Mendocino doctors back pot measure

UKIAH — Mendocino County’s medical community Tuesday jumped into the fray over a ballot bid to snuff out large-scale pot cultivation in the county, calling current medical marijuana guidelines “fraudulent.”

A majority of doctors in the Ukiah Valley, the hub of the county’s medical care, publicly endorsed Measure B, which would if passed in the June primary sharply restrict the amount of pot individuals may grow and use.

Dr. Robert Werra said 40 doctors have joined the medical staff at Ukiah Valley Medical Center in support of the citizen-led initiative.

Werra said the county’s medical community is fed up with surging pot production under the guise of medical marijuana use.

“The medical community is very unhappy with the fraudulent misuse of the compassionate medical marijuana program as a front for rampant commercial growing,” Werra said in a statement.

Under Proposition 215, passed statewide in 1996, and subsequent state law, an individual is protected from state prosecution if they possess a physician’s recommendation and if the amount in their possession is within local guidelines.