MEDICINAL MARIJUANA

At times, I notice that the certainty some people express about some
issues is directly proportional to their ignorance regarding those
issues. Hence, the reaction of the Rocklin City Council to the
possibility of a medicinal marijuana store in its midst kind of jumped
out at me.

I acknowledge that sometimes I miss something, but someone would have
to explain to me what I missed here.

The Rocklin City Council does not want a medicinal marijuana store to
provide some relief for people suffering a living hell because Rocklin
has "strong family values" and residents are "highly educated" and are
"high income." The council further reasons that certain ugly
generalizations about medical marijuana shops, such as an increased
"number of people we don't want," are inconsistent with these Rocklin
hallmarks.

First, even married, bright, rich people can get sick enough to
require relief. Second, projecting such bald generalizations on
medicinal marijuana users is little more than bigotry directed against
some of the most vulnerable people in our society.

Let us hope one day that the Rocklin City Council members will stop
reasoning as if they were stoned.

George L. Mertens

North Highlands