Pubdate: Wed, 06 May 2015
Source: Press-Enterprise (Riverside, CA)
Copyright: 2015 The Press-Enterprise Company
Contact: http://www.pe.com/localnews/opinion/letters_form.html
Website: http://www.pe.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/830

POT OPPONENTS' SCARE TACTICS

Permitting medical marijuana dispensaries to operate in the city of 
Riverside will not lead to widespread catastrophe, yet that seems to 
be the argument put forth by city leaders in a clear case of 
fear-mongering over careful policy analysis.

On June 2, voters will decide whether to permit up to 10 dispensaries 
to operate in the city. They will be subject to a variety of 
regulations. They must be staffed by security guards, have security 
camera systems installed and cannot be operated by individuals with 
felony criminal records.

Under prohibition, illicit marijuana is sold without regard to city 
zoning requirements, tax schemes or the age of the buyer.

Riverside has spent a lot of money fighting unpermitted dispensaries 
and litigating all the way to the California Supreme Court to 
validate its right to prohibit dispensaries.

Now, every member of the City Council, the mayor and the heads of the 
city's police and fire departments have signed on to hysterical 
arguments to continue prohibition.

In the official ballot arguments, city leaders make a variety of 
unsubstantiated assertions meant to instill fear, rather than 
facilitate logical conversation about a fairly tame proposal. A vote 
for Measure A, says the city, is a vote for "potentially bringing 
crime directly to your neighborhood."

According to the city's leaders, medical marijuana "can attract 
crime, including shootings and robberies, and contribute to loitering 
and nuisance activities." The use of the word "can" serves an 
important function: to allow the implication of a false idea, that 
marijuana dispensaries per se attract crime.

Researchers at UCLA and the University of Texas at Dallas found no 
association between medical marijuana dispensaries and increased 
violence. Locally, the permitting of dispensaries in Palm Springs has 
yet to lead to an unprecedented wave of violence.

City leaders make frequent mention of "young people," "children and 
minors," with the suggestion that the availability of medical 
marijuana to individuals with a prescription from their doctor will 
lead to widespread use of marijuana by young people.

To this concern, a study published in the American Journal of Public 
Health reported years ago that "no discernible pattern suggesting an 
effect on either self-reported prevalence or frequency of marijuana 
use" was observed in states permitting medical marijuana.

Voters have a simple choice. They can either keep the market 
underground and have no control over it, or they can bring it above 
ground and have some control over it.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom