industrial hemp in the unincorporated areas of the county for at least a year.
The hours-long discussion ended with a 4-1 vote in favor of adopting an urgency ordinance to immediately impose a moratorium on hemp cultivation.
California is scheduled to begin registering hemp growers and issuing regulations on April 14. Counties that do not impose moratoriums by then would have to accept the grows and the state's regulations regardless of local concerns about public safety and compatibility with the cannabis industry, according to the Sonoma County Agricultural Commissioner's Office.
The hemp plant smells and looks like cannabis, but it lacks significant amounts of the THC contained in marijuana that gives users a psychoactive high.
It is grown for its cannabidiol ingredient, CBD, that is derived directly from the plant. CBD is used for health reasons including relieving anxiety, insomnia, pain and childhood seizures, and is now found in pharmacies nationwide.
The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday struggled with the prospect of banning the growing of a legal crop in their still largely agricultural county, and approving hemp cultivation.
Supervisor James Gore raised the prospect of hemp cultivation that resembles marijuana grows throughout the unincorporated area of the county and the subsequent complaints by non-growers about the sight and smell of the grows if the board did not approve the moratorium.
Gore said, "This is not a 'no' (on hemp cultivation) but a 'not yet.'"
Supervisor Lynda Hopkins also called for a moratorium.
"This is a time out, not a ban on growing (legally) on agricultural property. Let's hit the pause button," Hopkins said.
Supervisor Shirlee Zane said she favored setting a timeline when the moratorium would expire. She said she "grudgingly" voted for the moratorium, which will expire on April 30, 2020.
Supervisor Susan Gorin also voted for the one-year hemp ban. She said she is concerned about people eventually growing cannabis instead of hemp.
"You won't know until the lab tests come back. There's always the potential someone will take advantage of this," Gorin said.
Lab tests at harvest will measure the amount of THC in the hemp plant, which contains no more than three-tenths of 1 percent of THC, according to the Agricultural Commissioner's Office.
Board Chair David Rabbitt cast the lone vote against approving the moratorium because he did not want to restrict growing a legal crop in the county.
"That's a hard bridge for me to cross," Rabbitt said.
Sonoma County Agricultural Commissioner Tony Linegar said he also
was torn on the issue. He said the one-year moratorium will give the county time to consider any regulations and fees it may want on the hemp grows.
Such county regulations, however, would trigger environmental reviews, Linegar said.
"That's my biggest reservation, Linegar said.
"There's no easy right answer for this. It's a difficult decision, but I decided in favor of a moratorium. It's best to take a time out," he said.
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