While I agree with the sentiment of your editorial, "Medical pot clubs deserve fair and public debate," I do not agree that there needs to be any debate. That debate already occurred when Proposition 215 was passed. State law says that pot clubs are legal. Local laws cannot say otherwise. That is a fundamental premise of our legal system. Localities like Novato and Sausalito, which have passed ordinances which prohibit business that violate state or federal law, are trying to do an end-run around Proposition 215. In my view (as an attorney), their conduct is patently illegal. [continues 113 words]
Editor -- As noted in The Chronicle ("Debating the drug ads," Feb. 5), during the Super Bowl the President's Office of National Drug Control Policy ran ads suggesting that those who buy drugs help to fund terrorists. That may be true, but doesn't the same reasoning apply to those addicted to the profligate use of oil? Osama bin Laden's family fortune was earned in Saudi Arabia, and numerous reports suggest he continues to receive substantial monetary support from that country. There's no debating that the Saudis' vast wealth is from oil. When it comes to funding terrorists, are the selfish egotists guzzling gas in their SUVs and wasting energy to heat and cool their oversized homes any better than drug addicts? San Francisco [end]
