Medical marijuana sparked some controversy again this week when Fresno County put a moratorium on pot dispensaries.
This is just another layer of fuss over this issue. The city of Fresno has already forced medical pot shops out of business, saying they violate zoning ordinances.
One ganja-yielding shop owner in the Tower District, Rick Morse, has made headlines for his steadfast refusal to shut down.
With a looming ballot proposition to legalize weed for everyone coming in the November election, it seems like the discussion about marijuana is only going to get more heated.
Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims this week said she backs a ban on pot shops in Fresno County. Then on Tuesday, the Fresno County Board of Supervisors approved a 45-day moratorium on new shops and said it would examine the at least 15 shops already operating and decide whether they can stay open.
One of the big reasons: The dispensaries are "magnets for crime."
Three times -- yes, three whole times -- in the past couple months Fresno County pot dispensaries have been crime scenes. Wow, that's a crime wave.
Even though I've never, in my 30 years, even smoked a cigarette, much less the ol' Mary Jane, I've still taken an interest in this issue. Particularly now that pot shops are "magnets for crime." It's made me concerned about other crime "magnets" in our community, too.
You know how they say marijuana is a gateway drug? Well I think if we're going to ban medical marijuana dispensaries, it should be a gateway ban.
Lots of places are magnets for crime. Bars and liquor stores, for example, are often tied to our society's seedier side. Robberies, DUIs, assaults -- a lot of that can be tied back to booze.
Let's get rid of them too.
If we do that, then we obviously need to get rid of banks. Talk about a bullseye for criminals. (Remember those bank robbers who led police on a chase through the Fresno State campus?)
Schools would need to go too. Kidnappers, perverts and drug dealers have been known to hang around. Plenty of crime possibilities there.
But you know where a whole lot of crime happens? In homes.
Home invasions. Domestic incidents. Peoples' idling cars getting stolen out of the driveway on winter mornings.
What if we just got rid of houses? That would surely help eliminate another "crime magnet."
If we follow these steps, our society would nearly crime-free.
Sure, we'd all be broke, uneducated homeless people. But at least we wouldn't be able to make ourselves feel better by smoking a doobie.
NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: The Fresno Bee
Author: Mike Osegueda
Contact: The Fresno Bee
Copyright: 2010 The Fresno Bee
Website: The Fresno Bee, Calif., Mike Osegueda column: Pot shops 'crime magnets?' Well, here are a few more
This is just another layer of fuss over this issue. The city of Fresno has already forced medical pot shops out of business, saying they violate zoning ordinances.
One ganja-yielding shop owner in the Tower District, Rick Morse, has made headlines for his steadfast refusal to shut down.
With a looming ballot proposition to legalize weed for everyone coming in the November election, it seems like the discussion about marijuana is only going to get more heated.
Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims this week said she backs a ban on pot shops in Fresno County. Then on Tuesday, the Fresno County Board of Supervisors approved a 45-day moratorium on new shops and said it would examine the at least 15 shops already operating and decide whether they can stay open.
One of the big reasons: The dispensaries are "magnets for crime."
Three times -- yes, three whole times -- in the past couple months Fresno County pot dispensaries have been crime scenes. Wow, that's a crime wave.
Even though I've never, in my 30 years, even smoked a cigarette, much less the ol' Mary Jane, I've still taken an interest in this issue. Particularly now that pot shops are "magnets for crime." It's made me concerned about other crime "magnets" in our community, too.
You know how they say marijuana is a gateway drug? Well I think if we're going to ban medical marijuana dispensaries, it should be a gateway ban.
Lots of places are magnets for crime. Bars and liquor stores, for example, are often tied to our society's seedier side. Robberies, DUIs, assaults -- a lot of that can be tied back to booze.
Let's get rid of them too.
If we do that, then we obviously need to get rid of banks. Talk about a bullseye for criminals. (Remember those bank robbers who led police on a chase through the Fresno State campus?)
Schools would need to go too. Kidnappers, perverts and drug dealers have been known to hang around. Plenty of crime possibilities there.
But you know where a whole lot of crime happens? In homes.
Home invasions. Domestic incidents. Peoples' idling cars getting stolen out of the driveway on winter mornings.
What if we just got rid of houses? That would surely help eliminate another "crime magnet."
If we follow these steps, our society would nearly crime-free.
Sure, we'd all be broke, uneducated homeless people. But at least we wouldn't be able to make ourselves feel better by smoking a doobie.
NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: The Fresno Bee
Author: Mike Osegueda
Contact: The Fresno Bee
Copyright: 2010 The Fresno Bee
Website: The Fresno Bee, Calif., Mike Osegueda column: Pot shops 'crime magnets?' Well, here are a few more
