Pubdate: Sun, 10 Jun 2012
Source: Chico Enterprise-Record (CA)
Copyright: 2012 Chico Enterprise-Record
Contact:  http://www.chicoer.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/861
Note: Letters from newspaper's circulation area receive publishing priority
Author: David Little

SILENCE LOSES IN ELECTION BATTLE

Butte County's attempt to regulate marijuana growing has been 
rejected by voters. It wasn't even close.

A few people were undoubtedly swayed by money spent on advertising 
slogans such as "Let Granny Grow" (as if this were really about 
grandmothers wanting to grow marijuana, not wealthy pot farmers 
wanting to sell it) and using scary arguments about law enforcement 
taking away private property rights (as if people following the law 
really had to worry about that).

The false pity and scare tactics worked, just as it did when the 
medical marijuana initiative was passed 16 years ago. Proponents said 
Proposition 215 would relieve the pain of old people with cancer (an 
admirable goal) and had nothing to do with giving stoners the right 
to legally smoke (not such an admirable goal).

I can't argue with the aim of giving sick people relief. I've known 
some of the proverbial sick grandmas and grandpas who took it and 
benefited. I also know of people who get the doctor's recommendation 
to cure things like a backache or anxiety.

I'm a firm believer in letting people do what they want - as long as 
it doesn't infringe on other people's freedoms.

That's what bothers me about some pot growers. They're bad neighbors. 
While researching the issue over more than a year, I've encountered 
too many people who have felt threatened, intimidated and harassed in 
their own neighborhood.

They were sadly quiet during the Measure A campaign. There was plenty 
of money spent on the "No on A" side. (And why not? Growers who sell 
the pot illegally had a lot at stake.) There was barely a campaign 
mounted by the "Yes on A" proponents.

I talked to a few of them during the campaign. They wanted to write 
letters to the editor, but they didn't want their names attached. One 
person in Durham asked to send a letter "signed" by a neighborhood 
(e.g., "The residents of Hillview Drive"), which we also wouldn't allow.

"Why would you do that when each of the people can send in letters 
individually?" I asked.

The answer: People were afraid the growers on the street would retaliate.

Abraham Lincoln was right when he said, "To sin by silence, when they 
should protest, makes cowards of men." But it's hard to speak out 
when the neighbors have guns, vicious dogs, menacing stares and a 
good reason to protect a lucrative, if illegal, way of life. It's not 
like most of them have other job skills.

I'm admittedly lucky. I don't have growers in my neighborhood. And if 
I did, I know I'd be out of luck. Most pot growers are wise about 
following the letter of the law, and they know just how murky that 
law is. Eventually the complaining residents get a visit from the 
sheriff or the police, who say, "There's nothing I can do. They 
aren't breaking the law."

Up in the foothills, the peace of living out in the sticks, off the 
grid, has been ruined for many. Once-welcoming communities have been 
turned into frightening hillbilly scenes. You don't go for a walk in 
the woods. You don't dare challenge a menacing or noisy neighbor. 
Talk about an invasion of private property rights.

In many cases, the longtime residents are fed up. But they're stuck. 
Perhaps they can't afford to move, or perhaps they just don't want to 
because they were there first. Neighborhoods have changed for the 
worse - and some people live in fear.

One retired woman whose name I won't reveal writes often to say 
thanks for shining a light on this problem, for "being the voice for 
those of us who cannot speak."

During the Measure A campaign, she said, "You probably noticed there 
have been no letters to the editor for Measure A from anyone living 
in the Yankee Hill/Concow area because we are all afraid of 
retribution and retaliation."

She had hope when the county supervisors passed an ordinance. With 
the defeat of Measure A, that hope is shattered.

Just before the election, she got new neighbors. The first thing they 
did, she said, was clear the lot and plant marijuana.

It's going to be a long summer.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom