Pubdate: Tue, 13 Jul 2010
Source: Chico Enterprise-Record (CA)
Copyright: 2010 Chico Enterprise-Record
Contact: http://www.chicoer.com/feedback
Website: http://www.chicoer.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/861
Note: Letters from newspaper's circulation area receive publishing priority
Author: Robert Galia

DON'T VILIFY MARIJUANA DISPENSARIES

When are (fill in the blank) going to get it? Everybody else knows 
that as biological organisms, we are hard-wired to avoid pain, to 
reach for relief that works. This is precisely why medical cannabis 
is so popular -- because it works.

With the passage of the medical marijuana initiative, the will of the 
people is clear, yet our local law enforcement persists in pouring 
limited resources into this ill-advised campaign to vilify anything 
cannabis, and to make criminals out of everyone associated with it in 
any way. They claim they are only trying to stop abuse but the abuse 
is not with the dispensaries that have been bending over backward to 
comply with Proposition 215 laws and guidelines, but more with the 
"doctors recommendation mills" that have been springing up to cash in 
on this bonanza. This hurts me to say since I believe it should be a 
fundamental right for every adult citizen to not only grow, possess 
and consume cannabis, but also to do the same with any natural herb 
that they have found relieves their pain and improves their health.

Nevertheless, I am compelled to descend from my moral high ground in 
recognition of other points of view, to meet somewhere in the middle 
to try to make sense of this whole situation. This is something law 
enforcement has failed to do. Their special interest is clear -- to 
continue feeding the prison industrial complex, their source of power 
and wealth.

- -- Robert Galia, Chico
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom