Collectives Pose No Harm to Kids

By Heather M.

Cannabis collectives are the equivalent of traditional drug stores, and should be treated as such. There are no bans on the placement of drug stores, and thus there should be none for marijuana dispensaries. Where is the regulation for these chemicals? Some prescription drugs are forms of illicit drugs, including opium and meth-amphetamines. Prescription forms of methamphetamine and other forms of amphetamines are issued to kids on a regular basis. For all society’s effort to keep drugs out of kids hands, we are allowing profit hungry marketers to repackage meth as something safe for kids. We allow self regulation by companies who are pushing some of the most addictive and dangerous chemicals a human can ingest. The danger cannabis poses compared to most prescriptions is minimal.

The potential for abuse and obtainment by children is no greater than any product sold in the local pharmacy. Should an adolescent be determined to experiment with getting high, the first place they will turn is their parent’s medicine cabinet. This can result in the child obtaining a dangerously deadly cocktail of chemical, whereas cannabis has no risk of overdose or death. Because of the relentless advertising for prescription drugs, and a lack of education, children are likely to perceive these as safe drugs, versus the street drugs they have been cautioned against.

Additionally, a parent cannot bring a child into a pharmacy, grocery store, or gas station without being confronted with the two most deadly substances we posses: Alcohol and Tobacco. Both of these highly addictive and completely useless habits are accepted in mainstream society, yet have absolutely zero benefits on health, with the exception of a glass of red wine. Alcohol, tobacco, and prescription drugs claim more lives each year than cannabis ever has, and despite controls, the majority of tobacco smokers still start before age 18.

Even if every drug is eliminated, kids huff household chemicals, or even strangle each other just to get a change in perception. Products to get high are in your bathrooms, under your sinks, in your refrigerator. Thousands of unregulated products are available to use to get high, and the ‘do not ingest’ labels disregarded, resulting in permanent physiological and neurological damages. Do we start restricting the sale of sharpies and canned whip cream? The answer is educating our children, not sheltering them. If we are afraid of exposing our children to the current reality of marijuana being used as medicine, legally, by sick adults with prescriptions from doctors, then we should hold other industries to the same standard of discretion. Unfortunately we cannot shelter our kids forever, and the only way to prevent abuse of any kind is through education. Placing a ban on where a cannabis collective can operate will severely limit patient access without any benefit to our children.

Will Sacramento Discriminate Against Those In Need? – An Analysis of the Recent Medicinal Cannabis Ordinance

Written by: B. MacKenzie

Note from Author: -- After seeing the incomplete and biased coverage of this important board meeting by certain newspapers, Heather and I decided to submit op-eds about this proposed ordinance going on here in our hometown. This is mine, and Heather wrote several which will be posted here as well. Please contact us if you're interested in helping us with the Task Force, writing for the blog, or if you have a topic you'd like us to write about. -- Thanks & Peace, B. MacKenzie

The Sacramento Board of Supervisors has recently decided to postpone voting on the emergency ordinance for limits on medical cannabis. The “Interim Urgency Ordinance Of The Sacramento County Zoning Code Relating To The Cultivation And Dispensing Of Medical Marijuana” would outlaw the sale of edibles, delivery services, outdoor growing, place strict limits on indoor growing, and close the majority of existing dispensaries. But these restrictions will not help restrict access of cannabis to only the sick and dying; but instead hit them hardest, and will not benefit anyone – patient or non-patient. This problem is so complex; it can be hard for someone without insight into the medicinal cannabis community to see how many negative effects this would have on patients Proposition 215 intended to help the most.

This latest proposal highlights the schism that exists between the Sacramento government and the medicinal cannabis community. Many of the proposed limits have been arbitrarily constructed by people without any knowledge of the health science, agriculture, or business of the cannabis world.So little consideration has been put into this ordinance, it’s startling. Limiting indoor-growing operations to houses with more than one room used to grow, for example, excludes patients whose living arrangements do not afford them more than one room – like patients renting rooms, or in studio apartments. Another example is the ban on selling edibles. Edibles are an efficient and discreet way for patients to medicate. Patients with lung conditions or living arrangements that prohibit smoking will be negatively affected if this passes. This effectively denies access of medicine to patients who need to ingest instead of smoking it, who are also unable to do the physical labor of cooking, and/or do not have a caretaker to do it for them.Also, if patients buy cannabis to create their edibles, they will spend more money than if they bought edibles pre-made.

This denying access to the differently-abled is discrimination known as ableism (defined by the OED as: “prejudice against or disregard of the needs of disabled people”). The ban on delivery services also denies cannabis to those with mobility issues or no transportation – especially if the dispensaries in the county are cut, since the nearest will likely be farther away. This ordinance, therefore, is not only ablest, but classist. It would keep cheap, effective medicine from lower-income patients - who less likely have transportation. In addition, the ban on outdoor growing would keep lower-income patients from growing cannabis, since outdoor growing is the cheapest way to obtain cannabis. Indoor-grow setups are prohibitively expensive; sometimes costing thousands for few plants. Since people in poverty are statistically more likely to have serious health issues, any restriction on access to cheap medication is inherently classist.

The public typically sees these patients as replicas of ‘Cheech and Chong’, or otherwise as hardcore criminals or gangsters. This is far from the reality of someone using cannabis for health issues. A cursory glance at MediCann’s ‘Typical Stoner’ campaign shows patients utilizing cannabis from all walks of life, who contribute to society. Marijuana’s reputation as a “dangerous narcotic” taints the treatment of medicinal cannabis, while continued raids and restrictions on legal operations send mixed signals to a public that is unsure about the safety and legality of cannabis.For Sacramento to say that it takes medicinal cannabis seriously, it needs to treat cannabis like any other medicine. The misconception that patients using cannabis are nothing but drug addicts is not worthy justification for differential treatment of medicinal cannabis dispensaries from other pharmacies. No one but a medical doctor has the right to say who is a “real” medicinal cannabis patient, and who isn’t. To blindly qualify some patients as worthy of cannabis and others unworthy is prejudice based on biases against cannabis users, and has no place in medical debate.Cannabis users are not less worthy of medicine than those that use other pharmaceutical medications. These patients have legitimate needs - and California voted for access to cannabis for sick citizens. We cannot let this ordinance pass if we want the sick and poor to continue to have access to this medication. If restrictions to medicinal cannabis benefiting the community, as well as the patients, are to be made, there absolutely must be open communication between patients, scientists, health professionals, and government officials. Without that, the message being sent is that medicinal cannabis is considered a joke, or that the sick and poor deserve to be considered criminals.

Prescription Cannabis

By Heather M.
During the County Board of Supervisors meeting on the emergency ordinance regarding the restriction of cannabis distribution to patients in Sacramento County on Tuesday, it was appalling to see the blatant stereotyping and discrimination perpetuated by those in favor of the ordinance.

Cannabis is a medication. Doctors, researchers, and patients have proven that cannabis is an effective therapy for a variety of conditions. Every person who is a part of the medical cannabis community has seen a doctor, explained their need, in private, and received a prescription. Cannabis collectives are no different than traditional drug stores, except they provide one herbal medication for which they can only ask for donations. Rite Aid, Walgreens and CVS would obviously not wish to dispense a product which they cannot make a profit off of, unlike the rest of the drugs they sell. Pharmacies are not considered a public nuisance, though they are distributing drugs which are repackaged forms of street drugs, including methamphetamines, cocaine and morphine - products which have an accepted medical use, but also a high potential for abuse, which may lead to severe psychological or physical dependence.

7000 Americans die each year from medication errors such as prescribing, product labeling, packaging, and dispensing these drugs improperly. Despite the creative ads, the drugs in the pharmacy can be extremely dangerous. Why is it that no complaints are filed when people walk right outside of a pharmacy and pop open their bottle of pills? Why don’t drug store security question if the label states not to operate heavy machinery when a person takes their medication sitting in the driver’s seat of their car? If a few irresponsible people are indeed ‘lighting up in the parking lot’ they can be dealt with by law enforcement. They are not representative of the community. Additionally, several people who smoke cannabis also smoke cigarettes, and unless a law enforcement professional identified the substance they were smoking as cannabis, there is no validity in these ‘eyewitness statements’. A hand rolled cigarette looks like a joint; pipe tobacco is smoked out of the same device used commonly for cannabis; pipe and cigar tobacco smell much sweeter and smoother than the highly processed tobacco in cigarettes, and could be easily mistaken by a non smoker. The public is no more harmed by collectives operating than any traditional pharmacy, whose customers are just as liable to misuse the products they perpetrate.