Pubdate: Wed, 21 Dec 2011 Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA) Copyright: 2011 Union-Tribune Publishing Co. Contact: http://www.signonsandiego.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/386 Note: Seldom prints LTEs from outside it's circulation area. A MISDIRECTED EFFORT TO LEGALIZE MED POT San Diego's medical marijuana collectives have unveiled a proposed ballot initiative that tries to ensure that dispensaries "operate as good, responsible neighbors" and that seeks to mollify City Hall with the promise of fees to cover regulatory costs and new sales taxes to help the city's beleaguered budget. Nice try. But as long as marijuana remains illegal under federal law, and as long as dispensaries throughout the state flagrantly abuse it, this initiative is a waste of effort. The federal government classifies marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug defined as having the greatest potential for abuse and no accepted medical use and is against federal law for all purposes. California voters in 1996 approved an initiative legalizing medical marijuana and, for most of the years that followed, the feds largely kept their distance, leaving local authorities to keep the dispensaries reasonably in check. But as dispensaries mushroomed, so did the abuses. In October, U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy, whose territory includes San Diego and Imperial counties, and her other California colleagues, launched a concerted effort to shut the dispensaries down. There is zero indication that the federal enforcement effort will be halted certainly not by a local ballot initiative. If proponents of medical marijuana want it legalized, they need to start with the government that has long made it illegal. Good luck with that. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom