What makes a citizen?

Dear Editor:

On March 28, Joe Lyons, the former mayor of Claremont, advocated for ignoring any and all opinions regarding city matters from non-Claremont residents. In response, I have to say what I hope is on all our minds—that this is unacceptable.

To put it plainly, no one wakes up and thinks to participate in public discourse in a city that they do not care about. People, like Ludd Trozpek, have a connection with Claremont like all readers of this newspaper. These connections might not have been built the same way, such as living here, but these connections are what makes a city.

If we abide by Mr. Lyons’ logic, do the homeless constitute a citizen of Claremont? Do they get a voice? Ironically Mr. Lyons is the president of the San Gabriel Valley Consortium on Homelessness. With that responsibility, I feel that he should be more accountable and aware of what he seems to be advocating.

I have been living in Claremont for the past three years as a student at Scripps College. Claremont has become my home away from home and I do take great pride in saying that I live here. But as a temporary resident and an international student from India, are my opinions about my new home worthless?

Annika Susan Mammen

Claremont

Cannabis work

Dear Editor:

The recent distribution of cannabis gummies to elementary school children near Los Angeles is a tragedy in so many ways.

With rare exceptions, cannabis should never be given to the undeveloped brain. Cannabis has the potential to be a miracle drug if used properly, and this sort of irresponsible, completely illegal situation plays into everyone’s worst fears and prevents further consideration, thus squandering the opportunity to explore the medical benefits.

Now, we have a rare opportunity to design best practices at the onset of cannabis becoming accepted in society. However, a story like this further entrenches using the head-in-the-sand, all-cannabis-is-evil approach, and we miss the opportunity to regulate distribution, impose consumer protection standards, maximize the revenue benefits to communities, and support much needed research and education.

These are the thoughts of a 70-year-old Claremont resident whose lifelong neurological condition is immeasurably better due to responsible, measured cannabis use over the past six years.

Edibles are the worst, least desirable delivery system for cannabis. They are seriously insidious. Gummies and chocolate seem harmless and yet, edibles are usually the most hallucinogenic, unpredictable form of cannabis and should not be ingested by anyone as an experiment “to try” cannabis.

When one ingests edibles, you don’t know how long it will take to manifest, how hallucinogenic the effect will be, and how long the effect will last. Many times I’ve heard someone tell me they took a gummy or a piece of chocolate, and when nothing seemed to happen, they took another one, only to wind up incredibly uncomfortable for a number of hours. Several of these stories have ended up with a trip to the emergency room.

I have done extensive reading and the contention is that no one has ever died of an overdose of marijuana. However, you can feel uncomfortably out of control for an extended period of time with edibles.

The experience of ingesting edibles is the quintessential reason most of my adult acquaintances won’t touch cannabis, and my advice is not to do edibles unless you know what you are doing.

My mantra: “If it’s not definable repeatable and predictable, it is not medicine.” If you attempt to use cannabis for medicine, you need to approach your situation with the scientific method.

Be methodical, educate yourself and keep a diary of cause and effect regarding your disease. Not all cannabis is created equal. You  eventually want to identify a precise dose or a specific strain, and keep track of how long before onset and how long it lasts.

Janice Hoffmann

Claremont