SUPPORT FOR SUPERVISOR'S MEDICAL CANNABIS PLAN

Editor I read Supervisor Mike Nevin's recommended plan to distribute
medical marijuana through countyrun facilities (Peninsula Friday, November
21) with mixed feelings.

It is a breath of fresh air compared to Dan Lungren's standard approach of
using his bully pulpit to reshape the entire issue, putting medical
cannabis and marijuana for recreational use in the same context. For
example, I see no heroism in California drug agents seizing and destroying
an ancient medicinal herb that dates back 4,000 years, never killing a
single soul, when it can be recycled back into our communities for medical
use.

The only thing I take some issue with is that legitimate medical cannabis
centers that have worked diligently with law enforcement and city
officialssuch as the Santa Clara County Medical Cannabis Center (SCCMCC)
should receive the proper respect and recognition for pioneering new
ground in a politically hostile environment. Over 20,000 seriously ill
patients have been serviced by such facilities statewide. Thanks to the
dedicated medical cannabis operators like Peter Baez and Jesse A. Garcia
who founded the SCCMCC and who are both struggling with lifethreatening
illnesses of their own seriously ill patients no longer suffer
needlessly waiting for legislators to decide when it's politically correct
to implement a viable alternative plan. San Jose and other centers in the
Bay Area have a working model, so why reinvent the wheel?

Nevin's approach to have the county dispense marijuana to people suffering
pain from cancer, AIDS and other diseases through hospitals and pharmacies
is a sound one. Our position has always been that if medical cannabis were
available at your local pharmacy, we would shut our doors, as our job will
have been done.

Dr. Dennis F. Augustine,

Santa Clara County Medical Cannabis Center Medical director