MEETING ON MARIJUANA PROMPTS CALL TO ACTION

Dozens of people attending a town hall meeting in Los Olivos Tuesday
night agreed that something needed to be done to prevent marijuana
dispensaries from setting up shop in the Valley. The meeting, hosted
by Preservation of Los Olivos, came after the group learned that two
buildings in the Valley and one in Orcutt almost became home to such
dispensaries. The plans reportedly fell through after neighboring
tenants objected. Next week, the Santa Barbara County Board of
Supervisors, at the request of supervisors Janet Wolf and Joni Gray,
will consider a moratorium or an outright ban on medical marijuana
dispensaries.

The majority of those who attended agreed the county should establish
a moratorium on new dispensary applications. Solvang, Buellton and
several other cities in the county have moratoriums on dispensaries,
but unincorporated areas have no such hurdles for those seeking to
open the facilities as long as they are established in the retail
zones. "I see this as a vacuum in the Valley," said POLO President
Kathy Cleary, who moderated the meeting. "The idea that people to
the north are going to come to the Valley to get their marijuana is
troubling."

Many of the people attended the meeting to listen to the PowerPoint
presentation and find out what they could do to address their
concerns to public officials. The presentation touched on the
increase of dispensaries in Santa Barbara, which is attempting to
tighten current regulations on medical marijuana dispensaries. Among
other things, the presentation noted that 52 percent of those who
visit dispensaries are under the age of 30. It also highlighted
several crime reports from several cities and counties where such
dispensaries are rife.

In Los Angeles, the wave of dispensaries has coincided with a 200
percent increase in robberies; a 52 percent increase in burglaries; a
57 percent increase in aggravated assaults; and a 130 percent
increase in auto burglaries near "cannabis clubs." Attendees also got
an overview of federal and state law. The former classifies
marijuana as an illegal narcotic, but the latter allows seriously ill
Californians the right to obtain and use marijuana for medicinal
purposes when such use is recommended by a physician.

Huge concerns centered on lax regulation that some say invites crime
and give young people easier access to the drug. Mary Conway,
coordinator for the Valley Coalition to Promote Drug Free Youth, gave
a presentation that cited research about the harm marijuana causes
to a developing brain. "The scary thing is, kids are telling us that
it's not hard to get a hold of medicinal marijuana," Conway told the
Journal.

Rolf Richter, a social studies teacher at Santa Ynez Valley Union
High School, said a police officer told him that students are going
to Santa Barbara-area dispensaries during their lunch hours. "I've
never noticed such a high rate of absentees during lunch as I have
this year," Richter said. "More students are coming in late. I
suspect they've been out smoking a lot of the time." Solvang resident
Fernando Tovalin said dispensaries encourage marijuana use and crime.

"As a father and a member of the community, the onus is not on us to
prove that it's bad for the community," he said. "It's those who want
to bring it here who have to prove that it's more beneficial than
harmful." Sharon Byrne, a downtown Santa Barbara resident, said the
first time she heard about dispensaries was when an "armed extortion
went down around the corner of my house." "What city that size needs
22 dispensaries?" she asked. "We only have 11 Starbucks. How many
sick people could we possibly have?"

John Baker of Buellton said if marijuana is a beneficial drug, it
should be sold at pharmacies. "It's like what's happening with
Michael Jackson," Baker said. "His doctor is being held responsible
for the drugs he prescribed. If doctors know they're going to be
held accountable, and if it's truly an assistance to a patient, then
do it through the pharmacies." Some public officials and would-be
politicians were on hand to express their concerns.

"I'm very concerned about what I see in Santa Barbra with the
proliferation of dispensaries," said Susan Jordan, who is running for
the 35th District state Assembly seat in 2010. "I have great faith
that the supervisors will put significant restrictions in before
this becomes a county-wide problem." Solvang Mayor Jim Richardson
said the presentation reinforced his belief that his city did the
right thing to ban dispensaries years back.

"I believe it leads too much to the possibility of crime and
loitering and all the bad things that happen, if dispensaries are put
in the neighborhood," he said. But not everyone agreed that a ban was
the answer. Laura Lord, a researcher at USC, left the meeting
disappointed. She thought the presentations showed only one point of
view and used too many scare tactics.

"I find it ironic that today is World AIDS Day, and AIDS was the
reason that proposition 215 was passed," she lamented. "And we're
here at a meeting where we're not talking about compassion or the
issue at all. We're just fear-mongering about all the horrible things
that could happen. We weren't allowed to talk about the positive
impact and the medical value of cannabis."

She said the type of regulations of dispensaries was key, and said
California areas such as Sebastopol, Oakland and North Hollywood
allow the facilities, yet don't have the problems running rampant in
Los Angeles, where she works. "If you set the regulations properly,
they function well and you don't have these problems."