Pot Clinic Will Exacerbate Tourist Woes

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Editor,

Re: “Medical Pot Initiative Still Not Final.”

The first sentence says it all, …“[t]he initiative that would make Laguna Beach the only location for a medical marijuana dispensary in South County…” Why would Laguna Beach, a city of less than 25,000 people, want to be the only location in South County where medical marijuana is sold? Tax revenue?

In the spirit of full disclosure, I did not vote to legalize medical marijuana in California nor would I vote to legalize its recreational use. As a RN working 13 years in an Orange County emergency room and someone whose sibling died of a prescription drug overdose, I have had first hand experience with the pros and cons of legal and illegal drug use.

While I sympathize with individuals who have a true medical need to use this drug, how many residents fall into this category and how many just want to profit from a lucrative business?

Studies show increased hospitalizations due to pot in locations where clinics are located. Other studies debate whether crime rises or falls in these areas. Since many clinics only accept cash, some studies say that robberies may increase. But even if crime doesn’t increase, there are other unintended consequences such as more ER visits, DUIs, traffic and parking problems.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says “marijuana affects many skills required for safe driving: alertness, the ability to concentrate, coordination, and reaction time. These effects can last up to 24 hours after smoking marijuana.” So if someone who has traveled to Laguna takes a spray or an edible, when they jump into the car to leave, the possibility of impaired driving is real.

Studies show that most clinics are located in commercial areas, near highway or freeway exits. Getting into Laguna Beach is difficult and thus all those seeking pot between north San Diego County and south Orange County will be coming to Laguna to get their drugs.

Our town is currently debating raises taxes to combat the cost of tourism so it seems that allowing a clinic is only going to exacerbate these problems without much benefit to the residents.

This quest for a clinic is an incremental step towards the time when California will legalize marijuana for recreational use. If we have a clinic here, well buckle up.

Isn’t it enough that Laguna Beach is known as the home of the Pageant of the Masters instead of….. well, you fill in the blank.

 

Deborah Schlesinger

Laguna Beach

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3 COMMENTS

  1. Fear of Medical Marijuana Legalization Nationwide is unfounded. Not based on any science or fact whatsoever.

    So please, all prohibitionists, we beg you, give your scare tactics, “Conspiracy Theories” and “Doomsday Scenarios” over the inevitable Legalization of Medical Marijuana Nationwide a rest. Nobody is buying them anymore these days. Okay?

    Furthermore, if all prohibitionists get when they look into that nice, big and shiny crystal ball of theirs, while wondering about the future of Medical Marijuana Legalization Nationwide, is horror, doom, and despair, well then I suggest they return that thing as quickly as possible and reclaim the money they shelled out for it, since it’s obviously defective.

    The prohibition of marijuana has not decreased the supply nor the demand for medical marijuana at all. Not one single iota, and it never will. Just a huge and complete waste of our tax dollars to continue criminalizing sick patients and senior citizens in pain for choosing a natural, non-toxic, relatively benign plant proven to be much safer than daily handfuls of deadly, toxic, man-made, highly addictive, narcotic pain pills and other pharmaceuticals.

    If prohibitionists are going to take it upon themselves to worry about “saving us all” from ourselves, then they need to start with the drug that causes more death and destruction than every other drug in the world COMBINED, which is alcohol!

    Why do prohibitionists feel the continued need to vilify and demonize marijuana when they could more wisely focus their efforts on a real, proven killer, alcohol, which again causes more destruction, violence, and death than all other drugs, COMBINED?

    Prohibitionists really should get their priorities straight and or practice a little live and let live. They’ll live longer, happier, and healthier, with a lot less stress if they refrain from being bent on trying to control others through Draconian Marijuana Laws.

  2. When a loved one is in pain, wasting away unable to eat, and needs this marvelous herb in order to increase their appetite, reduce the overwhelming pain, and live as as healthy and happily as they can with the time they have left, let’s have the compassion to allow them to have it.

    Stop treating Medical Marijuana Patients like second rate citizens and common criminals by forcing them to the dangerous black market for their medicine.

    Risking incarceration to obtain the medicine you need is no way to be forced to live.

    Support Medical Marijuana Now!

    “[A] federal policy that prohibits physicians from alleviating suffering by prescribing marijuana for seriously ill patients is misguided, heavy-handed, and inhumane.” — Dr. Jerome Kassirer, “Federal Foolishness and Marijuana,” editorial, New England Journal of Medicine, January 30, 1997

    “[The AAFP accepts the use of medical marijuana] under medical supervision and control for specific medical indications.” — American Academy of Family Physicians, 1989, reaffirmed in 2001

    “[We] recommend … allow[ing] [marijuana] prescription where medically appropriate.” — National Association for Public Health Policy, November 15, 1998

    “Therefore be it resolved that the American Nurses Association will: — Support the right of patients to have safe access to therapeutic marijuana/cannabis under appropriate prescriber supervision.” — American Nurses Association, resolution, 2003

    “The National Nurses Society on Addictions urges the federal government to remove marijuana from the Schedule I category immediately, and make it available for physicians to prescribe. NNSA urges the American Nurses’ Association and other health care professional organizations to support patient access to this medicine.” — National Nurses Society on Addictions, May 1, 1995

    “[M]arijuana has an extremely wide acute margin of safety for use under medical supervision and cannot cause lethal reactions … [G]reater harm is caused by the legal consequences of its prohibition than possible risks of medicinal use.” — American Public Health Association, Resolution #9513, “Access to Therapeutic Marijuana/Cannabis,” 1995

    “When appropriately prescribed and monitored, marijuana/cannabis can provide immeasurable benefits for the health and well-being of our patients … We support state and federal legislation not only to remove criminal penalties associated with medical marijuana, but further to exclude marijuana/cannabis from classification as a Schedule I drug.” — American Academy of HIV Medicine, letter to New York Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, November 11, 2003

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