Pubdate: Tue, 28 Feb 2006
Source: North County Times (Escondido, CA)
Copyright: 2006 North County Times
Contact:  http://www.nctimes.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1080
Note: Gives LTE priority to North San Diego County and Southwest 
Riverside County residents
Author: Lori Poceta
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

NEED FOR SAFE MARIJUANA IS NOT GOING AWAY

As a registered nurse who has worked with terminally ill patients, I 
have been interested in your coverage of medicinal marijuana use in 
North County. The Feb. 4 article about the lives of some of the 
people in North County who have benefited from using marijuana for 
medicinal purposes ("Patients worry about county's challenge to 
Compassionate Use Act") should help to dispel the notion that 
medicinal marijuana is a way for "potheads" with imagined disease to 
get the drug legally.

The San Marcos City Council's decision to ban future marijuana 
dispensaries reflects the willingness of many of our policymakers to 
waste money and time. The city will now likely face an expensive 
lawsuit from proponents of the legal dispensaries. This decision 
comes at a time when the county Board of Supervisors has filed a 
lawsuit against the state to try to overturn the Compassionate Use 
Act, which voters passed in 1996. A Jan. 9 poll published in the San 
Diego Union-Tribune found that two of three San Diego County voters 
support the state's Compassionate Use Act.

Pam Slater, Bill Horn and Dianne Jacobs, the supervisors who voted 
for the lawsuit, have to listen to their constituencies. City 
councils have to face reality. The need for safe distribution of 
marijuana to patients whose medical needs warrant its use is not 
going to go away.

LORI POCETA

Cardiff
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman