First of all, let me point out that I am not a doctor. I am not a scientist, nor a clinical researcher, nor a nurse practitioner, nor any sort of professional who could write you a prescription or prep you for surgery should you need pills in you or an inflamed appendix out of you.
So, that being said, you should be able to figure out that I am not wading into the current discussion on medical marijuana equipped with the sort of knowledge necessary to gauge the drug’s efficacy or appropriateness.
I do, however, know a thing or two about public meetings. I have way more experience with bureaucracy than with cannabis. That’s not the case with everyone, I know, but it’s the truth. Come to me to talk about the Brown Act, not the Green … uh … well, see? I don’t even know a term I could use there to be clever.
The recent proposal of a medical marijuana dispensary in Nipomo drew a lot of criticism and questions from the people tasked with scrutinizing the project on its way up the ladder. Some of those questions were, I felt, a bit unfair. Asking the applicants whether they had a plan in place for an all-out large-scale attack by gang members seemed a tad excessive.
Ultimately, the South County Advisory Council voted 8-2 to refrain from recommending the project to county planners, which is a blow, certainly, but not a nail in any coffin. The SLO County Planning Commission is set to pass its own judgment in May, and the members there could give the whole shebang a big thumbs-up. Or they might not.
But enough about the facts behind the process. I bring this subject up mainly because at the Feb. 23 advisory council meeting, it seemed like not everyone there believed in the “medical” portion of “medical marijuana.” I got this impression because the meeting was occasionally peppered with laughter, mainly coming from a group who snickered at just about everything that painted medical cannabis in a positive light—including one advisor’s mention of having a sister who had died of cancer, but who might still be alive to day if she’d had access to marijuana to suppress the pain and encourage an appetite as she endured chemotherapy.
Yes, that prompted chuckles.
No matter where you stand on the issue, that’s not OK.
The Canary did once eat a brownie with something “special” in it. That something was pecans. Send comments and ideas to canary@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Feb 26 – Mar 5, 2015.
