EDITOR,
We were disappointed at the Dec. 15 SV City Council meeting when members of the public, including ourselves, and all council members spoke their minds regarding a proposed medical marijuana dispensary, but there was no genuine discussion.
There was no opportunity to ask how many of the news articles the SV Police Chief compiled regarding crime and medical marijuana dispensaries involved an incident at a Santa Cruz County organization.
There was no opportunity to explore what dispensaries not experiencing crime are doing right, nor what those experiencing crime could have done to prevent it (thus enabling SV to regulate accordingly).
There was no discussion of the viability of seriously ill and dying persons traveling to other cities for medicine (this is not the same as a healthy person driving to Costco, as the mayor suggested), of what will happen to patients if dispensaries in other local cities close (or stop making home deliveries), nor of the added cost for low-income Scotts Valley patients of home delivery from some existing organizations. In the end, the council voted to ban medical marijuana dispensaries in SV, regardless of the current 33 percent commercial vacancy in town; the comparable risks of existing businesses, such as liquor stores or the new smoke shop in Victor Square; or of federal policy eventually catching up with medical marijuana laws in 15 states, including California, and the District of Columbia.
Sadly, absence of genuine discussion of key issues means that current and future sick and dying SV residents benefiting from medical marijuana will have to find medicine, care and compassion outside of their home community.
Mindi Ann Golden, assistant professor of communication studies, San Francisco State University
Richard J. Webb, Scotts Valley, lecturer in communication studies, San José State University