US - City Heartlessly Prepares To Ban Medical

[Hash]

Modesto, CA - It was a sad parade of suffering humanity. Wasted, wizened people fighting cancer, multiple sclerosis and other horrible diseases. Some in wheelchairs, others on crutches or walkers, some who could measure their remaining time on Earth in months, and of course we never got to see the ones who were simply too sick to make it down to the chambers of the Modesto City Council for the last two meetings in which this topic was discussed.

These people use marijuana to ease nausea and to stimulate appetite; for them, nothing else works. They pleaded with the council not to shut down their local source; some told of being unable to get to Oakland to buy their pot because they were just too sick to drive anymore.

It was a logistical nightmare, riveting in its stark simplicity, and for us, the unafflicted, it was a window into a grim world that many of our fellow Modestans inhabit.

The council oozed sympathy and reassurance: Don't worry, we're just interested in controlling the spread of these outlets (there are two in Modesto), we're not interested in closing down the ones we already have.

This was, to put it kindly, a whopper; the city attorney is preparing an ordinance "to ban medical marijuana dispensaries in the City of Modesto," including the existing stores.

So much for reassurance and understanding. Or, for that matter, truth.

The people hardest hit by this double-cross will be those with little in the way of money or a support system, and a terminal or otherwise debilitating illness can put you in both categories with stunning rapidity.

The council apparently has made the political calculation that it can safely give these folks the back of its collective hand. One reason is that there exists a segment of belief (and don't besmirch a perfectly honorable term by calling it "conservative") that these sick people are liars and want the pot just so they can get stoned. Maybe they're all time-traveling Haight-Asbury refugees just pretending to be sick.

Another reason is more subtle: People who are seriously ill or disabled make some of us uncomfortable, even more so if they are obviously poor and desperate. Many of us avert our eyes, wishing the afflicted would have the good taste to stay out of sight ... and, therefore, out of mind.

In the next few months, we are going to find out if one or both of these views really defines the kind of place we have here. Between now and the time the city attorney finishes crafting this brutal law, council members either will get an earful from good-hearted, compassionate Modestans or they won't.

Bet on one thing: If nothing happens to change councilmembers' minds on the political viability of this punishing approach, they will end up approving the ordinance.

And what that will say — not just about the council, but about us as a community, a city — will be something we will not want to confront. We'll keep it in the closet, out of sight. And mind.

Like the unfortunate souls we will have casually and callously kicked to the curb.



Source: Modesto Bee, The (CA)
Copyright: 2005 The Modesto Bee
Contact: letters@modbee.com
Website: http://www.modbee.com/