Lake Elsinore town hall meeting on medical marijuana packed a full house

A standing-room-only crowd of more than 170 jammed the Lake Elsinore Cultural Center Monday evening for a town hall meeting that addressed the topic of medical marijuana.

Hosted by Wildomar resident Wayne Williams, who heads We The People, a local pro-cannabis organization, the meeting included seven guest speakers whose backgrounds included law, business, medicine, government and activism.

Williams said his goal in holding the town hall meeting was to bring the community together to find a “sensible solution” to the concerns related to medical marijuana, and said his organization sent emails invitations to Lake Elsinore registered voters, encouraging them to “join the dialogue” Monday evening.

He is also pushing to get a city ordinance passed that would legalize medical marijuana, which is on Lake Elsinore’s council agenda Tuesday. City council will decide whether or not to extend a moratorium banning all marijuana manufacturing activities in the city.

In December, council approved an urgency ordinance that immediately established a 45-day moratorium prohibiting the manufacturing operations that grow the drug for medical purposes.

If the ordinance extension is passed during Tuesday’s council meeting, it will go into effect immediately and could last as long as 10 months.

While Wildomar councilmember Sheryl Ade was in the audience during Monday’s meeting, Williams said none of the Lake Elsinore city council members were in attendance despite his assertion that he personally invited all of them to the event.

During Monday’s get-together, the seven guest speakers addressed issues ranging from cannabis regulation and medicinal benefits to how to obtain medical marijuana I.D. cards.

Guest speaker Charles Monson, a businessman and quadriplegic who founded the non-profit Wheels of Mercy, an organization that collects used wheel chairs for those who can’t afford them, said he supports legalization and pleaded with the audience to help those who need the drug for health reasons.

Monson cited problems with prescription drugs for pain relief, and said cannabis is a safer alternative.

“There has never been a fatal marijuana overdose,” he said. “Medical marijuana is a health issue, not a law enforcement issue.”

Guest speaker Cha Hanna from Americans for Safe Access’s, the grassroots organization working to legalize marijuana, encouraged pro-cannabis audience members to take action, by telling them, they “can affect change.”

Christopher Glenn Fichtner, M.D., spoke about his research on the medicinal benefits of cannabis. The Chicago-based psychiatrist said he has studied the issue of America’s policy on illegal drugs, specifically marijuana. He concluded that cannabis has medicinal merits and should be legalized.

“As a psychiatrist, I don’t recommend cannabis for treatment, but I do have patients who use it and report benefits,” he said. “I think it’s important that, as doctors, we listen to these people. There’s a lot more work to be done and we need to do research.”

Guest speaker James Gray, a retired Orange County trial judge who presided over drug courts during his time on the bench, said U.S. law on drug prohibition is “the largest failed policy next to slavery. What we’re doing isn’t working.”

Gray said illegal drugs are available to those who want them.

“Nobody is hanging out near the schools trying to sell our kids Jim Beam,” he said.

Instead, Gray said drug pushers are peddling illegal drugs to kids.

“This is caused by our prohibition on drugs,” he said. “We glamorize marijuana by making it illegal.”

Ed Rosenthal, a pro-cannabis advocate who writes about marijuana, said the majority of Americans favor legalization and that criminalization creates a police state.

“We are the majority,” he said, “not government.”

Rosenthal said that when comparing cannabis to legal drugs such as alcohol, tobacco and some prescription drugs, marijuana is much safer.

“People make the decision to use it and it’s not addictive,” he said. “People use marijuana to enhance their lives. Just like people use Viagra to enhance their lives.”

Among the speakers was also former Norco mayor, Herb Higgins who said it’s been his duty to “uphold citizens’ wishes.” During his council tenure, he voted to allow collectives in Norco.

Higgins said he was not familiar with all the issues surrounding medical marijuana in Lake Elsinore, but that council members are not “change agents.”

“If you disagree with what council members say, don’t sit at home,” he said. “Do something about your cause. I don’t use marijuana. I never have and probably never will. But it doesn’t stop me from saying, ‘it’s your right to do it.’”

Carolyn Lieber, who heads Riverside County Department of Health’s Medical Marijuana Identification Card Program said, “I don’t have a soapbox to stand on.”

Instead, Lieber provided information on the county’s medical marijuana card program.

Tuesday’s council meeting will be held at 7 p.m. at the Cultural Center, 183 N. Main Street.

Toni McAllister is SWRNN’s lifestyles editor. She can be reached at toni.mcallister@yahoo.com.

Tags: americans for safe access, Carolyn Lieber, Cha Hanna, Charles Monson, Christopher Glenn Fichtner, Ed Rosenthal, Herb Higgins, James Gray, Lake Elsinore, lake elsinore city council, Lake Elsinore Cultural Center, medical marijuana, Medical Marijuana Identification Card Program, norco, SWRNN, Toni McAllister, Wayne Williams, We the People, Wheels of Mercy, Wildomar councilwoman Sheryl Ade

This entry was posted on Monday, January 25th, 2010 at 10:58 pm and is filed under Lifestyle, Local News, News, Politics & Government . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.