Pubdate: Wed, 19 Jun 2013
Source: Norwood Post, The (CO)
Copyright: 2013 Telluride Daily Planet
Contact:  http://telluridenews.com/norwood_post/front/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5266
Author: Patrick Alan Coleman

MARIJUANA JOINTS SPARK FEAR, LOATHING AT TOWN FORUM

Attendees cite spousal abuse and violent crime in pleas for board to 
opt out of retail pot sales

Accompanied by bursts of applause, the crowd of over 40 Norwood and 
Wright's Mesa citizens at Wednesday's Amendment 64 forum plead with 
the Norwood Town Board of Trustees to opt out of licensing retail 
cannabis stores, testing facilities and grow operations.

Only one attendee admitted to being among the 150 Norwood voters who 
approved Amendment 64 locally in the November elections, outvoting 
opponents by 60 votes.

Largely, forum attendees expressed fears of increased domestic abuse, 
violent crime, imperiled child welfare and a bad reputation for the 
town should retail adult-use cannabis facilities of any type be 
allowed within Norwood.

"This is not the answer to economic growth," said Rich Nuttall. "And 
it's certainly not the message our elected officials should be 
sending to our youth."

Nuttall spoke of the moral obligations of the government and pointed 
out what he characterized as the "oxymoron" of allowing adults to use 
the drug while educating children that it is wrong.

"We don't want to become a source of drugs for Telluride," Nuttall 
said, before questioning why people would oppose what he called 
"traditional" West End businesses like hunting and mining, yet be 
proponents of ingesting drugs.

Nuttall was one of several residents who characterized any tax 
benefit related to the sale of adult-use cannabis as "dirty money."

New Norwood resident John Dotson wondered if funds from marijuana 
sales earmarked for school construction would be worth possible 
troubles, asking, "If the federal government is saying this is 
illegal, what are you going to do with this money? Put it in the 
bank? If we do, are we laundering drug money?"

"We've already got a huge drug problem here," commented Joseph 
Taylor. "I think this will only make things worse."

The worsening of what some some perceived as a local drug problem was 
raised more than once during the forum, with some pointing to a 
September 2011 assault and robbery of two medical marijuana growers 
outside of Norwood, which initiated a lockdown at Norwood Public School.

"Is this what we really want our kids to see on a daily basis?" asked 
Redvale resident Cheryl Eades. "We don't need the dangers that it's 
going to bring."

"Who's going to protect our babies from stuff like that if we open up 
pot shops?" Janine Spor queried the board. "We open up one in our 
little town, we're asking for the crime rate to go up and 
endangerment to our children."

Many speakers warned that the presence of retail pot facilities would 
put a black mark on Norwood's reputation as a family-friendly town 
and asked that board members send a message to the county that 
marijuana was not welcome on Wright's Mesa.

Others warned that children would almost certainly gain easy access 
to the drug if it were made available in town.

For some, the concerns were less specifically linked with the sale of 
adult-use marijuana and more with cannabis use in general.

Teacher and Wright's Mesa resident Ann Wright characterized marijuana 
as "very evil."

"I don't see anything endearing about pot. I know very few successful 
people that smoke pot," Wright said.

Carrying a hammer as an object lesson, Davis Watson noted that the 
tool could be used to strengthen a home by being used to help family 
members, or tear it down by bludgeoning your wife.

"We're not talking about hammers, we're talking about marijuana," 
Watson said. "There's nothing about marijuana that strengthens the 
family. When anybody takes something that alters your mind, you never 
know what might happen with it. You may start beating your wife or 
your children."

After arguing the money for regulation would likely outstrip the 
money gained from sales, Joe Bowman put his opposition to marijuana 
as a drug more succinctly, saying simply "We all know the statistics 
say pot is not good for us. It doesn't matter who you are."

Shortly after the forum, the board was addressed briefly by San 
Miguel County Sheriffs Department Deputy Dan Covault who is in charge 
of enforcing marijuana regulations in the county. Covault spoke 
primarily about the regulations recently put in place by the Colo. legislature.

"What the folks here tonight are missing is the larger picture," 
Covault explained. "Wether or not there's a retail center here is 
truly irrelevant because under adult-use marijuana, every one of us 
in here can grow six plants of our own, in our home, per adult."

Covault suggested that marijuana was already being grown in Norwood 
by private individuals and there was little recourse for the town to stop it.

Covault did say, however, the town could create provisions like 
Boulder County's nuisance smoke ordinance which makes it a citable 
offense for any kind of outdoor smoke, marijuana or tobacco, to drift 
from one person's private property to another.

The board has until October to make a final decision regarding the 
licensing of retail adult-use cannabis facilities. They agreed to a 
work session with deputy Covault in the interim.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom