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People who lose out are those who genuinely need marijuana for medical purposes
By Hempology | October 10, 2007
Daily Forty-Niner, CA Edu
08 Oct 2007
Stephen Sabetti
EXPERIENCE AT COSTCO SIMILAR TO MARIJUANA RAIDS
Have you ever been to Costco? I’m sure you have, so I’m sure you know that they make you show ID at the door, since they don’t let just anybody in. If you’ve got it, you’re free to roam a practical person’s playground. You’re free to indulge yourself in as much baby quiche or in as many toaster ovens as you see fit.
Now, imagine instead of baby quiche and toaster ovens, your ID card opens the door to a world of marijuana. It’s the dream, isn’t it?
This isn’t anything you didn’t know, although it might be a bit exaggerated. Medical marijuana is nothing new. Prop. 215, which legalized the medical use of marijuana in 1996, made California the first state in the Union to enact such a law. It passed with a resounding 56 percent majority.
To give you some perspective, the last president to receive that high a percentage of the vote was Ronald Regan in 1984, with almost 59 percent.
Of course, the idea of the medicinal use of marijuana isn’t just a loophole created by some conniving stoners. In order to qualify for a card, a person must be suffering from AIDS, cancer, glaucoma or a number of other ailments.
The Long Beach Police Department identifies 11 businesses in the city currently providing medical marijuana, many of which are just miles away from this campus. And now, the city is cracking down on them.
This isn’t the first the medical marijuana providers in this city have heard of this. In 2005, the city of Long Beach put a six month moratorium on issuing licenses while the city investigated any legal troubles that might pop up.
Six months later, the city attorney’s office decided against permitting it and issued no licenses, although no legal action was taken against those undeterred by the ruling. But now it looks like that’s going to change.
There are a lot of drugs just sitting on the counters at Rite-Aid, waiting for you to come in and take them. While you shouldn’t get any ideas, the more creative readers out there may have figured something out. And this raises an interesting question: Is marijuana illegal because it’s bad, or is it bad because it’s illegal?
In an interview with the Long Beach Press-Telegram, Councilman Val Lerch told the paper that his wife suffers from multiple sclerosis, which is one of the listed ailments that would qualify for a medical marijuana card. Lerch, who refrained from voting on the issue due to his personal involvement said, “As long as federal law prohibits it, my wife will never use it,” and that he stands by his wife’s decision.
Lerch went on to say “I also support the legal use of a drug that was approved by voters and, from all accounts, has a legitimate value for patients.”
The question that arises here is: What about drugs that weren’t approved by voters but, from all accounts, have a legitimate value for patients?
Ask any incoming freshmen and they’ll tell you that Long Beach and marijuana are quite fond of one another. Just listen to a Snoop Dogg or a Sublime CD if you don’t believe it. There are going to be those people who take advantage of the system.
Unfortunately, the people who are going to lose out are those who genuinely need the marijuana for medical purposes.
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