Pubdate: Fri, 31 Jul 2015
Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA)
Copyright: 2015 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.utsandiego.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/386
Note: Seldom prints LTEs from outside it's circulation area.
Author: Scott Chipman

POT SHOPS ARE JUST DEALERS IN DISGUISE

Regarding "Pot shop crackdown accelerating" (July 27): Writer David 
Garrick missed it. Community leaders have lobbied the city to shut 
down illegal pot shops not because they are "much less regulated" 
than "legal" dispensaries but because they are just plain drug 
dealers selling for profit.

The Otay city-permitted pot shop owner estimates revenues of $2 
million this year in his admitted "business" operation. Is this 
philanthropy or just big pot pharma?

There is no difference in the operations, the clients, where the 
illegal stores get the pot or the extremely high potency (often up to 
40 times a true cannabis-based, FDA-approved drug such as Marinol) or 
the profit motive. All pot shops are operating the same.

A permit gives the impression the city is regulating.

It is not, but should be.

Scott Chipman

Pacific Beach
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom