Photo of Mikey Collins by Jared Anderson.

If your travel plans will take you through Cathedral City, California and you find yourself wanting a new scar; be warned: City officials have declared scarification a “public nuisance” and have banned it along with other extreme body modifications.

The ban, which passed 4-0* (with Councilman Paul Marchand abstaining) was spearheaded by Councilman Greg Pettis and has been put in place as “pre-emptive measure to maintain the health and safety of the community”.

The community, which boasts a single shop offering scarification/branding, will no doubt sleep safer tonight due to the efforts of Mister Pettis and the members of the Council.

Pettis voted against a fellow councilman’s attempt to get Cathedral City’s medical marijuana dispensaries banned in April of 2009.

Regulation is inevitable on a local and national level. While cutting/branding still is still a very small part of commercially available body modification practices it will no doubt be included with the much more common Body Piercing/Tattoo regulations. I would have liked to see Pettis and his fellow Councilmembers spend the extra time in talking with the lone shop that provides this service on how to set minimum standards in place. Perhaps Greg Pettis and Cathedral City prefer outright bans instead of working on solutions that allow it’s citizens the right to do to their bodies what they see fit.

You have to wonder what’s next?

* There are conflicting reports on the final vote. Mydesert.com has the vote at 4-0, with Daylife.com reporting 3-1.