(Re: “Dex doesn’t know cannabis,” Dec. 17.) This is very
interesting. I would write a letter to the dispensary owners and tell them to
watch Milk and get a clue. If they
organize, they can simply force all these unfriendly businesses out of
business.
However, the key is organization. If done right, the
friendly businesses will prosper and force the unfriendly ones within the same
industry down a deep dark hole.
Nick Bajada/Fairbanks, Alaska
The public is to blame
We have to wonder why nine years elapsed between voter
approval and the decision to protect the consumer and the public from graft and
the lugubrious practices of more than 180 dispensaries in Denver. There will be
a public hearing on medical marijuana dispensaries, Jan. 11, before Denver City
Council at 5:30 p.m. at the City and County Building.
Did the City Council feel that this was an innocent
franchise business connected to hospitals and clinics? Did they pretend to
ignore the outcome, thinking that no one would take these enterprises
seriously? Did we believe that the medical doctors would all have the highest
scruples and protect the patients from abusing the service? Did law enforcement
think that because they are already overburdened that the incidental
indiscretions of medical marijuana dispensaries would in some way be an
unnecessary waste of their precious energy?
Whatever the case may be, the public is actually to blame
for this mess because enough of us voted for this enterprise for it to take
root. If you read one of the local weekly papers, from pages 78 through 88
there are countless come-on ads in many styles and many that are thinly
reaching out to the clients on the proceeding pages for other adult services.
The placement of this cavalcade of ads is planned to create the mystique that
there is something sensual and available to all who pay the price of admission.
The real purpose of medical marijuana dispensaries is to
treat people who are in the throes of dying and need relief. Most of those who
voted for Amendment 20 in 2000 expected that this would be an enterprise that
was highly regulated by the medical providers and caregivers from places such
as hospices. For a person experiencing acute, chronic pain there is ample
reason to provide any means of sedation, and marijuana has long been sought as
a means of relaxing, as some people drink alcohol or smoke a cigarette.
In Amsterdam, where the limits of behavior are tolerated,
the existence of all of these practices finds a natural place in their
well-formed and established tolerance of diversity.
It is sad that this is not true for our lustful society, but
it is not without precedent.
Insurance providers and the medical practice continually
overcharge and do not care for the patient ahead of profit. The medical marijuana
dispensaries simply fit into the landscape of medical care in this
market-driven economy.
Personally, the matter of regulating dispensaries is a moot
point. We would be much better served believing in what we have and our
relationship to one another with peace and justice for all. If a person
genuinely needs this medicine, then it should be freely available, as the plants
were growing all over the sides of the highways in the 1930s. Anyone can grow
the crop with little effort, since it is a weed that is highly adaptable.
If everyone who wished to consume marijuana simply had their
own plants, that would be the end of this salacious feeding frenzy, and the
clinics would dry up and disappear.
Randle Loeb/Denver
Collaboration is crucial
(Re: “Older Boulder,” cover story, Nov. 26.) Nonprofit
collaboration is the key to meeting the needs of Boulder County’s growing older
population and ensuring that they remain active and independent.
The Medical Mobility program mentioned in the article is a
good example of how that collaboration can make a difference.
In this program, RSVP recruits and trains the volunteer
drivers, and Special Transit provides funding (more than 50 percent of the
total cost of the program), as well as refers riders to RSVP and its volunteer
drivers. Year to date, this collaborative program has provided more than 2,100
medical-related trips. In addition Special Transit has provided nearly 25,000 trips
to riders for health care related purposes through our paratransit service.
Recognizing that the increasingly frail, older adult
population of Boulder County has mobility needs for medical care beyond Special
Transit’s door-throughdoor service, we worked with RSVP to develop this unique
program and are proud that the collaboration is working to keep older adults
connected to vital medical services.
Lenna Kottke, Special Transit executive director/Boulder
Recycle toys, too
If Bing Crosby were alive today, would he be singing a
different Christmas tune?
Would he be dreaming of a green Christmas rather than a
white one?
These days we are urged to make everything green,
environmentally friendly.
We are urged to recycle products rather than just throw them
away.
I suggest that we make Christmas greener by recycling our
children’s used toys. Many of them are made of plastic, so let’s not just toss
them in the landfill.
But it’s harder to recycle toys than you might think. Most
charity organizations no longer accept used toys, even if they look new.
It seems that kids these days always want new things. In the
old days, you could pass on toys, as well as clothes, as hand-me-downs, but now
everyone thinks they must have everything new.
In my experience, you can’t even sell used toys at a garage
sale. I have more than 500 used toys that I would give away if I could. I know
these toys, many of which look like new, would put smiles on the faces of many
kids on Christmas morning, but no organization wants these toys.
It’s too bad we can recycle cans and papers but not toys.
What are we teaching our kids? Does a child really know if a toy is used or
not? Do all our children’s toys need to be new and sterile like a hospital surgical
product?
Unfortunately, it seems that the only green Christmas this
year will be for the toy manufacturers and for the retailers as they work their
cash registers.
Steve Mozena/Carson, Calif.
Rise up, patriots
Patriots, the United States Senate and House of
Representatives are no longer under the control of sane leadership. The two
houses of Congress are pursuing a policy of authoritarian, illegal legislating,
completely ignoring the will of “we the people” and constitutional law.
Politicians in both the legislative and executive branches
are purposefully violating the United States Constitution, enacting legislation
destructive to Founding Father principles, and arrogantly daring the American
people to do anything about it. … It’s a display of “in your face” attitude of
superiority and willful disobedience to the United States Constitution.
The demonstrated bribery the U.S. Senate leadership is
pursuing is equaled only by totalitarian regimes America has considered enemies
and fought wars against in past decades. The commitment of billions of taxpayer
funds to buy votes from other senators for their supporting the health care
bill is despicable at best, illegal on its face and cannot stand.
Freedom and liberty sway dangerously in the balance. What
additional evidence is needed to rise up and stop the madness in Washington,
D.C.?
Harry Riley /Crestview, Fla.
