Pubdate: Sun, 05 Jan 2014
Source: Sentinel And Enterprise, The (MA)
Copyright: 2014 MediaNews Group, Inc. and Mid-States Newspapers, Inc.
Contact:  http://sentinelandenterprise.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2498

COLORADO'S NEW HIGH NOT FOR MASS.

Good luck to the people of Colorado. They've made it easier for drug 
cartels to tap into their children's latent desire to experiment with 
marijuana.

Adults 21 and older now can buy marijuana legally for recreational 
use in Colorado. As of Thursday, residents and visitors can go to a 
state-regulated pot center, ask for an ounce or less, and pay the 
over-the-counter price. Just like the Obamacare rollout, no one knows 
exactly what they're getting; Colorado hasn't established a price 
structure, leading one Denver shop to sell one-eighth of an ounce of 
"high-quality" marijuana for $70. That's in sharp contrast to 
state-licensed pot centers filling medical prescriptions at $25 an ounce.

It also creates a new governmental bureaucracy of state-paid pot shop 
inspectors, and all the expenses that come with it.

Anyone who thinks tax revenue from pot sales will pay for Colorado's 
new schools and roads is seriously deluding themselves.

So while the adults turn to pot for recreational purposes, what are 
the kids to think?

In this case, they might be just as confused as their pot-smoking parents.

No doubt, kids below the age of 21 will be out to experiment with 
marijuana, knowing the worst that can happen is a civil penalty and 
small fine.

And since they can't buy it legally like their parents, they'll get 
it from drug dealers who now have a better mass market than 
previously when pot was outlawed. Why's that? First, drug dealers 
will set prices that undercut the Colorado-regulated market. Second, 
the drug dealers probably will be kids themselves, taking advantage 
of a loosey-goosey situation to make a few bucks. Third, there will 
be parents who, believing they are protecting the children, will 
insist that the kids smoke pot at home under adult supervision.

This is a Colorado crisis in waiting. Over time the legalized use of 
a drug that impairs judgment will lead to dangerous consequences and 
have a deleterious impact on society. It's too bad the children are 
caught in the middle of the adults' urge for getting high for fun.

Massachusetts must resist the temptation to follow Colorado's 
delusion. We've already legalized medicinal marijuana and that should 
be the extent of it.  
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D