Marijuana Patients and the Mexican Mafia: Both Ignore US Laws

The laws encourage the Mexican mafia.

(PORTLAND, OR) - Every time I read in the Oregonian about marijuana, I shudder. Can't they write something positive with Oregon having the best run program in the country with dispensaries, cannabis clubs and all?

The Oregonian's recent diatribe November 3, 2013, about closing current marijuana stores, is titled Cities Buck State on Retail Pot Shops. I have written several articles about marijuana being the only medicine which causes mental distress and paranoia in non-users. Just the word marijuana seems to put them in a cataleptic type state with obsessive/compulsive actions going on currently.

The story reports that several cities such as Medford, Gresham, Grants Pass, and others might want to ban all marijuana shops. This would prevent the severely disabled and destitute from getting their medicine if the new laws really work. At the same time, it would open the doors wide for the totally illegal Mexican cartels.

If these guys proposing these draconian changes read the papers or see the news about the Mexican mafia and marijuana, it should educate them. They have unlimited financial power and a few million Mexican peasants who will work for little or nothing and if they are caught, they will get a good room with a warm bed and warm food in an American prison, better than they had in their lives before. Do you think the fear of prison will slow them down????

The name of the game for these new rulings, is to drive the cost of marijuana beyond the ability of the most vulnerable patients to pay, so they will have to go to the black market.

Persons in reasonable financial and physical condition don't need any help. Besides that, the largest group of non-legal users are young people between the age of 18 and 24. (Their use is about 15%). They have complete control for their group, for marijuana, from seed to weed. These new laws will not stop them.

Several states have allowed towns, cities and counties to have local restrictions on dispensaries and/or clubs. This only turns people away from legal clubs, and backs the black market, whether it is Mexican or local. It is not fair to the most physically and financially endangered patients.

It is noted that Bend and Portland do not plan any legal restrictions.

One of the best/worst examples of the effect of over-restriction, is in Washington DC, where there are about three dispensaries, licensed (and run) by the city. In the vote to legalize medical marijuana about 16 years ago, the vote was about seventy percent for legalization which means that very many locals used marijuana. So far, as of October 20, 2013, the three "stores," have had about sixty patient customers and 9 or 10 employees. The locals in Washington DC are persisting in getting their medicine as usual, although that is illegal.

Oregon does have about a thousand or more places where a user can get the medicine. The statement that, in Oregon, the new regulations will allow only about 100 depositories is beyond laughable.

Marijuana is here to stay, legal or not!!!!