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LETTER: Tunnel vision on anti-pot agenda disrespectful

Weekly letters to the editor from within the Sooke community.

Re: Pot dispensaries

Interpretations of reality are only our opinions and the need for some to be correct, regardless of whether there is any expertise supporting it, is simply arrogance.

Petitions are a democratic pasttime on the Island, even if it is a response to the inevitable.

Recreational marijuana will be legalized in 2017.

Enraged Sooke residents concerned about legalities and community reputation are petitioning to stop access to medical cannibis. Their actions are based on emotion and selective interpretation.

When emotion rules any situation, new information is blocked. When one’s life changes in a second and the diagnosis of the reality to manage chronic lifelong pain or a life ending disease, some are able to see the world with new eyes.

The petitioners and opposers need to read the pharmacy info sheet accompanying the legal drugs they consume and consider the side effects and risks listed and then compare them with medical studies on medical cannibis.

Unless there is a direct impact on the naysayers quality of life, they need to exercise respect and stop their judgments.

One day someone they love may need to look at all the pain management options. Tunnel vision is too easy and is disrespectful to those we should be offering support and acceptance whose reality is constant pain.

Bravo to Sooke council for granting business licenses in these times of changing social and legal norms to support local business and residents.

Carmen Neumann

Sooke