Washington Municipality Okays Public, Group Marijuana Gardens

Medical marijuana patients living in Castle Rock, WA, received some great news this week as the City Council voted to approve interim zoning regulations in support of medical marijuana gardens. The gardens will allow patients to join together to grow large amounts of pot for medicinal use within the city.

The vote was instigated by a law passed in July, which gave patients the right to create collective marijuana gardens but did not provide the details as to how and where to do so. Patients in support of the law complained that their rights were being restricted without a designated area for them to grow, while opposers worried about the effect these gardens would have on youth.

In order to appease all parties, City Council granted garden rights but restricted them to two business districts near the highway. These areas are known as being outside of the major residential areas, preventing children from stumbling upon them innocently.

In addition to restrictions placed on the “where,” clarification was given as to the “how.” Those seeking to create a communal garden must first obtain a city building permit and must ensure that the plants are not visible from the street. Additionally, gardens cannot be run by more than ten patients, and cannot contain more than 45 plants.

Most of these regulations were welcomed, but the city building permit leaves much to be determined. Many laws, for example, are passed with an inherent loophole that will allow officials to give the people what they want but legally deny them at the same time. In this case, the worry is that patients will join together in excitement to start a garden, only to find that it is nearly impossible to obtain a city building permit.

Only time will tell whether this law will truly give patients what they need or just build another wall between them and the medicine. The fact that this law has even made its way into the books, however, is great news for the medicinal marijuana community.