The few days that Manteca’s medical marijuana clinic was open in the 300 block of West Yosemite Avenue in 2010 it had quite a few customers seeking relief from “chronic pain.”

And from the looks of the steady stream of clientele there was an epidemic of young males barely out of puberty in Manteca that were chronic pain sufferers.

California’s medical marijuana law is being abused on a wholesale basis.

One dispensary in Oakland advertises on television that you can get a quickie medical exam in minutes to secure a marijuana medical card. Just how thorough do you really believe the exams are? It is easier to get a medical marijuana card in California than it is to get excused from physical education.

On Tuesday, a Nevada City man pleaded guilty to charges he was cultivating marijuana and arranging financial transactions to evade reporting requirements. Charles Miller Hilkey Jr. claimed the pot was being grown for medicinal purposes. He is forfeiting 25 different properties in Oregon and California worth more than $2.4 million where he had been growing pot.

The number of large-scale medical marijuana growing operations in California is an outright joke that is an in-your-face challenge to the intent and letter of the medical marijuana law.

The Golden State isn’t alone among jurisdictions where a mockery is being made of medical marijuana laws.

Colorado’s medical marijuana law is being abused primarily by seemingly healthy males in their 20s and 30s. There are 88,000 medical marijuana cards in Colorado with an extremely high number of them going to males in their 20s and 30s who have gotten doctors to sign off by their contention they suffer from debilitating pain.

It is little wonder that President Obama’s administration has stepped in to prosecute those who are making a mockery of the state law by growing pot that is essentially for wholesale consumption by anyone.

President Obama is being attacked for supposedly going back on his word during the 2010 campaign. Obama never embraced legalizing marijuana. He had no objection to medical marijuana. There is a huge difference.

Obama is not picking and choosing. He is enforcing federal law that is not in conflict with state law. Medical marijuana is legal in California but not recreational marijuana. Anyone who believes that the vast array of medical marijuana grows and dispensaries supports nothing but those in chronic pain are obviously on some logic-altering drug.

The pro-legalization forces for recreational marijuana are doing themselves no favors by not adamantly pushing to curtail medical marijuana abuses.

The argument they present is that people are going to use it anyway and there is no harm is being severely undermined by their lack of respect for the law.

It should give voters pause even if they do not believe marijuana is harmful. The reason is simple. If the current law is openly ignored, flaunted, and dismissed there is every reason to believe not much respect will be given a law that stops the legalization of drugs and marijuana.

The verdict is still out as to whether marijuana qualifies as a gateway drug but one thing is clear: Legalizing any type of illegal drug use opens the door for more brazen action by those who flaunt the law.



This column is the opinion of managing editor, Dennis Wyatt, and does not necessarily represent the opinion of The Bulletin or Morris Newspaper Corp. of CA.  He can be contacted at dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com or 209-249-3519.