Does Sacramento have cause to ban outdoor marijuana cultivation?

A couple of weeks back, the four council members on the city’s law-and-legislation committee discussed banning outdoor cultivation of medical-cannabis in residential areas. No decisions were made, and it seems unlikely a ban would make it through council—but it also sounds like the issue hasn’t been buried yet, either.

But city of Sacramento police Sgt. Andrew Pettit told SN&R last week that, when it comes to police going on cultivation calls, “the numbers are so low.”

But there’s a catch: When an individual is busted under criminal code 11378 for selling or possessing a controlled substance, it typically goes under a generic classification, Pettit explained. Not specifically under “pot” or “marijuana.”

And when police encounter a qualified medical-pot patient with an outdoor grow, Pettit says, “The officers are only required now to write information reports documenting that a subject has a ‘215 card,’” or that they are legally permitted to cultivate.

Only six individuals have been arrested for outdoor grows in the city of Sacramento this year, the same number as all of last year. These incidences are down from 20 in 2010 and 18 in 2009.