PERMISSIVE POT LAWS A PROBLEM

It's hard to separate people who really need medical
marijuana from people who just want to use an illegal drug.

Pity the poor Chico City Council, which is trying to make sense of a
nonsensical law. Last fall, fearful residents asked the city to
address the problem of stinky and dangerous pot-growing operations in
neighborhoods. The marijuana was being grown by people with medical
marijuana prescriptions, which means they have a legal right to grow
it, but the plants smell like a skunk at harvest time in the fall, and
armed confrontations sometimes erupted as pot pirates attempted to
steal the backyard weed.

On Tuesday night, after months of research, the council considered
City Attorney Lori Barker's attempt to put some structure to the
nebulous laws.

The council eventually made some changes and then sent it to the
Planning Commission for further review. Pending final approval, it
appears the council won't do much to curtail backyard growing and will
even allow dispensaries to hand out pot within the city limits. Right
now, dispensaries are not permitted but they do exist.

The minor changes in backyard growing are that plants must be in an
enclosed yard, at least five feet from the property line and confined
to 50 square feet of growing space. The 50-square-foot limitation
seems useless because the odor travels regardless.

The council thinks it has to do something. Not really. Controlling it
is tantamount to condoning it, and the council shouldn't do that.
Here's another place where the council is placed in a difficult
situation: The councilors are obviously worried about ill people who
need their medicine but ignoring the many people who abuse what is in
effect a prescription drug.

Medical marijuana is important for many, but for countless more, it is
a ruse. Anybody with the inkling to smoke pot legally can get a
medical marijuana prescription for the simplest of maladies. You just
find a compliant doctor, claim massive headaches or anxiety, and get a
recommendation.

In a series last week called "The Politics of Pot," E-R reporter Toni
Scott talked to one doctor's office that hands out medical marijuana
recommendations each Tuesday. The office manager for Chico Natural
Care for Wellness said the doctor sees 40 to 60 patients each week. Do
the math. If the doctor is working eight hours and seeing 60 patients,
that means she spends eight minutes with each patient. That's eight
minutes to discuss, study, diagnose the illness and prescribe the pot.

Would anybody trust a diagnosis that's made in just eight
minutes?

Only if you really want the medicine.

Prescription drug abuse is a growing problem in our area. Permissive
rules toward medical marijuana just add to the problem.