JUST SAY 'NO' TO WAMMFEST MEDICATION

This coming Tuesday, Santa Cruz City Council members will once again
be faced with deciding if the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical
Marijuana WAMM should be granted an exemption to the non-smoking
policy for San Lorenzo Park. The stated need for this exemption is
to allow members to "utilize their medication" during a
festival intended to raise funds and awareness for
the organization. I urge the Santa Cruz City Council to oppose this
exemption.

While I support the mission of WAMM and I recognize that there are
people who legitimately use marijuana for medicinal purposes, I do
not believe that sanctioning the use of our public spaces for this
purpose, and the likely recreational drug use that will accompany
it, is consistent with our goals as a community.

The city of Santa Cruz has invested significant taxpayer resources
in ridding San Lorenzo Park, and the adjacent neighborhoods, of
chronic drug use so that these spaces are again welcoming to the
broader Santa Cruz community, especially families. For the city
to then "open the floodgates" to this use for one day seems greatly
at odds with its policies the other 364 days of the year.

While the event organizers hope to restrict the use of marijuana to
a specific area, it was well-documented by the media that this was
not enforced last year. It is not the intent of WAMM to host an
event that is a destination for recreational marijuana users, but
this trend was also documented by the media. I fear that while WAMM
has good intentions, their goals and mission might be compromised by
others with different goals. Remember, the 4/20 event at UCSC
started out as a small student activity that has now grown to
include hundreds of recreational drug users from across the Bay Area.

A concern that has not been addressed are where these "medicated"
individuals go after the event. They are now under the influence of
a controlled substance. Do they get in their cars and drive? Do they
go downtown, just over the bridge? We have also invested significant
resources in getting drug use out of our downtown area, and I fear
this event will undermine those efforts as well.

Recently my aunt passed away after a brief and intense battle with
cancer. During her treatments, she used marijuana medicinally and it
was the only thing that enabled her to deal with the side effects. I
firmly believe that it is right to have compassion for people with
terminal or serious chronic conditions, whose suffering can be
lessened by the use of marijuana. But there are more practical ways
to express that support. I hope WAMM will rethink its approach to
this event, with the understanding that there are community members
who support their goals but cannot see the logic of lifting the
smoking ban in the park.

I hope that our community leaders will consider the health and
well-being of the entire community and our goals for the use of our
public spaces when casting their votes on Tuesday.