Not All Pot Users Want Stronger Drugs
Dear Editor,
I would like to comment on the May 4 letter to the editor titled, “Against Legalizing Pot.” As the author indicates she’s a new resident to Morgan Hill, I ask is she new to California?
In November of 1996 California voters passed Proposition 215, the “Compassionate Use Act of 1996.” The purposes of the act were “to ensure that seriously ill Californians have the right to obtain and use marijuana for medical purposes where the medical use is deemed appropriate and has been recommended by a physician who has determined that the person’s health would benefit from the use of marijuana … and to ensure that patients and physician are not subject to criminal prosecution or sanction.”
I am compassionate toward the author’s “sad experiences” in her family but don’t agree that “users of pot eventually get to the point where it no longer gives them the desired high so they go to other illegal hard drugs such as cocaine and heroine or worse.”
This comment could be extended to a person who enjoys a glass of wine or a bottle of beer will eventually revert to shots of hard alcohol. I don’t think so!
My advice to the author is that the use of cocaine, heroine or the use of other worse drugs may be from the upbringing or personal choice of such person and shouldn’t be included in the debate of “Compassionate Use.”
I have only one regret in my life. In April of 1998 my father was in constant pain and agreed to try some marijuana brownies. I didn’t have access to any and in January of 1999 he died.
I commend the Morgan Hill City Council on extending the moratorium to do more research which includes input from our police department.
Frank E. Gardner, Morgan Hill
Buzz Stop Will Be Missed
Dear Editor,
The fabric of the Morgan Hill downtown community will be torn again this Wednesday with the closing of the Buzz Stop at Second Street and Monterey Road. As one, but apparently not enough, of the morning regulars I will miss my non-fat latte and friendly chat with Buzz, Linda, or Alex. To paraphrase world famous cyclist and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong who entitled his biography, “It’s Not About the Bike,” The Buzz Stop has never been just about the coffee. A brief morning chat with affable proprietors who easily learned my name, my vocation, and my order, and introduction to local artists will be irreplaceable at any of the now five assembly line Starbucks around town. The continued demise of independent businesses spells a foreboding sense of gloom for the renaissance of the downtown corridor. The continued proliferation of strip malls and larger “freeway access” malls will render the plans for a vital Willow Glen and Los Gatos like downtown in Morgan Hill to only a memory.
Thanks Buzz, Linda, and Alex, for a brief time you made downtown Morgan Hill a more inviting, friendly, and family-like place, you will be missed.
Barry Goldman-Hall, San Jose
