Pubdate: Sun, 21 Sep 2008
Source: Santa Cruz Sentinel (CA)
Copyright: 2008 Santa Cruz Sentinel
Contact: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/submitletters
Website: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/394
Author: Jeffrey Kongslie
Note: Jeffrey Kongslie is the  co-owner of Vinocruz, a downtown business,
and serves  on the city's Downtown Commission.
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

JUST SAY 'NO' TO WAMMFEST MEDICATION

This coming Tuesday, Santa Cruz City Council members  will once again 
be faced with deciding if the Wo/Men's  Alliance for Medical 
Marijuana WAMM should be granted  an exemption to the non-smoking 
policy for San Lorenzo  Park. The stated need for this exemption is 
to allow  members to "utilize their medication" during a 
festival  intended to raise funds and awareness for 
the  organization. I urge the Santa Cruz City Council to  oppose this 
exemption.

While I support the mission of WAMM and I recognize  that there are 
people who legitimately use marijuana  for medicinal purposes, I do 
not believe that  sanctioning the use of our public spaces for this 
purpose, and the likely recreational drug use that will  accompany 
it, is consistent with our goals as a  community.

The city of Santa Cruz has invested significant  taxpayer resources 
in ridding San Lorenzo Park, and the  adjacent neighborhoods, of 
chronic drug use so that  these spaces are again welcoming to the 
broader Santa  Cruz community, especially families. For the city 
to  then "open the floodgates" to this use for one day  seems greatly 
at odds with its policies the other 364  days of the year.

While the event organizers hope to restrict the use of  marijuana to 
a specific area, it was well-documented by  the media that this was 
not enforced last year. It is  not the intent of WAMM to host an 
event that is a  destination for recreational marijuana users, but 
this trend was also documented by the media. I fear that while  WAMM 
has good intentions, their goals and mission might  be compromised by 
others with different goals.  Remember, the 4/20 event at UCSC 
started out as a small  student activity that has now grown to 
include hundreds  of recreational drug users from across the Bay Area.

A concern that has not been addressed are where these  "medicated" 
individuals go after the event. They are  now under the influence of 
a controlled substance. Do  they get in their cars and drive? Do they 
go downtown,  just over the bridge? We have also invested significant 
resources in getting drug use out of our downtown area,  and I fear 
this event will undermine those efforts as  well.

Recently my aunt passed away after a brief and intense  battle with 
cancer. During her treatments, she used  marijuana medicinally and it 
was the only thing that  enabled her to deal with the side effects. I 
firmly  believe that it is right to have compassion for people  with 
terminal or serious chronic conditions, whose  suffering can be 
lessened by the use of marijuana. But  there are more practical ways 
to express that support.  I hope WAMM will rethink its approach to 
this event,  with the understanding that there are community members 
who support their goals but cannot see the logic of  lifting the 
smoking ban in the park.

I hope that our community leaders will consider the  health and 
well-being of the entire community and our  goals for the use of our 
public spaces when casting  their votes on Tuesday.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom