Pubdate: Fri, 09 Aug 2013 Source: Sacramento Bee (CA) Copyright: 2013 The Sacramento Bee Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/0n4cG7L1 Website: http://www.sacbee.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/376 Author: Kim Raney Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v13/n379/a05.html MARIJUANA Re "Environment is going to pot" (Dan Morain, Aug. 4): Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg's SB 439 would do nothing to address the public safety and environmental corrosion caused by the medical marijuana trade. Instead, SB 439 would make the current problems worse. SB 439 would permit marijuana dispensaries to become virtual cash machines as they exploit the massive medical recommendation fraud that underlies California's medical marijuana industry. The bill would do nothing to address that fraud, and now we find that it passive about the environmental degradation caused by medical marijuana farmers. The California Police Chiefs Association has always known that marijuana dispensaries are magnets for crime, with the most recent example being a double murder that occurred at a dispensary two weeks ago in Bakersfield. This bill is a very real threat to public safety and should be rejected. - -- Kim Raney, California Police Chiefs Association president, Sacramento - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom