Signature gathering began this month for a new ballot initiative aimed at allowing medical marijuana dispensaries to operate in Sacramento despite a recent ban on cannabis-related operations in the county.

The “Patient Access to Regulated Medical Cannabis Act of 2012” is the product of the newly established Committee for Safe Patient Access to Regulated Cannabis (CSPARC), organized by local medical marijuana industry advocate Mickey Martin.

“In December when the Board of Supervisors passed the back-door ban on medical marijuana, there were a lot of people (who felt that) what they were passing was just bad policy,” Martin said Monday.

“(The policy) just doesn’t address the issue,” Martin added.

Martin said the problem is that medical marijuana operations are not well-regulated and banning them outright “doesn’t make them disappear,” it just pushes them out of sight and makes it unnecessarily harder for people to get to.

Martin compiled the initiative with local medical cannabis patients and providers, he said. The legal language was written by local attorney James Clark and filed with the County Office of Elections in late January.

“(The measure) went through 15 drafts with a lot of feedback along the way,” Martin said. “I think we’ve come up with a plan that meets state law and will satisfy a lot of the issues that have come up in the past.”

Those issues, Martin said, included the large number of dispensaries that cropped up within the county and the proximity of those operations to schools, playgrounds and residential neighborhoods.

David Spradlin, former director of Magnolia Wellness – a medical marijuana collective – and founder of a community services organization called Orangevale Beautiful, said in a press release Friday that the county has failed to provide “meaningful guidance” on how patients should get their medicine.

Spradlin said one of the purposes of Proposition 215 was to encourage governments to implement a plan to provide for safe and affordable distribution of medical marijuana to patients.

Instead, Spradlin said, the county has “opted out of following state law” by banning dispensary operations.

“When Magnolia Wellness was forced to close, tens of thousands of local patients who depended on us for medicine were displaced,” Spradlin said. “Dispensaries provide a safe place for patients who are unable to, or not interested in, growing cannabis to get a variety of quality medicine in a caring environment.”

The proposed Patient Access Act includes provisions for limiting the number of dispensaries in the unincorporated areas of the county, sets a tax rate of 4 percent on all cannabis sales and restricts the minimum distance between any cannabis operation and “sensitive use” areas, such as schools and residences, to more than 1,000 feet.

“We think that federal interference has been less in areas that have regulated programs in place and more controls,” Martin said.

According to information from the County Office of Elections, the initiative must have a minimum of 57,000 valid registered voter signatures to qualify for the November ballot.

Martin said he and the CSPARC organization are seeking volunteers to help gather signatures with the goal of getting at least 80,000 to 100,000 signatures.

The official title and summary of the Patient Access to Regulated Medical Cannabis Act of 2012 can be found HERE.

Local medical marijuana activist Ryan Landers said he was part of the group that worked to get Proposition 215 passed in 1996, and he doesn’t want to see those efforts wasted.

“Patients need the right to cultivate their medicine like we gave them 15 years ago,” Landers said Monday. “I don’t want to see those rights taken away or stepped on.”

Landers said the Board of Supervisors’ move to ban dispensary operations in December was “inappropriate and unnecessary,” and would do more harm than good for medical marijuana patients.

“It’s not just an alternative, it’s life or death for thousands of people right here in Sacramento,” Landers said. “It not only stopped distribution, but also cultivation.”

If voters approve the proposed ballot initiative, it will bypass the authority of the Board of Supervisors.

The board will still have power to adjust the tax rate on cannabis sales or increase the allowable number of dispensaries from the measure’s minimum of one dispensary per 25,000 residents within the county, Martin said.

“The board cannot thwart the will of the people, though,” Martin said.

Offices of the members of the Board of Supervisors were closed Monday in observance of Presidents Day, and supervisors were unavailable for comment.

The deadline to submit all signatures to the County Office of Elections is June 17, according to the county website. Martin said CSPARC’s goal is to have the required number of signatures submitted by June 1.

Melissa Corker is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.