Pubdate: Sun, 23 May 2010
Source: Daily Camera (Boulder, CO)
Copyright: 2010 The Daily Camera.
Contact:  http://www.dailycamera.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/103
Author: Erika Stutzman, for the Camera editorial board

THE UNWELCOME BACKLASH: THE REACTIONARY STANCE AGAINST MARIJUANA

Some critics of Colorado's medical marijuana industry say that the 
current state illustrates the law of unintended consequences.

Upon reflection, however, the current state of the industry was 
inevitable, and directly related to lawmakers lack of initiative for 
a decade, and their reactionary stance today.

Today: Where large, unregulated grow houses have been found in 
residential areas near schools; where pot shops bloomed like 
dandelions in a few areas, particularly concentrated in downtown 
Boulder and the Boulder's University Hill area; and various crimes 
have been associated with the businesses.

Colorado voters decided a decade ago that people with medical 
conditions should be allowed to legally use marijuana to ease all 
kinds of conditions, including pain and nausea. The law is 
compassionate, and we support it.

But now there are dozens of legitimate complaints from police 
officials and community members who say the law is flawed. Like the 
sheriff in nearby Larimer County, following the arrest of three young 
men in a smoke-filled car headed north. They had a novel little 
business going. They purchased large jars of marijuana from legal 
medical dispensaries in Denver, and transported it to Wyoming, where 
they sold it (illegally) for a profit. (Note to future business 
leaders of America: Don't smoke your product before you deliver the goods.)

Law of unintended consequences of a voter-supported amendment? Or 
inevitable consequence of 10 years of inaction by state and local 
lawmakers to regulate a huge shift in the law?

November 2000 to 2009 was, legislatively speaking, practically a dead 
zone when it comes to medical marijuana. Some communities banned 
dispensaries, or put them on hold. Others either attempted to make, 
or did make, marijuana legal for everyone -- which, if regulated, 
might make the most sense.

But what the state needed was a comprehensive approach, with common 
sense local controls. And the compassionate-care law that voters 
approved is now in the crosshairs of a backlash against it: Because 
who needs hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of pot in the 
suburban house next door, or cuckoo kids smoking dope on their way up 
to fun and profit in Wyoming?

Gov. Bill Ritter has said he'll sign the new regulations passed by 
the statehouse this session. The bill is overly punitive to the 
industry -- for instance only allowing five patients per caregiver 
and allowing communities to ban them outright. It faces a flurry of lawsuits.

Here in Boulder, we upped the silly ante, with our City Council 
approving a law that will force growing operations to offset 100 
percent of their electricity use with wind or solar power.

To target an industry just because you can -- just because it's 
facing a backlash now -- strikes us as absurd. What about the other 
medical and bioscience companies in the city? Or locavores growing 
their own seedlings and microgreens? Or commercial gardens and 
florists? Or, just to be random, restaurants?
- ---
MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart