Date: Wednesday, April 2, 2014 To: Clackamas County Commission, Counsel From: Michael C. Mullins 10308 SE 96th Ave Happy Valley, OR 97086 RE: Opposition to Moratorium on Medical Marijuana Facilities Thank You Commissioners and Counsel, I am 60 years old. I have been a fifth generation resident here in Clackamas County with my parents and grandparents. I have raised my children who are now raising their children in this fine county. I graduated with Honors from our schools and have been a successful business owner and community member. I was the official consultant of record for the State of Oregon, Clackamas County itself, the School district, and was responsible for your implementation plan for the Americans with Disabilities Act. I am a medical marijuana patient. I oppose this moratorium. I see this as much the same issue as the Americans with Disabilities Act in providing Access, Understanding and Civil Rights. I understand the reaction the county may be having right now. However I feel that without having a citizen review panel or plans in place for preparation of codes to allow for dispensaries the County is forcing me and thousands of other patients in this county to the streets and back to the black market. On Wednesday, October 16th, 2013 Clackamas County made it to the front page of the local news paper The Clackamas Review, Volume 93, No. 41. The planning commission fined me for not having a Home Use Permit for my personal garden. After many months of trying to comply and wondering why I was being singled out I was shocked to see that the county had violated Federal Law (HIPPA) and my personal rights and safety by publishing private information. portlandtribune/cr/24-news/197672-medical-marijuana-growers-take-the-high-road-against-county%20 Although there is legal recourse that I have been advised upon, my current choice is to work with the county in educating and working on long term solutions for Medical Marijuana patients such as myself. If patients had access the volume of home grows will decline. Most patients dont have the time to grow their medicine before they die. Dispensaries reduce crime and are great neighbors. I am hereby asking that you table this moratorium until the needs of the citizens can be taken into account. I ask that you allow us to come to the table with suggestions and solutions and to work together for sustainable, sensible, safe solutions. I would like to offer my submission to such a citizens counsel to assist the county in expediting rules for dispensaries. In the future and as this industry grows we hope to be working here. In our own distant business plans we are engaging with some of the worlds foremost scientific minds to possibly create and open a several million dollar complex dedicated to cancer research and development on this subject. Here are a few points: Dispensaries are good neighbors and actually reduce crime. Attached are credible studies. The average age of the patient is 57 years old. They have never uses cannabis before and they dont want to go score at the local park or from that niece or nephew that got in trouble in school. This is not how we want to operate. This only reinforces crime. Many Oregon Cities and Counties are working on solutions that do not involve long term moratoriums. We can provide examples. More than two-thirds of doctors in the U.S. believe cannabis can be used to treat certain conditions, according to a new survey by WebMD/Medscape leafscience/2014/04/02/67-u-s-doctors-say-cannabis-medical-option/?utm_campaign=DD%204.2.14&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_content=Full%20Story Over 21 states (and DC) have legalized cannabis as medicine. 2 states have legalized recreational use. Cannabis is medicine and is now being published in Medical Journals and accepted by major supporters. We just had one sent to us by our doctors at OHSU published in PainMagazine Here is another oncology study recently published http:/karger/Article/FullText/356446?vsmaid=6 Epilepsy Foundation strongly supports medical marijuana epilepsy/newsfeeds/press_release/1002788 Medical marijuana may be related to reductions in certain types of crime, new study suggests. plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0092816 Attached in the following emails will be studies, reports and evidence along with guidelines for your review and to be attached to my testimony. To summarize, I am here in opposition to bans and to help defend the rights of the patient for access to qualified medicine. The most important and toughest issue we face in this industry is to remove the Black Market. We cannot allow cities and counties to ban legal, qualified access and push the patient back to the street. This only reinforces the illegal activities and increases crime. We will be showing evidence that dispensaries have Decreased Crime and that patients need qualified, responsible, regulated safe access. Attached are documents from qualified studies in regards to the impact of dispensaries on communities and how they may work together with our industry. This is a limited time moratorium, not a permanent ban. This time period is to be used for integrating solutions and a period of code review and implementation. We ask the county to shorten this period by working with us in implementation and solutions to lessen the impact of criminal activities in the county. We look forward to working with the County on any details to include compliance, security, zoning and other matters associated with our long standing business relationship to our community. Please feel free to contact us with any comments or suggestions and further details of how we may work together. Mike Mullins 503-788-2349
Posted on: Thu, 03 Apr 2014 03:34:03 +0000
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