Op-Ed: Grant County Court Judge Says Recreational Marijuana An “Ethics Issue”
By Keith Mansur
Oregon Cannabis Connection
Sept 30, 2016 – On Wednesday the Grant County Court (Grant County’s commissioners) reversed earlier bans on marijuana in the county by allowing medical marijuana dispensaries. It was passed as an emergency so it can take effect immediately.
Hooray for Grant County, Oregon…sort of?!
In the very same meeting, a resident of the county questioned the Court’s decision to ban recreational marijuana outlets. Considering not a single person at the meeting spoke against the medical marijuana dispensaries, the question was warranted. Antonio Roberts mentioned the loss of significant tax revenue by banning recreational outlets, reported the Blue Mountain Eagle.
Their head commissioner, unfortunately given the titled the county “Judge”, is ignorantly stuck in the past and apparently believes cannabis users, or at least those who are not medical patients, are ethically inferior to himself.
Court Judge Scott Myer commented he believed recreational marijuana was “an ethical issue”, and not about tax revenue. He and the other ordained “leaders” control a county with fewer residents than the Portland Timber’s stadium will hold. If you assume your personal prejudice is the same as everyone else in the county, then you feel like it’s OK to make such a degrading and disrespectful comment. This is how a community gets the moniker “Podunk”.
It never ceases to amaze me how such people are elected to lead in these communities. I truly hope they do not reflect the thinking and moral values of ignorance and prejudice, but one must wonder. They are elected officials, after all.
Of course, they strategically left it open to a change down the road, as their ever morphing moral standards bend to suit their needs, like a religious conservative supporting Donald Trump for President. These “leaders” are not leading at all, but choosing the path that suits their narrow minded views based on stereotyping and bigotry.
So, it’s not a “Hooray” for Grant County, it’s more of a, “Really? medical only?”
© 2016 Oregon Cannabis Connection. All Rights Reserved.
They declared a war on us. They took our money, our homes, our children, our jobs, our rights, our freedoms, our lives. They lost their war and now believe it their right to dictate terms to the winners. What they have a right to is a blindfold and a last cigarette.