I have some thoughts for Lake County's marijuana growers.

Nearly all of us live our lives based on trust. 

We trust that money we put in the bank today will be there for us tomorrow. 

We trust that the pound of hamburger meat we buy is 16 ounces, not less. 

We trust that a car behind us won't slam into us at a light. We trust that we get back the right change at stores. 

We trust ... well, you get the idea, and we rarely give any of it a second thought.

Because of our compassion for those of you in pain, we agreed to protect you from criminal prosecution for growing a few marijuana plants to ease your suffering. 

We trusted you to act sensibly. We trusted you to act in the spirit of the agreement you led us to believe you would honor. 

Your response was to take advantage of us far beyond any reasonable expectation.

You saw our compassion for you as open season on us. 

You violate our trust with impunity, you put the safety of our children at risk, you drive down property values, you make a mockery of county government, you depress the economy by making visitors and vacationers think twice about coming here, you're a reason businesses don't locate here. 

In sum, what you do threatens the peace and safety of us all.

And now you expect us to believe that even more of what you do is good for Lake County. 

You want us to believe that a drug-based economy – one with more marijuana in more yards in more neighborhoods – is the “sensible” solution. And you tell us that you'll do it responsibly. 

After all you put us through – including your superbly misleading petition drive to “support children's hospitals” – you tell us to trust you. 

We don't want your marijuana grows next door or 10 doors away, we don't want them next to our churches, we don't want them next to our children's playgrounds and nursery schools. 

We remain unalterably opposed to your marijuana grows in any of our residential neighborhoods. We trusted you once with that, and then you played us!

That's why so many of us are voting no on measures P and O in November! 

Visit www.SaveMeasureN.info for details. 

Tom Guthrie lives in Lakeport, Calif.