Pubdate: Wed, 28 Dec 2011 Source: Desert Sun, The (Palm Springs, CA) Copyright: 2011 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: Lanny Swerdlow Note: Lanny Swerdlow, RN, is director of the Marijuana Anti-Prohibition Project, a medical marijuana patient support group and law reform organization. Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v11/n729/a06.html WITHOUT DISPENSARIES, THOSE WHO NEED MEDICAL MARIJUANA TURN TO THUGS I do not know whether to be flattered or appalled by the inclusion of my name in your poorly thought-out editorial, "Ban On illegal marijuana providers must be upheld," Dec. 22. I am just one foot solder for the millions of Californians who believe this beneficial herb that has been used so safely and effectively during the past 5,000 years should once again be available. Riverside County government may have the legal authority to enact a medical marijuana distribution ban, but it certainly has no moral authority. Palm Springs is the only municipality in the Inland Empire with the moral authority to go after illegal medical marijuana outlets as they are the only city to have created an orderly process for patients to access medicinal marijuana. Riverside County and every other city have chosen to deny any reasonable access to patients. It is totally hypocritical of The Desert Sun to applaud these bans when you have never called them to task for failing to follow Palm Springs' lead and ensure patient access by enacting a program for licensing, regulating and taxing medical marijuana distribution systems. It is the height of folly to ban any and all distribution systems as most patients, legally entitled to utilize marijuana, will have no choice but to get their marijuana the old-fashioned way: They will buy it from criminals. I am sure the Mexican Mafia, the largest distributor of illicit marijuana in California, is grateful for the bans enacted by our elected officials that you so ignorantly applaud. They will now make significantly more money and will have added incentive to continue raping our national forests in order to grow the marijuana formerly provided by essentially mom-and-pop medical marijuana collectives. Rather than enlighten your readership with facts, your editorial continues to dangle the red herring that the medical use of marijuana is illegal under federal law. If you did a little research you would have found that the U.S. Supreme Court's inaction on two cases on the illegality of state-sanctioned medical marijuana programs, whose losses were appealed by city governments, make it abundantly clear that states can allow for the use of medicinal marijuana even if it is illegal under federal law. A little more research on your part would have undermined the lies supporting the increased crime mantra. There is not one study that shows an increase in crime, but there are several showing the opposite, including one issued by the Denver Police Department in 2010 that documents a significant decrease in crime in areas around dispensaries as compared to areas in which dispensaries were not located. Although your failure to praise Palm Springs for doing the right thing and condemn everyone else is a disgrace, your greatest failure is to see the man behind the curtain manipulating our elected officials and the media. Law enforcement is so contorted over losing their taxpayer-funded $20 billion a year marijuana prohibition full-employment program, that for the past 15 years they have studiously worked to overturn Proposition 215 and to thwart any program that would allow for a licensed and regulated medical marijuana distribution system. I guess a dozen medical marijuana collectives operating illegally to provide patients with their medicine is enough to provoke an outraged response from The Desert Sun, but cops working on the taxpayer's dime to overturn a voter-approved initiative does not meet your required level of outrage. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom