Pubdate: Thu, 05 Nov 2009 Source: Boulder Weekly (CO) Copyright: 2009 Boulder Weekly Contact: http://www.boulderweekly.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/57 Pot Prohibition? It's been about a month since every single candidate for Boulder City Council, including three incumbents, told the Boulder Weekly in an election Q&A that they would oppose banning medical marijuana dispensaries in the city. Then we got a copy of a city staff memo this week that outlines options for regulating the industry, one of which is to require all businesses to adhere to federal laws. Since the feds don't allow growing or purchasing marijuana, such a move would effectively ban all dispensaries in town. Curious. It seems to be a bit of an overreaction, especially considering the somewhat more reasonable steps that have been taken by other, more uptight cities and towns in the area, such as enacting moratoriums until the legal landscape regarding dispensaries is clearer. Why get ahead of the state legislation that is being drafted by Colorado Sen. Chris Romer for the 2010 session? Why would a city begin adopting regulations that could then be trumped by state law in a matter of months? Why, when President Barack Obama recently handed down guidance to his federal agents to leave this matter to the states, would the city of Boulder turn around and defer to the feds? We trust that cooler heads on the Boulder Planning Board - and, more importantly, the newly elected members of City Council - will prevail in finding a way to avoid penalizing a new, voter-approved industry simply based on paranoia and misperceptions. Everyone expects some degree of zoning and regulation to occur, but this heavyhanded approach should never have been proposed by city staff in a place like Boulder. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom