Same old tired arguments against dispensaries = more access to marijuana for high school kids (wake up Mommy and Daddy - they can get WHATEVER they want at school) ... hey Mr. Ball - I'm HAPPY that it's easy to get a card -- I believe that ALL marijuana smoking by those at least 18 years old IS medicinal ... and Police Chief Bosel - you are personally against medicinal marijuana, and your statements that it will allow "... high school students ... " easier access -- AGAIN, WAKE UP PEOPLE! HIGH SCHOOL KIDS ALREADY HAVE ACCESS TO THE BEST MARIJUANA ON THE MARKET, especially the well-to-do kids from our Mt. View/Los Altos/Palo Alto areas ... IF THEY WANT IT, IT'S EASY TO GET ... denying convenient dispensaries to local residents who need the medicine WILL NOT IN ANY WAY limit access to marijuana by local high school students -- I know - let's just show the high schoolers "Reefer Madness" to educate them on the true, life-and-death dangers of the evil weed ... NOT! ... the Mt. View city council is apparently seriously intimidated by the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department as it is that law enforcement bunch who work to find ANY reason to raid and shut down dispensaries -- it's called "JOB SECURITY" on their part, and busting a medical marijuana dispensary is the easiest and safest bust they make -- never any violent response from the dispensary employees, and confiscated bags of LEGAL marijuana that make a great photo opportunity ... to the members of the Mt. View city council, I VOTE AND I HAVE A VERY, VERY LONG MEMORY OF IGNORANCE AND INCOMPETENCE ON THE PART OF MY ELECTED OFFICIALS ... I'm just sayin' ...

We need to dis-incorporate all the cities, all they do is pass illegal restrictions on us that go beyond state/federal law when they are only authorized to add protections (if that) not further erode our rights beyond state/fed laws. These council members only serve the vocal minority and special interest.

Many of California's cities are a huge fiscal waste. They duplicate services, have ridiculous pay/benefit packages, and do little to help the average citizen. Why would anyone want to pay for that? I hope all these cities go bankrupt and are forced to dis-incorporate and return back to the county control. I can drive through 10 cities in about 15 min and it it ridiculous and a complete waste of tax payer money!

Too many transplants are moving here and changing the make-up of our society. They want to import their socialist/communistic values instead of adopting our American way of live-and-let-live freedom. We are becoming a nanny state that wants to tell us what to ingest, eat, say, do, color to paint our house, how high our grass should be, what kind of car to have in our driveway, what we can do with OUR property, and just generally impose their will upon us with threats of financial and liberty penalties.

This great country is becoming almost unrecognizable anymore. We are becoming less free like never before. Free-will and free-choice is being stripped away and it is quit sad to see.

I guess I will just continue to go to San Jose and San Francisco and give THEM my money and tax dollars to get the medicine I need.

I would have preferred to give it to my own City, but....

Not a big deal. There are many places very close to Mountain View for patients to get their medicine. Right now there are too many people abusing the system. From doctors to "patients" it is wide spread. The whole system is flawed. Many people buy to sell. Many doctors hold 'mass exams' where as many as 30 people show up and are processed and issued recommendations in as little as an hour.
I am in support of medical marijuana but not the way it has been structured.

The City Council made the right move. I just wonder why they wasted so much time on this silly topic when there are much more serious issues to address to maintain and improve this city.

It's about time the city council had some backbone!

The Mountain View City Council decided last night that the sick and suffering patients of Mountain View and surrounding cities do not need access to their medicine. Not once did anyone on the Council even so much as suggest they should protect their ailing constituents. Instead, the Council all but stated outright that they are not leaders, and that they will cower behind the unjust bans of surrounding cities and ignore the will of the voters of Mountain View.

Although Prop 215 passed almost 15 years ago, patients and caregivers continue to face regular harassment just for using this extremely safe and natural medicinal plant. Patients can be fired from their jobs, evicted from their homes, and even arrested. For this reason, most medical cannabis patients are unwilling to stand publicly in front of the City Council to fight for their rights.

But, as events in Egypt, Libya and Wisconsin demonstrate, courage is contagious. I call on all medical cannabis patients and their families and supporters in Mountain View to step forward. Bombard the City Council with calls and emails. Write to the Mountain View Voice. Express your disgust that ignorance, fear and lies trumped science, reason and compassion in your home city.

Last night, our City Council brought shame on themselves and on our city by abandoning the sickest and weakest among us. They allowed their cowardice to determine public policy. What a dark day for Mountain View.

Jonathan Steigman
Communications Director
Americans for Safe Access, Silicon Valley Chapter
Mountain View resident

Thank goodness there is hope for common sense even in California! Truly the right decision for this community. I have yet to meet a terminally ill person smoking pot on the streets of Mountain View (you remember, that is who the medical marijuana law was supposed to help), but I've met lots of medical marijuana card holders getting high. Getting stoned is NOT medicine, anymore than getting drunk, snorting coke, or using meth. Sorry Potheads, please go get high elsewhere! Yeah for the Mountain View City Council!!!

What I don't get about the comments here is why people feel it's their business to worry about what other adults are choosing to do of their own free will when it dose not impact them in the slightest. Some say they don't like the easy access, who cares? It's not your business and your not even a medical marijuana patient so why be a hater just for hater sake? Doesn't really make much sense, not to mention you would not like someone interfering in your medical issues/choices.

Even if a great deal are using the system to use recreational marijuana, again who cares? Alcohol causes much more issues, especially for downtown Mtn.View with the illegals at that euro-trash run nightclub fighting, drinking, speeding, drugs, driving drunk ect; not to mention the tax-evasion and defrauding the federal/state government going on downtown by the same club and many restaurants near by that goes ignored, even though it is perpetrated in plain sight.

People should mind their own business and stay out of adults personal/medical choices. No one would like anyone else telling them what to do when it dose not even effect them personally. Go after the real violators and abusers, not the medical/recreational marijuana user.

OG, +1

Its human nature to hate, so sad indeed. I quit but will smoke again.
I don't drink or take RX's cause those chemicals are not good for me.
MY DECISION, not yours.

Thanks Mountain View City Council for opening my eyes to the ways of corrupt politics at a local level. Jac, Ronit and Margret were all smiles and in total agreement about allowing medical cannabis dispensing collectives in Mountain View just one year ago, leading up to all three of their successful re-election efforts. You have turned a fight into a crusade, all in the name of sick and suffering patients by turning your heads on this important issue. When the court system decides that your action is against state law, then what? Qualified Patients Association vs City Of Anaheim is still pending. You could have at least took option 1 and sat on it for a year but that's right sticking your head in the sand is easier. Shame on you all.
Brian David

If it is a drug to be used for medical purposes it should be ONLY via a doctors prescription and available in a drug store - not some store operated by advocates of its use. What would be wrong with getting this drug in the same manner as any other medical drug?

The City Council members, et al., who spoke about awaiting federal "guidance" on the issue and about proper sale only occurring in pharmacies need to be reminded that the argument about the legitimate use of medical cannabis was settled for Californians in 1996: Web Link

PROPOSITION 215, the California Compassionate Use Act, was enacted by the voters and took effect on Nov. 6, 1996 as California Health & Safety Code 11362.5. The law makes it legal for patients and their designated primary caregivers to possess and cultivate marijuana for thier personal medical use given the recommendation or approval of a California-licensed physician.

SB420, a legislative statute, went into effect on January 1, 2004 as California H&SC 11362.7-.83. This law broadens Prop. 215 to transportation and other offenses in certain circumstances; allows patients to form medical cultivation “collectives” or “cooperatives”; and establishes a voluntary state ID card system run through county health departments. SB 420 also establishes guidelines or limits as to how much patients can possess and cultivate. Legal patients who stay within the guidelines are supposed to be protected from arrest.

This is a law. I hope that the Anaheim case, which is taking a long time to be decided, will show that cities and counties don't get to chose which laws to honor. The issue that should be at the top of the list for Mountain View and elsewhere is "best practices" of regulation.

Just because you haven't personally met a legit patient doesn't mean squat. We're out here. And we didn't game the system in order to get our legal recommendations. We presented our medical records and spoke honestly with a doctor in order to procure high-quality medicine legitimately and safely. We regard marijuana as a serious medication, and we use it as adults, i.e., not around our children or in public. Many of us work with you and are your neighbors: we just don't trust your judgement enough to share with you our medical conditions or the way we seek relief from them. The ignorance (as witnessed last night and which continues to plague this issue) and stigma around medical marijuana is still too great.

The federal law will eventually change, and prop 215 will have helped the cause greatly. It's a shame Mountain View isn't really a part of that California. The California that leads and causes things to change. How did they ever allow Google here?

I'm starting to believe the poster above that we'd be better off if we didn't have cities to control us.

My husband is about to start chemo and I'm a working mom w/ 2 kids. Thanks Council members. We'll be looking into the home delivery option now.

Don't confuse me with the facts, my mind is made up... Perhaps each and every one of us should watch the 1930's movie "Reefer Maddness". What we have here is a prime expample of teaching people what to think instead of how to think. Is this our legacy?

I live in Mountain View and don't have a car. It's too much of a hassle to get all the way down to San Jose just to pick up an 1/8. It worries me to order medicine off craigslist and have it delivered or meet strangers in a parking lot. No problems so far, knock on wood.

To dennis and others saying you should get it from a pharmacy. This is not even possible! Marinol is expensive. Cannabis buds, while "expensive" (because of federal law), are much cheaper than Marinol and the way nature intended. We all know the federal law should change, but right now cannabis clubs are the best solution to get your marijuana. Mountain View should support state law and bring that federal change by allowing people do what state law allows!

I think Mountain View needs to stop being a wet noodle and actually take one position on the issue. First they ran a dispensary out of the city, then last issue the voice reported that they drafted and ordinance to allow dispensaries, and now in the current issue it's no-deal again. Regardless of anybodies opinion, I think we'd all agree that they are alienating any possible supporters on both sides of the fence and losing any credability that they may have carried.

That said, I have found both pro-dispensary and non-dispensary arguments to ultimately be rather ignorant on both sides of the coin. I think the one truth that remains is that the standards for which to own a cannibus card, and monitoring how it is used needs to be approved. I have friends that aren't even the slightest in need of medical marijuana and have obtained a card anyway. They also abuse the privelages of medical marijuana to supplement their income by re-selling to their friends and other drug users.

I must say that even if it is easy to get a card, cannabis is safer than virtually anything else out there. If adults are treating minor headaches and aches and pains with topical creams with cannabis, good for them! Stop trying to demonize cannabis because of it's history as an illegal drug. If you prefer to give your money to the pharmaceutical companies that buy their way into the market and generate huge profits at the expensive of consumer lives, don't drag us along with you. Thank you very much.

I'm dying to know what happened with Don Ball's arthritis! There are topical creams for this sort of thing.

Mountain View is a GREAT town. Aiiowing medical marijuana won't HURT anyone or anything but improve our economy & invite more businesses like PRESIDENT OBAMA has been PROMOTING. After all we did get his BLESSINGS & called off his goone squads has long has we stay within the CALIFORNIA's laws & guidelines so cut out the EXCUSES !

Its too easy to get a prescription for opiate pain pills. All one needs to do is go to their doc and fake a thrown out back. In 10 mins you'll walk out w/ a note entitling you to hard core opiate narcotics
that you can take to the opiate dispensary to get a bottle full of pills. Pills that our high school kids are increasingly abusing. This is the highest growth area of abuse for high schoolers.
The hypocrisy of it all is noted as are those who voted against. See ya.

Comparing the availability of Rx's to MJ is ridiculous. For back pain, an MD give a limited supply to limit abuse. Various measures are in place to stop doctor shopping. That said, some people just want to feel good all the time and are essentially addicts.

It is very easy to get a doctor's recomendation, and possibly a bit too easy. Like the mayor, I applied for a card and got one for a relatively minor problem. I did it more as an experiment than anything else, but I was surprised to find medical MJ actually helped.

In my case, it is for a lingering back pain from an old motorcycle accident. The minor pain is far from debilitating, and I pretty much just ignore it. What I hadn't realized is how it affected my sleep. Now, with a very small amount of MJ, I get a full night's sleep. It is amazing to wake up refreshed in the morning. I didn't realize how much I was missing.

So, I'm pretty mixed about the experience. I have the card, and I got it much too easily. I wouldn't object to tightening up the eligibility, but I'd probably rule myself out in the process. Oh well, life isn't always simple.

I guess I understand Mountain View's mixed feelings about dispensaries. Hopefully things will change as MJ gains more acceptance and the guidelines become more established.

@Ted, then I guess all this abuse of pain pills I read about is false,
and the lady next door who brags about how easily she can get them by making up stories, is lying.

member: You say MJ helped you sleep but you want to "tighten up the eligibility" so people like you would no longer be able to use it? Why on earth? Are you so brainwashed by years of dishonest propaganda that even your own positive experience isn't enough to recommend it to yourself?

Cannabis is much safer than any painkiller, including aspirin and tylenol. It does not damage the liver or kidneys. In fact, studies at UCSF and Kaiser have found no increase in lung cancer and no increase in mortality even among heavy cannabis users. In addition, cannabis rates very low on the addiction scale -- way below alcohol and caffeine. Web Link

It should NOT be hard to get a doctor's recommendation for the simple reason that cannabis is an extraordinarily safe and effective natural medicine for a huge number of conditions. Please don't be a hypocrite. Stand up for yourself and others, and for your right to use a plant with 10,000 years of medicinal use.

Jonathan Steigman

These posts have been moved from a duplicate thread, which has now been closed:

Posted by Giovanni, a resident of the North Whisman neighborhood, on Feb 24, 2011 at 9:31 pm

Thank you City Council! No need to make it any easier for our children to fall into the trap of drug use. We don't need this in the Bay Area, bad enough it's all too easy in other parts of our State:

Web Link

Web Link

Web Link



Posted by Alex, a resident of another community, on Feb 25, 2011 at 10:39 am

Most of the people that showed up to this meeting are the self appointed MORAL police which probably don''t even know what Marijuana is. Really, why is it so harmful?? because some people think it is? Bill is right, these folks need to get off their Ambien and Oxycontin.


Posted by Alex, a resident of another community, on Feb 25, 2011 at 10:43 am

I also want to post a "LOL" and LMAO" regarding the comment by Giovanni about how it seems to be easier to get Marijuana in other parts of the state. The city of Mountain View is shooting itself in the foot by not supporting facts, reasoning and safe medecine which should be available to all without some American version of shariah law.


Posted by HC, a resident of the Shoreline West neighborhood, 13 hours ago

We don't need the problems that San Jose has with illegal re-selling of the drug, trafficking the cards or the crime that follows it.

With the (non punishment) max penalty of 100 bucks for smoking without a medical permit, the whole thing is silly IMO.
I watch 2 people quietly pass a joint back and forth at the transit station last week. Nothing happened. I guess it helps keep the street dealers working...they can add to the economy with their profits.

I am disappointed with the council for doing an abrupt about face on this. I would have spoken in support, but all indications were that the council was going to just extend their non-decision longer. That would have been okay. The council should know that they hear predominantly from those who dissent with their indicated direction. Giving in to the vocal minority so abruptly isn't good representation.

I'm proud of the City Council for doing this. The ones that voted down the dispensaries have my vote next time they come up for re-election.

Looks like we will have to wait until November 2012 for safe access. I hope to create a ballot initiative to let the voters of Mountain View decide at that time.
In my attempt to remove the criminal aspect of medical cannabis I am forced back underground by the same bodies that are supposed to enforce the laws... what a shame.
Brian David
Executive Director
Shoreline Wellness Collective

I will never vote for Margaret or Ronit again. Should elected officials really be so afraid to take an actual stand on something that they will roll over with ease? People comparing marijuana to cocaine and meth, I don't even believe that you believe that. If you don't know the facts about marijuana by now then you are ignoring science in favor of self righteous judgement. So what's the answer? Maybe a war on drugs? Yeah, that must be it. Should be easy.

"Should elected officials really be so afraid to take an actual stand on something that they will roll over with ease?"

-------

Um, the Council did take a stand on this issue, just not the one you preferred. Let's remember, the Council made a commitment to study the issue, nothing more. Whatever comments made by the Council last year were a reflection of their assessment, based on the information at the time. Its obvious new information/circumstances (every neighboring city instituting a ban) influenced the Council's decision.

This is encouraging to me, because it shows that this Council is willing to make decisions based on information and not hyperbole, being intentional, as opposed to reactionary.

I don't always agree with Council decisions, but as long as they make decisions based on accurate information and with the full scope of Mountain View's interests in mind, that is preferable.

Voting for the ban at this time was the smart move for the City. It minimizes risk, while providing options for the future. It gives us a chance to see how these dispensaries will work out in other communities, what benefits they bring, and what unintended consequences and drawbacks reveal themselves.

I don't mind being a beta tester for the next version of Halo, but I'd prefer to have others experiment with this concept of dispensaries, one that really doesn't make a lot of sense to me, nor do I believe provides the city as a whole redeeming benefits.

But then again, time will tell.

"Even if a great deal are using the system to use recreational marijuana, again who cares?"

---------------

Um, so if the system being advanced fails to curb abuse of a drug with a history of abuse, that's ok?

By taking this position, you are effectively advocating for recreational use of marijuana and enabling that use by justifying it under the guise its "medicine".

That is exactly what many people are suspecting the current medicinal marijuana movement is all about: a Trojan Horse for recreational use.

"People should mind their own business and stay out of adults personal/medical choices. No one would like anyone else telling them what to do when it dose not even effect them personally."

---------------

No one is infringing your right to use marijuana for medicine. Its been repeatedly pointed out, that marijuana is readily available, even without the dispensaries.

Like every other freedom, the right to personal choice includes responsibilities.

Mature adults understand this. You don't live in a vacuum. You affect others, either by your action or inaction. And as long as you live in an organized society, you need to consider others along with yourself.

Yes, this society does allow consumption of alcohol for recreational purposes. And we see the results of people overexercising their "freedom" to drink, and disregarding the responsibility to do so in a manner that doesn't cause drunk driving, physical abuse, and addiction which DO affect more than the individual.

By comparing marijuana to these vices and opining that its no "worse" than these social ills, is missing the point. Rather, we should be concerned whether it is any "better", and I haven't seen any evidence to support it is.

1) Get a state handout (work is for the oppressed comrade)

2) Spend it on "medicine" I.e. Weed, dope, ganja, etc...

3) Get high

4) B**ch about how you're being exploited by the rich man

5) Go to step 1

Good! Mountain View doesn't need the jobs or Tax Revenue.

Let some other city that needs money and jobs do it.

Every friday night there will be 4:20 Mountain View happy hour at various locations downtown. Tomorrow's will be at the train station.
Bring your own. The risk will only be a 100 dollar "traffic" ticket. If you have a card, you're safe. Time for the social evolution to continue.

San Jose announce they may shut down the clubs. Too many problem vs the revenue they get. I guess someone in the council did there homework.

Web Link

Web Link

"Good! Mountain View doesn't need the jobs or Tax Revenue.

Let some other city that needs money and jobs do it."

---------------

This keeps coming up as a potential benefit from the dispensaries, but what is left out of consideration are the COSTS, direct and indirect, that come from having a dispensary within city limits.

San Jose is experiencing the other side of that bright, shiny coin.

Web Link

What some of you have ignored is the abuse going on. I'm again not saying that this medicine works or not. I'm not demonizing anything except the current sytem. No one here can argue the system isn't flawed. And those that do are in denial. I recommend a drive to a local dispensary and watch the activity.

I did research for an article I was preparing on just how easy it is to get a recommendation, then the ease in getting what I wanted. I got a recommendation card after telling a man claiming to be a doctor that I had problems getting to sleep on occasion. There it was. A recomendation within a half hour. I didn't need any doctor report or finding. My word got me a recommendation.

Next it was time to chck out these 'clubs', 'dispensaries'. I was in one in San Jose, on one of the major industrial streets in a small business park. 3 security guards out front that asked for my paperwork. They are not doctors but young kids that have no business in my business. I showed them in order to enter their business.

Once in the place there were maybe 30-40 different types of marijuana. They sold plants, and they also had an extensive display of snack type foods with THC as well as drinks, including their version of Kool-Aid.

Besides that I was looking at the people there. I promise you that there were teenagers there in groups of 3-5 kids. Each of them purchased a minimum of an once each. I'm pretty sure I shook my
head at that point. With that said there was also a number of people with visable medical issues.

I mentioned a while back I do support the use of medical marijuana because I saw first hand what it did for someone dear and close to me. A cancer patient that couldn't eat because of stomach pains. She decided to try medical marijuana. The next day or so she was eating solid foods, and after a month she even gained some of the weight she had lost back. I honestly believe cancer would have gotten to her a lot faster had she not gone with this form of medicine.

To find out what other people are thinking regarding this issue, check out the video, currently posted on the front page of the Voice's website.

Get the facts. Here is a new documentary on Medical Cannabis: Web Link

Yes, let's discuss facts:

The sponsors of the webpage about medicinal marijuana you linked to is sponsored by the following organizations:

1. AMERICANS FOR SAFE ACCESS The nation’s largest organization of patients, medical professionals, scientists and concerned citizens promoting safe and legal access to cannabis for therapeutic use and research.

2. LEGAL CANNABIS INSTITUTE The Legal Cannabis Institute has a mission of helping all medical marijuana patients understand their rights and responsibilities under the law, our law classes are taught by attorneys.

3. SAN DIEGO HERBAL ALTERNATIVES We have some of the most beautiful and potent flowers around offered at a very minimal donation base! We carry many different strains of flowers, edibles, and concentrates to meet all your medicating needs.

Considering the source(s), I'd say your "facts" have a definite slant to them.

Hardin: The links you cited above offer no evidence that cannabis dispensaries are causally linked to any increase in crime. Not in San Jose, not in Martinez, not in San Leandro. Want to know why?

Because there is NO EVIDENCE. The fact that the police department in San Jose claims they have problems is not evidence. The San Francisco police chief made a similar claim until he was challenged to provide evidence. When he was unable to do so, he backed off his claim. The Los Angeles police chief has stated unequivocally that dispensaries do NOT cause crime, and that banks are robbed at 4 times the rate of dispensaries.

Baskin-Robbins ice cream parlors get robbed all the time. Should we ban them?

City Councils up and down the Peninsula are demonstrating ignorance and cowardice rather than leadership. They are spitting on tens of thousands of patients and subverting the will of the vast majority of their citizens who voted 15 years ago to allow compassionate access to medicinal cannabis.

Thom: Just because there is abuse in the system is no reason to punish legitimate patients by preventing access. There is far worse abuse of the legal pharmaceutical industry. Vicodin, Oxycontin and Ritalin are dangerous and addictive drugs that are regularly sold and traded in the underground market, often by and to kids. Are you prepared to shut down Walgreens?

Unlike all those pharmaceuticals, cannabis is overwhelmingly safe. It does not damage the liver or kidneys. There has never been a single death from overdose or allergic reaction in all of human history. Cannabis is effective for literally hundreds of conditions with no increased mortality even among heavy users.

Doctors who issue recommendations know that cannabis is extremely effective for a wide variety of mental and physical conditions and is extraordinarily safe. You could go to a regular doctor and complain about insomnia and he would prescribe you a dangerous and toxic pharmaceutical sleeping pill. So why are you complaining that your cannabis doctor recommended a much safer herbal remedy instead?

Jonathan Steigman
Americans for Safe Access, Silicon Valley Chapter
Mountain View resident

Mr. Steigman,

Give it up and move on. This issue is no longer an issue for Mountain View. Go smoke some weed and calm down.

Due to repeated violations of our Terms of Use, comments from this poster are automatically removed. Why?