Showing posts with label SLO Supervisor Gibson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SLO Supervisor Gibson. Show all posts
Friday, January 27, 2012
Calling Dr. Borenstein . . .
Doctor B? Please go to www.sewerwatch.blogspot.com Wait, where'd she go? Oh, gosh, there she is, hiding under her desk with Supervisors Patterson and Gibson. Woa, getting crowded under there. Shhh, if you make a sound, they'll simply disappear. But if we wait very quietly, maybe they'll come out and answer Ron's simple -- very simple -- question.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Goodbye, Los Osos. Hello, Bangladesh-By-The-Bay. Happy Days (Will Soon) Be Here Again (Once The Riff-Raff Are Gone)
The 30-plus-year-old game show was over. Time for the losers to pack up and leave. On March 15, the Ides of March, the SLO Board of Supervisors voted to take the sewer project, which means bids will be going out, assessments will likely show up on the tax rolls in Dec. and the financial wrath that is about to set down on the town will commence.
Or, at least a part of it will. The latest cost guestimates are now $163 unless the undeveloped lot owners vote to assess themselves for years in the hope of developing some day. If that happens, the guestimated cost could fall to $134 (plus the cost of hook ups and the cost of water used in the “rates and charge,” which will vary, depending on how much water a household uses.) All of which is an awful irony: This community will likely end up with a “better” and “cheaper” project with the sewer plant “out of town.” Which begs the Eternal Question: Why did it take a recall and a Hideous Sewer War to accomplish that? The community’s wish for a cheaper project with the plant out of town seemed at the time (and still seems) a perfectly reasonable request.
The Usual Suspects were at the meeting, reminding the Board that there were/are cheaper solutions that could/should have been possible if the Board had allowed the promised design build process to play out. That claim ignores the fact that the “promised” design build process -- wherein the best technology and solutions would be allowed to come to the top and the whole project be competitively awarded to the smartest guys on the block with the best solution and the best price, -- was all PR hokum, a wickedly smart Paavo Ogren lie that was accidentally exposed by Noel King blurting out that Los Osos would get a gravity system even before the TAC was selected and started work.
But, no matter, that little “Chinatown” bean-spilling was quickly forgotten and the original lie constantly burnished and dangled before the public until it was no longer useful and was permanently buried by another lie when Supervisor Gibson hilariously claimed he had to kill off design/build to get federal stimulus money for a shovel ready project & etc. Which sounded swell, except for the fact that there was no “shovel ready project.” Not even close. But the ploy worked beautifully in permanently taking design/build off the table, thereby eliminating forever any possibility that a STEP system design would be in the running. Can’t have too much design/build “best technology” running around and maybe showing up with low bids in hand. So, done deal, redux, while the rest of the Supervisors watched with blank faces.
Which they also did when citizens would come to the microphones at various project updates and earnestly ask, “What am I to do? Where am I to go? I will have to leave my home because I can’t afford this project.” No answers there. Not their problem. Not anybody’s problem, really. Not the County’s, not the State’s, not the Feds. So, move along now.
Or get berated from the dais for being whiners and “anti-sewer obstructionists,” or armed and dangerous crazies requiring that a Sheriff be in the back of the room. All for being annoying Los Osos people who endlessly parade before the Board to remind it of its promises, remind it of the problems still unsolved, warn them of pending crises and constantly ask questions that have no answers. (Well, they do have answers, but none that want to see the light of day.)
Questions like, What percentage of Los Osos residents will be forced to move? Who pays the assessment bills for homeowners who default, especially if a whole lot of them do and in a depressed market in the middle of a recession, they can’t sell their homes? What happens to local businesses when $200 a month of previously “discretionary money” is removed from the economy? What happens to the sales tax dollars paid by those businesses when there is no business? And what’s up with the water?
No answers there on the economic side, since nobody bothered to do any kind of affordability studies in the first place. Best not to know. Just build it and they will leave and then try to figure out what to do next, I suppose. Not our problem. Kick the can down the road for some other Board of Supervisors to deal with. Then move along.
And the salt water intrusion issue? Pray that enough recycled wastewater and heavy duty conservation by the community solves the problem, I guess. And people all over town start xerescaping like crazy.
Some public comments and Misc. notes:
-- John Waddell noted that while there was only one bid received from the short-listed three firms qualified to bid on the design, he felt that the bid was “competitive” since the company didn’t know the other two companies had dropped out of the running. One company that did drop out? Montgomery Watson Harza. They cited “Los Osos controversy” as their reason to depart the field. Ingrates! I mean, Supervisor Gibson moved heaven and earth and risked a high degree of ridicule for the “shovel ready” short-listing maneuver that made sure they had a place at the table and then they leave town without so much as a bid? Ah, how sharp the serpent’s tooth. . .
-- The CSD Prez noted that the Board’s taking this project and repaying the $$ owed to the RWQCB helps the CSD’s bankruptcy case to move along. He expressed a concern for the affordability and noted that the cost is comparable to TriW, even five years later and is an improved project what with returning/reusing all the water and adding an ag element as well.
-- Supervisor Meacham (sporting a nifty beard and looking so unlike himself that I hardly recognized him and at first thought he was that actor that plays “the most interesting man in the world” flogging Dos XX beer in the TV commercial) again expressed dismay over the inherent unfairness of having a small group bearing the full cost for a general benefit that will be enjoyed by a larger group, thanks to the RWQCB’s poorly-drawn PZ. Paavo then briefly discussed the possibility of floating a special tax for general benefit for the community, a special tax that would mean people outside the PZ would be assessed for that benefit, (clean water) thereby lowering the costs to the small PZ group (who are actually paying to clean up the water.) Before that discussion could develop, Supervisor Gibson, in usual form, jumped in and in a blizzard of words, buried the whole topic then immediately moved to make a motion to adopt the resolution. It was seconded and passed 5- 0 .
The County now “has” this project. Pray for them. Pray for us. Pray that more grant money can be found. Pray that Supervisor Meacham will again be allowed to bring up the general benefit assessment tax idea without being buried by Gibson. Why Supervisor Meacham (whose district Los Osos is NOT) is the one who keeps bringing this up while Gibson, (whose district this IS) is the one who buries such a notion, remains a mystery. But bless Meacham’s interest in persuing equity.
Oh, the County will be sending out pre-payment information in a few weeks for those of you who have $25,000.00 sitting in your pockets.
Or, at least a part of it will. The latest cost guestimates are now $163 unless the undeveloped lot owners vote to assess themselves for years in the hope of developing some day. If that happens, the guestimated cost could fall to $134 (plus the cost of hook ups and the cost of water used in the “rates and charge,” which will vary, depending on how much water a household uses.) All of which is an awful irony: This community will likely end up with a “better” and “cheaper” project with the sewer plant “out of town.” Which begs the Eternal Question: Why did it take a recall and a Hideous Sewer War to accomplish that? The community’s wish for a cheaper project with the plant out of town seemed at the time (and still seems) a perfectly reasonable request.
The Usual Suspects were at the meeting, reminding the Board that there were/are cheaper solutions that could/should have been possible if the Board had allowed the promised design build process to play out. That claim ignores the fact that the “promised” design build process -- wherein the best technology and solutions would be allowed to come to the top and the whole project be competitively awarded to the smartest guys on the block with the best solution and the best price, -- was all PR hokum, a wickedly smart Paavo Ogren lie that was accidentally exposed by Noel King blurting out that Los Osos would get a gravity system even before the TAC was selected and started work.
But, no matter, that little “Chinatown” bean-spilling was quickly forgotten and the original lie constantly burnished and dangled before the public until it was no longer useful and was permanently buried by another lie when Supervisor Gibson hilariously claimed he had to kill off design/build to get federal stimulus money for a shovel ready project & etc. Which sounded swell, except for the fact that there was no “shovel ready project.” Not even close. But the ploy worked beautifully in permanently taking design/build off the table, thereby eliminating forever any possibility that a STEP system design would be in the running. Can’t have too much design/build “best technology” running around and maybe showing up with low bids in hand. So, done deal, redux, while the rest of the Supervisors watched with blank faces.
Which they also did when citizens would come to the microphones at various project updates and earnestly ask, “What am I to do? Where am I to go? I will have to leave my home because I can’t afford this project.” No answers there. Not their problem. Not anybody’s problem, really. Not the County’s, not the State’s, not the Feds. So, move along now.
Or get berated from the dais for being whiners and “anti-sewer obstructionists,” or armed and dangerous crazies requiring that a Sheriff be in the back of the room. All for being annoying Los Osos people who endlessly parade before the Board to remind it of its promises, remind it of the problems still unsolved, warn them of pending crises and constantly ask questions that have no answers. (Well, they do have answers, but none that want to see the light of day.)
Questions like, What percentage of Los Osos residents will be forced to move? Who pays the assessment bills for homeowners who default, especially if a whole lot of them do and in a depressed market in the middle of a recession, they can’t sell their homes? What happens to local businesses when $200 a month of previously “discretionary money” is removed from the economy? What happens to the sales tax dollars paid by those businesses when there is no business? And what’s up with the water?
No answers there on the economic side, since nobody bothered to do any kind of affordability studies in the first place. Best not to know. Just build it and they will leave and then try to figure out what to do next, I suppose. Not our problem. Kick the can down the road for some other Board of Supervisors to deal with. Then move along.
And the salt water intrusion issue? Pray that enough recycled wastewater and heavy duty conservation by the community solves the problem, I guess. And people all over town start xerescaping like crazy.
Some public comments and Misc. notes:
-- John Waddell noted that while there was only one bid received from the short-listed three firms qualified to bid on the design, he felt that the bid was “competitive” since the company didn’t know the other two companies had dropped out of the running. One company that did drop out? Montgomery Watson Harza. They cited “Los Osos controversy” as their reason to depart the field. Ingrates! I mean, Supervisor Gibson moved heaven and earth and risked a high degree of ridicule for the “shovel ready” short-listing maneuver that made sure they had a place at the table and then they leave town without so much as a bid? Ah, how sharp the serpent’s tooth. . .
-- The CSD Prez noted that the Board’s taking this project and repaying the $$ owed to the RWQCB helps the CSD’s bankruptcy case to move along. He expressed a concern for the affordability and noted that the cost is comparable to TriW, even five years later and is an improved project what with returning/reusing all the water and adding an ag element as well.
-- Supervisor Meacham (sporting a nifty beard and looking so unlike himself that I hardly recognized him and at first thought he was that actor that plays “the most interesting man in the world” flogging Dos XX beer in the TV commercial) again expressed dismay over the inherent unfairness of having a small group bearing the full cost for a general benefit that will be enjoyed by a larger group, thanks to the RWQCB’s poorly-drawn PZ. Paavo then briefly discussed the possibility of floating a special tax for general benefit for the community, a special tax that would mean people outside the PZ would be assessed for that benefit, (clean water) thereby lowering the costs to the small PZ group (who are actually paying to clean up the water.) Before that discussion could develop, Supervisor Gibson, in usual form, jumped in and in a blizzard of words, buried the whole topic then immediately moved to make a motion to adopt the resolution. It was seconded and passed 5- 0 .
The County now “has” this project. Pray for them. Pray for us. Pray that more grant money can be found. Pray that Supervisor Meacham will again be allowed to bring up the general benefit assessment tax idea without being buried by Gibson. Why Supervisor Meacham (whose district Los Osos is NOT) is the one who keeps bringing this up while Gibson, (whose district this IS) is the one who buries such a notion, remains a mystery. But bless Meacham’s interest in persuing equity.
Oh, the County will be sending out pre-payment information in a few weeks for those of you who have $25,000.00 sitting in your pockets.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Really, Mr. Gibson? REALLY?
Ah, yes, Ron Crawford's planning a "Rally to Erode Public Trust" over at http://www.sewerwatch.blogspot.com/.
It's all about why, when Supervisor Gibson huffs and puffs in faux outrage and talks about taking offense when Los Osos residents express a, uh, certain lack of trust in the "county" and "county officials" when it comes to all things sewerish and why experienced sewer watchers snicker behind their hands and mutter, Evidence, Mr. Gibson? You want Evidence? Really? Then roll their eyes.
O.K. Another New Rule
If you're a Republican Tea Party candidate from Ohio named Rich Iott and you dress up in Wafen SS uniforms and play at reinacting way cool Nazi fantasies of invading Poland and gassing Jews while wearing those nice shiney leather boots and all that macho leather and yakkering on about how amazing Germany was and how, ooooh, Viking-ish they all were, all that Master Race stuff, and how much the Germans accomplished, you're either incredibly stupid.
Or you're an S & M leather-fetish, homo-erotic bi or closeted gay.
Deal with it.
And if you're really into all of that stuff, that's fine, but may I suggest you join a group of buffed, oiled-down Spartan reinactors. Plenty of homo-erotic fetish action there . . . without the Zyklon B associations.
Or you can just go away, already. Plluuueeeze.
It's all about why, when Supervisor Gibson huffs and puffs in faux outrage and talks about taking offense when Los Osos residents express a, uh, certain lack of trust in the "county" and "county officials" when it comes to all things sewerish and why experienced sewer watchers snicker behind their hands and mutter, Evidence, Mr. Gibson? You want Evidence? Really? Then roll their eyes.
O.K. Another New Rule
If you're a Republican Tea Party candidate from Ohio named Rich Iott and you dress up in Wafen SS uniforms and play at reinacting way cool Nazi fantasies of invading Poland and gassing Jews while wearing those nice shiney leather boots and all that macho leather and yakkering on about how amazing Germany was and how, ooooh, Viking-ish they all were, all that Master Race stuff, and how much the Germans accomplished, you're either incredibly stupid.
Or you're an S & M leather-fetish, homo-erotic bi or closeted gay.
Deal with it.
And if you're really into all of that stuff, that's fine, but may I suggest you join a group of buffed, oiled-down Spartan reinactors. Plenty of homo-erotic fetish action there . . . without the Zyklon B associations.
Or you can just go away, already. Plluuueeeze.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Is Los Osos Ready To Go To Pot?
In a Dec 10, 2009 story in the Bay News, editor Neil Ferrell profiled Rich Donald. Mr. Donald is presently running an official 215/SB420-compliant medical marijuana cooperative. Called Cannafornia Health Services (www.cannafornia.org) it is a home delivery service for people with medical marijuana prescriptions. They can log onto the site or call 1-888-926-8420 and once their paperwork/prescriptions are confirmed, they can order their medical marijuana in a variety of forms – smoked, vaporized, edible, etc. – and it will be delivered to their door.
Which is a far cry from having sick people having to drive to Santa Barbara to the dispensary there. But while a to-your-door delivery service is an improvement, an official Dispensary would be able to offer a far wider range of services, including nutritional help as well as other “wellness” therapies under one roof. Which is why Mr. Ferrell held a public information forum at Sea Pines Golf Resort on Saturday, Dec 12th, to sound out the possibility of opening a Medical Marijuana Dispensary somewhere in Los Osos.
And Why Los Osos? you may ask. Because various city fathers have closed the door on any dispensaries at this point, so the only remaining places would be communities “in the County.” Since the BOS has not yet taken an official vote on the matter, I emailed the Supervisors and asked the following question: “Presuming [Mr. Donald] jumps through the proper zoning, Planning, Coastal Commission, regulatory hoops, and etc. would you officially support and vote to allow a licensed medical marijuana dispensary to be opened either here in Los Osos or anywhere under your County jurisdiction?”
Only Supervisor Gibson replied: “I support the idea of compassionate use of marijuana. Whether or not I would support a particular project depends on a lot of details that I’d need to see analyzed.
My biggest concern is that a dispensary not act as a thinly disguised emporium for recreational use. That was the biggest issue for me on the proposal that we rejected in Templeton a while back – the operator clearly had some issues and security would have been a problem.
“There are obviously some legal issues, including whether dispensaries are legal at all under Prop 215 and subsequent legislation (not to mention the federal issues). The recent flurry of openings in the L.A. area is pushing these questions to court soon, and it may be best for us if we could see how they play out.
“So, in short, I think it would be possible to approve a dispensary, but the bar will be set very high.
“I think the real solution here is probably to legalize marijuana (either at the state, or preferably the federal level.) Then we could tax it and use some of the proceeds to treat those with addiction problems. This idea is gaining ground in some unusual places – the most conservative rural counties in the state, which are overwhelmed with illegal and semi-legal growing and distribution activity. The next could of years will be very interesting. . . . “
Gibson touches on one of the peculiarities that surrounds both marijuana and “medical” marijuana and it’s this: Given a choice between easing the suffering of sick and dying people and the possibility that some of these people might “get high” from the drug, and/or that some of the people using the dispensary might not really be “sick” but faking it with a prescription from a hack Doctor Feelgood, and/or some underage kids might game the system and get some quality “medical marijuana” rather than the street junk they’re buying now, City Fathers everywhere will always go with suffering. It’s a reverse of our old mantra that it’s better that ten guilty men go free rather than that one innocent man be wrongly hanged. In the case of medical marijuana, it’s better that sick, dying people be allowed to unnecessarily suffer, rather than one fake pothead gets his hands on a better class of drug than the street junk he’s now smoking and gets high.
All of which is the result of America’s streak of a weirdly puritanical and muddled insanity that runs through our DNA: Suffering is GOOD since we’re all Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God, so ingesting a substance that alleviates pain and suffering is BAD. And heaven help us if we even think about ingesting a substance “recreationally” that makes us feel good and giddy and silly and mildly addles our brains. That’s BAD since it’s a sign of moral lack and indicative of a person going down the slippery slope of sloth and sin and heading directly for the Devil’s Playground.
Except in the case of alcohol and tobacco and a variety of other brain-addling, addictive prescription drugs, in which case, Well, that’s O.K.
It does make for some pretty silly pretzel twisting in logic. For example, Pot Dispensaries are banned by City Fathers who declare that they will “attract crime,” yet nowhere have I heard City Fathers slapping a moratorium on pharmacies as crime magnets. And I have yet to see a gaggle of “criminals” hanging around outside The Medicine Shoppe here on Los Osos Valley Road. And Lord knows, The Medicine Shoppe is loaded with serious, serious “drugs.” (And, O irony, located right next door is The Smoke Shop, legally selling one of the most lethal drugs around. Don’t see any “criminals” hanging around the Smoke Shop, though.)
No, our approach to “drugs” is generally nuts and hypocritical and profoundly damaging. But we do dearly love our insanity. Which is why it will likely be a long, uphill battle to ensure that Our Elected Officials actually follow the law – Prop 215 – providing, of course, they can figure it out since it tangles with Federal Law and that law will likely remain unchanged so long as politicians can demagogue it for their own political advantage.
In California, things may get even more complicated since there’s a ballot measure coming up that would legalize marijuana. The special interests groups are gearing up for battle, “The Children” (you know, those poor dears who need saving – from pot, from the gays, from tax & spend Democrats) will be duly trotted out for the television ads, the alcohol industry’s war chest is undoubtedly growing by barrels full and from the polls, it will be a very close, fiercely fought issue.
In the meantime, an Op/Ed piece in the L.A. Times seemed to offer a pretty common sense approach: Until pot gets legalized (and taxed and regulated like liquor and tobacco), treat medical dispensaries like bars and liquor stores: Issue dispensary licenses (properly vetting the owners), site them under liquor sale/store-zoning laws, and check them regularly for violations. Done. Problem over.
Won’t happen, of course. Too sensible. We’re a Nation Stuck on Stupid. Of course, if pot is legalized, then California will be, like, Dude, a State Stuck on High Stupid. Not much improvement. Although sales of Cheeze Doodles will skyrocket.
Meantime, in this county at least, if you’re desperately ill and you and your doctor thinks you can benefit from medical marijuana, you might as well call Cannafornia (or the several other delivery dispensers) since I wouldn’t wait around for anything to change soon.
I mean, who knows whether or not the upcoming pot-legalization bill will pass and if it does, it’ll likely be appealed. And anyway, even if it does pass, the Feds can refuse to recognize it and/or will take forever to get around to changing their laws concerning medical marijuana. And even if Mr. Donald does go ahead with his plans, the County Sups can nitpick, delay or roadblock any decision until the moon turns blue with cold. All of which could take years and years and years and years, by which time you’ll be dead.
Which is how we Americans like it. Relief from suffering is for Godless Commie Pinko Anti-American Weenies. Real Americans stick to Jack Daniels, like God intended!
Which is a far cry from having sick people having to drive to Santa Barbara to the dispensary there. But while a to-your-door delivery service is an improvement, an official Dispensary would be able to offer a far wider range of services, including nutritional help as well as other “wellness” therapies under one roof. Which is why Mr. Ferrell held a public information forum at Sea Pines Golf Resort on Saturday, Dec 12th, to sound out the possibility of opening a Medical Marijuana Dispensary somewhere in Los Osos.
And Why Los Osos? you may ask. Because various city fathers have closed the door on any dispensaries at this point, so the only remaining places would be communities “in the County.” Since the BOS has not yet taken an official vote on the matter, I emailed the Supervisors and asked the following question: “Presuming [Mr. Donald] jumps through the proper zoning, Planning, Coastal Commission, regulatory hoops, and etc. would you officially support and vote to allow a licensed medical marijuana dispensary to be opened either here in Los Osos or anywhere under your County jurisdiction?”
Only Supervisor Gibson replied: “I support the idea of compassionate use of marijuana. Whether or not I would support a particular project depends on a lot of details that I’d need to see analyzed.
My biggest concern is that a dispensary not act as a thinly disguised emporium for recreational use. That was the biggest issue for me on the proposal that we rejected in Templeton a while back – the operator clearly had some issues and security would have been a problem.
“There are obviously some legal issues, including whether dispensaries are legal at all under Prop 215 and subsequent legislation (not to mention the federal issues). The recent flurry of openings in the L.A. area is pushing these questions to court soon, and it may be best for us if we could see how they play out.
“So, in short, I think it would be possible to approve a dispensary, but the bar will be set very high.
“I think the real solution here is probably to legalize marijuana (either at the state, or preferably the federal level.) Then we could tax it and use some of the proceeds to treat those with addiction problems. This idea is gaining ground in some unusual places – the most conservative rural counties in the state, which are overwhelmed with illegal and semi-legal growing and distribution activity. The next could of years will be very interesting. . . . “
Gibson touches on one of the peculiarities that surrounds both marijuana and “medical” marijuana and it’s this: Given a choice between easing the suffering of sick and dying people and the possibility that some of these people might “get high” from the drug, and/or that some of the people using the dispensary might not really be “sick” but faking it with a prescription from a hack Doctor Feelgood, and/or some underage kids might game the system and get some quality “medical marijuana” rather than the street junk they’re buying now, City Fathers everywhere will always go with suffering. It’s a reverse of our old mantra that it’s better that ten guilty men go free rather than that one innocent man be wrongly hanged. In the case of medical marijuana, it’s better that sick, dying people be allowed to unnecessarily suffer, rather than one fake pothead gets his hands on a better class of drug than the street junk he’s now smoking and gets high.
All of which is the result of America’s streak of a weirdly puritanical and muddled insanity that runs through our DNA: Suffering is GOOD since we’re all Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God, so ingesting a substance that alleviates pain and suffering is BAD. And heaven help us if we even think about ingesting a substance “recreationally” that makes us feel good and giddy and silly and mildly addles our brains. That’s BAD since it’s a sign of moral lack and indicative of a person going down the slippery slope of sloth and sin and heading directly for the Devil’s Playground.
Except in the case of alcohol and tobacco and a variety of other brain-addling, addictive prescription drugs, in which case, Well, that’s O.K.
It does make for some pretty silly pretzel twisting in logic. For example, Pot Dispensaries are banned by City Fathers who declare that they will “attract crime,” yet nowhere have I heard City Fathers slapping a moratorium on pharmacies as crime magnets. And I have yet to see a gaggle of “criminals” hanging around outside The Medicine Shoppe here on Los Osos Valley Road. And Lord knows, The Medicine Shoppe is loaded with serious, serious “drugs.” (And, O irony, located right next door is The Smoke Shop, legally selling one of the most lethal drugs around. Don’t see any “criminals” hanging around the Smoke Shop, though.)
No, our approach to “drugs” is generally nuts and hypocritical and profoundly damaging. But we do dearly love our insanity. Which is why it will likely be a long, uphill battle to ensure that Our Elected Officials actually follow the law – Prop 215 – providing, of course, they can figure it out since it tangles with Federal Law and that law will likely remain unchanged so long as politicians can demagogue it for their own political advantage.
In California, things may get even more complicated since there’s a ballot measure coming up that would legalize marijuana. The special interests groups are gearing up for battle, “The Children” (you know, those poor dears who need saving – from pot, from the gays, from tax & spend Democrats) will be duly trotted out for the television ads, the alcohol industry’s war chest is undoubtedly growing by barrels full and from the polls, it will be a very close, fiercely fought issue.
In the meantime, an Op/Ed piece in the L.A. Times seemed to offer a pretty common sense approach: Until pot gets legalized (and taxed and regulated like liquor and tobacco), treat medical dispensaries like bars and liquor stores: Issue dispensary licenses (properly vetting the owners), site them under liquor sale/store-zoning laws, and check them regularly for violations. Done. Problem over.
Won’t happen, of course. Too sensible. We’re a Nation Stuck on Stupid. Of course, if pot is legalized, then California will be, like, Dude, a State Stuck on High Stupid. Not much improvement. Although sales of Cheeze Doodles will skyrocket.
Meantime, in this county at least, if you’re desperately ill and you and your doctor thinks you can benefit from medical marijuana, you might as well call Cannafornia (or the several other delivery dispensers) since I wouldn’t wait around for anything to change soon.
I mean, who knows whether or not the upcoming pot-legalization bill will pass and if it does, it’ll likely be appealed. And anyway, even if it does pass, the Feds can refuse to recognize it and/or will take forever to get around to changing their laws concerning medical marijuana. And even if Mr. Donald does go ahead with his plans, the County Sups can nitpick, delay or roadblock any decision until the moon turns blue with cold. All of which could take years and years and years and years, by which time you’ll be dead.
Which is how we Americans like it. Relief from suffering is for Godless Commie Pinko Anti-American Weenies. Real Americans stick to Jack Daniels, like God intended!
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