New Times deserves credit and thanks for your years of coverage of local marijuana-related issues, particularly the actions taken by our Central Coast law enforcement agencies and their governing bodies.

These rigidly repressive enforcement actions and policies, and the overall atmosphere generated by them, have especially victimized medical marijuana patients. People who are fully compliant with state law are justifiably paranoid here, with access to their doctor-approved medication so severely restricted.

Americans for Safe Access is a national advocacy group concerned with medical marijuana. ASA takes no stand regarding non-medicinal use of marijuana; it exists to promote safe and sufficient access by patients to their medication. A matter of immediate concern here is the measure on the Nov. 2 Morro Bay ballot to ban any dispensaries in that city, despite the City Council’s current attempt to carefully craft an ordinance that would provide such a facility to properly authorized patients.

ASA now has a San Luis Obispo-area chapter. If you are a patient, know someone who is, or if you simply care about patients’ rights, we encourage you to become involved. Our next monthly meeting is Tuesday, Sept. 21, at 7 p.m..

To learn more about the location or our San Luis Obispo chapter of Americans for Safe Access, go to sloasa.org.