Please join me in voting no on measures O and P. 

These measures pose the single biggest threat to our quality of life in Lake County. Both measures seek to allow increased marijuana cultivation with little or no enforcement capability.  

If O or P passes in November, the current and effective county regulations approved by the voters in June (Measure N) will be replaced and our neighborhoods will be overrun by out of county growers seeking to move here to profit on pot. 

Measure O, at first glance seems somewhat reasonable; it is not. 

This ordinance is a cleverly written document constructed by marijuana growers, for marijuana growers.  

The enforcement procedures of Measure O, buried on page 20 of this document, will prohibit the county from proactively enforcing excessive marijuana grows and reduce violations to an infraction. 

The only way actual enforcement action would be allowed is if two written complaints are filed with the Community Development Department by a someone who lives or works within 600 feet of the grow. The name of the person(s) filing the complaint must be included to be accepted for follow up.  

The first complaint would limit the county to simply sending a “courtesy” letter to the grower, giving them 10 days to comply. If the grower fails to comply, the county cannot follow up with enforcement action unless a second written complaint is filed within 15 days of the first complaint.  

If a second written complaint is filed in time then the county can inspect the site, verify the violation and post a notice of nuisance giving the grower 10 more days to comply or file an appeal to the Board of Supervisors and drag the process out even further.  

The true intentions of the authors of Measure O are to turn Lake County into the location for pot growers. It is all about profits and greed, hidden behind a smoke screen of medicine.  

Prohibiting effective enforcement will help assure that violations will be rampant and growers will have no need to register their collective grows or pay per plant fees that the advocates of Measure O claim will generate revenues. 

I do not believe for a moment that growers will register plants and pay fees; most of them already ignore all federal, state and county laws regulating the cultivation of marijuana.

Measure P seeks to allow people to grow whatever they want, wherever they want and in whatever quantity they want. Enforcement provisions are almost nonexistent in this measure. 

We have land use regulations for good reason, so that hog or poultry farms, or industrial parks are not located in neighborhoods. For-profit marijuana cultivation should not be in our neighborhoods either. 

If marijuana is so good for our economy, then why haven’t the sales tax revenues and property values increased yet? 

Please join me in voting no on measures O and P, and send a strong message to the growers that this is our community, not their pot factory.

Dave Rosenthal lives in Middletown, Calif.