Pubdate: Sun, 20 Jul 2014
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright: 2014 Hearst Communications Inc.
Contact: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/submissions/#1
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388
Page: E10

FREE MEDICINAL POT - ONLY IN BERKELEY

The idea is a stunner: Berkeley may soon require free marijuana for 
its poorest residents.

The City Council is close to final approval of a plan requiring 
cannabis clinics to give away 2 percent of their products to those 
earning under $32,000 per year. Unanimously approved on the first of 
two required votes, the plan is sold as a humane medical service and 
a logical extension of the city's ample social services.

Supporters say that medicinal pot languishes outside conventional 
health coverage, and with this law Berkeley is making it available 
for its poorest citizens who can't afford the prices that 
dispensaries charge. It's an equity issue, argue the backers.

But the plan highlights everything wrong with California's haphazard 
pot policies, set up by a statewide vote in 1996. That measure 
endorsed the humane idea of medical marijuana but left out 
all-important factors such as sales, cultivation and enforcement. 
Getting those crucial details worked out has led to more chaos than therapy.

In case Berkeley hasn't noticed, states such as Colorado and 
Washington have moved past the medical justifications for cannabis - 
always a thin rationale - to full legalization. There is no free pot 
in these states, where it's treated as a recreational drug, no more 
and no less.

California's law falls short in other ways. Marijuana may have 
medical value for some who patronize the city's three clinics. But if 
it's such a worthy medication, it deserves to be certified and 
checked. There is no testing or evaluation of the free marijuana, 
just as there's none for the paid-for version. Guarantees of purity, 
potency and basic safety are missing. The one gesture in this 
direction is a requirement that the pot given away be of the same 
quality as the rest of a clinic's wares. Caveat emptor.

If Berkeley is serious about its poor, there are better ideas than 
handing out bags of marijuana. Use the cash equivalent of this 
requirement to expand job training, build housing or subsidize child 
care. There should be more money for homeless programs, mental health 
and substance abuse.

A dose of street sense is missing from the equation.

Reality check I: Plenty of Californians with medical marijuana cards 
are using the drug for recreational purposes; the standards for 
getting a medical clearance are close to nonexistent at some 
"clinics." Has anyone on the Berkeley council seen an ad in an 
alternative weekly lately?

Reality check II: Regular pot can take a toll on motivation, judgment 
and attention to detail. The idea that the city will give away 
recreational marijuana to residents who are unemployed or in dead-end 
jobs is foolish.

Reality check III: Has it dawned on anyone in City Hall that at least 
some of that giveaway weed might end up being sold on the streets?

The low-income giveaway strives to be fair-minded and equitable. But 
it comes with too many flaws and drawbacks to be taken seriously.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom