PROPOSAL OPPOSITION APPEARS MISGUIDED

Your opposition regarding the proposed establishment of
county-licensed medical marijuana "compassion centers" appears to be
misguided.

Under present law, qualified patients have the legal option to use
marijuana therapeutically under their doctor's supervision. Yet the
law fails to provide these patients with safe, legal, consistent
above-ground access to their medicine.

Senate Bill 2213 seeks to rectify this situation by providing patients
with access to medical marijuana in a strictly controlled,
state-regulated manner. Similarly regulated facilities are operating
in New Mexico, and soon will be implemented in New Jersey, Maine and
Rhode Island.

Opponents of this proposal invariably point fingers at California,
where the adoption of unregulated dispensaries has flourished in a
handful of counties, most notably Los Angeles. Yet this proliferation
only exists in regions of the state that have failed to control
dispensaries in the manner proposed by SB 2213.

Further, even in counties like Los Angeles, police records indicate
that these facilities are not magnets for crime.

The goal of SB 2213 is not to encourage the broader use or
availability of marijuana but rather to provide seriously ill patients
with an alternative to the criminal black market.

Paul Armentano

Deputy director, National Organization for the Reform
of Marijuana Laws, Vallejo, Calif.