START FILE PHOTO The Simi Valley City Council.

By Mike Harris of the Ventura County Star

By Mike Harris

mharris@vcstar.com 805-437-0323

The Simi Valley City Council has reversed course and now will join most other cities in Ventura County in banning personal cultivation of medical marijuana.

The council introduced an ordinance Jan. 11 that called for allowing personal cultivation by qualified patients.

Under California Proposition 215, the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 that was approved by 56 percent of statewide voters, cities cannot prohibit residents from using medical marijuana if they have a serious health condition and a physician's recommendation.

But the courts have ruled that cities can ban personal cultivation, even though it is permitted under the state health and safety code.

The council voted at its meeting Monday to amend the ordinance to prohibit personal cultivation.

"I think there was a lot of soul-searching done that ultimately lead to the change in course," Councilman Glen Becerra said Saturday. "There is so much concern about the unknowns of people growing marijuana in their backyards. Are you growing it for yourself? Are you growing it to sell? I'm worried about youth having access to it. There are all sorts of questions."

Simi Valley residents who are legitimate medical marijuana users can buy it at legal dispensaries in the nearby San Fernando Valley, he said.

Councilman Mike Judge was the lone dissenting vote, noting that personal cultivation is permitted under state law.

"I don't think the city should be overreaching and telling them that they can't grow their marijuana," Judge, a Los Angeles police officer, said Saturday. "I think personal cultivation is the safest way for people to acquire medical marijuana."

In Ventura County, only Moorpark, Ventura and unincorporated areas will permit personal cultivation. The Ojai City Council will take up the issue in February, but the city currently forbids personal cultivation.

The Simi Valley ordinance is scheduled to be adopted by the council Feb. 22 to meet a March 1 deadline under a new state law, the California Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act.

The city ordinance also will clarify Simi Valley's existing ban on medical marijuana dispensaries and the commercial cultivation, processing, distribution and delivery of medical marijuana.

The county's nine other cities, plus the county itself, also are expected to adopt similar ordinances by March 1, although delivery will be permitted in Moorpark and unincorporated areas.

Cities that do not have such ordinances in place by March 1 will lose the authority to regulate or prohibit commercial medical marijuana uses. The state Department of Food and Agriculture then will be the sole licensing authority under the state's new comprehensive medical marijuana licensing and regulatory framework.