Letters to the Editor, Jan. 5: In Dank We Trust

The following is a letter to the editor in today’s IT, In dank we trust, by Will Shobrun, – I posted a Comment, below..

EDITOR: “Back in the old days,” he said, leaning on his wizard cane, “it was called dope.”

Also referred to as smoke, pot, reefer, jay, Mary Jane and a salad of euphemisms. It was never called cannabis, as in, “Yo, bro, got any cannabis?” “Cannabis” was the invention of some doper English major who got off on Latin, and embraced by city councils all over America drooling for tax dollars.

The way to “test” marijuana, a name only used by government drug agencies, was to first smell it and then smoke it. The nose knows was the motto, well, my motto, and it’s still true, and the acid (ahem) test was to smoke the stuff. It was either really good, gooood, all right or junk. Simple, easy, scientific-ish and you’re out the door.

Now capitalism rears its coiffed head, advertising and PR geeks take over, and a perfectly natural substance to get you high is hyped and packaged up the yin-yang. Thanks to the packaging, adding 40 tons of indestructible plastic to oceans and landfills that won’t break down until the year 20,003 (rough calculation), you can’t smell it or even see it at purchase.

So as they say at the bar I hang out in, caveat emptor, which means … trust me sucker, would I lie to you?

Will Shonbrun

Sonoma Valley

Will, I agree with much of what you’ve said. As a 30-year advocate for medicinal marijuana, I never supported Prop 64. It is pseudo-legalization that has destroyed the traditional market through over-regulation and over-taxation to benefit deep-pocket players. Only legislation through Sacramento can change 64 and good luck with *that*. The other option is another statewide ballot initiative to make things right. It should be planned for 2024 (2022 is an off-year and too risky). But, it’s still a tall order.

So in the meantime, the current playing field is all we have. And our patient community *especially* needs safe, local access to marijuana, or cannabis, or whatever you want to call it. The current issue facing Sonoma is the need for a second dispensary to provide patients and adult consumers with the choices they deserve in order to better serve the 45,000 people living in the greater Sonoma area. Competition can provide folks here with easy, safe access to more product choice, better services, etc. That’s what the free market is all about, isn’t it? Everybody wins, the city, adult consumers and *especially* medical users.

What we’re asking now is that citizens send an email to the city council in support of a second dispensary and, better yet, come speak at the January city council meeting. You do not have to be a resident of the city, as this affects the entire south end of the Valley. It’s easy to keep up to date on this issue via Sonoma Valley Cannabis Group. Type that into Google or Facebook and you’ll find us for the latest information.