Pubdate: Sun, 06 Jun 2010
Source: Daily Sentinel, The (Grand Junction, CO)
Copyright: 2010 Cox Newspapers, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.gjsentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2084
Author: Paul Shockley

STATE CANDIDATE BACKS POT MEASURES

Prosecutor Seeking Attorney General's Job Says Suthers Gets 'Distracted'

A Boulder prosecutor challenging for Colorado Attorney  General John 
Suthers' job said Sunday he backs measures  that will give local 
communities authority to ban  medical marijuana dispensaries via 
ordinance, while  also allowing them to put the issue before voters 
in a  ballot question.

This, as Democrat Stan Garnett criticized Colorado's  top cop as a 
career politician who "lets himself get  distracted by all sorts of 
issues," pointing to  Suthers' decision to join a multi-state lawsuit 
aimed  at exempting Colorado from national health care  legislation 
passed in March.

Garnett characterized Suthers' move to add Colorado to  the lawsuit 
as a partisan decision.

"The Attorney General should be a lawyer for the  people, not 
business and special interests," Garnett,  who was elected in 2008 as 
Boulder's district attorney,  told a small gathering Sunday morning 
at Main Street  Bagels.

Andrew Cole, a spokesman for Suthers' re-election  campaign, noted 
that Republican and Democratic  attorneys general have signed on to 
the lawsuit  challenging President Barack Obama's health care 
legislation. Cole rejected suggestions Suthers is  "politically distracted."

"If Stan Garnett thinks upholding the Constitution  isn't important, 
I wonder where his priorities are,"  Cole said.

Garnett on Sunday spoke with a group of eight residents  in a small 
room at the shop, touching on issues from  consumer protection to 
Colorado's evolving landscape  for medical marijuana, which he called 
less a law  enforcement issue than a question of land use and 
planning for dispensaries.

"We do prosecute cases where there is improper  dealing," Garnett said.

Garnett, however, said "serious dealing" involving  drugs such as 
cocaine or methamphetamine is a higher  priority for his office.

Garnett said he expects a series of legal challenges  will be coming 
against House Bill 1284 and Senate Bill  109, both expected to be 
signed into law this week by  Gov. Bill Ritter.

Both measures represent a "pretty good framework" for  regulating 
growth in medical pot despensaries, Garnett  said.

Garnett said since he took office in the 20th Judicial  District, 
he's created a consumer protection division  devoted to prosecuting 
white collar crime, while his  top priorities include violent crime, 
distribution-level drug prosecutions and the effective  use of drug 
courts for first-time, relative minor drug  possession cases.

"We send fewer of our convicted felons to the  Department of 
Corrections than any other jurisdiction,  which is something I'm very 
proud of," Garnett said.
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