Two state representatives are part of a growing group who oppose a Kent City Council proposal to ban medical marijuana dispensaries and collective gardens.
State Reps. Mary Lou Dickerson, D-Seattle, and Roger Goodman, D-Kirkland, co-sponsored with Sensible Washington, a Seattle-based group that supports marijuana legalization, to send a letter Friday, June 1 to the council to vote down the proposed ban.
The council will vote on the measure at its 7 p.m. meeting Tuesday, June 5 at City Hall.
Kent currently has two collective gardens operating in the city.
Sensible Washington, the group behind the petition in Kent and other cities to make marijuana offenses the lowest law enforcement priority, plans a rally at 6 p.m. Tuesday in front of City Hall to oppose the medical marijuana dispensary ban.
“The Kent City Council will be voting to ban all safe access points to medical cannabis within city limits,” reads a media release from Sensible Washington. “Beyond this ban showing a lack of compassion for the terminally ill and the suffering, its passing would be blatantly ignoring the will of our voters, as well as current state law allowing collective garden access points.”
Here is a copy of the letter from Sensible Washington, Goodman and Dickerson to the Kent City Council:
To The City Council of Kent:
We, the undersigned, hereby formally petition you, the members of the Kent City Council, to respect the wishes and demands of the voters of Washington State, to act in adherence to the laws adopted by our state in regards to medical cannabis (pursuant to RCW 69.51a), and to cease and desist any and all attacks on qualifying medical cannabis patients, medical providers, and safe access points within the City of Kent.
Our state’s voters and elected officials have recognized the need to allow safe access to medical cannabis for qualifying patients, and have declared that those who cannot provide themselves with said medical cannabis are within their rights to procure a provider; “Qualifying patients may create and participate in collective gardens for the purpose of producing, processing, transporting, and delivering cannabis for medical use” – RCW 69.51A.085.
To deny the citizens of Kent this right will be viewed as lacking compassion, as you would be denying safe and local access to a medicine that has proven to be an effective treatment for a variety of serious ailments.
We would like to state that, as elected representatives, you have a duty to honor the wishes of your constituents, and respect the will of your electors. The will of Kent and Washington State citizens is that qualifying patients should be allowed safe access to medical cannabis. Furthermore, any vote to ban safe access in the City of Kent will be viewed as an action against the will of the residents of the City of Kent, and as a violation of Washington State law.
We ask that you review this letter with great consideration of the harm you will do to your community by denying much-needed medicine to the seriously ill, and through decreasing public safety by forcing these patients to the dangerous black-market, benefiting criminals and criminal organizations. We formally petition you, as the City Council of Kent, to vote against a ban on medical cannabis safe access points within the City of Kent.
Sincerely signed:
State Rep. Roger Goodman
State Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson
Sensible Washington
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