Why I Support Measure B

by Karen Oslund

I support Measure B because Measure G has been a failure.

The good will of the good people in this county who have nothing against personal medical marijuana has been rewarded with commercial recreational marijuana and all of its negative impacts. Now that we know from experience how this experiment turns out, it's time to do something about it. That's why I support Measure B.

I believe that most people who voted for Prop. 215 and for Measure G drew upon two values that most of us have in common. The first is that a sick person who finds relief from smoking pot should not go to jail for using it. The second is that what people do inside their own home, as long as it does not bring harm to others, is no one else's business. I share these two values.

I realize now, and admit publicly, that my mental image of a cancer patient with a pot plant on the back porch was horribly naïve. Adjacent to my home is a year-round growing operation that stinks in the summer, fall, winter, and spring. I do not get firewood from our woodshed at night, out of the very real concern that the owner of this operation will mistake me for someone trying to rip off his pot and take a shot at me. I see residences in our town taking on the look of fortresses, with tall fences and intimidating dogs, and realize this is not the town I decided to raise my children in 15 years ago.

I am sympathetic to my constituents who have told me that they have lost enjoyment of their property due to the strong smell of large quantities of maturing marijuana for much of the year. I have, too. What do you say to a constituent who explains that he cannot sleep with the windows open in the summer, hoping to catch a cooling night breeze, because of the unbearable stench of marijuana rising up from the backyard next door? What do you say to an older person whose home equity represents the biggest chunk of their wealth, when they can't sell their home because no one wants to live next to the pot farm next door?

So, in exchange for some signs of increased wealth circulating in our town, we get drug traffickers from out of town, drug deals gone bad, thieves looking to take a short cut to wealth and just steal a crop, streams sucked dry, waste oil dumped in pits in the hills, and marijuana crops growing right next to school yards.

I learned recently of an acquaintance who, though philosophically in favor of gun control, recently purchased a handgun to defend his home, due to concern that his rural neighborhood has been transformed by large-scale marijuana growers. No good can come of this.

I used to enjoy walking regularly down a country lane on the outskirts of town. This walk has become unpleasant due to the presence of a marijuana grow, a long, tall, ugly fence, and an intimidating dog that barks fiercely in order to protect the crop.

Surely, limiting marijuana growing to six plants per patient will not deprive any sick person of their medicine, or even deprive a heavy recreational user of their drug of choice.

I hate what commercial marijuana is doing to the community I love. The good will extended by voters in approving medical use laws has been trampled and abused by the many people in our area who value big bucks more than community, neighbor, the environment, and even family.

That's why I support Measure B.

Thank you Karen for helping the public understand why Measure B must pass by an overwhelming majority on June 3.