Pubdate: Wed, 29 Aug 2012
Source: Chico Enterprise-Record (CA)
Copyright: 2012 Chico Enterprise-Record
Contact:  http://www.chicoer.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/861
Note: Letters from newspaper's circulation area receive publishing priority
Authors: Jessica Allen and Kelly Meagher

NO RESPECT FOR DEMOCRATIC PROCESS

The recent actions of three Butte County supervisors show their 
complete lack of respect for our democratic process. By voting to 
move ahead with an ordinance that bans all outdoor medical marijuana 
only months after voters rejected Measure A, they are spitting in the 
eyes of the very same voters who elected them to office.

The previous ordinance failed in every city and supervisor district 
in Butte County. It even failed to pass in the unincorporated areas. 
After claiming to be "fiscally conservative" and in support of 
"smaller government," the supervisors are now taking us down the rat 
hole of government bureaucracy, excessive regulation and unnecessary spending.

The supervisors took an oath to uphold the California Constitution, 
which prohibits introducing any similar legislation for one year 
after voters have rejected it via referendum. Is it that they do not 
think the voters are intelligent enough to make good decisions? Or 
perhaps they do not understand the law and are too caught up in their 
extreme dislike of the cannabis plant to think clearly. Either way, 
their recent actions will leave behind a legacy of lawsuits and a 
mountain of debt for Butte County, all in the name of the 
never-ending war on marijuana.

- - Jessica Allen and Kelly Meagher, Chico
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom