The Butte County Registrar of Voters has certified a referendum petition turned in by opponents of a ban on medical marijuana dispensaries in Butte County.
The certification comes nearly a month after opponents of the county-approved ban submitted the petition with 12,025 signatures, well over the 7,600 signatures needed to qualify.
Opponents are trying to reserve a recent approval by county supervisors to ban medical marijuana dispensaries in the county. The supervisors approval came after the county planning commission earlier recommended that there are just no suitable areas for medical marijuana dispensaries in the county given the violent crime they tend to attract, among other concerns.
But supporters of medical marijuana dispensaries insist that crime issues are overblown and that dispensaries are necessary under the state's proposition 215 rules.
The county will now take up the issue at its next meeting. It can either reverse its decision or put the issue on the June Ballot.
