Nipomo nursery under investigation for growing 51,000 marijuana plants

The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a Nipomo nursery after deputies found approximately 51,000 marijuana plants growing on site.

According to sheriff’s spokesman Tony Cipolla, authorities received a tip that marijuana was being cultivated at what once was the Clearwater Nursery on Mesa Road in late September. After serving a search warrant, authorities discovered the plants and began an investigation.

No arrests were made, and the plants were not seized, because workers told deputies the plants were a part of a legal medical marijuana collective, Cipolla said.

Deputies are also investigating whether the collective is affiliated with the former nursery ownership because the Clearwater Nursery filed bankruptcy paperwork in early 2015 and the current collective management is unclear.

County supervisors in September passed urgency rules banning any new cultivation of marijuana in the unincorporated areas of the county, but the rules do not apply to grows that were in operation before Aug. 23. County officials estimated at that time that there are more than 500 medical marijuana cultivation sites in the county.

State law allows medical marijuana to be grown through nonprofit collectives, as long as it is only distributed among members of that collective. Members must have a California medical marijuana identification card to join.

The law limits the number of plants that can be grown in a collective to six mature plants or 12 immature plants per patient, meaning the Nipomo grow would have to have between 4,250 and 8,500 members to comply with state regulations.

Cipolla declined to disclose how many people are members of the Nipomo collective, though he did say the Sheriff’s Office is actively investigating a list of members provided to authorities.

He said several are also members of other collectives in the area — something that will be illegal under state law starting in January 2018.

This story was originally published October 25, 2016 at 4:28 PM with the headline "Nipomo nursery under investigation for growing 51,000 marijuana plants."