Mayor Alice Patino was not representing Santa Maria seniors and others with medical marijuana prescriptions, who depend on medical marijuana for its health benefits, when she wrote a letter to the San Luis Obispo Board of Supervisors against the opening of medical marijuana dispensary in Nipomo. She also doesn’t have her facts right.
She wrote that “Allowing a target for violent crime to be built … so close to Santa Maria would be irresponsible as it would likely place a burden upon Santa Maria Police [Department] and the Santa Barbara [County] Sheriff’s Department.”
Where is Mayor Patino’s proof that a medical marijuana dispensary would be a target for violent crime? There is none. Historical records prove otherwise. In fact, Ethnobotanica, the owner of this legal business, provided a detailed security plan for the location, which includes indoor and outdoor cameras as well as an on-site security guard, who will be posted at the store for 10 hours a day, seven days a week. So much for the burden it would be on Santa Maria police.
The SLO County Planning Commission heard arguments like those made by Mayor Patino and voted 3-1 in favor of the dispensary. The community has spoken.
Why should Mayor Patino step across county lines to pressure the supervisors in San Luis Obispo to overturn their commission’s work? The answer is she shouldn’t. By doing so, she can only do harm to the people who need medical marijuana in San Luis Obispo and Northern Santa Barbara counties.
This article appears in Aug 6-13, 2015.
