DON'T OUTLAW POT; REGULATE IT

I've just finished reading the latest sensational headline in the Aug.
5 Californian about a marijuana grow being taken down, with a
front-page blurb noting that it was near a high school. It has been
pointed out previously that these grows have high fences and are
secure against outsiders getting in or even seeing what's behind the
fence. Do you think the growers were standing on the corner like hot
dog vendors at a ballpark, pushing their pot to the schoolkids walking
by?

At a recent Kern County Board of Supervisors meeting, a comment was
made that a good deal of pot found around the country was grown in
California. My first thought: Would the gentleman who made that
comment rather see it coming out of Mexico?

It's time to rethink what's really going on here. Let's enforce the
laws we have. We seriously need to form a group, including law
enforcement, to draw up regulations and rules for growers, collectives
and patients. That's going to be the best way to ensure what is smoked
or eaten is safe and properly tested. Simply shutting it all down is
just going to drive people back underground. I'd bet the cartels are
paying a lobbyist to push for tighter restrictions that they won't
have to follow.

Kern County supervisors: Show us some real leadership, think outside
the box and find a way to represent all of your constituents.

DARREL DAHMS

Bakersfield