Advocates for medical marijuana wave to passing motorists outside Centralia City Hall.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CENTRALIA – A small group of medical marijuana users held a little “rally” across from Centralia City Hall yesterday hoping to gain support for making the substance easier rather than harder to obtain.
“Really, we just want to end criminal penalties for adults who use medical marijuana,” 34-year-old Ryan Shewell of Chehalis said.
Shewell, who organized the gathering, was pleasantly surprised to learn after they arrived the city council was scheduled last night to have the issue on its agenda.
Shewell prefers marijuana to the Vicodin and Percocet he takes for phantom pain; he lost his lower legs and fingers to a disease he contracted as a child.
“I take a handful pills, and they’re killing my liver,” Shewell said.
He’s been fairly active in initiative campaigns and voicing his opinion.
He was one of only two people who spoke at a public hearing last week held by the Lewis County Commissioners on the topic of collective medical marijuana gardens.
Lewis County Sheriff Steve Mansfield told the three county commissioners he thinks more harm than good will come out of the new state law went into effect on July 22, but he wants to make the best out of a bad situation as the county considers how to reconcile conflicting federal and state law on the subject.
Shewell told the commissioners collective gardens are not a problem, but a solution for those like him who can’t easily grow their own.
Yesterday, the dozen or so individuals who joined Shewell in Centralia voiced similar thoughts, but the placards they held up to passing passing motorists broadcast a variety of philosophies, such as:
“Cannabis Cures” and “Help end marijuana prohibition” and “No prison for pot”.
And not all were willing to speak quite as openly as Shewell.
“Please don’t use my last name, I have a job,” one woman from Rochester said.
“I really don’t want to tell you my last name, cause of the feds,” a 56-year-old Centralia man in a wheelchair said.
Several of them however enthusiastically spoke of what they viewed as signs of support from passing motorists on Pearl and Maple streets.
“We’ve got nothing but high-5’s, peace signs, smiles and honks,” Sarena Haskins of Rochester said. She’s an activist who focuses on Lewis County for a group called Sensible Washington.
Shewell said only “a couple” of drivers flipped them off.
The city council last night passed a six-month moratorium on collective gardens, A public hearing will be held Sept. 27 on the topic.
They are approaching it similar to the county, according to City Attorney Shannon Murphy-Olson.
Lewis County commissioners last week enacted a 60-day moratorium, while the sheriff’s office, the prosecutor’s office and likely the planning commission devise a plan.
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For more about the county plans, read “County leaders want your opinions on how to grow (medical) marijuana” from Tuesday Aug. 2, 2011, here
A medical marijuana user displays her sign at the corner of Pearl and Maple streets.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter