Cannabis health risks exposed
Letter to the Editor
Thursday’s Letters to the Editor
https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/opinion/thursdays-letters-to-the-editor-386/
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Santa Rosa
Less-than-healthy plan
EDITOR: Sonoma County’s vision for public health is to make our county the healthiest in California. But is this just an empty slogan? The supervisors’ proposed revisions to the cannabis ordinance remove health, safety and nuisance protections for neighbors who are exposed to pungent terpene odors.
In 2018, a group of Petaluma area residents successfully sued a cannabis grower for nuisance when odors impinged on their homes. The Press Democrat reported that the stench caused significant breathing problems for an adult with asthma and a young paraplegic who needed a breathing tube.
Is this how our aspiring healthiest county will now treat residents with health conditions who are exposed to chemical nuisances? Just live with it or move?
The ordinance also proposes that growers be allowed to subject neighbors to unproven techniques that blow plant oil aerosols or oxidizing agents into the air next to their yards. The long-term safety of inhaling these chemicals has not been tested in children, pregnant women, people with asthma or even healthy adults. This isn’t my vision of the healthiest county in California.
CRAIG S. HARRISON
Santa Rosa