PROPOSITION 215 AND MARIJUANA DISPENSARIES

Regarding "Six men plead not guilty after marijuana dispensary sweep"
(Local, July 11):

When voters approved Proposition 215 in 1996, I am sure they were not
thinking that "con artists with a history of prescription fraud" would
be posing as "caregivers" to the sick and dying. Nor, I'm sure, did
they ever envision retail centers for healthy people and criminals to
have easy access to an unlimited supply for resale on the street. Nor,
I doubt, did they think of weed candy bars being sold right along side
the blank prescription forms.

Let us all not forget that marijuana is -- and always has been -- a
weed. The weed being sold at these illegal dispensaries is just that.
It is not an FDA-approved medication produced in a sterile lab setting
like other "medicines." Police Chief William Lansdowne reported that
hundreds of complaints have been filed about "burglaries, assaults and
armed robberies" associated with these dispensaries. It sounds like
there is absolutely nothing "safe" at all about selling unlimited
amounts of marijuana in retail settings.

Dana Stevens

Escondido