If you're in need of comic relief I suggest you check out the www.nodispensaries.com Web site, which has been cobbled together by a local group committed to saving us from the imaginary threats posed by local medicinal marijuana dispensaries.

Of course the humor is unintentional, a byproduct of paranoia, ignorance and misinformation which quickly becomes apparent as they make their incredibly weak and weird case against common sense and reason.

The claim is made that this effort is “nonpartisan” but the truth is that this is the work of the brain-trust

of the local branch of the GOP, which has decided that the biggest problem facing Lake County is small numbers of young people standing on the sidewalk of Upper Lake waiting for the pot store or pot doctor's office to open.

Actually, there is a plethora of problems associated with pot production, sales and use but none of them are addressed by this knee-jerk reaction, in fact, many would be made even worse by banning dispensaries.

The idea that making it hard for people to legally buy pot will not be a boon for criminals is absurd, the same amount of pot will be grown, sold and used but there will be no tax revenue, no transparency

or control and more of a drain on law enforcement.

Dispensaries should be treated exactly the same as any other business, if they create genuine problems those issues should be addressed, but they should not be punished for all the other down sides of pot they are not responsible for, like the poor judgment of one local doctor who has given the business a black eye by writing prescriptions that are too conducive to facilitating criminal profiteering from medicinal marijuana.

But what is almost as bad as the simple-minded concept of fixing the pot problems by putting the business back into the hands of criminals is the sheer hypocrisy of some of those involved with this effort, as they have promoted and profited from the most destructive drug produced in Lake County – alcohol.

How many times have you seen the booking photo of some local notable person on the front page of the paper due to their booze-addled decisions, and how many times have you seen someone in that position due to pot use?

When people die because of pot it's due to it being illegal and people are stealing it, with booze it's because they drive drunk, get in fights or destroy their physical and mental health, but you don't hear any plans for dealing with those VERY real problems that these same people's activities are in part responsible for.

Another thing that needs to stop is the hijacking of the Lake County Chamber of Commerce by this group, if they want to continue functioning as an outgrowth of the GOP we need to take the public's money away from the chamber until it can refocus itself on helping local businesses instead of snuffing

them out while creating windfalls for criminals.

Philip Murphy lives in Lakeport, Calif.

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Written by: Philip Murphy

Published: 04 March 2011