The City Council of South San Francisco has recently decided to prohibit the establishment of medical-marijuana dispensaries. Such a decision was influenced by drug cases involving local high school students.
The council voted 3-2 to ban dispensaries after the strong opposition from the community. Mayor Kevin Mullin, Vice Mayor Richard Garbarino and Councilman Pedro Gonzalez supported the prohibition, while Karyl Matsumoto and Mark Addiego dissented. Before this decision was made, the council heard from many community members who were against having a collective in South San Francisco. The council also took in consideration the recent incidents at El Camino High School in which students got their hands on drugs through connections to people with a medical card.
"It's unfortunate that patients in the South San Francisco community won't have a place locally to get their medicine," Scot Candell (an attorney for a group that had been trying to establish a dispensary there) said. "Their choice now is to procure it illegally in South San Francisco or travel distances to get it in compliance with the law. Unfortunately, some patients don't have the ability to travel distances."
Matsumoto (council member) voted against a ban, saying, "I feel strongly that there is a need for medical marijuana. I know there's abuse. But I believe medical marijuana is less insidious than potent drugs."
I personally strongly agree with Matsumoto in that medical marijuana is needed, and it is definitely not as dangerous as many other drugs.
But what do you guys think? Do you think medical marijuana dispensaries should be abolished although it is clearly legal to have them?
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13 comments:
I don't think that marijuana dispensaries shoudl be abolished even though it's legal because some people actually do need it for medical purposes. There is also going to be marijuana drug dealing in schools so banning a dispensarie that is meant to help people, doesn't really stop the abuse of it in high schools. People who need it and cannot travel distances are going to go through the illegal way instead of the legal way and then they risk getting in trouble with the law. I do not think that this will stop any problems in high schools and is inconsiderate of those who need marijuana cards.
I also support medical marijuana and don't think the dispensaries should be closed. I agree with Andrea that closing these dispensaries will not stop high school abuse at all. Kids will always find a way to get what they want, even if it's not in their own city. I think the South City government should have thought this through more. It doesn't seem right to take away people's medicine, especially if it legal. They should at least find ways to compensate those who are unable to travel to other dispensaries.
I support the dicriminalization of marijuana. It doesnt make sense to have marijuana illegal were it is less harmful than alcohol and tobbacco. All drug dealers are against this because if people can buy marijuana legally than drug dealers lose their business. Just like when the prohibition on alcohol was lifted organized crime rate went down.
Similar to pornography, marijuana (and not just medical marijuana) in general really needs to be legalized so we can start doing some proper regulation. Outlawing and banning marijuana just drives the business underground, where suppliers and demand-ers will secure the marijuana anyway, but in more dangerous ways.
Medical marijuana especially should be legalized because it is actually using marijuana for a beneficial purpose. It's common and inevitable for this legalization to be loopholed and have marijuana leaked to the public, but the benefits do outweigh the costs.
Yup, this is pretty foolish. I don't think I'll ever understand how people could support banning marijuana when we already know that people who would use it, just get it illegally, it helps some legitimate medical patients, drug related violence in Mexico has essentially been caused by it being illegal, we could tax it and make some money for the state and local governments and the police waste tons of money and time dealing with petty drug cases and searches. The U.S. has stuck to its guns on this issue for far too long.
I am, sadly, still on the fence on the whole medicinal purpose of marijuana matter. I do not intend to be wishy-washy but I really still don't see the benefits of medical marijuana, although I do agree with Eric in the fact that the best way to regulate this problem is by legalizing it, but anyhow I credit SSF for at least they're trying to solve a problem in their city. Is this the most effective way to temper the illegal usage of marijuana? That remains to be seen. But if the benefits of reducing the illegal usage of a drug outweigh the costs of providing the drug to those in need of it, than I'm all for whatever is best for the society in question, as in ban the drug if need be.
I am totally for the ban. With the lack of ability to control how people use medical marijuana, I support the ban. Given the circumstance of people handing over supplies of marijuana to high school students is apalling. Not because of high school students using it but because it is taking advantage of a service that is suppose to be helpful to the population. Medical marijuana has its benefits but I don't support people using medical reasons to gain access to marijuana and passing it along to others for their own benefit. There are people who fought hard to gain the rights to use medical marijuana and I feel that taking advantage of this service is disrespectful to those people and the community. As of now, I agree to the ban. It is sad that the people who really need it must pay the price for those who break the rules but until society can control medical marijuana dispensaries and the people who have access to these places better, I think it is worth it to close it down.
I think it's kind of ridiculous that they would even consider shutting down the dispensaries. A few isolated cases of inappropriate distribution of marijuana, should not affect the larger population of medical marijuana card holders that benefit from the drug.
I highly doubt that the shutting down of these dispensaries will even make a slight difference in the number of teens using marijuana. The teenagers will just resort to getting marijuana through alternative sources. When there's a will, there's a way...
i'm not quite sure how i feel about medical marijuana yet. i feel that it is so easy to get a card, it seems foolish. i know a kid who, the day he turned 18, went to the doctors, and got his card for "irritable bowel syndrome"..he has also been kicked out of 2 high schools for selling weed. so im pretty sure he wont be using that card the correct way haha. i think more research needs to be done on the effects of medical marijuana, but in the meantime, if ssf felt there was a problem, and they put it up to vote, then i'll support that.
I do not see the piont of this ban on marijuana. if we do ban it then we have to inforce the law which takes alot of time and money. If we remove the ban then it will be taxed and will bring money into our society. As for the dispensarie ban people are just going to have to consult with thier local drug dealer for their medications for now. they better hope that the weed they are buying from the guy on the corner isn't laced with some other kind of chemicals. as for the high school students they shoulod be punish them not the dispensarie. they should at least make it harder to get a marijuana card.
I support Medical Marijuana, and especially the effect it has on the patients who use it. It truely helps them, so depriving the citizens of South San Fransisco of thier medicine is obscene in my eyes. Like what has been said by others, closing the dispensaries only forces people to obtain the medicine illegaly. This can shoot up crime rate and leave the city of SSF with more problems than a dispensary would cause. If anything, teens find it ten times eaiser to get marijauna from the streets-- its cheaper and requires less time and effort. Closing the dispensaries will most likely not help.
Well, banning the establishment of medical marijuana dispensaries in a given city is quite different from abolishing the sale of medical marijuana altogether. Although I agree that it is legal to buy medical marijuana in California and its sale should not be restricted, what is sold in a given community is ultimately that community's call. If citizens don't want drugs being sold in their backyard (NIMBY), then they have the right to vote for the banning of its sale. Though I may not agree with the decision, it was reached in a fair and equitable manner as a result of legitimate concerns, and as such, the decision should be executed.
For several of years Marijuana has been a large controversy not only in the state of California but all over the world. Since a large population of Marijuana consumers are minors such as high school students. I do believe the city of South City is setting a great example and stopping the over use of Marijuana in the streets. The “Medicine Card” as they so call it is a great way to abuse power and not only sell to more to adult but high school students around the community. I do believe some individuals actually depend on Marijuana. Unfortunately they will be forced to travel a distance in order to consume their medicine (Marijuana). In fact many abuse this benefit given to them to expand the drug selling. Although others may argue and say marijuana is less harmful than other drugs it is their surrounding we should be worried about. For example being ”High” can be a devastating change in society for example alcohol people are still irresponsible and consume while driving imagine people under the influence driving this could cause more harm to society and preventing “medicine cards” is one way of stopping this issue.
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