Dear Santa Barbara mayor and council members:

As you continue to deal with the issue of marijuana dispensaries in your community, I encourage you to keep in mind your two most important responsibilities: to protect people and manage tax dollars intelligently. Neither is possible by legalizing marijuana — for any reason.

First of all, marijuana is not medicine. Fifty-six percent of voters approved Proposition 215 out of compassion for the chronically ill. This was the result of a $4 million propaganda campaign financed by three out-of-state billionaires — George Soros, Peter Lewis and John Sperling — whose intent in legalizing marijuana appears to be to destroy a significant percent of the population at the expense of everyone else. Voters were conned.

To be a valid medicine that could be prescribed by a doctor and obtained in a pharmacy, the medicine must have a known dose, known potency, known ingredients and be packaged properly with the harmful side effects duly noted. With smoking as a delivery vehicle, that is simply not possible. Today, the normal range of THC goes from 10 percent to 21 percent (Harborside in Oakland). Pot confiscated in Long Beach had 1,400 times the legal limit for pesticides. So even the “medical marijuana” patients are putting themselves in harm’s way, and by allowing more retail pot shops in your community, you essentially are contributing to public health and safety problems and subjecting the city to potential liability.

If you aren’t familiar with the California Drug Dealer Liability Act (California Code 11,700 to 11,717), I suggest you have your city attorney review it. The act states that anyone injured because of illicit drugs can take civil action against any and all drug dealers for providing drugs that led to personal injury. The family of Florinda Garcia Flores, for example, could have a serious case against any and all dispensaries in or near the city, if the young driver tests positive for marijuana. Since there was pot and paraphernalia in the vehicle, that seems like a strong possibility. In addition to the drug dealers, the city and state could also be in line of liability by allowing the sale and distribution of a Schedule I drug.

You should also be very cognizant of the harms of marijuana. As opposed to the 1970s when pot averaged 0.5 percent THC, the modern high potency pot, which averages 10.4 percent and ranges as high as 37 percent, is causing a surge in health problems, crime, education, welfare and traffic safety. In fact, 26.9 percent of drivers injured in accidents test positive for pot. Of greater concern, however, is the impact on young people.

Because of brain scan technology, scientists have ascertained that the human brain isn’t fully developed until the mid-20s, and until it is, it is much more vulnerable to harm and addiction. During the adolescent years, the brain is going through enormous changes, and it is now proven that marijuana — even in limited use — can cause irreversible harm and lead to psychosis, particularly schizophrenia, even years later. The age groups who consume the most marijuana happen to be 25 years or younger.

Pot also has a devastating affect on memory, motivation, maturation, judgment and motor skills. As such, it is also a major contributor to California’s 24.2 percent high school dropout rate, which your own UCSB research has shown costs taxpayers $46.2 billion per cohort, $392,000 per dropout. America can’t afford the loss of talent or tax dollars and stay competitive as a nation.

Most communities in California have placed public health and safety above deriving income from illicit drugs and initiated bans against dispensaries. Since the adverse economic consequences don’t just fall on the local community, be aware that there is a move afoot for the federal and state governments to impose economic sanctions against any local community that contributes to the public burden caused by illicit drugs, just for their own economic self-interest.

Please ban dispensaries. That is the right thing to do for your community and for all Californians.

Roger Morgan, executive director
Coalition for a Drug Free California