I was erasing spam messages and on accident I erased a message from Scott Blough about this topic. Scott, please post again.

Cool! Now we can watch the all republican Simi City Council continue to shove big government down our throats! They want to tell us where we can park our RV's, they ruled ill people in Simi can't smoke pot (But don't worry, you can walk into any bar in Simi and get drunk out of your mind), they have also voted to restrict politiical signs (perhaps because no signs favors incumbents). Hey Blough, don't republicans want small government?

Mashburn pulls papers signalling to the powers that be that he wants to be a player.

Mashburn does not file. (I knew he wouldn't)

Incumbent and appointed incumbent run unopposed.

Further predictions.

Mashburn is appointed to Planning Commission.

Becerra runs for Congress midway through his Council term 2008.

Becerra wins.

Mashburn is appointed to City Council 2008 to fill Becerra's term.

Two years later Mashburn runs as appointed incumbent unopposed

OR

Mashburn is groomed to run against Williamson 2008 since she helped Dantona vs. Mikels

Yes, yes, very predictable. I'm not sure about Becerra. While Elton will most likely back him, he is not well known outside of Simi.

I want a straight shooter like Tom McClintock to run. Simi Valley has proven once again they hate elections. You guys are shadier than shady. Get Real if you think anyone from Simi Valley can stop Tom McClintock!

Go Tom!

Maybe we can get streaming videos of the back room deals to cancel elections. That would be rally interesting.

I support the council's decision on banning Marijuana dispenaries. A recent LA Times article stated that even in San Francisco, the nuisance levels of people with phony prescriptions is sky-rocketing.

It has really undermined once nice neighborhoods. I read a DEA report and it said that due to Marijuana's potency it is now a main reason for checking into rehab behind heroin.

I don't want the added property crimes in our community do to the lax oversight of medicinal marijuana dispensaries.

Blough,
So you feel it is okay to let anyone over 21 go into any store in Simi and buy a bunch of booz, go home and get drunk out of their minds and possibly beat their wife and kids and then go for a drive, but you don't want someone with terminal cancer to get relief by smoking a joint? Is that compassionate conservatism? The only real reason pot is banned is because the conservatives still believe pot somehow unleashed the counter-culture movement in the 60s. But hey, Bush is re-fighting Vietnam in Iraq, so why not still fight the 60s?

Maybe if the city made a civil code to govern them and had oversight of the doctors like some cities it could be done.

I think it is sad that the mayor doesn't think sick people should be able to get medicine.

THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I WROTE THE DAY MASHBURN DID NOT RUN!

WHY CAN'T THEY JUST ALLOW AN ELECTION WITHOUT BACK ROOM DEALS. IF MASHBURN DOESN'T RUN AND HE GETS APPOINTED SOMEONE SHOULD CHECK IF THE COUNCIL PROMISED HIM A SEAT. IF THEY DO IT SOUNDS LIKE THAT VIOLATES THE STATES OPEN MEETING LAW!
Posted by: I SMELL A RAT at August 7, 2006 12:53 PM

M Fillmore:

Our police are working really hard at stopping drinking and driving and domestic violence. I support their efforts on both fronts.

I don't want to add marijuana crimes to their already strong efforts to combat DUI's and domestic violence by adding local marijuana legalization into their daily enforcement activities.

Police are already working extremely hard at combating the meth epidemic and the lax prop 36 rehab BS that this state has passed.

Not one person wrote a letter or arrived to speak in favor of marijuana dispensaries, which means their was a general consensus by the community that the moratorium was acceptable, except for two letters to the editor by some marijuana legalization advocates in San Francisco who don't live here.

Some of San Francisco's quiet neighborhoods are now considered unsafe because of Marijuana dispensaries. I'm glad we have a council that supports public safty first.

Blough,
Maybe no one spoke because they were afraid the Simi PD would follow them home and kick in their door. Ask any cop if they would rather face a drunk or a guy high on pot. Also word on the street is that McClintock will no longer get funding from the big donors because he has shown he cannot win outside of the local area.

I don't support allowing increases in more drivers on pot to our roads whether the PD is more comfortable arresting one or the other.

An uncontrolled medicinal marijuana dispensary would increase the levels of abuse and tax our police resources. The council got it right and no one spoke out from Simi Valley against their decision except on this blog.

I also don't want kids getting a hold of marijuana from the secondary market created by the dispensary. Alaska serves as a great example of Marijuana legalization and the impacts on communities.

More property crimes, and assaults, and a downward cycle of people feeling safe in their communities were a direct result of legalization in Alaska and voters in Alaska voted to make Marijuana illegal once again.

Mr. Blough I understand your concerns. A marijuana program can be well run, not run, or run poorly.

The city had these three options. Instead of crafting laws that would help SICK PEOPLE ON THE VERGE OF DYING AND TRYING TO KEEP FOOD DOWN WHILE UNDERGOING CHEMO, they just said no.

They could look at other cities. They could pick and choose from a variety of enforcement programs some of which have worked.

Instead people like you attack sick people and their families. You know why we didn't show up? Some people are forced to get their medicine on the very large black market in Simi Valley. We can't legally buy medicine. Are we going to ask the cops to arrest us?

Mr. Blough are you against medical marijuana if it was made legal and well run by large drug companies? The people of Simi Valley voted for it. Were they wrong?

You are against prop. 36? Maybe if politicians stopped thinking that anything besides jail time = soft on crime, they could of passed better laws. They could of improved a prop.36 type law. But chicksh!t Democrats were afraid you and your brethren would call them weak on crime. So, they punted. To the voters. Maybe you blame voters, but I blame both parties ( Democrats for being weak, and Republicans for trying some cheap shots).

HOW COME NOBODY IS TALKING ABOUT THE PLOT TO GET MASHBURN NOT TO RUN?

Blough,
According to government stats in 2005, 500,000 people died from smoking tobacco, 250,000 died from alcohol or accidents involving alcohol and 5,600 people died from illegal drugs. From these stats I can now clearly see why we should not let someone dying from cancer smoke a joint.

5,600 people that died from illegal drug use is still too much. Our government and our people are winning the war on drugs and the legalization groups seek to destroy that trend.

We don't need any easy access dispensaries to undermine our efforts. We need to continue to work hard through programs like DARE and not create a secondary market through these dispensaries in Simi Valley.

Machivelli: There is clearly way too easy access for minors.

I'd really like to limit the ability of selling "starter" bottles in conveinent stores.

The council did a great thing a year ago to go after parent-sponsored underage drinking parties, but I still think there is more that can be done.

I'd like to see stores that violate and are caught by undercover stings labeled in public that they are violators.

If I knew a store violated selling cigarettes and alcohol to minors, I would never go there.

In terms of marijuana dispensaries and prop 36, I'm against both. Prop 36 is a revovling door and people who are caught don't even have to stay in rehab for a verifiable amount of time. They slip through the cracks and many who have not been incarcerated have moved onto property crimes.

Just read an article on the meth epidemic to see the impacts on a community or worse a family.

The best way to reduce the prison population is for people to stop committing crimes and threatening the public safety.

I've lost a couple members of my extended family to drug abuse and I'm not afraid to stand up and speak out against those that think drug abuse should be legal or want to create an easy access secondary market.

Machivelli:

How come you didn't speak at the council meetings? At the end of the day, when an accounting was needed you didn't show. What's up?

Here is a Q & A from the Department of Justice on this subject.

Pay close attention to the alternatives to smoking medical marijuana and their effectiveness for patients suffering from incurable diseases. There are plenty and they are more effective than medical marijuana.

"Does marijuana have any medical value?

Any determination of a drug's valid medical use must be based on the best available science undertaken by medical professionals. The Institute of Medicine conducted a comprehensive study in 1999 to assess the potential health benefits of marijuana and its constituent cannabinoids. The study concluded that smoking marijuana is not recommended for the treatment of any disease condition. In addition, there are more effective medications currently available. For those reasons, the Institute of Medicine concluded that there is little future in smoked marijuana as a medically approved medication.8

Advocates have promoted the use of marijuana to treat medical conditions such as glaucoma. However, this is a good example of more effective medicines already available. According to the Institute of Medicine, there are six classes of drugs and multiple surgical techniques that are available to treat glaucoma that effectively slow the progression of this disease by reducing high intraocular pressure.

In other studies, smoked marijuana has been shown to cause a variety of health problems, including cancer, respiratory problems, increased heart rate, loss of motor skills, and increased heart rate. Furthermore, marijuana can affect the immune system by impairing the ability of T-cells to fight off infections, demonstrating that marijuana can do more harm than good in people with already compromised immune systems.9

In addition, in a recent study by the Mayo Clinic, THC was shown to be less effective than standard treatments in helping cancer patients regain lost appetites.10

The American Medical Association recommends that marijuana remain a Schedule I controlled substance.

The DEA supports research into the safety and efficacy of THC (the major psychoactive component of marijuana), and such studies are ongoing, supported by grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

As a result of such research, a synthetic THC drug, Marinol, has been available to the public since 1985. The Food and Drug Administration has determined that Marinol is safe, effective, and has therapeutic benefits for use as a treatment for nausea and vomiting associated with cancer chemotherapy, and as a treatment of weight loss in patients with AIDS. However, it does not produce the harmful health effects associated with smoking marijuana.

Furthermore, the DEA recently approved the University of California San Diego to undertake rigorous scientific studies to assess the safety and efficacy of cannabis compounds for treating certain debilitating medical conditions.

It's also important to realize that the campaign to allow marijuana to be used as medicine is a tactical maneuver in an overall strategy to completely legalize all drugs. Pro-legalization groups have transformed the debate from decriminalizing drug use to one of compassion and care for people with serious diseases. The New York Times interviewed Ethan Nadelman, Director of the Lindesmith Center, in January 2000. Responding to criticism from former Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey that the medical marijuana issue is a stalking-horse for drug legalization, Mr. Nadelman did not contradict General McCaffrey. "Will it help lead toward marijuana legaization?" Mr. Nadelman said: "I hope so."

Recent studies have shown DARE to be the least effective of all the anti-drug programs available. You can never make an intelligent argument against pot as long as alcohol and tobacco are legal.

Somehow Blough knows more than thousands of doctors. A secondary market? There is no problem finding marijuana in Simi valley or any large city. The only thing that the Blough's of the world have done is to force CANCER patients to go to a drug dealer, not a hospital.

So much for small government.

Machivelli:

Are you saying you want to get rid of DARE? Like I said two or three times. If it was a big issue people would have went to the meetings, wrote letters, and made an argument in favor of it. No one showed up. No doctors, no one showed to oppose this measure except the fringe in the paper and anonymous complaints on this blog.

Noam Chomsky: I just listed many alternatives that can be used instead of medical marijuana.

Here's from a previous post in case you missed it. Notice I'm not saying it, the Institute of Medicine is...

"The Institute of Medicine conducted a comprehensive study in 1999 to assess the potential health benefits of marijuana and its constituent cannabinoids. The study concluded that smoking marijuana is not recommended for the treatment of any disease condition. In addition, there are more effective medications currently available. For those reasons, the Institute of Medicine concluded that there is little future in smoked marijuana as a medically approved medication.8"

The Institute of Medicine says it's ineffective for patients and like we saw in San Francisco creates a major nuisance for residents.

Why are you against the Institute of Medicine, which is funded by the National Academy of Sciences?

Do you know something the Institute of Medicine didn't in their study?

Blough,
If DARE is shown to be the least effective program why not try the most effective program? Don't you want kids to stay off drugs?

What program is more effective than DARE?

Please be specific.

Scott, with all due respect for your family loses to drug abuse, which have clearly and understandably colored your views on medical marijuana....

Have you ever undergone chemotherapy? Do you have any idea how hard it is to even keep water down, let alone a "marinol" capsule? Do you know how hard it is, even in a Metro area like SoCal, to find a pharmacy that carries it, not to mention the expense? Do you know that most Oncologists think it's useless? Do you honestly think that someone who is dying or fighting to stay alive is worried about the "harmful effects of smoking marijuana"? Do you know what it's like to spend days vomiting so long and hard that your stomach muscles won't stop cramping, so you go sit in an ER for hours waiting for your turn, hoping they'll be able to give you an injection of something to make it stop? Have you ever sat in a car on the way to the doctors office to get your chemo treatment, shaking uncontrollably, because you knew that your monthly "cocktail" of chemo drugs was going to lead to a four day "party" of fever and vomiting?

As long as medical marijuana is effective for even one patient, then it should be made available. I'm not saying at a drive-thru window, and not without significant restrictions and oversight. But unless you've walked in the shoes I've described above, who are you to judge otherwise?

Laura:

Yes, drugs are a serious matter to me, probably just as serious as your position is to you.

With that being said, I sincerely want to apologize that you have had to experience the pain that you have. I'm sorry that I'm unable to understand your challenges that you have had. I have had a few friends and one family member go through chemo and it sucks.

I see this challenge in terms of one step closer to legalization for the public at large. Laura, what is sad, in my view, is patients hopes have been hijacked by legalization advocates some of which openly admit that fact.

I doubt as you alluded to that people with cancer who want any prescription would support some of the stories of neighborhoods being overwhelmed with the added supply problems law enforcement has in containing marijuana dispensaries and it's impacts on neighborhoods.

Laura, do you think neighborhoods and communities should not be worried about a dispensary coming to their neighborhood when some of the evidence is not too good?

I'm also interested in what you think about the fact that President Bill Clinton didn't really support medical marijuana either? His drug Czar, McCaffery made it pretty clear that physicians in AZ or CA that prescribed marijuana for medical uses would be prosecuted for drug dealing.

It appears that opposition to medical marijuana is a pretty bipartisan position.

Laura:

I did a quick check of Senator Clinton's and Senator Obama's senate homepage and neither of them have taken a position on Medical Marijuana. I could have missed it as I just did a quick run through under issues.

Since I consider you to be the local democratic leader, can you elaborate on their positions or what position they will take for our readers.

Do you know if they've taken a position?

I would guess that they all are afraid of being weak on crime by you and your ilk. If ilk is an offensive term replace it with "allies".

Don't you think people of courage could go back and draft a law that would allow sick patients to get medicine AND stop teens from getting those same drugs? The fact that it isn't debated is evidence that both sides are afraid to do their jobs.

Red Herring:

I wouldn't say that the democrats can't stick to their beliefs when confronted by republicans. That's pretty demeaning to the democratic party and I think you seek to reinforce a stereotype of a "flip-flopping" directionless party, which I don't believe to be true in this case.

I actually think it shows there is bipartisan support against medical marijuana from major players in both parties. I think it's great that Bill Clinton, when President, saw the importance going after drugs and not allowing them to overun communities as they had from the 70's on.

In his book, "Hope and History" he talks about one of his many campaign travels to the inner city. A father asks him if he'll free his family from the scourge of drugs and violence in their community. He responds by putting 100K more cops on the street and moving from rehabilitation to mandatory minimums on prison sentences.

Drafting laws really has nothing to do with it. It's about enforcement resources. You can write laws all day, but unless there is enforcement it really doesn't matter.

At this point, adding more enforcement pressure must be taken into consideration when approving a marijuana dispensary, especially in light of the impacts on surrounding neighborhoods as we've observed up north.

Machiavelli:

Did you ever find a program that is more effective than DARE? I'm interested your facts on that?

Scott,

I think communities need to ever vigilant about their neighborhoods, but not vigilantes. I would be interested to know if the people who are against the dispensaries, are equally opposed to new liquor or cigarette stores opening up in their neighborhoods? After all, both are addictive substances, and are directly linked to the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans every year. All evidence points to both type of stores having a less than positive impact on the surrounding community (versus, say a new Whole Foods).

I personally don't think there is a need for special dispensaries to handle medical marijuana. Existing pharmacies could handle what would undoubtably be a very small quantity of the drug, to be dispensed by licensed medical doctors, under very limited conditions. However, since there would be very little profit margin for big pharma and the drugstore chains, it won't happen.

Do you know that nearly 6,000 kids die in traffic accidents every year, caused by drivers under the age of 18? Should we ban everyone under 18 from driving? It works for me personally. I'd like to put kids in bubble wrap and keep them from driving until they're 21. I think I'd be outnumbered on that proposal. (I do personally support a local program called STTOP. Check it out: www.sttop.net. It's not unlike DARE. It's been very effective.)

I am really not up on all of the debate over "medical marijuana". I don't know what either Clinton (Bill or Hill), Obama or Edwards thinks about the subject. I suspect, as with most candidates in both parties, it's much easier to "just say no" than it is to spend a great deal of time and effort studying the issue, writing a position paper that addresses the pros and cons, subtleties and nuances of the issue, and then figure out how to boil it down into a 9 second sound bite that won't be distorted by your opponents.

On a final note, let me be clear that when I post, the words and opinions I type are my own, and I'm NOT representing the Democratic Party, unless I state otherwise.

There is an ongoing movement in the legalization crowd to make marijuana and other drugs seem only as dangerous as alcohol and cigarrettes, but this in fact is not the case. There are many studies out there that outline the dangers of marijuana and many go far beyond what alcohol or cigarrettes can do in terms of effects. That is to say they are not dangerous just not as dangerous as marijuana and other drugs.

the one I keep going back to, is the fact that the majority of people checking into rehab is 2nd only to heroin due to marijuana's potency.

In terms of teen driving, I think it goes more to the question of training and preparedness and not some arbitrary age of 18 or 16. There are responsible 16 year olds and irresponsbile 18 year olds just as the other way around.

What I notice is how really easy it is to get your license. I don't think you even need to know how to parallel park anymore.

I think we need to raise standards on safe driving practices for everyone in California. I also think new cars with TV's and other entertainment devices are causing serious lack of attention on the roads. Seriously, do we really need a TV while we drive?

WHY IS IT THAT THE CITY COUNCIL CANCELS ANOTHER ELECTION BY HANDING OUR POLITICAL JOBS AN NOBODY IS BOTHERED.

DON'T THINK FOR A MOMENT WE ARE NOT ONTO YOUR GAMES! I NEED A LAWYER TO HELP ME FIGURE OUT IF IT COULD BE A BROWN ACT VIOLATION TO PROMISE AN APPOINTMENT IN RETURN FOR SOMEONE NOT RUNNING. DOES ANYONE KNOW? ALL I KNOW IS "I SMELL A RAT"!

LOOK WHAT I WROTE THE DAY HE DIDN'T RUN!

THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I WROTE THE DAY MASHBURN DID NOT RUN!

WHY CAN'T THEY JUST ALLOW AN ELECTION WITHOUT BACK ROOM DEALS. IF MASHBURN DOESN'T RUN AND HE GETS APPOINTED SOMEONE SHOULD CHECK IF THE COUNCIL PROMISED HIM A SEAT. IF THEY DO IT SOUNDS LIKE THAT VIOLATES THE STATES OPEN MEETING LAW!
Posted by: I SMELL A RAT at August 7, 2006 12:53 PM

Blough,
I will get you the names of the programs. In terms of pot I think it is comical to turn a blind eye to alcohol and say it is okay, but pot is bad. The establishment believes smoking pot leads to counter-culture thoughts, so that is why they hate it. Getting drunk only leads to thoughts of beating loved ones and killing others while driving drunk, the establishment can live with that as long as it does not lead people to question authority and think for themselves.

Ive been born and raised in this city and every step i see, the city taking is one closer to the valley,and that is wrong.
Their attitude Towards growth,crime and all the problems makes me want to run against every one one of the candidates.