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To: DailyEmerald.com I read your opinion piece in the Emerald and had to respond. First, as for convicted dealers. Right now under the current law they can grow for an unlimited number of patients and are subject to no regulation whatsoever. Measure 33 would create regulated dispensaries that would be required to do detailed reporting, pay fees and be subject to inspections. Dispensaries would also have to follow whatever administrative rules the Health depatment promulgates regarding dispensaries. This highly regulated system is likely to result in less abuse than the current completely unregulated system. Stormy Ray was the poster child for the first initiative. She did not write the law or have any role in policy decisions. Stormy opposes Measure 33 because she thinks all patients are entitled to free medicine. We think only those who can't afford to pay their way should get help for free. I was personally Stormy's caregiver for the first years of the program. I gave her well over 10 pounds each year. She never paid one penny toward my expenses. She never even thanked me. Stormy enjoys the role of giving out medicine to patients she likes. Unfortunately for patients to have to beg medicine from anyone is humiliating. That's the only way some patients can get medical marijuana. Maybe because you are on a college campus and are a legalizer it is easy for you to find marijuana. For many desperately ill patients it is impossible. Measure 33 is not legalization. But I must say opposing 33 and being for legalization is crazy. Most of our opponents claim it IS legalization. But you oppose it because it isn't. Do you think the way to achieve legalization is to side with the drug czar? As for a pound, get over your misconceptions. For many patients that is a few months supply of medicine. The federal government gives Elvy Musica, quoted in the article, six pounds every year. Limits have to be set to allow for patients who use the most. If limits were set for the average patient, then by definition half the patients would have to go without or break the law. That's one of the problems with the current law we are trying to fix. Illicit dealing would still be illegal. Is it really OK to make patients go without medicine because there might be some illicit dealing? I think not. Measure 33 is not legalization. It is a compassionate measure that recognizes that politics should not get between patients and a medicine that helps them. I hope we can consider legalization someday, but this is not it. Please reconsider your opposition to Measure 33. Thanks John Sajo
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