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.
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.
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