Pubdate: Sat, 5 Jul 2008
Source: Times-Herald, The (Vallejo, CA)
Copyright: 2008 The Times-Herald
Contact:  http://www.timesheraldonline.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/993
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n629/a08.html
Author: Paul Armentano

SKY ISN'T FALLING

Were marijuana really the scourge it's so often portrayed to be, one
would think that the opening of the Vallejo Patients Cooperative would
have generated significant resistance from the local community ("Has
Vallejo gone to pot?" June 29).

Yet aside from the complaints expressed by Vallejo Assistant City
Attorney Claudia Quintana who, predictably, reiterated that federal
officials stubbornly continue to deny the plant's therapeutic value,
it seems that few others are even raising their eyebrows. According to
the Times-Herald's report, police have received "no calls or
complaints" about the establishment, which neighboring business owners
admit has "breathed new life" into Boss Plaza.

Since 1996, when California voters approved the state's
first-in-the-nation medical marijuana use law, it has been clear that
the public's views on this issue are far ahead of their politicians.
(After all, California's law only went before the voters after
then-Gov. Pete Wilson had vetoed a similar proposal.) Twelve years
later, little has changed. The public continues to support the rights
of qualified patients to use and access medical cannabis, and a
majority of lawmakers and law enforcement personnel continue to warn
that any change in policy will invariably cause "the sky to fall."

Has the opening of the Patients Cooperative caused the sky to fall in
Vallejo? Apparently not.

Paul Armentano

Vallejo
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake