DON'T VILIFY MARIJUANA DISPENSARIES

When are (fill in the blank) going to get it? Everybody else knows
that as biological organisms, we are hard-wired to avoid pain, to
reach for relief that works. This is precisely why medical cannabis
is so popular -- because it works.

With the passage of the medical marijuana initiative, the will of the
people is clear, yet our local law enforcement persists in pouring
limited resources into this ill-advised campaign to vilify anything
cannabis, and to make criminals out of everyone associated with it in
any way. They claim they are only trying to stop abuse but the abuse
is not with the dispensaries that have been bending over backward to
comply with Proposition 215 laws and guidelines, but more with the
"doctors recommendation mills" that have been springing up to cash in
on this bonanza. This hurts me to say since I believe it should be a
fundamental right for every adult citizen to not only grow, possess
and consume cannabis, but also to do the same with any natural herb
that they have found relieves their pain and improves their health.

Nevertheless, I am compelled to descend from my moral high ground in
recognition of other points of view, to meet somewhere in the middle
to try to make sense of this whole situation. This is something law
enforcement has failed to do. Their special interest is clear -- to
continue feeding the prison industrial complex, their source of power
and wealth.

- -- Robert Galia, Chico