Opinion: Advice for SLT council regarding medical marijuana
By Steve Kubby
How safe are medical marijuana patients in South Lake Tahoe? What will the proposed new cultivation ordinance by the City Council mean for patients? What can the City Council do to actually help patients live without the fear of a violent home invasion by drug police? These are unanswered questions that are of enormous concern and critical importance to the medical marijuana community.
It’s been nearly 15 years since the people of California wrote and passed Prop. 215, the Compassionate Use Act. You’d think that by now the medical marijuana community would feel safe, but nothing could be farther from the truth. Fifteen years after voters approved the medical use of marijuana, patients are still living in fear. Sadly, sick, disabled and dying patients are still under assault from hostile police and intrusive agencies such as the DEA and Child Protective Services.
Just the other day I helped a mother who was raided by police for growing 15 cannabis plants, which is over the California state limit. The police not only took all her plants and medicine, they reported her to CPS who took both of her children. Apparently, nobody told the police or CPS that the courts have ruled the state limit is unconstitutional and no longer in effect. Fortunately we found her an attorney and plan to raise money for her.
We worry about police who engage in juvenile and mean-spirited attacks on those who use medical marijuana. When officers are in positions of authority in law enforcement, we expect them to set aside any personal bias and exercise fairness and restraint while interacting with members of the public.
We worry about a proposed cultivation ordinance that requires patients to publicly reveal their activities and location, thereby exposing themselves to home invasions by drug police or burglars. Patients have the legal right not to disclose that they use or cultivate cannabis and the City needs to respect their privacy.
We worry about a City Council that wants to force patients to jump through regulatory hoops and pay arbitrary fees, but won’t provide patients with any actual protection in return. It’s time for the City Council to look at what actually needs to be done to protect patients, instead of focusing entirely on regulating them.
For example, the council should consider doing the following:
1. Pass an ordinance that no city officials or police may cooperate or assist in any investigation involving the medical use of marijuana, unless factual evidence has been obtained showing non-medical diversion.
2. Notify the El Dorado County sheriff that we do not want DEA agents receiving any local police support for medical marijuana related investigations or raids.
3. Pass an ordinance that before any raid takes place, the police must confirm the person they are raiding is not a patient. If a raid is authorized and the person being raided can produce a letter from a physician which authorizes the use of medical marijuana, then that raid should be immediately terminated and investigated.
4. Pass an ordinance that protects bona fide patients from having their children taken from them by Child Protective Services, solely on the basis that cannabis is being consumed or cultivated in the home.
5. Request that the district attorney treat the shooting of a family pet by drug police with the same gravity as if the police had shot a human member of the family.
6. Notify the South Lake Tahoe police chief that the city wants medical marijuana to be handled by the Health Department, not the police. Since the Compassionate Use Act is codified as 11362.5 of the Health and Safety Code, not the Criminal Code, it only makes sense to have the Health Department replace the police. Thankfully, the South Lake Tahoe Police Department has done an outstanding job of respecting the rights of medical marijuana patients and dispensaries. However, we have a new Chief and the City needs to be sure to encourage him to follow the current policy.
7. If a patient is suspected of being in violation then the city should ensure that the first response will be a letter, then a visit, and if no response, a citation. The City should have a clear policy that the first response NEVER includes a SWAT team kicking down your door in the middle of the night and tossing a concussion grenade into your living room..
The City Council must take these issues seriously and understand the gravity of the situation faced by medical marijuana patients who must rely upon a medicine that inevitably brings them into conflict with misguided and hostile members of law enforcement.
See for yourself what these raids are about and why patients live in such fear of the police. Here’s the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbwSwvUaRq.
Steve Kubby is a South Lake Tahoe resident who helped write Proposition 215.
Is there no end to these rants? Why are they constantly allowed? Everyone has heard enough from Mr. Kubby!
After reading this article, it is clear that it is good that Mr. Kubby did not win the recent election.
Centurion we are all allowed our own opinion. Why don’t you write a letter about something you believe strongly in? Perhaps you will write about something that has saved your life or a friend’s life. I would love to read it.
California has designated it’s MMJ policy to local governments so that each community can formulate it’s own policy on this medicine. Our citizens should stay engaged if they use this medicine or not.
I personally don’t like the idea of the local government keeping lists of houses growing their 10 plant limit. It opens our community to repercussions from the federal government, not just the growers the city itself could be sued for having knowledge. Also this is like the government keeping a list of everyone who has valuables in their house or who use pain killers; just not adequate controls in my opinion.
I hope the members of the community will have a chance to create a dialog with our new council members regarding any changes in the policy.
Everyone thinks this is a dead issue because prop 19 failed. Make no mistake, 19 was voted down by for profit growers and dealers as they were concerned about the bottom line and having to reduce their plant count under the new state laws. There are more people producing each and every day and more Hydro stores popping up on 50 each year.
It is very difficult to estimate the economic fallout from these laws changing but it is not a simple formula and we consider any more blows to the economy.
I recognize the rights of property owners and beleive that policy could be changed to better protect them in a rental situation.
There are so many sides to this issue that cannot be covered by a blanket of ordinances. I understand wanting the police to tone down their response to marijuana in the home but the suggestions offered by Kubby are a little too broad to work.
I know several people who use or have tried marijuana for medical reasons and have yet to hear one of them say they are concerned about a police raid on their home. This is a bit blown out of proportion in my opinion. On the other hand, I have absoulutely no sympathy for the woman who was growing 15 plants and had her children taken away.
Steve go away PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!! Enough of your agenda, and I am glad the kids were taken away also, what kind of mother is this.
“On the other hand, I have absoulutely no sympathy for the woman who was growing 15 plants and had her children taken away.”
So, the extra few plants, for you, is the line where kids can be taken away?
Interesting.
And heartless.
Kubby’s hijacking of my paper is making me less sympathetic to his cause.
Take your ravings to Washington DC or something, and quit pestering our little town of like 24k population, most of us just don’t care.
I have no clue what grand thing, you think you will accomplish in such a small town with 3 dispensaries.
Wouldn’t it make sense to go where the bigger action is? You’ve done much bigger things in the past, why are you scaling back?
I applaud Mr. Kubby for his efforts toward protecting patients.
Good work!
I’m with you “careabout…”
It’s hard to respect or take seriously the criticisms of those who hide behind phony online identities. Why are these phony commenters afraid to let us know their real names and what they actually do in the community? If they think their viewpoint is so correct, then why don’t they stop hiding in the shadows and tell us who they really are?
If medicinal cannabis use wasn’t an issue that you were interested in, then you wouldn’t be READING Mr. Kubby’s “pestering” “rants”. It is very easy to sit in front of your computer and make harsh and hateful judgments on him but what are YOU doing to make the world a better place. BELIEVE me … having a child taken away from a parent for the simple reason that the parent is growing a PLANT in their home is just plain wrong. There is a fine line between morality and legality. The emotional and psychological devastation that poor child and mother are being punished with is equal to child abuse as far as I am concerned. I have worked with kids who were “removed” – more like physically, against their will, RIPPED from their beloved parent’s arms – but that is just semantics, right? The point is, that child is scarred for life … for what??? Because someone grew a plant that some some bigoted idiots years ago decided to make illegal based on a bunch of lies??? (Reefer Madness anyone?) There need to be protections in place so that “mistakes” are not so easily made and these MEDICAL PATIENTS are allowed to use their medicine in the peace and comfort of their own homes. Children are precious and should not be so horribly punished if all a parent is doing is growing some plants that GOD created for our use in the first place. Thank you Steve Kubby for your passion and for speaking the TRUTH about cannabis and hemp.
Mr. Kubby’s article outlines a very good point, despite people’s personal opinions on the subject (wishing someone’s children taken away because you fail to understand something fundamental to human life? I’m sure you’ll understand if you happen to contract some nasty ailment that only the Holy Weed could or would fix..and then get a clear view of your head up your own ass), the Federal Govt has in essence set us up. It’s actually ENTRAPMENT on an extremely grand scale, one that is polluting the entire world.
Here’s some cheese. You can’t have that cheese. Now you can. Oops! That time you got shocked when you tried to eat it.
A situation is created with too much gray-area makes plenty of room for phoney agencies like the DEA (whom are nothing but mercenaries Above the Law) to shore up massive amounts of resources and property at incredibly short notice, simply by exploiting the wiggle room against one of the most peaceful demographics.
You pay these people, it’s time to make them accountable.
It’s hard to respect or take seriously the criticisms of those who hide behind phony online identities. Why are these phony commenters afraid to let us know their real names and what they actually do in the community? If they think their viewpoint is so correct, then why don’t they stop hiding in the shadows and tell us who they really are?
It’s also hard to take seriously anyone who supports you who hides.
Regulate it or legalize it.
I work with terminally ill hospice patients and there is definitely a place for medical marijuana. And yes, not all warranted medicinal users have terminal diagnoses.
That said, in a town of 25,000 people there aren’t enough truly valid diagnoses to keep one collective open, more or less three.
If MJ’s legal for medical use then route it through a pharmacy with a dose and frequency prescribed just like other medications. Is that so tough? Why on earth do we have people with no medical training filling “prescriptions” and making recommendations on how to use “medicine”?
Right now it’s a farce. It makes our regulations and enforcement look like a joke and leaves way to much room for interpretation.
Let’s put Tahoe on the map for something other than this MJ squabble. We’ll never realize out potential as a town/city/community as long as this festers as our pivotal issue.
Regulate it or legalize it.
P.S. Give the cops a break. Their job is to uphold the law, not moral issues. The former is objective, the latter very subjective. If law enforcement started acting on behalf of their individual standards of “moral” behavior we would open up Pandora’s Box. Laws are our best effort to objectify collective morals.
I find it funny that in a supposed free country, we find people actively supporting the removal of children and expressing their desire to basically “shut up” those they disagree with. I put for the premise that it is people like that who are bad for this country, not peaceful, “mind your own business” types.
For too long, some of you have gotten away with acting like wannabe authoritarians: trampling on other people, denigrating them, calling for arrests and harassment and basically acting like boorish thugs. Some of us have tolerated it and humored your lust for controlling others — and that was probably our mistake.
Enough is enough.
Thank you, Steve, for being a true American by supporting the rights of everyone.
The Arrest and Prosecution Industry is determined to maintain the war on marijuana, at the expense of our citizens. Politicians and law enforcement officials are not motivated by maintaining public safety. They are motivated by four things: power, money, corruption and job security. These people are not out to protect people; they are out to fight a literal war on marijuana, medical or otherwise. As they fight this war, they do their utmost to ensure that we remain awash in alcohol, meth and crack, the substances that contribute most to the crime,corruption and violence that keeps them busy.
Our health and the health of our families should be our responsibility, not the responsibility of bureaucrats and police. We need to let our politicians know that if things do not change, if they continue to disrespect us and our laws, if they continue to arrest us and put us in prisons for using one of the safest and most beneficial plants on Earth, that they will be fired!
Thank you, Steve Kubby, for taking a stand for truth, justice and the American way.
We must vote in every election. We need leaders who will abide by our laws and the Constitution of the State of Ca. We need leaders who will honor and respect the will of the people. This is a democracy. Our leaders and the law enforcement community seem to have forgotten this fact.
We need people like Steve Kubby in public office!
It’s hard to respect or take seriously the criticisms of those who hide behind phony online identities. Why are these phony commenters afraid to let us know their real names and what they actually do in the community? If they think their viewpoint is so correct, then why don’t they stop hiding in the shadows and tell us who they really are?
Does this sound like an episode of Scooby-Doo to anyone?
Jason is exactly right. The reason nobody takes medical MJ seriously is that ANYONE can get a medical MJ card. “Hey Doc, I have a headache”, “Sounds like you need to smoke some pot…ur, some medical MJ…” I’d be willing to be that at least 75% of medical MJ users have no illness and are only smoking to get high! If that is the case, then this is a drug, and not a medication!
I understand the point of this article, but anyone who walks into a pharmacy with a prescription has to have their name and address on file. Just like all medical MJ users have to be registered. The fact that it puts them at risk to home invasion is their own fault. They are choosing to grow a plant knowing that people may try to rob them for it. Nobody is breaking into your house for a bottle of percocet, but 15 MJ plants???
I personally do not believe MJ treats any illnesses. It relieves pain from certain illnesses, and therefore I support it. But the regulation of this medication is a joke. Until we regulate it just like any other pharmacutical, it will always be a joke!
There was a time where I thought that many of the younger MMJ patients were just using to get high, and the high traffic of younger people at dispensaries would hurt MMJ in Cali. THere are reasons for this:
1. The young just don’t care what you think about their MMJ use and therefore are more open about it and less afraid to go to public dispensaries whereas an older person is more paranoid about it and they seem to prefer delivery services in the privacy of their homes.
2. I have met many of those younger MMJ patients and the all seem to have the same story. They were put on Ritalin as kids (remember in the 90’s at some schools where over 70& of the kids were on it!) Many also were prescribed anti-depressants. MMJ allows them to stop using all those drugs. One fellow I met started using MMJ about 6 months ago and he is committed to it as it is the 1st time in over 10 years that he can t hink straight! Another has ADD and MMJ allows him to focus and function. He is so good at his job that they are OK with him using his medication during working hours. How nice is that? Do you think all those pill popping pharma drug addicts stop taking them during working hours?
Anyone who thinks it is OK for the government to take someone’s children away for prefering a safer (and smarter) choice than what the pharma industry offers is ANTI-AMERICAN! This country was founded upon FREEDOM! We are tired of the tyranny and ignorant rhetoric. There are many Pharma drug addicts and alcoholics that should have their children taken away from them but because it is legal their children suffer in those environments. To live under the constant threat of losing your children because you prefer a safer choice is unacceptable!
@e.diddy why would u care what ppl use mmj for?? Im happy for you that u feel u dont need it, but thers ppl out their who do..Who cares if it helps with a headache or depression or anything..If it helps physicly or mentally make someones life a bit easier i dont see the problem… how can ppl knock it… i just dont understand if its not for you great u might have a better life then others… Its not about getting high its about So please dont judge other!!