Pubdate: Sat, 25 Apr 2009
Source: Desert Sun, The (Palm Springs, CA)
Copyright: 2009 The Desert Sun
Contact: http://local2.thedesertsun.com/mailer/opinionwrap.php
Website: http://www.mydesert.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1112
Note: Does not accept LTEs from outside circulation area.
Author: Scott Logan
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n456/a05.html

DISPENSARIES FOR SAFER DISTRIBUTION

I have a heads-up for Councilman Paul Marchand regarding his no vote 
on the medical marijuana dispensaries.

Black market marijuana is already in Cathedral City and everywhere 
else, and that is exactly the problem.

The whole point of having medical marijuana dispensaries is to take 
the black market out of the loop and provide a safe, clean and secure 
environment in which patients can acquire their medicine free from 
fear of criminal prosecution and the threat of other dangerous 
illicit substances being dealt.

Marijuana in its smoked form provides fast and far more effective 
relief than those drugs the government prefers to provide with 
basically no negative side effects -- unless maybe a bale of it falls 
on your head.

As well, the medicalization of marijuana has provided a fantastically 
more accurate database of how many people are using it, what they are 
using it for, which strains are more effective for what maladies and 
its long-term effects -- which, by the way, are far less harmful than 
all drugs.

The no vote by the Cathedral City City Council is a profound 
statement of ignorance.

Scott Logan
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