NIMBYism reigns in Kohala
How long have very sick patients waited to legally buy their cannabis in dispensaries? Answer: 15 years.
Yet, now a community organization in Kohala prematurely wants to block medical cannabis dispensaries and grow facilities from opening in their district (West Hawaii Today, Dec. 16) even though no one to date has stepped forth expressing interest in starting one up. This attitude screams of NIMBYism.
Even more disappointing is that Kohala Councilwoman Margaret Wille appears to support the group’s goal of blocking dispensaries/grow facilities from opening there and has led our County Council to vote on a resolution that counties should have more say about where dispensaries/grow operations are located.
Rebutting that, conservative state legislators have already incorporated strict rules in the law about where a dispensary/grow operation can locate by providing sufficient distances from schools, parks and public housing and requiring indoor grows. This should ameliorate any community concerns. Bottom line is it’s legal in Hawaii to become a certified patient and in the summer of 2016 it will be possible for patients to legally buy it in a store and not from a drug dealer. That’s a good thing.
This is not about “… we have a serious drug problem,” which Wille implies is pot. The serious drug problem is with highly addictive opioid drugs, ice, heroin and alcohol which destroy our communities and kill tens of thousands each year. No one has ever died from a marijuana overdose.
And, to the Kohala group that is threatening to challenge the dispensary law in court, we ask where is your compassion for people, some dying from cancer and AIDS? Patients gain great relief from this natural plant medicine?
Allow certified patients to buy their medicine in regulated dispensaries in communities nearest to them. Please, let’s first see how this law works before getting all NIMBY.
Andrea Tischler
Chairwoman, Big Island Chapter, Americans for Safe Access
Hilo