Shawn Nelson Supports the Medical Doobage
On Tuesday, four OC Supervisors voted to ban medical marijuana dispensaries in unincorporated County areas. Only one voted in support – and that someone was Fullerton’s Shawn Nelson, who emphasized that medical MJ was the will of the people and also explained to me that it would encourage a black market for medically helpful marijuana. As Supervisor Nelson pointed out, government spends way too much time trying to figure out how to thwart what people want instead of facilitating it. According to Nelson, the main issue is “zoning.” Medical marijuana is legal in California and the County of Orange should not use proscriptive use zoning within the County’s jurisdiction that would ban any dispensaries from distributing medical marijuana, or prohibit activity that is already illegal.
The proposed ordinance lumped “sales” and “dispensing” into the same category of banned activity. And therein lies the problem.
Just a few years back my friend’s dad died of cancer, he did, however, enjoy a heightened quality of life in his final year once he got access to medical marijuana. It not only gave him an appetite but it also made him feel better and actually laugh.
Supervisor Nelson showed a lot courage on this vote as the other Supes caved into pressure of the County staff and the Sheriff. Nelson will no doubt draw fire from the army of dead-heads and fake drug warrior ‘pugs who either love the annual billions wasted on the disastrous War on Drugs, or even worse, those who are too chicken to stand up to them.
And I thought Supervisor John Moorlach had more courage than he showed, but boy, I sure got that wrong. Scratch a “conservative,” hit an authoritarian.
Hey Tony, I have a question to ask.
You point out the billions spent fighting the war on drugs. Law enforcement also spends billions fighting theft, vandalism, sexual crimes, homicides, financial crimes, etc, etc. Just like drug-related activities, the police fails to prevent these crimes from happening.
I have a difficult time following your logic, because it seems that any law enforcement activity would be construed as a “waste” of billions of dollars.
Surely you’re not suggesting we abolish all forms of law enforcement, right? Where do you draw the line?
Thanks,
Steve
Excellent question. Thanks.
The failed War on Drugs has failed for a real good reason: it can’t be won. But more importantly it shouldn’t be fought. Why criminalize a form of consumption that if decriminalized would be less destructive than the consumption of alcohol or tobacco?
Sometimes it’s better to realize that up front rather than waste a trillion dollars on it.
This post is really about government declaring war on the people.
Give your kids meth and see what happens… Then you’ll believe in the War on Drugs.
I believe in victory.
More like give your kid a glass of wine when he is 21 and see what happens. Try all you want to not sound hysterical but medical marijuana has been legal now for 14 years. Not seeing a whole lot of cancer or aids sufferers moving on to meth.
myabe the war on drugs would be won if someone appointed a czar to fight it. Isn’t that how things get done? since when do the individual rights of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness which I would define as being free from pain and chemo side effects has the right to supercede our health and safety police state? thanks, Shawn Nelson for defying tyranny
When the law of California says medical marijuana is legal why does the discussion constantly center on whether or not it should be legal? Can we please focus on why the government spends so much time, money and resources on legal activity?
Steve, get this through your head: Marijuana posession is legal with a prescription. Agree or disagree at least respect the law. 4 of 5 Supervisors can’t understand it but it is never too late to be smart.
All of these crimes are direct offenses against the victim’s civil/property rights.
But some dude smoking his own weed in his own backyard? A victimless crime, and therefore not really a crime at all (except in an authoritarian nanny state.)
Victimless? The guys next door to me smoke that stuff and the smoke comes over into my backyard. My kids on trikes also get to share the experience. I don’t mind them smoking within their own walls, keep my kids out of it!
Tony and Travis:
A guy smoking pot (or using other drugs in his backyard) isn’t always victimless. There are many indirect harms arising in ways you might not imagine. I have a perfect example to illustrate my point.
Not long ago, some idiots in my neighborhood ingested brownies with marijuana as an ingredient. Someone found them unresponsive IN THEIR OWN HOUSE and called 911. Because there were multiple patients involved, the fire department sent engine 3, engine 5, truck 1, and at least two ambulances.
Whenever engines 3 and 5 are assigned to calls, the eastern half of Fullerton is WITHOUT an engine able to respond in a timely fashion. If another call came in, there are two options. Call an engine from the other side of Fullerton, or get OCFA to send a Placentia engine into Fullerton city limits. Either way, the response will be delayed.
What if you suffered a heart attack, or your house was burning down, while Engines 3, 5, and Truck 1 were tending to those dickheads on my street? I hope you see the problem here.
Assholes doing stupid things are a fireman’s best friend. Not only do they serve as job insurance, they justify new positions, overtime, and thus, a bigger budget and MORE pensions to pay.
The problems don’t stop there. Thanks to illegals and the assclowns I told you about, the costs of going to the ER are skyrocketing. Why should responsible people have to pay higher costs for an ER visit because of OTHER people’s poor judgment?
My disagreement isn’t about the liberty of doing what you want on your own property. This is about people’s bad choices affecting my own quality of life.
So it begs one question: Why should I have to suffer so that OTHER people can use recreational drugs legally?
Steve
Steve, Geere has it right. You still want to wage the war on legalizatrion. The ordinance bans legal activity. The county could have just banned sales (although the sheriff not the planning department ought to cover that one) but instead widened the ordinance to include distribution.
Do you really believe that marijuana lands alot of people in the emergency room? More than alcohol? More than vicodin for that matter? I am no expert by a long shot but I’ve never heard of a marijuana OD.
Steve, when something is made legal it is the governments duty to accomodate the activity not look for new and creative ways to stifel it.
A little feedback from a doctor regarding Steve’s story:
“Re: Marijuana Overdose…
Unless you are grinding up weed, extracting out its active ingredients, and injecting them into yourself IV, it is literally impossible to OD on THC by eating it because the LD50 value of it is so ridiculously high for oral consumption it would be impossible to obtain that much THC in marijuana and eat it.
Smoking weed does put stress on the heart. So that might be of some danger. Activation of CB1 receptors can also cause your blood pressure to lower, which is why you might pass out if you over activate them. That being said though, there are far more dangerous drugs out there with more severe side effects that were/are approved by the FDA. It makes you wonder why Marinol is allowed to be sold legally why MJ is illegal even though Marinol takes a longer time to work, is less efficacious, has stronger psychotropic side effects than MJ, and costs 20x’s more.”
Looks like it may have been something other than the marijuana Steve.
Steve, I will take your story at face-value, although frankly I have to doubt its authenticity.
Some guys OD. Happens every day with all sorts of legal drugs intentionally and unintentionally. Now why all those “firefighters” had to show up to deal with the situation is beyond me. And why they couldn’t have all toodled off to some other emergency.
Now I’ll tell you a tale. I had a neighbor once who passed out (still don’t know why). I called 911. He was up and about by the time FOUR companies arrived, one of which was from Anaheim! All these guys milled around for about 20 minutes and finally left after my friend drove himself home.
Why should you have to suffer? What did you actually suffer? Nothing. But why can’t cancer patients suffer less? That’s the point of the post.
Did you say firefighters Admin? They are hero and deserve, LOL.
Allan you’re a tool like that toad Cynthia!
Tony why not invite your good neighbor Nelson and his family over for a pot smoking bbq. You can all introduce the weed to the kids although I think yours know about it. Let’s encourage the youngsters to smoke it. Better yet let’s get the pee wee football team over and make sure more kids get the message. It’s harmless! Give me a fucking break it’s not about medical uses its all about you wanting to get high. You are a pot smoking -paranoid-slumlord and its no wonder your wife kicked you out. Right Chris.
Looks like the Heroes are back after a long vacation.
You want meth? Go steal some more from the evidence locker!
Maybe you should ask your nieghbor to be more considerate, rather than seeking to forcibly ban the use of a specific substance for the millions of people who don’t waft smoke into your yard.
What would you do if it was cigar smoke?
Where did I say I was against it? I just commented on the “Victimless” part of your post. I even said I don’t mind them smoking it… and I did ask them not to share. We’ll see if they comply.
I am really interested how you could pull that I am for “forcibly banning the use.”
I’m ignorant of innumerable things but unfortunately terrible ravenges of horrid physical and mental illnesses is not unfamilial territory for me.
Presently I live here and consequently am able to access “the best” (aren’t they all?) medical doctors and clinics and thinking available to humanity (the Obama-Communists have changed this, unless the Repuglicans pretend to have guts and stand with the new majority makers in congress, until we broom the Repuglicans and the Communists out in 2012).
But even living here I still travel thousands of miles each year accessing medical treatment and care. I’ve lived in other parts of America and and when necessary travelled nearly accross the nation to access “the best” care.
If your father’s friend had a prescription for a medically effective chemical compound and he needed someone to go all the way to an incorporated area of Orange County to get it, he could have called me.
I do small helpful things like that for anybody.
Well that’s nice for local people who need medical marijuana, because two years ago Shawn Nelson voted to prohibit dispensaries in Fullerton. As you will recall, only Pam Keller had the guts at the time to vote in favor of making medical marijuana available here. Nelson and the others caved in to pressure from the police. Gosh, that was the year that Nelson, Jones and Quirk last ran for re-election to the Fullerton City Council.
You may rightly say that it’s never too late to be smart. I guess I can expect Sup. Nelson to lend his voice to reversing the ban here in Fullerton, now that he has seen the light…?
Good point. But with two ex-cops and an idiot quack on the council you can forget about that.
BTW, I believe that was Keller’s one and only good vote. Not much to show for 4 years on the city council, is it?
Yup, Moorlach’s disappointed a lot of people.
To borrow from an old expression I learned in the army, there’s the right way, the wrong way and John Moorlach’s way. He needs to go back to paper shuffling, but in the private sector and stop acting like a role model for the moderate.
A sad combination of moralism, authoritarianism, and bottomless self-righteousness.
I predict that he will do a lot of expensive damage before he’s done.
Good characterization. He reminds me of an Old Testament prophet.
Great post Admin and more importantly “thank you” Supervisor Nelson for doing the right thing this time. And now it’s time to have a puff of my medicine, relax and enjoy this beautiful day 🙂
Tony,
I’m sorry this discussion has drifted off-topic. It’s my fault and I apologize.
A couple things here. I’m not qualified to evaluate the efficacy of medical marijuana. But I suspect the “medical” intent will be abused to include anybody who wants it… much like handicapped parking permits in California. Something like 1in 10 Californians have a handicapped permit, which we both know is bullshit. Nowhere near that many people need one.
About the story I shared, you have to realize the basis for a 911 response doesn’t always match reality. It’s impossible for me to verify whether or not ingesting marijuana caused the unresponsiveness. However, I can tell you the Fire Dept was dispatched for that very reason. Whatever the cause, though, there’s no denying our City’s resources were wasted having to respond.
When others get ahold of “medical” marijuana (and other drugs) and use them irresponsibly, that’s when everybody suffers. You and me shouldn’t have to pay for additional emergency responders that enable people to be careless about their health.
I’m all for doing whatever you want, on your own property, AS LONG AS IT DOESN’T AFFECT OTHER PEOPLE. Rarely does careless behavior pass the test.
As I explained, I drifted off-topic with this discussion and my comments are intended for drug use in general, not so much medical marijuana. The main point where you and I disagree is that I struggle to see a realistic distinction between marijuana use and medical marijuana use.
Steve
Steve, you are now making the connection. Surely “medical” marijuana use will be used primarily by people with no real medical need. So when does the government become our parents?
Do we want the government spending our money and using their authority trying to split hairs over who is and who is not using marijuana properly?
The founding fathers get a lot of credit and for good reason. Many things are written in to the constitution limiting the authority of government. Notice not much ink wasted on limiting the rights of individuals. They knew who to fear and who to trust.
If people make bad personal decisions they suffer. If the government makes bad choices we suffer.
If people make bad personal decisions “we” (the taxpayers who pay for the government) support them on welfare over their lifetimes.
We also support the trillion dollars squandered on the “War on Drugs.”
Which actually costs more?
A dollar is a dollar, whether it is spent in support and protection of an enduringly beneficial societal value (i.e. a conscious safe sober self-controlled citizenry), or spent controlling self-inflicted harm and tending to bodily needs of delinquents.
I’ve seen and known lifelong inmates of half-way houses (all involved in sale of illegal drugs) and their illigitimate/unknown children, and I’ve also known individuals involved in the “War on Drugs.”
The warriors are less expensive, than the drug users are “harmless” to society.
Question: How many, or what percentage of the featherbedded Fullerton Police force would be removed from the payroll if marijuana was made legal? Honestly, what is your estimate?
bong tokes for jesus!
Damn, you are one sanctimonious individual. Conflating drug users with delinquents? What’s next in your laundry list of aberrant behavior? Liquor? It does a whole hell of a lot more societal damage than medical marijuana!
“…spent in support and protection of an enduringly beneficial societal value (i.e. a conscious safe sober self-controlled citizenry), or spent controlling self-inflicted harm and tending to bodily needs of delinquents.”
A bit scary. You should be wearing a uniform of some sort.
It is nice to interact with folks who have had such idyllic life experience, so as to find my words “scary.”
I hope you will always be blessed.
Blessed? I’m a one-armed alcoholic with a bad attitude.
Be sure to turn in your epaulettes at the door.
Who pays for the rehab? Taxpayers???? Are you fucking kidding me???
Once again another commenter that want to revisit legalization and ignore the fact that marijuana has been legal for 14 years now to prescription holders.
Does it really demand that much depth of intellect to address the actual issue?
Rehab? It’s a lot cheaper than jailing people.
Well here’s a post that I can finally agree with. Bottom line, all one has to do is remember when alcohol went through prohibition. Look at the stats. With alcohol you lose motor skills, hence more auto accidents, etc. There is more medicinal value in MJ than alcohol, as an example. Also, it DOES NOT lead to or equate to becoming a meth addict…that’s absurd. As with any chemical ingestion, it is the responsibility of the one ingesting. It doesn’t matter what the substance is, if one is irresponsible, then the substance is abused. The problem is, we blame the substance and not the person ingesting it. Now, if we can rid ourselves of all of the irresponsible idiots that ruin it for the rest of us…..
If MJ was legalized beyond medical use, there would be laws very similar to alcohol relative to age restrictions, etc.
Great post, Admin! A hot topic that always gets people’s attention.
There is one more point to made relevant to this post. Yes, I applaud Nelson with his vote….this time. The problem with Shawn Nelson, is his inconsistency. You never know how he’s going to vote, as evidenced by the vote in Fullerton against medical dispensaries (previously noted). I use to support Shawn, but he’s blown it on a couple of issues, in my mind. The only thing he has to stand on is how he intervened and blew the whistle on city pension increases, which is huge. So why can’t be more consistent and not sway so much however the wind is blowing? Can’t trust someone like that. That’s a kind of irony though, because what politician out there can anyone trust?
Confidence. He doesn’t have it. And with good reason – he’s made a shitload of poor votes. But there’s always hope and as you guys always say: it’s never too late to be smart!