Due to an inadequate understanding of Proposition 19, the editors made an uninformed recommendation to vote for Measure T. If Measure T passes, seriously ill patients will be without safe access to medical marijuana, endangering their wellbeing. This is true regardless of the outcome of Proposition 19. Proposition 19 enables personal possession and cultivation, which qualified patients already have the right to, but does not legalize the sale of marijuana unless local governments choose to allow it. Given the current debate over medical marijuana, it is very unlikely that Santa Barbara will allow recreational sales any time soon. While some patients grow their own plants, most are unable and need a safe place to obtain their medicine. This is the role dispensaries serve, and they do so legally under state law and city municipal code. You can’t ban dispensaries with Measure T and then “even the playing field” with Proposition 19. But don’t take my word for it. Ask the man responsible for Measure T, Councilmember Dale Francisco. He recently stated, “Prop 19 puts all the power to regulate marijuana within the local jurisdiction. If Prop 19 and Measure T both pass we would have no problem at all, retail sales could still be illegal.” Measure T chooses prohibition over regulation and flies in the face of the progress offered by Proposition 19. We should not take two steps backwards in hopes of taking one step forward, even if it is a big step. Especially when peoples’ lives are at stake.